ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the ways in which the introduction of a contact centre (County Talk) into the productive system of a local authority (Shire County) shaped the form and location of knowledge and skills, patterns of organizational control and the character of service encounters. It focuses on the learning environments of contact centre operators, but locates these within the web of competing pressures generated by their position within the overall productive system. The chapter has three aims. First, to demonstrate the utility of the Working as Learning Framework (WALF) outlined in Chapter 2 and, in particular, its usefulness in revealing how changes in the productive system impact on the level of discretion exercised by workers and the learning environments they consequently face. Second, to illustrate how strategically located groups of workers may experience diverse and cross-cutting demands in their work tasks and learning environments as a result of their position within the productive system. Third, to explore how systemic breakdowns and malfunctions within productive systems may impact on learning environments within organizations.
