ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some specialities of white collar work in Germany, and argues that remarkably stable arrangements concerning service work are drawing to an end. It presents a case study of a large-scale rationalisation process that concerning the back-office functions of a large private bank. The chapter discusses call centres in the context of previous rationalisation strategies as well as in the context of complementary work processes. This approach promises to produce important insights into the rationalisation of work in the service sector. In the flexible bureaucracy, a range of arrangements and concepts are used for shaping different work processes. The organisational form is still bureaucracy, but it is a more flexible organisational concept in terms of implementing strategic decisions and answering to customers' demands and wishes. The chapter explains differential outcomes of rationalisation processes and account for important contradictions facing companies and employees. Management tries to maintain a delicate balance between customers and workers, keeping control over customer-worker relations.
