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Purpose: to investigate call centre management from the perspective of the managers, particularly what the key management responsibilities are in managing call centres and the key performance indicators used in managing call centres. Methodology: a survey of call centre managers, followed by in-depth interviews. Findings: there is confusion over the strategic intent of call centres. Centres are primarily used by organisations as a means of reducing costs, with customer service delivery a secondary consideration. Call centre managers, however, declared customer service as their main management responsibility. Practical implications: the metrics employed in the call centres resulted in managers concentrating on the call itself rather than the outcome of the call from the perspective of the customer or the organisation. Some quantitative measures were used as proxies for customer service, but the achievement of the relevant key performance indicator became a goal in its own right. There appears to be an insatiable appetite for quantitative performance measures, despite their limitations, almost to the exclusion of all other performance measures. Value: the implication of the results for call centre managers, and their managers, is that call centres could be better managed if a wider range of means and measures were used.

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