Twentieth century management theory in today's organization - how relevant is a forty-year-old model in the contemporary context of a call center

Paper


Hingst, Raymond D.. 2006. "Twentieth century management theory in today's organization - how relevant is a forty-year-old model in the contemporary context of a call center." Kantarelis, Demetri (ed.) 2006 Business & Economics Society International Conference. Florence, Italy 15 - 19 Jul 2006 Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
Paper/Presentation Title

Twentieth century management theory in today's organization - how relevant is a forty-year-old model in the contemporary context of a call center

Presentation TypePaper
Authors
AuthorHingst, Raymond D.
EditorsKantarelis, Demetri
Journal or Proceedings TitleGlobal Business and Economics Anthology
Journal Citation1, pp. 314-322
Year2006
Place of PublicationWorcester, Massachusetts, USA
ISSN1553-1392
Web Address (URL) of Paperhttp://www.besiweb.com/BESIP06.html
Conference/Event2006 Business & Economics Society International Conference
Event Details
2006 Business & Economics Society International Conference
Parent
Business and Economics Society International Conference
Event Date
15 to end of 19 Jul 2006
Event Location
Florence, Italy
Abstract

[Abstract]: In the search to find the solution to the ‘one best way’ to provide a conduit for contact between organizations and their customers, call centers represent a recent incarnation of the principles of scientific management developed in the first decades of the last century.

This paper seeks to apply another iconic legacy of twentieth century management theory, Tuckman’s four-stage model of group development devised in 1965, to organizations which didn’t exist when the original idea was first postulated.

How relevant are the ‘forming’, storming’, norming, and ‘performing’ stages of progression to an environment renowned for constant changes to group membership? In his 1977 revision of the four-stage model with Jensen, Tuckman acknowledged the limited capacity of the theory to account for transient participation in groups.

This paper reports the findings of research which provides evidence that Tuckman’s model describes accurately the patterns of behaviour demonstrated by groups of newly selected call center workers completing their initial induction training in an Australian, semi-government, call center.

Call centers provide a contemporary context for the application of Taylorist management principles, symbolic of practice more readily associated with the industrial revolution than with ‘modern’ organizations. Tuckman’s 1965 model has a similar resonance for call centers today.

Keywordscall centres, Tuckman, group development, forming, storming, norming, performing
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020350302. Business information management (incl. records, knowledge and intelligence)
350704. Entrepreneurship
359999. Other commerce, management, tourism and services not elsewhere classified
Public Notes

No evidence of copyright restrictions on web site.

Byline AffiliationsSchool of Management and Marketing
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