‘INDIA CALLING TO THE FAR AWAY TOWNS’ THE CALL CENTER LABOR PROCESS AND

GLOBALIZATION

INTRODUCTION

• WHAT IS THE ARTICLE ABOUT?

• WHAT ARE THE CENTRAL FINDINGS AND THE ARGUMENTS IN THE ARTICLE ?

• WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE CENTRAL FINDINGS ON INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS?

WHAT IS THE ARTICLE ABOUT?

• DEVELOPED NATIONS AND MULTINATIONALS OFFSHORING CALL CENTER BUSINESS TO INDIA ,

• CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IS KEY, EMPLOYEE EMOTIONS AND CONDITIONS ARE NOT CONSIDERED

• IDENTITY PROBLEMS FACED BY THE INDIAN WORKERS. RACISM AND STRESS FROM CUSTOMERS IF THEY SENSE AN INDIAN ACCENT. POOR TREATMENT OF WORKERS, IN SURVIVABLE WORKING CONDITIONS, LOW WAGES

• CULTURAL AND MANAGERIAL PROBLEMS FACED AT THE CALL CENTERS DUE TO CULTURAL DIFFERENCE AND PROFIT MAXIMIZATION STRATEGIES

• HOW THE INDIAN INDUSTRY REPRODUCES IN CULTURALLY DISTINCTIVE FORMS A LABOUR PROCESS THAT HAS PROVED PROBLEMATIC FOR EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES ALIKE IN THE UK AND ELSEWHERE

PROBLEMS OF OFFSHORING• CONTRACTING WITH EXTERNAL PROVIDERS IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY TO

SUPPLY THE ORGANIZATION WITH THE PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY SUPPLIED INTERNALLY (BUCHANAN, DAVID A AND

HUCZYNSKI, ANDRZEJ A, 2013)

• MNC’S ARE TAKING OFFSHORING CALL CENTERS FROM DEVELOPED TO DEVELOPING NATIONS, DEVASTATING THE SERVICE SECTOR IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES.

• LOWER WAGES IN INDIA, LARGER WORKING POOL, QUALIFIED INDIVIDUALS, EXISTING KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH, THEY ARE QUICKER AT ANSWERING PHONES, EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH SERVICE (WHITSON, FINANCIAL TIMES, 2002)

CALL CENTER WORKING CONDITIONS

• LACK OF CONTROL, EXTENSIVE MONITORING , INFREQUENCY

OF BREAKS, EXTENDED WORKING HOURS TO MEET TARGETS,

DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS FACED BY THE WORKERS

• ‘GRAVEYARD’ SHIFTS, TEDIOUSNESS OF WORK, POOR

WORKING CONDITIONS (NO TOILET BREAKS, NO AIR

CONDITIONERS ETC.)

MANAGEMENT OF CALL CENTERS

• REPETITIVE, TIGHTLY-CONTROLLED WORK WITH ‘RELATIONAL’ CUSTOMER INTERACTION BENEVOLENT AUTOCRATIC LEADERSHIP STYLE (BUCHANAN, DAVID A AND HUCZYNSKI, ANDRZEJ A, 2013)

• MAIN MANAGEMENT PROBLEM IS THAT THE WORK IS DOMINATED

BY SHORT CYCLE TIMES . PREVALENCE OF TARGETS AND BREVITY

OF INFREQUENT BREAKS CREATES EXHAUSTION AND PRESSURE

• LEADING TO HIGH TURNOVER DUE TO INTOLERABLE MANAGEMENT

AND WORKING CONDITIONS

RECRUITMENT METHODS

ATTITUDINAL CHARACTERISTICS- (POSITIVE OUTLOOK, PEOPLE SKILLS, ABILITY TO WORK UNDER PRESSURE

EMPLOYER SEEK APPLICANTS ABLE ‘TO GRASP DIFFERENT ACCENTS AND VARIOUS CULTURAL NUANCES, OR THOSE WHO DEMONSTRATE “CULTURAL FIT” (SCOPE MARKETING, 2001)

MOST APPLICANTS FAIL BECAUSE OF THICK ACCENTS, WITH EXPERIENCE ITS BEEN NOTICED THAT ACCENTS ARE KEY TO CUSTOMER DISSATISFACTION

METHODS OF RESEARCH• IN 2003 A RESEARCH WAS CONDUCTED IN SEVEN CALL CENTRES

ACROSS DELHI, MUMBAI, AND BANGALORE, FACILITATED BY NASSCOM

• THE RESEARCHERS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO TALK TO THE EMPLOYEES DIRECTLY

• INTERVIEWS WITH THE NASSCOM SENIOR PERSONNEL TOOK PLACE AS WELL, WHICH INCLUDED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HANDLING OF THE HUMAN RESOURCES BY THE COMPANY

• THE AUTHORS ATTENDED SEVERAL CONFERENCES AS WELL, WHERE THEY GOT A CHANCE TO TALK TO THE EMPLOYEES THEMSELVES

IMPLICATIONS OF ARGUMENTS ON ORGANIZATIONS.

• PROFIT MAXIMIZATION AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ARE THE KEY GOALS, EMPLOYEES IN INDIA ARE EFFICIENT AND CHEAPER COMPARED TO ENGLAND THEREFORE IT IS OFFSHORED THERE.

• THESE ORGANIZATIONS ARE MAINLY CONCERNED WITH CUSTOMER SATISFACTION, NUMBER OF CALLS AND CUSTOMER SETTLEMENTS ARE SEEN AS THE OUTPUT OF EVERY EMPLOYEE

• TOUGH METHODS OF RECRUITMENT WITH RIGOROUS TRAINING IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE IS USED TO TRAIN THE EMPLOYEES, WORKING CONDITIONS ARE TOUGH, WORKING HOURS ARE LONG AND BREAKS ARE INFREQUENT. INTENSIVE MONITORING AND CONTROL TO KEEP PERFORMANCE AT PEAK.

IMPLICATIONS OF ARGUMENTS ON INDIVIDUALS

WORK IS TEDIOUS, REPETITIVE AND TIRING, THEREFORE THE TURNOVER RATE OF THE JOB IS HIGHER, WHEN INDIVIDUALS QUIT, THEY QUIT THE INDUSTRY COMPLETELY.

LONG GRAVEYARD SHIFTS CAUSE SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC ISSUES WITHIN EMPLOYEES LIFE, 1/2 THE EMPLOYEES SMOKE, FACE DEPRESSION AND FACE FAMILY ISSUES DUE TO LONG WORKING HOURS

DISCRIMINATION AND CUSTOMER DISSATISFACTION IS FACED WHEN ACCENTS ARE NOT ACCURATE OR WHEN THE EMPLOYEES CAN NOT UNDERSTAND CERTAIN WESTERN ACCENTS OR NUANCES.

WOMEN WHO CONSTITUTE HALF THE WORK FORCE ARE PARTICULARLY AFFECTED BY WORKLOAD BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO MAINTAIN FAMILY WHEN THEY FINISH WORK.

LABOR PROCESSES AND AUTHORS CRITICISM ON GLOBALIZATION AND OFFSHORING TO INDIA • LABOUR PROCESS THEORY IS A LATE MARXIST THEORY OF THE

ORGANIZATION OF WORK UNDER CAPITALISM. ACCORDING TO MARX LABOUR PROCESS REFERS TO THE PROCESS WHEREBY LABOUR IS MATERIALIZED OR OBJECTIFIED IN USE VALUES.

• EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT 40–60 PERCENT SAVINGS CAN OCCUR WHEN PROCESSES ARE MIGRATED TO INDIA (NASSCOM, 2002A: 12). INDIA’S KEY ADVANTAGE LIES IN THE LABOUR COST DIFFERENTIAL, ESTIMATED AT ‘70–80% FOR OFFSHORABLE PROCESSES’ (NASSCOM, 2003: 65),

• ONE CENTRAL CHALLENGE INVOLVES SUSTAINING THE COMMITMENT OF EMPLOYEES, ENSURING THAT THEY ARE ALWAYS ‘SMILING DOWN THE PHONE’, PERFORMING EMOTIONAL LABOR OF CONSISTENTLY HIGH QUALITY WITHIN THIS TECHNOLOGICALLY-DRIVEN, HIGH-VOLUME, LOW-COST LABOR PROCESS.

LABOR PROCESSES AND AUTHORS ARGUMENTS

• ULTIMATELY, THE INTERESTS OF CUSTOMERS WERE, AND REMAIN, SUBORDINATED TO THE IMPERATIVES OF CAPITAL ACCUMULATION AND PROFIT MAXIMIZATION. THIS DOES NOT DENY THE IMPORTANCE COMPANIES MAY PLACE ON SERVICE QUALITY, SATISFACTION AND RETENTION, PARTICULARLY FOR HIGH-VALUE CUSTOMERS, BUT TO RECOGNIZE THAT THE CUSTOMER–MANAGEMENT–AGENT ‘TRIANGLE’ IS NOT EQUILATERAL.

• CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NOT DRIVEN BY SOME AUTONOMOUS ORGANIZATIONAL LOGIC, BUT BY THE OVERRIDING REQUIREMENT THAT IT DELIVERS PROFITABLE OUTCOMES, A FACTOR LEADING EMPLOYERS TO PRIVILEGE QUANTITATIVE IMPERATIVES AND ECONOMIES OF SCALE

CONCLUSION

• CALL CENTERS HAVE SHRUNK THE TIME AND DISTANCE OF COMMUNICATION, IN THIS CASE THE POLITICAL-ECONOMIC AND GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS PROVIDE ESSENTIAL CONTEXTUALIZATION FOR OFFSHORING TO INDIA.

• INDIAN WORKERS ARE SUBORDINATED TO THE INTERESTS OF WESTERN COMPANIES AND CUSTOMERS. NOCTURNAL WORKING PATTERNS, ACCENT TRAINING. THESE CREATE TENSION AND CONTRADICTION FOR THE INDIAN WORKERS APPEALING IT FOR THEM TO MIGRATE TO THESE WESTERN NATIONS IN THE PROMISE OF HIGHER WAGES.

• INDIAN WORKERS ARE NOT SEEN TO BE EQUIVALENTLY GOOD AS WESTERN WORKERS EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE A BETTER SERVICE AND THE SAME POTENTIAL, THE STEREOTYPE IS BASED ON THE LOCATION AND THE ACCENTS.

• INDIAN CALL CENTER WORK FORCE IS TREATED WITH HORRIBLE WORKING CONDITIONS, LOW WAGE AND LONG TEDIOUS WORKING HOURS.

• INDIAN CALL CENTERS HAVE DIFFERENT LABOR PROCESSES COMPARED TO THOSE IN WESTERN COUNTRIES

REFERENCES• BUCHANAN, DAVID A AND HUCZYNSKI, ANDRZEJ A (2013) ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR. 8TH EDN. PEARSON.

• TAYLOR, P. & BAIN, P., INDIA CALLING TO THE FAR AWAY TOWNS . SAGE JOURNALS. AVAILABLE FROM: HTTP://WES.SAGEPUB.COM/CONTENT/19/2/261.FULL.PDF+HTML [ACCESSED JANUARY 25, 2016].

• ANON, 2014. THE SECRET DIARY OF A CALL CENTRE. THE SECRET DIARY OF A CALL CENTRE. AVAILABLE FROM: HTTPS://DAIRYOFACALLCENTREGUY.WORDPRESS.COM/TAG/WORKING-CONDITIONS/ [ACCESSED MARCH 5, 2016].

• BUDHWAR, P.S. ET AL., 2007. HRM SYSTEMS OF INDIAN CALL CENTRES: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY. TANDOFONLINE. AVAILABLE FROM: HTTPS://WWW.RESEARCHGATE.NET/PUBLICATION/40498721_HRM_SYSTEMS_OF_INDIAN_CALL_CENTRES_AN_EXPLORATORY_STUDY [ACCESSED FEBRUARY 22, 2016].

• C.S.S.OF M.R.H.U.OF L., THE SHORT OVERVIEW OF THE LABOUR PROCESS PERSPECTIVE AND HISTORY OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR PROCESS CONFERENCE. THE SHORT OVERVIEW OF THE LABOUR PROCESS PERSPECTIVE AND HISTORY OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR PROCESS CONFERENCE CHRIS SMITH SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.