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Chapter 6. Call centre service encounters

Second-language users, conversationalisation, (im)politeness and discursive practices

Abstract

Non-native English-speaking call-centre agents, often located hundreds of miles from their customers, engage in asymmetrical transactional relationships with callers who often question their language proficiency and their overall work competence. Potentially placed at a communicative disadvantage with their native-speaking callers, the operators cannot directly confront their customers. Furthermore, agents tend to engage in conversationalised transactional talk as they adhere to scripts, standardised politeness routines and “synthetic personalisation” (Fairclough 2010). A critical discourse analysis framework examines Mexican call centre agents’ own perceptions regarding how they face up to the challenges of constructing a dialogue on equal terms, negotiate conflictive situations and overcome a sense of powerlessness due to their restrictive discursive options.

Abstract

Non-native English-speaking call-centre agents, often located hundreds of miles from their customers, engage in asymmetrical transactional relationships with callers who often question their language proficiency and their overall work competence. Potentially placed at a communicative disadvantage with their native-speaking callers, the operators cannot directly confront their customers. Furthermore, agents tend to engage in conversationalised transactional talk as they adhere to scripts, standardised politeness routines and “synthetic personalisation” (Fairclough 2010). A critical discourse analysis framework examines Mexican call centre agents’ own perceptions regarding how they face up to the challenges of constructing a dialogue on equal terms, negotiate conflictive situations and overcome a sense of powerlessness due to their restrictive discursive options.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. List of tables ix
  5. List of figures xi
  6. An introduction to technology mediated service encounters 1
  7. Section I. Social services
  8. Chapter 1. Language discordance and technological facilitation in health care service encounters 17
  9. Chapter 2. Context and pragmatic meaning in telephone interpreting 45
  10. Section II. Call centres
  11. Chapter 3. Managing verbal and embodied conduct in telephone-mediated service encounters 71
  12. Chapter 4. Globalizing politeness? 97
  13. Chapter 5. Navigating commercial constraints in a service call 121
  14. Chapter 6. Call centre service encounters 145
  15. Section III. E-service encounters
  16. Chapter 7. Responding to bargaining moves in a digital era 173
  17. Chapter 8. Intensification in online consumer reviews 199
  18. Chapter 9. Relational practices on commercial Facebook wall interactions 223
  19. Index 245
Technology Mediated Service Encounters
This chapter is in the book Technology Mediated Service Encounters
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.300.06mug

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. List of tables ix
  5. List of figures xi
  6. An introduction to technology mediated service encounters 1
  7. Section I. Social services
  8. Chapter 1. Language discordance and technological facilitation in health care service encounters 17
  9. Chapter 2. Context and pragmatic meaning in telephone interpreting 45
  10. Section II. Call centres
  11. Chapter 3. Managing verbal and embodied conduct in telephone-mediated service encounters 71
  12. Chapter 4. Globalizing politeness? 97
  13. Chapter 5. Navigating commercial constraints in a service call 121
  14. Chapter 6. Call centre service encounters 145
  15. Section III. E-service encounters
  16. Chapter 7. Responding to bargaining moves in a digital era 173
  17. Chapter 8. Intensification in online consumer reviews 199
  18. Chapter 9. Relational practices on commercial Facebook wall interactions 223
  19. Index 245
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