'Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing': interrogating new skill concepts in service work - the view from two UK call centres

Lloyd, Caroline ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2624-8031 and Payne, Jonathan 2009. 'Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing': interrogating new skill concepts in service work - the view from two UK call centres. Work, Employment and Society 23 (4) , pp. 617-634. 10.1177/0950017009344863

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Abstract

A current theme within debates over interactive service work is that many routine service jobs are ‘skilled’ because they require workers to perform ‘emotion work’ and ‘articulation work’. Drawing upon workers’ views of their skills in two mass market call centres in the UK, the article questions the use and validity of these new skill concepts. It is argued that these concepts overplay the amount of task variation, discretion and control available to workers. Even more problematic is the tendency to equate skill with the ability to cope with badly designed jobs and stressful working conditions.The findings suggest that there is a need for a thorough debate about what is meant by a ‘skilled job’ in an expanding service-based economy.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Uncontrolled Keywords:	articulation work; call centres; emotion work; skill
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	0950-0170
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2022 08:51
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/19289

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