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This book focuses on the challenges of capacity building for flexible work organizations in Asia, and demonstrates how business enterprises practice reactive flexible capacity (in the form of adaptiveness and responsiveness) to cope with changing and uncertain business environments. The book provides examples of how this can be achieved by means of various organizational change initiatives, leadership strategies, re-engineering, innovation in products and processes, the use of information and communication technology, reshaping learning orientations, and more. As these topics are supported by research and case studies situated in different sectors and countries across Asia, the book will provide a useful resource for a broad readership including: management students and researchers, practicing business managers, consultants, and professional institutions.

Over the past ten years there has been a massive growth in call centres worldwide. These centres are said to represent the most dynamic growth area in white-collar employment internationally since the mid 1990s. Yet the footloose and global nature of the industry means that jobs will always be susceptible to outsourced operations, ICT developments, public sector subsidization of business restructuring and re-location, and cheaper operations elsewhere. This book conducts a thorough analysis of this modern phenomenon.

PurposeThe paper seeks to determine whether and how the quality of working life (QWL) varies between call centres (CCs) in the in‐house/outsourced, public and private sectors and the implications of these findings on human resource management (HRM).Design/methodology/approachThis paper reports on findings derived through empirical qualitative case study research in two Australian CCs: Govtcall, an in‐house, public‐sector CC, and Salesplus, an outsourced, private‐sector CC. Quality of work life outcomes are determined through in‐depth interviews with CSOs, supervisors and managers, where a comparative approach is utilised.FindingsThe in‐house, public‐sector CC Govtcall emerges as being inferior in terms of job content, working hours and managerial/supervisory style and strategies. Conversely, Salesplus features a management model that is more akin to what would be expected in a CC operating under a professional service model.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size was limited to two CCs; thus, the findings may not be representative of the wider CC context.Practical implicationsA productivity orientation and employee focus are not a mutually exclusive phenomenon. Union presence and public‐sector status do not guarantee better working conditions and higher QWL. Managerial styles and strategies have a significant impact on QWL in the CC context.Originality/valueQWL is an under‐researched area where CCs are concerned. Similarly, much of the existing CC research is based on the private sector, despite the public sector emerging as a large user of CC operations.