Conversations about Calling explores management perspectives of the calling construct. Using Max Weber’s seminal work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, as a starting point, Myers seeks to enrich management perspectives of calling by integrating the contributions of other disciplines to the literature on calling. While the word 'calling' is casually used as shorthand for 'my ideal job', the calling concept has provoked deeper and varied interest among the secular and spiritual circles of both scholars and practitioners. Structured around the idea of four conversations, the book aims to promote a holistic examination of calling. Each conversation has a different focus, elucidating important dimensions of calling, and together they provide a truly comprehensive view. Part I of the book examines existing conversations in management, while part II explores calling across disciplines and eras, from the 1500s to the present. Finally, part III unifies all conversations in a comprehensive theory, then discusses its application and implications for practitioners and organizations. With a strong theoretical grounding, the book also incorporates practical applications supported by case studies. Anyone interested in ethics or management and spirituality will benefit from reading this book. Please visit www.conversationsaboutcalling.com to rate the book and write a review.

The book focuses on the part of the audio conversation not related to language such as speaking rate (in terms of number of syllables per unit time) and emotion centric features. This text examines using non-linguistics features to infer information from phone calls to call centers. The author analyzes "how" the conversation happens and not "what" the conversation is about by audio signal processing and analysis.

The Language of Outsourced Call Centers is the first book to explore a large-scale corpus representing the typical kinds of interactions and communicative tasks in outsourced call centers located in the Philippines and serving American customers. The specific goals of this book are to conduct a corpus-based register comparison between outsourced call center interactions, face-to-face American conversations, and spontaneous telephone exchanges; and to study the dynamics of cross-cultural communication between Filipino call center agents and American callers, as well as other demographic groups of participants in outsourced call center transactions, e.g., gender of speakers, agents' experience and performance, and types of transactional tasks. The research design relies on a number of analytical approaches, including corpus linguistics and discourse analysis, and combines quantitative and qualitative examination of linguistic data in the investigation of the frequency distribution and functional characteristics of a range of lexico/syntactic features of outsourced call center discourse.

This volume has its origins in a panel entitled "Telephone Calls: Unity and Diversity in Conversational Structure Across Languages and Cultures" organized by the editors for the 6th International Pragmatics Conference in Reims in July 1998.

If we want a more equitable workplace—and a more equitable world—we have to talk to each other about race. But, for so many of us, that’s easier said than done. When we avoid conversations about race, it’s often because of fear: fear of discomfort, or of damaging important relationships; fear of being misunderstood, “canceled,” ostracized. Negotiation expert Kwame Christian’s motto is: "The best things in life are on the other side of difficult conversations." How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race equips you with the skills you need to make these crucial conversations both easier and more productive. You’ll not only gain the confidence to talk about race, but also learn how to actually make a difference when you do. Whether you’re looking to create change for yourself and other BIPOC, or are a white ally seeking to support your coworkers or clients, you’ll learn how to: Overcome your internal barriers to talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Work around others’ barriers to productive discussion. Be strategic about the outcome you want and guide the conversation accordingly. Use “Compassionate Curiosity” to connect and persuade. Avoid common mistakes. Tackle some of the most common race-related conversations that come up in the workplace. If you’ve ever struggled to turn your passion for change into persuasion or been too afraid to speak up at work (or outside of it), this book is for you. The first step toward lasting social change is productive discussion. With How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race, you’ll never shy away from those crucial conversations again.

Much of everyday work is done through talk between practitioner and client. Conversation Analysis is the close inspection of people's use of language in interaction. The work reported in this collection shows how CA can be used to identify, and improve, communicative practices at work.