Mgt 501

Running head: TELEBANK CALL CENTER ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

How the Telebank Call Center operates as a Socio-technical system

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Abstract

This paper analyzes the social and technical elements involved in the organizational structure of the Telebank Call Center. The various types of social and technical controls that are prevalent in the call centre model of the Telebank are scrutinized to understand the nature of the organizational structure. Lastly, the paper then evaluates the conceptual value and benefits of the using the metaphor that considers the Telebank Call Center as a Social Technical Machine.

The Telebank Call Center Socio-technical system

Telebanking is a form of over the phone banking in which to extend more services to bank customers through a wider area of interaction. The Call center is the common term for a telephoned based human service operations in which the customer meet their banking needs with a customer service representative directly over the phone versus going into the bank for maters such as loan payments, fund transfers, currency transactions, and any other baking needs (Mandelbaum, 2004). Call Centers are the way of the future for banking needs and “it is estimated that 70% of all customer-business interactions occur in call centers and that $700 billion in goods and services were sold through call centers in 1997” (Mandelbaum, 2004). In this paper we are going to explore the Telebank Call Center. We will examine how the organization can be described as a machine, the components of its technical system, the controls management has over the organization, the interactions between the technical and social systems, and whether the concept of organization as a social technical machine really beneficial.

This organization structure of the call centre can appropriately be described as a “Machine”. According to Callaghan (2001), the technology that is being used by the Telebank is to control pace and...