Dissertation on "Crowdsourcing Techniques in Call Centers"

Quoted Instructions for "Crowdsourcing Techniques in Call Centers" Assignment:

This is the begining work I have accomplished so far, which gives a general idea of what I'm attempting to do for my dissertations; although, the problem statement, research questions, hypothosis and etcetera need a lot of work!


The power of the crowd: A study of applying crowdsourcing techniques in developing co-value between call center customers, call center employees and the overall organization.
04/21/10)

Problem Statement

Call centers are critically important as they are a vibrant parts of the American business culture (Dawson, 20006). The importance stems from the fact that they are at the center of an organization’s relationship with its customers. Case and point, call centers are the front door to a business; further, according to Dawson (2006) the call center’s front line position is even more important in today’s global economy. However, the link between how well call center’s perform their mission and translating that into actionable plans for improving other business areas has not been fully capitalized on. This threatens an organization’s competitive advantage and decreases efficiencies in both the call centers and the businesses functional areas.
Purpose Statement
A very promising phenomenon that lends itself to call centers’ ability to improve their own and their other business units’ efficiency is the employment of crowdsourcing. However, there has been limited research on the most effective ways to apply crowdsourcing techniques to foster a collaborative environment between call center employees and customers. The main purpose of the study is to assess the effect that crowdsourcing techniques can have on the development of call center business strategies and functional area operational practices alignment that allows for the identification, socialization and alignment of customer-focused business strategies that create value for both the customer and the organization.
Significance of the study
Crowdsourcing provides a key framework for organizations to capitalize on the wisdom of the crowd, that is, the average of diverse, independent, and decentralized crowds (Surowiecki, 2004). The groundswell is a social development in which people use modern technologies to get the things they need from one another (Li & Bernoff, 2008). Specifically, the impact of the well-informed crowds on an organization’s attempt to develop business strategies and operational efficiencies that allow the organization and its customers to co-develop and co-create value is very promising in the business area of call centers. That said; it is not known to what extent crowdsourcing techniques can be effectively applied in call centers to increase call center performance as measured by established key performance indicators, ultimately resulting in operating efficiencies that fosters an environment where the organization and its customers co-develop value.
Research Questions
The intention of this study is to illuminate and explain the aspects that enable call centers to more effectively assist their organizations main business units in increasing operational efficiencies through the use of crowdsourcing techniques. With this goal in mind, the following research question will be addresseda.
What is the relationship between the application of crowdsourcing techniques and call center performance as measured by normal call center key performance indicators and an organization’s functional business areas operational efficiencies?
Hypothesis
1. The affective application of crowdsourcing techniques leads to increased call center performance.
a. Crowdsourcing techniques are related to an increase in first call resolution in call centers.
b. Crowdsourcing techniques are related to decreased average call handle time in call centers.
c. Crowdsourcing techniques are related to decreased cost per call in call centers.
d. Crowdsourcing techniques are related to decreased abandonment rates in call centers.
e. Crowdsourcing techniques help to optimize call center agent utilization.
2. The increased performance of call centers, which results from the application of crowdsourcing techniques, are associated with increased operational efficiencies in an organization’s major business functional areas.
3. Operational efficiencies, which are the results of increase call center performance due to the affective application crowdsourcing techniques, help foster a business environment where both the organization and its customer co-develop
Methodological Approach
Participants
The participants to be analyzed involves managers of call centers in specifying what they fill is important in effectively running their call centers. Additionally, customers’ value inputs will be analyzed.
Design
The study will employ survey research through the application of questionnaires to the population to analyze the participants with a between-participants approach; that is, the variation needed for the study comes from changes in the participants for a specific period of time. To accomplish this, the researcher will employ a quasi-experimental research design in an attempt to determine a correlation between the application of crowdsourcing techniques and increased efficiencies in call centers and their supported major business functional areas.
The variables, according to Swanson & Holton (2005), are the phenomena , which vary depending on the circumstances affecting them.
The dependent variables in this study are effective application of specific crowdsourcing techniques to the independent variables , which are call center key performance indicators and customer value inputs.
Procedures
Following development of the questionnaires, they will be pilot tested by a small sample of experienced call center managers to assess the validity and reliability of the survey questions as a whole. Additionally, the validity and reliability of the surveys will be accessed qualitatively through conducting interviews of a small number of the samples respondents to provide additional insight into the questionnaire answers.
I will send an introductory letter to the sample frame explaining the purpose of the survey. I will use a mail survey as the tool to employ my questionnaire to the managers and customers. Fowler (2009) suggests that anything that can be done to make a mail questionnaire appear more professional, personalized and/or attractive to the potential respondents usually has a positive effect on response rates. Therefore, work will be done to make the questionnaire as attractive to the participants as possible. For example: the survey’s layout will be clear, easy to read and to follow. Additionally, Fowler (2009) suggests the instrument be easy to complete. The questionnaire will use closed ended questions with check box or similar answers. My questionnaire will be self administeredâ€"mailed to the sample frame .
The returned survey questionnaires will be converted into data files so they can be analyzed on a computer. Each respondent will receive a serial identifier to allow for organization and tracking. Data will be coded in the order it is present in the questionnaire to allow for ease of coding, data entry and programming tasks (Fowler, 2009). The data will be coded with numeric codes by answer; additionally, I will provide a missing answer code to allow for questions that are not answered. I do not have in mind to provide any monetary or other tangible form of motivation to respondents; however, I will provide them the results of the survey if they desire to see them. Again, any results provided will be sanitized to ensure confidentiality of all respondent’s identifiable information.
The research will be theory testing and will be conducted as a quantitative methodology which will test hypothesis quantitatively and thoroughly investigated an assessed in accordance with traditional research practices and procedures. Examining this topic through an interpretative lens would add to the body of knowledge in this area in a productive manner by helping in understanding the meaning of the situations. Examining call centers through observation and communicating face-to-face would bring understanding of the meaning apparatus that individuals bring to and develop from, a dynamic stream of events (Swanson & Holton, 2005).
Analysis of Data
The statistical procedure that will be used for this study is a regression analysis. The response or dependent variable (organizations productivity) will be analyzed through regression testing to see the affect that the independent variables of (1) key performance indicators and (2) customer value input have on the dependent variables. The initial step in the procedure will be to develop a scatter plot of the variables to see if there is any easy to see relationship between them. According to Albright, Winston, & Zappe (2006), a scatterplot graph is an excellent way to determine if there is a relationship between variables. If a relationship is observed between manager’s productivity and both independent variables, a multiple regression analysis will need to be performed to determine if a correlation exist. If a relationship is seen between only one of the variables, a simple regression will be performed between manager’s productivity and the independent variable that shows a relationship.
Ethical Considerations
Research ethics are governed by the National Research Act of July 1974 (Swanson & Holton, 2005). The Act created a commission, which was chartered to protect the interest of humans and subjects in research. The commission produced The Belmont Report, which defined practices and research so the boundaries of the two could be established (Swanson & Holton, 2005). According to Swanson & Holton (2005), the commission defined practice as interventions intended to improve the well-being of a patient or client, and research as activity designed to evaluate hypothesis and add to generalized body of knowledge concerning a topic. In Swanson and Holton (2005), they also noted that The Belmont Report identified three principles that should guide research: (1) Respect for personsâ€"where persons is identified as autonomous individuals that are able to make independent decisions. (2) Beneficenceâ€"has to do with the researcher’s obligation to protect human subjects. (3) Justiceâ€"requires that parity be at hand in determining who will bear the burden of human subject research.
Creswell (2003) notes that the identification of the problem to be researched is one of the initial decisions that require ethical consideration; that is, the problem studied should benefit the individuals being studied. According to Creswell (2003), a pilot test is an excellent way to gain trust and respect from participants because the pilot test allows for the discovery of marginalization before the study is developed and conducted. Additionally, Creswell (2003) identifies ethical considerations in data collection during research. First, research plans for school projects must be reviewed by the schools institutional review board (IRB). The IRB is chartered with upholding the established research standards. Secondly, an informed consent form (ICF) must be signed by both the researcher and the participants. The ICF should contain the following elements per Creswell (2003):
1. The right of the participants to participate voluntarily and withdraw any time desired.
2. The purpose of the study should be clearly identified.
3. The procedures to be used in the study should be clearly identified.
4. The right of the participants to ask questions and to get a copy of the results of the study.
5. Signatures of both the researcher and participants; signifying that both agree to the terms of the research.
Creswell also wrote about ethical issue in data analysis and interpretations; specifically, they noted that researchers should consider how their study will protect the anonymity of the individuals in the study. Finally, Creswell explained that date should be kept for 5 to 10 years, who owns the data should be clearly outlined, and the proven accuracy of the information extracted from the data should be considered (2003).

Literature Review
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies is a very well written book written by Charlene Li and Josh Bernhoff; in which, they expand on the Forrester Report (2006). They describe how the business environment has been changed by the emergence of powerful social media technologies. However, they note that the relationships that spring from the new technologies are more important than the actual technology. Li and Bernoff (2008) define these relationships as the Groundswell. The book very effectively defines and explains the implications of the groundswell technologies; that is, blogs, social networks, wikis, forums, really simple syndication (RSS), and widgets are characterized and details are provided on how to best employ them. Furthermore, the authors delve into how the technologies threaten institutional power and what organizations can do about the threat. Several strategies are discussed in the book on how to leverage the groundswell. These strategies are illuminated through the use of case studies. The final section of the book enumerates on how connecting with the groundswell transforms an organization.
This book is a must read for any organization wanting to learn how to position itself in a way to be able to exploit the new social technologies that are already or coming available.
Another book that is very insightful in detailing the phenomena of crowdsourcing is “The Wisdom of Crowds”. In the book, Surowiecki puts forth that informed group judgments can be more valuable in reaching business and investment decisions than even the most ***** individuals conclusion. The key, according to Surowiecki (2004), is the group (crowd) must be diverse, have independence, and be decentralized. Surowiecki briefly describes the seminal research in group dynamics when he touches on Hazel Knight’s (Sociologist) initial group experiments conducted in the 1920; additionally, he mentions several other sociologists’ research on the crowd’s wisdom. However, he does caveat that the majority of the early research for the larger the group the better the decision dynamic remained relatively within the academic world.
Surowiecki uses multiple examples to illustrate his ideas. For instance, he writes about the popular TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. In the show, the contestant is given three life-lines to use if they are unable to answer a questions: (1) They can ask a single smart friend or family member, (2) They can use 50/50â€"elliminate two incorrect answers, and (3) They can ask the audience (crowd). According to Surowiecki, the audience picked the correct answer 91% of the time as opposed to the smart friend choosing the correct answer only 65% of the time. This, as noted by Surowiecki, is not scientific proof of the possibilities of group intelligence; however, is does provide a very powerful unproven illustration of the crowds potential.
The principal message of the book’s author is that the average of independent, well-informed decisions on a particular subject matter can be more useful than the determination of one individual, regardless of that one individual’s qualifications. This theory has wide applicability for market research, business and investment decisions.
Redesigning computer call center work: A longitudinal field experiment (Workman,& Bommer, 2004). The problem statement for this study outlines the issue of simultaneous demand for technical and customer service skills that places strain on call center employees and which frequently leads to employee poor job attitudes. This article is a quantitative experimental study that utilized a field study with a randomly assigned pretest-post-test and control group designed to compare three interventions’ effectiveness on employee job attitudes in a computer technology call center. The following hypothesis were clearly stated in the article:
1. Alignment job design will increase employee job satisfaction.
2. Alignment job design will increase employee commitment.
3. High involvement work process will increase employee job satisfaction.
4. High involvement work process will increase employee commitment.
5. Autonomous work team will increase employee job satisfaction.
6. Autonomous work team will increase employee commitment.
The purpose statement and hypothesis fit the experimental research design very nicely. The researcher used randomly assigned subjects for both the experimental and the control group and administered the pretest and posttest to each, while only administering the intervention to one of the groups. This design of study does align with the positivist tradition; that is, it is obvious the author viewed technology call centers as independent and measurable when developing the above listed hypothesis and author identified purpose statement.
The author identified that there may have been some cross group contamination, which was a threat to validity and that due to the short interval (six months) between pre and post test there may not have been enough time to fully group and novelty effects . In the area of external validity, the author raised the question for further research as to whether the study could be generalized to call centers other than computer technology centers .
Another article dealing with this topic, “The application of knowledge management (KM) in call centres” (Koh & Gunasekaran, 2005). The purpose of this article is to evaluate the need for knowledge management in a help desk, for improving the level of customer services through addressing the issues dealing with information KM. The following research questions were depicted from the article:
1. Is it useful to know whether a formal KM effort would improve the quality of customer service in a call centre, and at what price?
2. Can KM be achieved by effectively managing the five roles of knowledge; that is, knowledge acquisition, utilization, adaptation, distribution, and generation?
Evidenceâ€"based management is the practice of using research to acquired evidence (facts) concerning a business situation or problem for the purpose of making the best decision on how to resolve the concern or develop the soundest principles for the issue. Evidence-base research is almost always used to gather the facts surrounding the problem. That is exactly what Biggs and Swailes did in their study .
The role of knowledge repositories in technical support environments: Speed versus learning in user performance (Gray & Durcikova, 2006). This is an article that details a quantitative investigation concerning why technical support analyst prefer specific sources of information over others. Particularly, technical support analyst chose between their colleagues, official company document, and solutions available in technical support knowledge repositories. The authors of the article theorize that technical analyst with stronger learning orientation would engage in higher levels of knowledge sourcing by seeking knowledge directly from their colleagues, official company documents, and technical knowledge repositories. Additionally, the authors presume that technical analyst that face higher perceived intellectual demands, higher levels of work-related time pressure demands, and analyst that are risk adverse would all engage in more knowledge sourcing behavior; consequently, they too would source more knowledge from all three knowledge sources identified earlier. The authors developed a cross-sectional survey to measure how the subjects learning orientation, intellectual demands, risk aversion, and time pressure reaction would affect their preference for sourcing specific information. The results were mostly in line with what knowledge sourcing theory would predict when it came to sourcing knowledge from their colleagues. One notable exception for sourcing knowledge from colleagues occurred when time pressure was introduced into the equation. When analysts were under time pressure, they did not consult their colleagues for information. However, there were some noted exceptions when it came to sourcing knowledge from company documents and repositories. For example, neither time pressure nor risk aversion predicted sourcing from company manuals. On the other hand, risk aversion and intellectual demand (as theorized) both significantly predicted sourcing from repositories, one positively and one negatively.
These are the types of books and articles that provide the relative information that provides seminal information and broad views of the development of the crowdsourcing phenomenon, and its applicability to multiple business situations. In the study, these forms of literature will be thoroughly examined to provide strong foundation for further research on the subject.

References
Albright, S.C., Winston W.L., & Zappe, C. (2006). Data Analysis and Decision Making with Microsoft Excel, 3rd Ed. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western.
Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Boston: Harvard Business Press.
Biggs, D., & Swailes, S. (2006). Relations, commitment and satisfaction in agency workers and permanent workers. Employee Relations, 28, ½, 130-143.
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (2nd ed.). Thousands Oaks, CA: ***** Publications.
Dawson, K. (2006). ACCE/Special preview: The State of the call center industry. Retrieved February 11, 2009 from http://www.callcentermagazine.com/shared/article/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=192202464.
Gray, P. H., & Durcikova, A. (2006). The role of knowledge repositories in technical support environment: Speed versus learning in user performance. Journal of Management Information Systems, 22, 3. 159-190.
Fowler, F. J. (2009). Survey research methods (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: ***** Publications, Inc.
Koh, S. C. L., Gunasekaran, A., Thomas, A., & Arunachalam, S. (2005). The application of knowledge management in call centres. Journal of Knowledge Management, 9, 4, 56-69
Swanson, R. A., & Holton, E. F., III. (Eds.). (2005). Research in organizations: Foundations and methods of inquiry. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
Workman, M., & Bommer, W. (2004). Redesigning computer call center work: A longitudinal field experiment. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 3, 317- 337


*****