monika saxena
DESCRIPTION
freeTRANSCRIPT
DECLARATION
I Isha Malhotra ,hereby declare that, the project report entitled “Job
satisfaction level of women employees in BPO’s” submitted by me in the partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Business
Administration to Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun is the original
work conducted by me and all data & facts contained in this report are original to
the best of my knowledge.
I have not submitted this report to any other Institute for the award of any degree
or diploma.
.
ISHA MALHOTRA
Date:
PREFACE
Project work is a part of our curriculum that gives us the knowledge about the practical
work in any organization and makes are stand in an organization. This also helps to
understand & correlate the theoretical concepts better which remains uncovered in the
classrooms. I have prepared this report in the process of my postgraduate degree in
business management.
The topic that has been taken for the project is "Job Satisfaction Level Of Women In
BPO’S" which has been finalized by the cooperation of the employees of BPO’S.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Expressing a sense of gratitude to all those highly qualified, intelligent, hardworking,
dedicated and above all helping people who have enabled me to accomplish this mighty
task of writing a project report is something much more than a custom. It is a feeling of
thankfulness that comes from within me for all those big and small things that these
people have done for me.
Today after completing my training I feel a lot more relieved. But when I look back I still
remember the first day of my Research work. I was very much excited and a bit nervous.
I would never have had completed it if the staff members of the Institute had not helped
me. I wish to express my humble thanks towards all of them.
First of all I would like to thank the supreme power, the almighty God who is obviously
the one who has always guided me to work on the right path of life. Without his grace
this would never come to be today's reality.
I would like to thanks M/s.SHRADDHA MATHPAL my research guide ,she
supported me and guided me in my whole research work. I express my gratitude to Mr.
MANISH BISHT DEAN –DEPTT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, GEIT,
DEHRADUN whose valuable suggestions & cooperation have encourage me to complete
the project.
CONTENTS
Introduction
- BPO Industry
-HP, IBM Daksh ,Convergeys
Objectives
Literature review
Research Methodology
Data Analysis & Interpretation
Findings
Conclusion
Suggestions
Limitations
Bibliography
Annexure
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Among the various factors of production ,which are used in an organization ,human
resource is the most important .This is because the efficient use of physical resource (ie
land ,machinery , materials) ultimately depends on how the human factor is put to good
use on various operations.The most efficient machinery in the world will not produce at
an optimum level unless the people who operate the machinery know how to make it
perform at its best.
Human Resource helps in transforming the lifeless factors of production into
useful products.
They are capable of enlargement ie capable of producing an output that is greater
than the sum of inputs .Once they get inspired ,even ordinary people can deliver
extraordinary results.
They can help an organization achieve results quickly,efficiently & effectively.
Human Resource Management is a process of bringing people and organization
together so that the goals of each other are met. It tries to secure the best from people
by winning their wholehearted co-operation .
HRM may be defined as the art of procuring ,developing and maintaining competent
workforce to achieve the goals of an organization in an effective and efficient
manner.
People have always been central to organizations, but their strategic importance is
growing in today’s knowledge- based industries. An organization’s success increasingly
depends on the knowledge , skills and abilities (KSAs) of employees particularly as they
help establish a set of core competencies that distinguish an organization from its
competitors .
With appropriate HR policies and practices an organization can hire, develop best brains
in the marketplace,realise its professed goals and deliver results better thah others.
The role of human resource management in organization has been evolving dramatically
in recent times.The days of Personnel Department performing clerical duties such as
record keeping , paper pushing and file maintenance are over. HR is increasingly
receiving attention as a critical strategic partner ,assuming stunningly different ,far
reaching transformational roles and responsibilities .
Taking the strategic approach to human resource management involves making the
function of managing human assets the most important priority in the organization and
integrating all human resource policies and progammes the framework of a company’s
strategy .
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Human Resource Development is the basis of success of any organization. HRD helps to
enhance employee’s effectiveness and helps to achieve organizational goals. Now with
the emergence of so called ‘New Economy’ the increasing role of knowledge in industry
is becoming obvious. In the emerging knowledge age, incessant learning by employees
through effective performance appraisal system and is going to be a key survival and
growth for organization. Without effective performance appraisal system no enterprise
can claim to be given due importance to HRD. In the unfolding economic scenario it is
increasingly being realized that employees are the most precious assets of any company.
Any investment in T&D is basically an investment that can enhance the value of this
assets. HRD may be broadly taken to include management education. The distinction
between management and training is that while education provide breadth and is more
general, training will provide depth and will be more specific and problem oriented.
HRD aims at formulation of personal policies from time to time in order to achieve its
goals and objectives. The personal policies seeks to follow a participative style of
management and cultivate an environment of mutual love and respect among employees,
by providing job satisfaction, ensuring continuous development career progression and
providing better living, and friendly and firm towards all employees and ensuring
disciplines at all levels.
INTRODUCTION BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING
(BPO)
In today’s global economy, it is more challenging than ever to improve business
performance and processes. In the face of mounting pressures, many U.S. businesses
have turned to outsourcing their business processes and information technology needs to
offshore operations in order to reduce costs. This approach allows an organization to
focus efforts on the processes that differentiate the firm from the competition and
outsource the other processes to providers who specialize in those tasks.
Definitions of outsourcing:
Definitions of outsourcing vary and some examples are:
“an arrangement where one company provides services to another company that
would otherwise have been implemented in-house.”
“The transference to third-parties, the performance of functions once administered
in-house. Outsourcing is really two types of service: ITO (IT Outsourcing),
involves a third party who is contracted to manage a particular application,
including all related servers, networks, and software upgrades. BPO (Business
Process Outsourcing), features a third party who manages the entire business
process, such as accounting, procurement, or human resources.”
It is an international term meaning not only out of your country (jurisdiction)
but out of the tax reach of your country of residence or citizenship; synonymous
with foreign, transnational, global, international, Tran world and multi-national,
though foreign is used more in reference to the IRS.
Term used for any investor, account or security not domiciled in the United
States. Some securities offerings are targeted only to offshore investors under
special registration or exemptions.
Production and operating or technical support facilities located in a foreign
country, normally in a different continent.
In outsourcing agreements, both business partners do not need to be located in the same
country. A company is said to “offshore” if the task or process is performed in another
country, jurisdiction, or outside the tax reach of the firm’s country of residence or
citizenship. The definition provided by E-Business Strategies highlights the differences
between outsourcing, off shoring and business process outsourcing, terms that in practice
are inter-related but do not have the same meaning. “Off shoring refers to taking
advantage of lower-cost labor in another county” A common misconception is that all off
shoring involves
Outsourcing. This is not true. While outsourced processes are handed off to third-party
vendors, 4 offshored processes can be handed off to third-party vendors or remain in-
house. As such, the definition of offshoring includes organizations that build dedicated
captive centers of their own in remote, lower-cost locations.
Further, a discussion of offshoring should also include a distinction between the two
types of outsourced functions currently offshored, business process and information
technology. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) refers to the relocation of entire
business functions to either self owned or third party service providers. Business process
outsourcing includes call centers, finance and accounting, human resources, and
transaction processing Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) can be considered a
subset of BPO in instances where help desks or development departments are
outsourced, but can be differentiated by its use of project based sourcing. For example,
ITO can be used to grow an IT staff as needed to meet the needs of a priority project. As
such, ITO may not be as much as long term commitment as BPO.
Outsourcing could be defined as the shifting or delegating a company's day to day
operations or business process to an external service provider, done in anticipation of a
better quality, lower rates and in a sense getting an edge over one's competitors. When a
company's operations or business processes are outsourced to firms in foreign countries,
often to take advantage of cheap skilled labor, it is referred to as Offshore outsourcing or
Offshoring.
Where functions previously performed by an organisation are supplied under contract
from a third party. Buying goods or services instead of producing or providing them in-
house.
While outsourcing is not exactly a new innovation, the shifts that have occurred recently
in this space are worth noting. As the need for e-learning moves higher up on the IT and
corporate training agendas, organizations are wont to take on the IT management burden
of implementing a learning management system (LMS).
The concept of taking internal company functions and paying an outside firm to handle
them. Outsourcing is done to save money, improve quality, or free company resources for
other activities. Outsourcing was first done in the data-processing industry and has spread
to areas, including telemessaging and call centers. Outsourcing is the wave of the future.
A long-term, results-oriented relationship with an external service provider for activities
traditionally performed within the company. Outsourcing usually applies to a complete
business process. It implies a degree of managerial control and risk on the part of the
provider.
The transfer of components or large segments of an organization's internal IT
infrastructure, staff, processes or applications to an external resource such as an
Application Service Provider
BPO [Business Process Outsourcing] has been the latest mantra in India today. As the
current sources of revenue face slower growth, software companies are trying new ways
to increase their revenues. BPO is top on their list today. IT services companies are
making a quick entry into the BPO space on the strength of their existing set of clients.
We hope to address all issues related to BPO in India on this portal.
We will attempt to explain what it takes to setup a BPO facility in India. Actually, setting
up a call center is capital intensive. An ordinary BPO center that takes care of pure back
office operation [e.g. payroll, data entry] will not be as expensive as a call center.
The philosophy behind BPO is specific, do what you do best and leave everything else to
business process outsourcers. Companies are moving their non-core business processes to
outsource providers. BPO saves precious management time and resources and allows
focus while building upon core competencies. The list of functions being outsourced is
getting longer by the day. Call centres apart, functions outsourced span purchasing and
disbursement, order entry, billing and collection, human resources administration, cash
and investment management, tax compliance, internal audit, pay roll...the list gets longer
everyday. In view of the accounting scandals in 2002 [Enron, WorldCom, Xerox etc],
more and more companies are keen on keeping their investors happy. Hence, it is
important for them to increase their profits. BPO is one way of increasing their profits. If
done well, BPO results in increasing shareholder value.
Typically, a customer calls the call center [usually a toll-free number]. After pressing
numerous numbers [1 for English, 2 for Spanish, 3 for bank balance!] the operator will
answer your query by accesing the database. Call centres address sales support,
airline/hotel reservations, technical queries, bank accounts, client services, receivables,
tele marketing, market research.
If a bank shifts work of a 1000 people from US to India it can save about $18 million a
year due to lower costs in India. According to Mckinsey, giant US pharma firms can
reduce the cost of developing a new drug, currently estimated at between $600 million
and $900 million by as much as $200 million if development work is outsourced to India.
Benefits derived from BPO can be summarized as follows:
Productivity Improvements
Access to expertise
Operational cost control
Cost savings
Improved accountability
Improved HR
Opportunity to focus on core business
Outsourcing is not new - it has been a popular management tool for decade. One
can safely say outsourcing has evolved :-
1960's - time-sharing
1970's - parts of IT operations
1980's - entire IT operations
1990's - alliances/tie-ups
2000's - IT-enabled services
India has one of the largest pool of low-cost English speaking scientific and technical
talent. This makes India one of the obvious choice to outsource to. Dell, Sun
Microsystems, LG, Ford, GE, Oracle all have announced plans to scale up their
operations in India. Others like American Express, IBM and British Airways are
leveraging the cost advantage India has to offer while setting up call centres. Several
foreign airline and banks have too set up business process operations in India. Indian
revenues from BPO are estimated to have grown 107 per cent to $ 583 million and this
particular area employs 35,000 people in the year ending March 31, 2002. for updated
figures!
Many European and US companies have realized that they should focus on their main
business and outsource their Human Resource Department, accounting department etc.
Bingo! it is here exactly India fits in! Today US corporations have embraced BPO
wholeheartedly.
Managed Care Companies, which is more popularly known as Healthcare payers,
are increasingly outsourcing business processes due to changing and challenging
business environment and technological and legislative changes. There is a good
opportunity for Indian BPO vendors in this space. BPO vendors will need to have
good domain knowledge, process know-how and competence with technological
solutions to cater to these Manage Care Companies.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Methodologies
Outsourcing became a catchphrase in business areas in the 1990s. It was a well
appreciated addition to the business lexis This market comprises 9 business functions of
human resources, procurement, finance and accounting, customer care, logistics,
engineering/R&D, sales and marketing, facilities operations and management and
training. Outsourcing is a corporate strategy that companies adopt to enhance
competitiveness of the company. By outsourcing non-core part of business operation and
only concentrating on the core competence, companies can increase the productivity and
efficiency in management.
Outsourcing as strategy is not new. Some examples of Outsourcing, such as GM and
EDS, Xerox and EDS, Kodak and IBM, are more than a decade old. Over the years, the
scale and scope of Outsourcing has evolved considerably. It has also migrated from
primarily Fortune 500 companies to large and midsized companies.
Since the 1970s, many Western companies began manufacturing products in offshore
locations such as Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan. Despite the relatively high cost of
transporting the goods by sea and air, it was cheaper to make them in the Far East (and in
Mexico after the NAFTA treaty) than to keep manufacturing in the United States or
Europe.
Most companies are now adjusted to manufacturing being done offshore. What took
place in manufacturing is now occurring in back-room processing and services. Ten years
ago, if anyone had boldly predicted that by 2003 we would begin to see back-room
service centers and call centers housed in India or the Philippines, they would have been
laughed at. How could high-touch customer service agents who interact directly with
customers work halfway around the world? The cost would be prohibitive given that
monitoring the agents would be impossible and every call would be international.
Manufacturing and service outsourcing have changed over the years. It is a
macroeconomic trend to which every company needs to react. If your competitor can
make a product and provide associated services for less than you, then you need to
follow, or risk being put of out of business.
Although initially low-skilled jobs such as manufacturing, call center, and computer
coding were shifted abroad, as more companies expand their offerings into outsourcing,
new functions like human resources and knowledge skills like technology are being
outsourced. As the worldwide migration continues and the movement overseas matures,
more high-skilled jobs such as accounting and engineering will likely be sent abroad. As
functions are outsourced, more standards in processes are created. Just like in ERP where
business processes such as finance and manufacturing were standardized, a similar thing
will happen in HR, logistics, and accounting processes. Also new technologies such
as Business Process Management and self service portals will help accelerate the push to
outsourcing.
Some of the Top Ten BPO Vendors
InfoSys (www.infosys.com)
TCS
Wipro (www.wipro.com)
Satyam (www.satyam.com)
HCL
Cognizant
IBM India
Accenture India.
General Electronics
Convergeys
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the delegation of one or more IT-intensive
business processes to an external provider that in turn owns, administers and manages the
selected process based on defined and measurable performance criteria. Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO) is one of the fastest growing segments of the Information Technology
Enabled Services (ITES) industry.
Few of the motivation factors as to why BPO is gaining ground are:# Factor Cost
Advantage
# Economy of Scale s
# Business Risk Mitigation
# Superior Competency
# Utilization Improvement
Why Outsourcing from India?
The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in India has been growing 70 percent
a year and is now worth $1.6 billion, employing 100,000 people. And as McKinsey
analysts put it, BPO has to grow only 27% till 2008 to deliver $17 billion in revenue and
employment of a million people.
The current boom in the BPO sector has created a large scale of jobs in the market. Most
of the companies in the US find outsourcing jobs is cost effective and indicating timely
processing. This has surely enabled cross-culture and induced more jobs into the market
in India. I have noticed most of the Top IT companies in India have been talking about
Better Customer relationship, Timely delivery and trying to imitate in the area of Accent
in communication. India is now claiming the hub for most of the Larger IT companies.
The Companies does not think of setting up an technology R & D sector wherein a large
pool of talents are available in the market. The companies in India are talking about
customer satisfaction and better delivery process, working on low-end jobs, rather than
innovating and bringing new ideas so as to give something better to the market. To state
an example, none of us would have dreamt about accessing Internet from one of the
corners of the world in India today and sending Email. The best one to quote is
Microsoft, which surely has made life easier for almost everyone in the world. Never the
less to say there are other competitors in the market. But surely Microsoft has set an
example, Surely to say, Apple Mac has something before, but lacked marketing
strategies. This has surely created a revolution in the global market, from the age of 3 to
80, people can easily do wonderful things using computer.
Why companies are outsourcing
There are some definite advantages to outsourcing. Contract work is often cheaper--
especially if you opt for off-shore development. You hire people only for specific tasks.
You can keep adjusting the size of your team to fit your current needs and budget.
Outsourcing creates shareholder value by reducing costs and commitments to fixed and
working capital ... Secondly, outsourcing helps a company focus on its core business,
creating a competitive advantage within its industry. Other advantages include gaining
access to best-of-class capabilities and accelerating the benefits of re-engineering."
Another advantage outsourcing gives corporations is a chance to get the best job possible
from the people it hires. By using a third party, a company has more room to be critical
of the kind of services provided. If the work is done in-house, there may be company ties
which are hard to break.
Outsourcing Business Models
Captive Direct
In this type of business model, firms setup their own low-cost, captive centers offshore.
Captive centers require a more sizable investment to start and larger institutions usually
have the capital to make this type of investment. Captive centers can pose a lesser risk
because dedicated management from the parent company is used to directly oversee the
offshore operations. Some
firms engaged in the captive direct business model are ABN Amro, American Express,
General Electric, JP Morgan Chase, Mellon Financial, Standard Chartered, and
Citibank. “Some companies in the US are convinced about the benefits of going
offshore and of using India as a base for global requirements, but are not comfortable
outsourcing to external service providers. These companies prefer to set up their own
captive units to gain from the benefits of offshoring.”
Joint Venture
A joint venture offshoring business model occurs when a domestic company partners
with a foreign company for shared control of foreign operations. Joint ventures have
higher risks than the captive direct model because control of operations is shared with the
foreign firm. However, joint ventures have lower risks than the direct and indirect third-
party models because of the ability to
exercise control through majority ownership, or partial control with a 50 percent or less
share of ownership. The law firm consulting group Hildebrandt International intends to
use this business model as they begin outsourcing their support staffs to India. “The joint
venture will focus on administrative functions including word processing, recordkeeping
and finance and accounting…the joint venture also will be able to provide staff for legal
and non-legal research
functions”
Direct Third Party
In the direct third-party offshoring business model, the firm outsources business
operations to a third-party vendor located offshore. Because the firm has no ownership
authority in this business model, all controls of the working arrangement are limited to
the agreed upon contract terms with the third-party vendor. Thus, the direct third-party
business model carries more risk than the
captive direct or joint venture models. Currently, firms such as Bank of America,
Deutsche Bank, and Merrill Lynch are engaged in third-party contractual arrangements
with vendors in India. A Fortune global PC manufacturer chose to outsource their
technical support function “to achieve significant cost savings while improving and
maintaining the quality of service delivery to its customers”
Indirect Third Party
The indirect third-party business model occurs when the firm contracts with a domestic
data vendor, who then subcontracts all or part of the work to an offshore company. Data
can be sent offshore at the discretion of the third-party vendor without notification to the
domestic firm. Indirect third-party has the highest risk potential and is subject to breaches
of security and privacy
rules because the appropriate controls for customer and bank data may not exist. Kirk
Herath who is the chief privacy officer at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. states
“Programs for monitoring the privacy habits of your vendors, business partners and
supply chain companies are needed. It's crucial to realize that a company owning the data
is responsible for it even if a security breach is associated with a partner. As we use more
third parties, vetting them and the contracts they sign becomes more important and more
difficult"
The opportunities that outsourcing brings for enhancing global development also
comes with serious social consequences for those who work for foreign companies.
This article investigates call centers in India and their effects on gender, identity,
and society.
Within the last five years, the outsourcing of business processes (BPO) has emerged as an
important driver of globalization. The new technologies of information and
communications (ICTs) have enabled enterprises to organize their business across
borders in new ways and outsource some parts of their value chains across countries. This
process has great economic incentives in that it has helped enterprises achieve more
efficiency by keeping the niche business functions in value-chains with themselves while
contracting out non-core business processes which results in substantial cost reduction.
Therefore, outsourcing can build a foundation for accelerated economic growth and
efficiency on a global scale.
Although outsourcing possesses opportunities for enhancing global development, it also
creates wide ranging political, economic, social and cultural issues for both wealthier
countries that export jobs (outsourcing receivers) and poorer countries that receive such
outsourced jobs (outsourcing providers). So far the present debate on the topic has been
mostly about the employment losses and wealth creation in the job exporting countries.
The experiences of countries that receive outsourced jobs are yet to be addressed. In this
context, the study of call centers in an outsourced-job-receiving country like India, which
is crowned as the outsourcing capital of the world, is extremely relevant.
India in Global Outsourcing Industry
The rise of the global outsourcing industry and the importance of India as an outsourcing
provider have been closely linked since the 1990s. A search on outsourcing showed only
17 results between 1980 and 1990, of which none mention India1. Among 371 articles
that were found during 1990 to 1995, India figured in just two. Since 1995 onwards, the
search resulted in 1,000 articles per year on outsourcing and the number of articles
figuring India had grown dramatically. Between 1995 and 2000, India featured in about
171 articles on outsourcing. During 2000-2005, the figure jumped ten-fold to about 1,781
articles.
At present, India, with 44 percent of the global offshore outsourcing market for software
and back-office services, has stood as the most dominant outsourcing destination in the
world2. Its outsourcing industry generated revenues of US$17.2 billion and provided
direct employment to 1.05 million programmers and other skilled workers in the year
ended March 2005. This apart, it has generated indirect employment to about 2.5 million
people in support services such as transport and catering. As many as 400 of the Fortune
500 companies either have their own centers in India or are currently outsourcing work to
Indian outsourcing firms. India is projected to increase its market share to 51 percent by
March 2008. Outsourcing has not only improved living conditions for millions in India
but has also helped job-exporting countries in wealth creation. For example, the banking
and financial services sectors in the US are observed to have made savings of US$8
billion in the last four years by outsourcing to India3.
The Indian outsourcing industry is estimated to have been responsible for as much as 60
per cent of cost savings every year for companies outsourcing back-office work to India.
The consulting firm McKinsey & Co. estimated that the cost of developing a new drug in
the U.S. pharmaceutical sector would be reduced by as much as $200 million, from the
currently estimated figure at between $600 million and $900 million, if the work is
outsourced to India4. Although the process of outsourcing is causing employment losses
in the short-run in outsourcing receiver countries, it will help them in moving to higher
paying and more productive jobs in the long-run5. The phenomenon of outsourcing is
spreading fast to new areas like automobile components and clinical research. Although it
began with low-skilled activity such as answering routine telephone queries from
customers on bank account balances, airline and hotel reservations, complaints and other
sales support services, services have now expanded to cover a wide range of high-end
BPO area like telemarketing, market research, billing and collection, purchasing and
disbursement, order entry, cash and investment management, tax compliance, internal
audit, pay roll, etc. Legal case research, medical research testing and financial analyses
are now emerging as important components of high-end outsourcing6.
Indian Call Center
Although outsourcing is now broad-based in terms of new areas, India 's emergence as
the world leader in outsourcing has been mainly led by information and
telecommunication technology-based offshoring services in the form of call centers (See
Box 1 for the case of a typical call centre). From 2002 to 2003, the BPO industry
generated more than 170 thousand direct employment opportunities and revenue worth
Rs.113000 million of which the largest share of revenue and employment was generated
in the customer care services such as Call Centers accounting for 38 percent of the
employment and revenue share of 35 percent. India's success in building international call
centers and continuously moving up the value chain is crucially dependent upon four
factors: favorable time zones, quality infrastructure and skills in information technology
(IT) and telecommunication, language skills of its English speaking population, and
strategic government policy. The geographical location of India is such that the time
differential between India and some time zones in the U.S. is approximately twelve hours
which makes round the-clock work possible for firms in the U.S. The quality of
telecommunications infrastructure in India has been improving dramatically over the
years. With over 35,023 telephone exchanges with a capacity of over 38.6 million fixed
line connections and 6.4 million cellular mobile phones, India host one of the largest
telecom networks in Asia. The fixed line and cellular networks are growing at an annual
rate of 21 and 80 percent respectively7. This has improved India 's cross-country ranking
from 14 th position in the world in 1995 to 7 th in 2001 in terms of the size of main
telephone lines in operation8. Another driving factor behind India 's high-end call centre
activities is the availability of a pool of IT and technical manpower. India has built a
large number of institutions enhancing technical, engineering and IT skills. It has about
1,270 technical (engineering, technology and Master of Computer Applications (MCA)
colleges churning out a skilled manpower of two hundred thousand per year, 32 percent
of which are in IT courses. In addition, specialized institutions like the Indian Institute of
Technology, Indian Institute of Information Technology, and Indian Institute of Science,
have yearly student intake of nearly 7,000, of which around 1,200 is in IT courses. The
private initiatives in computer education led by enterprises such as National Institute of
Information Technology (NIIT), Aptech, ICE, and ICS, are also impressive.
According to the interim report of the Task Force on HRD in IT, the non-formal sector
has a substantial capacity of five hundred thousand and is growing at a rate of 20 percent.
It is predicted that more than two hundred thousand post-graduates (including MCA's),
seven hundred thousand graduates and 7.5 hundred thousand diploma holders in IT and
related areas would be added to the Indian system by 20089. Beside these technical and
IT skills, India has the strategic advantage of language as its graduates speak English
unlike those in countries such as China.
Government policy has also played a facilitating role in the emergence of Indian call
centers as global players. The implementation of economic liberalization covering trade
and investment and technology policies during 1990's has been the most crucial.
Reduction in the import tariffs on technology equipment, deregulation of the
telecommunications sector, and policy initiatives to reduce the cost of broadband access
have played an important role. It is impressive that in just six years India 's
telecommunication costs came down by 97 percent, creating a cost-efficient and high-
quality telecommunication network10.
Indian Call Centers: Social and Cultural Effects
The tremendous growth of Indian call centers in the last few years has generated
considerable social and cultural developments in Indian society. Both positive and
negative impacts of outsourcing are discernable across different aspects of Indian social
and cultural life, including language, identity, gender, and the emergence of western
lifestyle.
Gender and Family
ICT has created new and convenient forms of work for women as this technology allows
work to be brought home, and hence provides better accommodation of work and family.
Internationally outsourced jobs make a difference in the career paths of the women
workers in the ICT sector. In India's patriarchal society, the emergence of call centers is
nothing less than a social reform movement as far as economic, social and cultural
empowerment of women is concerned. Call centers often prefer hiring women as they are
seen to be more hard-working, patient, attentive, loyal, less aggressive, and have better
interpersonal and analytical skills than men. Thus, a booming call center industry has
provided employment to thousands of young women in urban locations, earning salaries
that are very good by Indian standards. Urban women, who otherwise might have
remained unemployed and have married off young after graduating from colleges, are
now being seen as assets to their family. Women employed in call centers are no longer
bound by the traditional patterns of family control over daughters11. Financial
independence provided by employment in call centers has empowered women to be
assertive and independent in their outlook, attitude, and career choice. The gender-neutral
and international working atmosphere in call centers have the potential to further female
empowerment.
Although call centers have quickly changed women's status in the family, they are slow
in improving their social status12. Employment in call centers for women is still
considered to be less dignified work due to odd working hours such as night shifts, and is
also sexually stigmatized. However, the image of call centers constantly being projected
as women-friendly, the pursuance of the policy of zero tolerance for sexual harassment in
the work place, and transportation facilities for picking and dropping at home have all
gradually shed the urban middle class's inhibitions in saying that their daughters are
working in call centers.
Research suggests that despite the improvement of working conditions in the sector, there
is traditional gender divide in the "new economy" is persistent and widening. Patterns of
gender segregation in the old economy can be reproduced in the new economy, despite its
great potential to provide bias free employment opportunities. Gender segregation is still
at play when men are able to appropriate the high-skilled, high-paid jobs while women
have to be content with low paid, less skilled work13.
In a recent survey, however, Abraham (2005) has found that women hold almost equal
positions to those of men in terms of responsibilities held. Survey results show that most
women workers (nearly 91 percent) felt that there was no discrimination in the workplace
in terms of responsibilities entrusted to them (Table 2). But 43 percent of them were
unsure whether they were being discriminated on pay scales in comparison to their male
counterpart. This could be mainly due to the individualized nature of wage fixation in the
industry where salary information is closely guarded. The information economy has
encouraged, more than any other sector, women to join the workforce. But a majority of
women (61 percent) in the survey felt that the IT industry did not necessarily provide
better opportunities for women workers in comparison to other industries. Also, more
than one-fourth of the women respondents agreed with the view that climbing up the job
hierarchy in the firm is more difficult for them than for men. While there does not seem
to be any overt gendered policies and practices in the industry, there are subtle biases that
hinder women from making professional advancement in the industry.
Outsourced jobs provide the possibility of flexibility in location and time and allow the
workers to work from other than an office. Work can be carried out at home and
completed at one's convenience. This makes it ideal for women workers who want to
pursue with their careers even when societal and familial pressures would want them to
be confined to their homes. But there can be an opposing scenario as well. The rising
intensity of work on the job is one matter; for many, work is not left behind at the
workplace after work hours.
The familial roles of male and female also get restructured due to the distorted boundary
between work and leisure. For example, studies have shown a tendency, particularly for
male workers, to use electronic technology as a means of continuing their separation from
the family while spending time at home. Men tend to work in a separate room at home,
while for women, telework and domestic work are more likely to be fused. The net result
of the development of teleworking may thus be to reinforce gender divisions within the
household, with men working in isolation from the family even during normal leisure
hours, and women working in more integrated ways, spanning family and work activities
even during working hours. Moreover, men seem to be more able to combine telework
with continued involvement in an organization, potentially obtaining the best of both
worlds, while women are more likely to be only teleworkers, with all the problems of
isolation that this may involve14.
Culture
Outsourcing based on call centers comes with a package of cultural and value systems
associated with western culture. One can argue that call centers are pivotal in bridging the
cultural gap between the 'East' and the 'West'. As Indian call centers serve mainly
customers from western countries, their employees are provided with opportunities and
training in understanding the culture, accent, and customs existing in the outsourcing
receiving countries. In this way, call centers have been crucial in providing millions of
Indian youth working in call centers more exposure to the western culture. This gives
them a different perspective about western way of life. Secondly, Indian call centers are
emerging as an attractive destination for jobs opportunities for foreign language
professionals15. A large number of foreigners are also working in the industry side by side
the local Indian youth. It is estimated that the call center industry currently employs
between 20,000 to 30,000 expatriates and its potential demand for foreign professionals is
estimated to be over 160,000. This reverse brain drain where people from the UK and US
are coming to work in India would provide a conduit for east-west exchange.
Multiple Personality Disorder and other psychiatric problems
The cultural impact of outsourcing is not as rosy as described above. Call centers have a
profound impact on the cultural and social behavioral patterns of young Indian people
and their families. Many call center workers are reconstructed in terms of western
culture, accent, language, and identity (i.e. western pseudonyms) during their ten to
twelve hours long work in the odd work shift. At the individual level, this creates a
problem called Multiple Personality Disorder. The same person is divided between
Sulochana and Sally, Krishnamurthy and Chris, Sahana and San, Hari and Harry, etc.16.
The remaking of Sulochana into Sally in the image of their customers' requirements
entails severe personality costs, as a person's name is very important to his or her identity,
self-respect, and confidence. Using a different name, copying a foreign accent, and
adopting an alien persona for a prolonged period of time can have negative impact on the
personality of large number of young people and when the person starts enjoying the
benefits of his other self it can even lead to a Multiple Personality Disorder. Workers
enjoyed the experience of being another person and making calls as they felt that when
there are call failures and abusive calls, it is their professional identity that is being
traumatized while their personal identity still remains intact. A call center worker said, "If
we get screamed at, and we get a lot of that, they're screaming at Sally and not
Sulochana"17.
A rising number of Indian call centre and software workers are complaining of stress,
panic attacks, depression, relationship troubles, alcoholism and eating disorders. To quote
from the study done by Kalyani Menon of female workers in Indian call centers: "Call
Centre Girls" have no social life—indeed, they are hardly able to exchange more than a
few words with their families, far less spend time with friends on working days. On days
off, most of them do not even read the newspaper or watch anything more than mindless
programmes on TV. Many of them show symptoms of bipolar disorder with going to
work each day as the "high"—when they are at home, they are listless, bad-tempered and
depressed"18.
Even while stress and burnout are severely debilitating the workers in the sector, they are
forced to live with it. Most often, workers do not relate their problems outside the family
as it would be considered a sign of weakness in personality. But more importantly, it
could even put their employment in jeopardy. Often firms too treat these problems as the
worker's individual problem, though of late some upmarket ITES firms, such as EXL
Services are providing psychiatric medical support to the workers in the firm itself.
Racial and Cultural Abuse
Even when the call center employees are working for wealth creation in developed
countries they are being constantly attacked with racial and cultural abuse from these
countries. The very outsourcing that inspires a large youth population of a country to
adopt the western culture and lifestyle is beginning to render them culturally rootless.
They are being labeled as 'terrorists', 'racially inferior', etc., ultimately deeply affecting
them psychologically and culturally. Due to the employment losses, outsourcing has
generated a lot of resentment in the countries receiving outsourcing. "Kinder, kein
Inder!", a slogan popular with German agitators roughly translated means, "The solution
to labour shortages is more children, not more Indians"19. This has resulted in call center
workers in India increasingly becoming victim to hate calls by overseas customers that
include rudeness, racial and cultural abuse and sexual harassment. But employment loss
is not the only cause for resentment. Some callers see this as an opportunity to air out
their venom against terrorist attacks in their countries. Reports tell that the number of
abusive calls to Indian call centers reached an all time high after the terror attacks in the
US and UK. A call centre executive related a harrowing experience, "This lady kept
insisting that we Indians were the terrorists who were spoiling their country's peace. I had
to bite my tongue, in order to not blast her right back"20.
But most often, the abusive calls had pure racist overtones. In many cases once the client
identified the Indian voice on the phone from their accent they would spew vitriolic
comments. A Delhi based call centre executive was quoted saying, "People would say
'You're a Paki, I don't want to talk to you, pass me on to someone who can speak my
language'"21. Another call center executive was at the receiving end when the client said,
"Back off, Paki, and don't call me again"22.
Web sites have sprung up in the US specifically to cater to phone abusers with phone
numbers of Indian call centers and Hindi swear words. These stress factors generated by
clients' rude and abusive behavior are triggering call center employees to quit their jobs
and is affecting their normal social behaviors. Many firms are faced with the unfortunate
prospect of high attrition rates due to the psycho-social costs to the employee. To cut
down turn over rates, many firms have started counseling classes for their employees to
deal with irate callers.
Social Division
Perhaps the most important negative impact that call centers have generated is the wide-
ranging social division within family and outside. First, call centers are contributing to
creating a category of middle-class youth who are slowly being culturally alienated from
the rest of the crowd in the urban area. The new working habits and patterns of lifestyles,
like working in the night, smoking, drinking, and pub culture, are in complete contrast to
the ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs still nurtured by the
urban middle-class. These young people have little time to spare for their family
members, relatives or friends due to a long duration of work estimated to be somewhere
between ten and twelve-hours per day. The fear of someone always waiting to take his or
her job makes it necessary to work hard. As they earn more than their parents ever did,
finance is not a problem for them as they adopt the lifestyle that they pretend to represent
in the call centers. These issues are creating family and social tensions in the urban area.
Alarmingly, the well-paying job in the call center is widening the social and economic
divisions between a booming middle class and an impoverished class of urban poor. India
is definitely 'shining' for Indian middle-class young men and women who have all the
things that their parents could not have dreamt of buying in their lifetime – cars,
televisions, computers, cell phones, western clothes, etc. A growing number of shopping
malls, coffee shops and nightclubs for the new richer Indian urban middleclass are fast
changing the Indian urban landscape. On the other hand, the ever-growing urban poor,
surviving in slums, are being continuously pushed into darkness by slum demolition
drives, neglected in sanitation, power, and water. The resources of these neglected areas
are being diverted to transform Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and
other Indian mega-cities into the new global centers of back-office work. In 2002 more
than 80 percent of the BPO's were located within these mega-cities and concentration has
only been increasing (Table 3). The millions of India's urban poor and those living in
rural India, who do not have access to basic education and minimum social infrastructure,
are the ones who are paying for the costs of developing this world class infrastructure,
thus widening the class and regional disparity in living standards.
Sustainability of Call Centers and Potential Social Effects
Although the sustainability of the ongoing BPO boom appears to be positive for India,
the future of call centers that are at the lower end- BPO value chain is going to be tough.
As India is rapidly moving up the value chain, the share of call centers has been reduced
to just about 15 percent of the Indian BPO industry in 2005. High-end outsourcing such
as legal case research, medical research testing and financial analysis now constitutes as
much as 85 percent of all BPO work done in India23. As the call centers transform
themselves into lowskilled jobs, determined by cost effectiveness, the international
competition for outsourcing will be intense in the long run, with countries like the
Philippines, China, and Malaysia competing with India.
As soon as India starts losing its competitive advantage in call center work due to
competing countries overcoming the language barriers, it will affect millions of young
people who have taken up call center work as their careers. Most of these call center
employees, who have given up other career options at a young age to earn hefty salaries,
will be the first to thrown out of employment. They neither possess the necessary skills to
be employed in the high-end BPO sector nor the skills to get other professional work.
Working in call centers for five years or so, just answering or making a phone call, makes
these young people unskilled for employment in any other sector. They will be the worst
affected category in the labour markets. In such a scenario, the social benefits of short-
run employment opportunities made available by call centers are likely to have a very
high social cost in the long-run, creating high unemployment in certain sectors and other
related social problems.
The above arguments show outsourcing's effect on output and efficiency in "outsourcing
receiving countries" and its effect on culture and society in "outsourcing provider
countries". The stake is equally high for people from both outsourcing receiving and
provider countries. It maximizes productivity in developed countries at the cost of
employment. Although it creates employment in developing countries, it also has serious
social and cultural repercussions. Indians may be content with their new global position
as the outsourcing capital the world. However, their employment opportunities and
satisfaction may be more transitory than long lasting. This is especially true in the case of
call centers, where global competition is becoming intense. In this context, the
phenomenon of outsourcing needs to be understood with a holistic perspective.
The positive aspects of outsourcing, like wealth creation, empowering women, and
bridging the cultural gap, can be strengthened through suitable public policies. The
people in outsourcing receiving countries should not always see outsourcing as ‘stolen
jobs'. They should realize that it is in their own interest. The outsourcing-led rising US
economy clearly may create more employment opportunities for them. Without
outsourcing the US companies will loose their global market share, which in turn may
restrict employment-generating capacity of the economy. Their appreciation of the role of
call centre employees in developing countries can go a long way in bridging the west-east
gap in culture and civilizations. The urban youth population in outsourcing providing
countries like India should also realize that call centers may not be a longterm career
option. They have to exercise caution in the way of life that they choose. Otherwise, the
social and cultural cost of call centers is likely to outweigh the transitory benefits brought
by it.
The website Aljazeera.com revealed this cost of outsourcing dexterously as follows: "The
call centers create new forms of social division, separating these reconstructed young
adults from the rest of society. The easy mixing doesn't extend to the lower castes, the
poor, or the majority who speaks only Kannada24 and have no knowledge of English. It
reinforces social gulfs, alienating people from their traditions, without offering them any
place in the values they have to simulate in order to ease the lives of distant consumers
they will never meet.
India, according to the prophets of globalism, is to become the back office of the world.
The economic benefits are only too clear, but these entail social costs. The loss of jobs to
rich countries is small compared to the cultural hybridization of hundreds of thousands of
young Indians"25. It is difficult to apprehend how far Indian society, one that has
historically assimilated different cultures of the world, will be affected by the new wave
of cultural and value systems unleashed by the process of outsourcing. However, the
widening gap between different segments of society, segregated by income, region,
gender, and class, is definitely a matter of concern.
Outsourcing Challenges In India
You have made the decision to outsource. After careful strategic planning and review of
the pros and cons of each scenario you have chosen either a third party outsource
company or set up your own facility in India. You have invested time, resources
(including people) and have a few key executives to manage the operation, on the ground.
These people are now responsible for managing the operational challenges in India. You
discover the work has just started. The top five in-country challenges that need to be
managed are:
Effectively recruiting a work force: India has the largest English speaking pool
of professional talent in the world.This is what attracted your organisation along
with many others to India. Once here you discover that the huge growth in the
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry has created its own unique blend of
recruitment challenges. McKinsey Consulting estimates that the BPO and IT
Enabled Services (ITES) industry will create 4 million jobs by 2008. An
organisation will need to have considerable outreach activities to reach a potential
talent pool.
The selection process: Is more complex than that of the home country. It is
estimated that for a voice-based process, an organisation will need to screen at
least 20 candidates to be able to recruit 1(20:1). This number is increasing and it
is estimated that soon you will have to use the 50:1 formula for recruitment. The
major cities like Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi have an extremely competitive
recruitment market which requires that, as an organisation, you will have to
spread your recruitment wings nationally into other cities.
Training investment: Balancing the needs for a trained workforce with that of a
quick on-floor time is a challenge for most businesses. This is especially true
when many of the ITES/BPO companies have created huge expectations in terms
of ramp-up of people and processes. A lot of training tends to be canned off the
shelf programmes often outsourced to many training institutes. The degree of
customisation in the standard three week “voice/accent” program tends to low.
This often leads to additional investment in re-training and on- the-floor training
needs. Many of these canned programs do not address the deeper cultural issues
that impact cross cultural communication. Companies need to focus on building
partnerships with training vendors and on customising the culture, voice and
accent training to their specific needs. Looking at the skill sets of faculty used is
also critical.
Managing Retention: Attrition levels in the ITES/BPO companies range from
15%-60% per year. The average attrition level for a voice-based call center is
40%. This presents huge challenges in workforce management. Attrition factors
range from industry drop outs to job hunting; some of it can be attributed to the
hype in India about the glamour of working in an ITES/BPO environment. Many
young agents leave the industry after discovering the monotonous nature of the
work, and the physical toll of working in a night-shift environment. It is important
for companies to set and manage realistic expectations and to provide support
services to the workforce. Many companies have also not been able to create
articulate a vision and culture that is necessary to keep the workforce motivated
and energized.
Maintaining customer satisfaction/service levels: Companies bring with them
established processes and standards of measuring customer satisfaction levels.
There are benchmarks that need to be maintained. You will discover that getting
to these benchmark levels may take longer then anticipated. You will need to
institute effective call monitoring, call escalation and call handling processes. An
effective process in India will also ensure that the measurement process is
transparent to the India workforce and that agents/reps in India hear the
differences in good calls vs. bad ones on a regular basis. Remember to build
reasonable expectations of time into your India centre in order to achieve the
same or exceed the levels of customer satisfaction of your other centers.
Infrastructure and Logistics: India presents some unique challenges for a
BPO/ITES in terms of infrastructure and logistics operations. Power and
connectivity are first and foremost the most critical components. You will need to
ensure 100% power backup using a combination of UPS and
Generators. Data/voice connectivity also presents the same challenge. Many
companies have discovered to their peril, the dangers of starting with lower
bandwidth, and then the time and difficulties faced in trying to increase it quickly.
Ensure that you factor in your growth potential into today’s bandwidth
requirements.
Other logistics issues are transportation, food, services etc. You will discover that
labour laws require organisations to provide home-office-home escorted transport
for all women employees who will need to work after 11 pm. This is often
extended to all employees because of the travel logistics in India
JOB SATISFACTION
INTRODUCTION
Human Resource is considered to be the most valuable asset in any organization. It is the
sum total of inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills represented by the talents
and aptitudes of the employed persons who comprise executives , supervisors, and the
rank and file employees. It may be noted here that human resources should be utilized to
the maximum possible extent , in order to achieve individual and organizational goals . It
is thus the employee’s performance wich ultimately decides and attainment of goals .
However, the employee performance is to a large extent, influenced by motivation and
job satisfaction.
Meaning of job satisfaction
Job satisfaction refers to a person,s feeling of satisfaction on the job, which acta
as a motivtion to work . it is not the self –stisfaction ,happiness or self-contentment but
the satisfaction on the job.
The term relates to the total relationship between an individual and the employer for
which he is paid. Satisfaction does mean the simple feeling state accompanying the
attainment by an impulse of its objective. Job dissatisfaction does mean absence of
motivation at work. Research workers differently described the factors contributing to the
job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction. Hoppock describes job satisfaction as,any
combination of psychological,physiological and environmental circumstances that cause
and person truthfully to say I am satisfied with my job.
Job satisfaction is defined as the, pleasurable emotionable state resulting from the
appraisal of one’s job as achieving or facilitating the achievement of one’s job values.In
contrast job dissatisfaction is defined as, the unpleasurable emotional state resulting from
the appraisal of one’s job as frustrating or blocking the attainment of one’s job values or
as entailing disvalues. However satisfaction and dissatisfaction both were seen as a
function of the perceived relationship between what on perceives it as offering or
entailing.
Theories Of Job Satisfaction
There are vital differences among experts about the concept of job satisfaction. Basically
there are four approaches/theories of job satisfaction:
They are:
Fulfilment theory
Discrepancy theory
Equity theory
Two-factor theory
FULFILMENT THEORY:
The proponents of this theory measures satisfaction in terms
in terms of rewards a person receives or the extent to which his needs are satisfied.
Further they thought there that there is a direct /positive relationship between job
satisfaction and the actual satisfaction of the expected needs. The main difficulty in this
approach is that job satisfaction as observed by willing, is not only a function of what
aperson receives but also what he feels he should receive as there would be considerable
difference in the actuals and expectations of persons. Thus, job satisfaction cannot be
regarded as merrely a function of how much a person receives from his job. Another
important factor/variable that should be include to predict job satisfaction accurately is
the strength of the individuals desire of his level of aspiration in a particular area. This
lead to the development of the discrepancy-theory of job satisfaction.
DISCRIPANCY THEORY:
The proponents of this theory argue that satisfaction is the
function of what a person actually receives from his job situation and what he thinks he
should receive or what he expects to receive. When the actual satisfaction derived is less
than expected satisfaction, it results in dissatisfaction. As discussed earlier, that job
satisfaction and dissatisfaction are functions of the perceived relationship between what
one wants from one’s job and what one perceives it is offering. This approach does not
make it clear whether or not over satisfaction is a part of dissatisfaction and if so , how
dies it differ from dissatisfaction. This led to the development of equity theory of job
satisfaction.
EQUITY THEORY:
The proponents of this theory are of the view that a person’s
satisfaction is determined by his perceived equity, which in turn is determined by his
input-output balance compared to his comparison of others input-output balance. Input-
Output balance is the perceived ratio of what a person receives from his job relative to
what he contributes to the job. This theory is of the view that both under the over rewards
lead to dissatisfaction while the under reward Causes the feeling of unfair treatment, over
reward leads to feelings of guilt and discomfort.
TWO-FACTOR THEORY:
As discussed earlier Hezberg, Manusner, Peterson and
Capwell who identified certain factors as satisfiers and dissatisfiers. Factors such as
achievement, recognition, responsibility etc. are satisfiers the presence of which causes
satisfaction their absence does not result in dissatisfaction. On the other hand, factors
such as supervision, salary, working conditions etc, are dissatisfiers,the absence of which
causes dissatisfaction. Their presence however does not result in job satisfaction. The
studies designed to test their theory failed to give any support to this theory, as it seems
that a person can get both satisfaction and dissatisfaction at the same time , which is not
valid.
Job satisfaction refers to an individual’s general attitude toward his or her job. According
to Locke (1976), job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting
from the appraisal of one’s job and job experiences. As Robbins (1993) put it, when
people speak of employee attitudes, they often mean job satisfaction. Job satisfaction,
like any attitude, is generally acquired over a period of time as an employee gains more
and more information about the workplace.
To measure job satisfaction, one usually identifies key elements in a job and asks for the
employee’s feeling about each. For example, Job Descriptive Index (JDI) (Smith,
Kendall, & Hulin, 1969) and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) (Weiss,
Dawis, England, & Lofquist, 1967) are two widely used instruments, which measure five
important factors conducive to job satisfaction: mentally challenging work, equitable
rewards, opportunities for promotion, supportive working conditions, and supportive
colleagues. However, some other job facets such as job security and career opportunities
may be important and should be also considered (Huo, Sakano, Tsai & Von Glinow,
1995).
Job satisfaction related to a number of variables including organization structural
characteristics such as hierarchy, size, and centralization (Porter & Lawler, 1965; Berger
& Cummings, 1990) and job characteristics such as skill variety, task significance, task
identity, autonomy, and feedback (Hackman & Oldham, 1975 & 1976).
Job satisfaction is an important criterion for the success of an organization. It is closely
associated with job turn over and life satisfaction. Job satisfaction is defined in various
context by various authors .
According to Locke (1976), job satisfaction is an emotional reaction that "results from
the perception that one's job fulfills or allows the fulfillment of one's important job
values, providing and to the degree that those values are congruent with one's needs".
Human needs are subjected to constant change but the job values are relatively more
stable. Some one who is satisfied with his/her job may not experience the same emotion
if there is a change in his/her needs. Most authors state job satisfaction as resulting from
the fulfillment of needs through the activities one performs at one's job and from the
context in which the work is performed. It is very hard to fulfill one's need as it keeps
changing quite often. Ilgen(1971) and McFarlin and Rice (1992), conceive of job
satisfaction as resulting from the size of the discrepancy that one perceived, if
any, between what he expects to receive from his work and what he perceives he is
receiving.
Pinder (1997) suggests that the satisfaction results from at least three general types of
perceptions.
First, the person must see that there is a positive increment in the level of desired
outcomes he/she receives.
Second, the shorter the period over which the improvement occurs,the greater is the
feeling of satisfaction (called the notion of velocity).
Third, positive increase in the rate of positive change also adds to the sensation of
satisfaction.
Pinder (1997) considers employee values, which are defined as those things that might be
considered as conducive to his or her welfare. Pinder (1997) states satisfaction or
dissatisfaction resulting from comparison that a person makes between herself and others
around her. From the above definitions we find that job satisfaction is associated with
needs and the values.
Factors Of Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction refers to a general attitude which an employee retains on the account of
many specific attitudes in the following areas:
Job satisfaction
Individual characteristics
Relationships outside the job
There are different factors on which job satisfaction depends. Important among them are
as follows:
Personal Factors: They include worker’s sex, education, age, marital
status and their personal characteristics, family background, socio-economic
background and the like.
Factors Inherent In The Job: These factors have recently been
studied and found to be important in the selection of employees. Instead of
being guided by their co-workers and supervisors, the skilled worker would
rather like to be guided by their own inclination to choose jobs in
consideration of what they have to do. These factors include: the work itself,
conditions, influence of internal and external environment on the job which
are uncontrolled by the management etc
Factors Controlled By The Management:
They include the nature of
supervision, job security, kind of work group, wage rate,promotional opportunities,
transfer policy, duration of work and sense of responsibilityes. All these factors greatly
influence the workers Their presence in the organization motivates the worker and
provides a sense of job satisfaction.
Though performance and job satisfaction are influenced by different set of
factors, these two can be related if management links rewards to performance.It is
viewed that job satisfaction is a consequence of performance rather than a cause
of it. Satisfaction strongly influences the productive efficiency of an organization
whereas absenteeism, employee turnover, alchalism, irresponsibility,
uncommitment are the result of job satisfaction. However, job satisfaction or
dissatisfaction forms opinions about the job and the organization which result in
employee morale.
Provide workers with responsibility—and then let them use it.
Most surveys show that the greatest source of employee pride and satisfaction is
the feeling of accomplishment that comes from having—and exercising—
responsibility. Yet many business owners, consumed by fears of a shrinking
bottom line, have turned micromanagement into an art form. Unfortunately, few
things employers do cause more employee dissatisfaction. Here's the real bottom
line: If you can't trust your employees to be able to think and act on their own,
you probably shouldn't have hired them in the first place.
Show respect. Frustrated by a faltering economy, diminishing markets
and meddling investors, many business owners look close to home for
someone to blame—all too often, that's their own employees. The result? A
growing number of employees feel like they're being viewed as the enemy,
not as loyal partners. It's little wonder so many workers seem ready to jump
ship at the first sign of opportunity. On the other hand, companies that truly
value their employees earn more than gratitude—they win enhanced
dedication and productivity as well. So be sure to show your employees how
much you respect and value them—tell them how much you appreciate
them, throw them a pizza party, recognize an employee of the month, do
anything you can to show them how much you care.
Recognize the whole person. Employees are more than 9-to-5 robots
who turn off at night and can't wait until the starting bell rings the next
morning. All workers have lives, interests, and friends and family outside
the office—and most are constantly struggling to balance increasingly hectic
schedules. While companies can't sacrifice unduly to the whims of a single
individual, making concessions where possible—allowing a long lunch
break to attend a child's school event, for instance, or permitting a sales
executive to fly out on Monday morning instead of
Sunday night—can pay huge dividends in the long run.
Mark out a clear path to growth. Some employees are content to
remain where they are in an organization, but most want to grow in their
careers over time. While annual performance reviews were originally
designed to promote this goal, too often they have become empty,
"Dilbertized" rituals, more embarrassing than ennobling. By contrast to
business owners who wish to increase worker satisfaction tend to look
past formalities and establish genuine growth paths for all their
employees, not just their senior executives.
Nature Of Job:
Nature of job determines job satisfaction which is in the form of occupation level and job
content.
o Occupation Level- Higher level jobs provide more satisfaction as
compared to the lower levwls. This happens because high level jobs carry
prestige and status in the society which itself becomes source of
satisfaction for the job holders. For example professionals derive more
satisfaction as compared to salaried people; factory workers least satisfied.
o Job Conent- Job content refers to the intrinsic value of the job which
depends on the requirement of skills for performing it, and the degree of
responsibility and growth it offers. A higher content of these factors
provides higher satisfaction. For example, a routine and repetitive job
provides lesser satisfaction; the degree of satisfaction progressively
increases in job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment.
SITUATIONAL VARIABLES:
Situational variables related to job satisfaction lire in organizational context-formal and
informal. Some of the important favctors which affect job satisfaction are as follows:
Working Conditions-Working conditions, particularly physical work
environment like conditions of workplace and associated facilities for
performing the job determines job satisfaction. These work in two ways.
First these provide means for job performance. Second provision of these
conditions affects the individuals perception about the organization. If
these factors are favourable, individuals experience higher level of job
satisfaction.
Supervision-The type of supervision affects job satisfaction as in each
type of supervision, the degree of importance attached to individuals
varies.In employee oriented supervision,there is more concern for people
which is perceived fvourably by them and provides them more
satisfaction. In job oriented supervision, there is more emphasis on the
performance of the job and people become secondry. This is situation
decreases job satisfaction.
Equitable Rewards- The type of linkage that is provided between job
performance and rewards determines the degree of job satisfaction. If the
reward is perceived to be based on the job performance and equitable, it
offers higher satisfaction. If the reward is perceived to be based on
considerations other than the job performance, it affects job satisfaction
adversely.
Oppurtunity For Promotion- It is true that individuals seek
satisfaction in their jobs in the context of job nature and work
environment but they also attach importance to the opportunities of
promotion in future , it provide more satisfaction. If the opportunity for
such promotion is lacking it reduces satisfaction.
Work group – individuals work in the group either created formally
or they develop on their own to seek emotional satisfaction at the
workplace..
TRENDS OF OUTSOURCING:
The increasing centrality of software within the global economy is clear. However, in
spite of this importance and global scope, software’s unique organizational structure
resists traditional forms of globalization and disaggregated production. In actuality the
industry has globalized fairly slowly and in relatively minor fashion compared with other
industries, specifically other IT hardware sectors.
In 1999, the global IT services market was estimated at UD$ 365
billion, with only 6% or US$ 21.9 billion of this cross-border export
related.38 In other words, IT services are significant business, but the
actual “offshore” component is relatively small. This did, however,
give Indian firms almost 18% of the globalized IT services market,
by far the largest share but not overwhelming dominance either in
global services or in the IT industry overall.
By 2003, India held only 2% of the global IT services market
totaling US$ 385 billion.
The globalized aspect of IT services has been forecast to reach US$
91.25 billion by 2010 or roughly 20% of all IT services. Maintaining
their current market share will give Indian firms approximately US$
16.425 billion in export revenue by the end of this decade. At its
current market share, this would give Andhra Pradesh almost US$1.5
billion in exports alone. Such growth is important and will have a
serious impact upon India. It does not indicate, however, that
“offshoring” will dominate global IT services or that even a majority
of services can be “offshored”. A recent survey by Forrester
indicated that of US Fortune 1,000 firms, over 60% are doing nothing
or just beginning to investigate moving offshore. Less than 5% have
established a global sourcing strategy and spend more than 40% of
their IT budgets offshore.40 Outsourcing is a different story.
One recent estimate by the Yankee Group indicates that outsourcing
is 11 percent of the IT market—or about $150 billion globally. 41 A
Datamonitor estimate gives a lower total of the global outsourcing
market of US$ 119 billion in 2003. More significantly, Datamonitor
indicated that only 1.4% of the total (US$ 1.66 billion) actually
involving offshore delivery.42 While such numbers are widely
divergent and highly susceptible to base assumptions, like most
estimates involving the IT or software industry, the trends do seem
clear. Outsourcing is clearly a significant sector in the global IT
industry, but actual “offshore” delivery is and will most likely remain
limited. Focusing on India and exaggerating the “offshore”
movement hides more significant trends and patterns shaping the
overall industry.
While India captures the spotlight, it only has an estimated 650,000
IT workers that are roughly equivalent to 1.8 percent of worldwide IT
revenues and workforce. In contrast, the US has roughly 5 million IT
workers and 50% of the global market. Even more telling, IBM’s
annual US$15 billion in outsourcing services revenue43 alone is 20%
larger than the target exports for the total Indian industry in 2003-
2004. On one hand, such numbers indicate that there is huge potential
for growth over the coming decade, for both specific economies like
India and new, emerging regions. However, as suggested above, the
slow, global expansion of such services is also indicative of more
fundamental issues linked to the nature of IT services with inherent
limits on the ability disaggregate production. Software services
outsourcing will continue to be a significant sector within the global
industry, but long-term growth for Indian service firms requires a
global presence in specific regions near final markets and clients. The
importance of this “global” expansion and the limits of actual
“offshoring” or cross-border work is part of the explanation of the
rise of IT-enabled services.
ROLE OF WOMEN IN BPO’S
It is impressive that in just six years India 's telecommunication costs came down by 97
percent, creating a cost-efficient and high-quality telecommunication network10. Indian
Call Centers: Social and Cultural Effects The tremendous growth of Indian call centers in
the last few years has generated considerable social and cultural developments in Indian
society. Both positive and negative impacts of outsourcing are discernable across
different aspects of Indian social and cultural life, including language, identity, gender,
and the emergence of western lifestyle. Gender and Family ICT has created new and
convenient forms of work for women as this technology allows work to be brought home,
and hence provides better accommodation of work and family. Internationally outsourced
jobs make a difference in the career paths of the women workers in the ICT sector. In
India's patriarchal society, the emergence of call centers is nothing less than a social
reform movement as far as economic, social and cultural empowerment of women is
concerned. Call centers often prefer hiring women as they are seen to be more hard-
working, patient, attentive, loyal, less aggressive, and have better interpersonal and
analytical skills than men. Thus, a booming call center industry has provided
employment to thousands of young women in urban locations, earning salaries that are
very good by Indian standards. Urban women, who otherwise might have remained
unemployed and have married off young after graduating from colleges, are now being
seen as assets to their family. Women employed in call centers are no longer bound by
the traditional patterns of family control over daughters. Financial independence provided
by employment in call centers has empowered women to be assertive and independent in
their outlook, attitude, and career choice. The gender-neutral and international working
atmosphere in call centers have the potential to further female
empowerment. Although call centers have quickly changed women's status in the family,
they are slow in improving their social status. Employment in call centers for women is
still considered to be less dignified work due to odd working hours such as night shifts,
and is also sexually stigmatized. However, the image of call centers constantly being
projected as women-friendly, the pursuance of the policy of zero tolerance for sexual
harassment in the work place, and transportation facilities for picking and dropping at
home have all gradually shed the urban middle class's inhibitions in saying that their
daughters are working in call centers. Research suggests that despite the improvement of
working conditions in the sector, there is traditional gender divide in the "new economy"
is persistent and widening. Patterns of gender segregation in the old economy can be
reproduced in the new economy, despite its great potential to provide bias
free employment opportunities. Gender segregation is still at play when men are able to
appropriate the high-skilled, highpaid jobs while women have to be content with low
paid, less skilled work13. In a recent survey, however, Abraham (2005) has found that
women hold almost equal positions to those of men in terms of responsibilities held.
Survey results show that most women workers (nearly 91 percent) felt that there was no
discrimination in the workplace in terms of responsibilities entrusted to them But 43
percent of them were unsure whether they were being discriminated on pay scales in
comparison to their male counterpart. This could be mainly due to the individualized
nature of wage fixation in the industry where salary information is closely guarded. The
information economy has encouraged, more than any other sector, women to join the
workforce. But a majority of women (61 percent) in the survey felt that the IT industry
did not necessarily provide better opportunities for women workers in comparison to
other industries. Also, more than one-fourth of the women respondents agreed with the
view that climbing up the job hierarchy in the firm is more difficult for them than for
men. While there does not seem to be any overt gendered policies and practices in the
industry, there are subtle biases that hinder women from making professional
advancement in the industry. Outsourced jobs provide the possibility of flexibility in
location and time and allow the workers to work from other than an office. Work can be
carried out at home and completed at one's convenience. This makes it ideal for women
workers who want to pursue with their careers even when societal and familial pressures
would want them to be confined to their homes. But there can be an opposing scenario as
well. The rising intensity of work on the job is one matter; for many, work is not left
behind at the workplace after work hours. The familial roles of male and female also get
restructured due to the distorted boundary between work and leisure. For example,
studies have shown a tendency, particularly for male workers, to use electronic
technology as a means of continuing their separation from the family while spending time
at home. Men tend to work in a separate room at home, while for women, telework and
domestic work are more likely to be fused. The net result of the development of
teleworking may thus be to reinforce gender divisions within the household,
with men working in isolation from the family even during normal leisure hours, and
women working in more integrated ways, spanning family and work activities even
during working hours. Moreover, men seem to be more able to combine telework with
continued involvement in an organization, potentially obtaining the best of both worlds,
while women are more likely to be only teleworkers, with all the problems of isolation .
The Indian BPO’S and women employment
There are several employment opportunities in BPO’S for young women who have had
education and training in urban, English medium schools. The BPO’S enabled services
centres offer several opportunities to women. The BPO’S enabled services require
excellent verbal communication skills and pleasing personality. Data entry/data
conversion needs typing conversion and strong written English communication skills.
Entry-level salaries range from Rs.3,000-10,000 a month. After four to five years of
experience, can look forward to Rs.14,000-20,000 a month. The same is true for other
jobs in this field. The age of entry is between 19-24 years. The minimum qualifications
required are class 12. Call centres prefer women as they feel that women are better suited
to voice-based projects.
A large number of women are joining the IT enabled services sector (Ramani, S. 2000).
A large number of companies as GE, American Express, Standard Chartered Bank,
citibank, British Airways, Microsoft, AOL time Warner, HP, Dell Computers, Prudential
Insurance, Morgan Stanley, Mark & Spencer have call centres where a sizeable number
of women are employed ranging from 35 to 65% . GE capital had 40 to 55% women
employees in their various centres (Sandhya Sule, 2002). A study of an international call
centre at Pune (Dutta, 2003) showed that 59% of employees were women.
As per Nasscom estimates, women comprise 20 – 25% of total number of science and
engineering graduates in the country. The number of software professionals has been
rising continuously over the years. The number of software professionals increased from
6800 in 1985 to 650,000 in 2003-2004 (Nasscom, 2004). Women are joining the BPO’S
and their numbers are fast increasing in India.
In 1993, only 10% of workforce was women. In 1998, 18% of BPO’S workforce was a
woman, which was higher than the national average of 12%. In 2003, the proportion
increased to 21%. The participation of women in BPO’S is rapidly growing and is
expected to go up to 35% in 2005. Hence, women are now occupying a prominent
position in the labour force.
Women in India are employed in BPO’S located mainly in cities as Bangalore , Poona ,
Chennai, Delhi , Hyderabad and Bombay . More women are employed are employed in
Southern regions of the country, where hiring of professionals was 41 percent as
compared to Eastern region at 6 percent (Nasscom 2003). The women employed in
BPO’S belong to the younger age group. Due to BPO’S, women have employment
options as flexitiming and work at home concept. Tele-tech India , a joint venture BPO
company between Tele-tech and the Bharti Group, gives its employees a choice of four-
day weeks instead of the normal five, hourly rates with a minimum number of work hours
in a week. There are incentives for housewives and other part-time workers for 30-hour
weeks.
Mumbai-based Datamatics Technologies, a BPO which processes data, women to work
from home, 20 hours a week. This facilitates employment for married women, especially
with small children. The employee strength is over 800 part-time workers as compared to
only 500 permanent employees. Tracmail, a Mumbai-based business process outsourcing
(BPO) company employs 2,000 people of which roughly 45 per cent of them are women
who work 8.5- hour shifts, attending calls from clients across the world. A BPO
company, Infowavz International, has one third of its 800 employees as women. 24X7
Customer Service, a company based in Bangalore employs women in large numbers
where the share of women employees increased from 25 per cent to 40 per cent in the last
two years. ICICI onesource, a company based in Mumbai has 2,400 employees, of which
60 per cent are women, in the age group of 22 to 27 years. There are more women
employees in call centres in north and western India .
Workforce trends show that a large number of women are joining the BPO’S. What is the
position of women in newly emerging areas of BPO’S? Has BPO’S. provided suitable
employment opportunities to women leading to women empowerment? The extension of
the market economy can have both positive and negative effects for women’s situation
and gender relations. Positive effects may include increased employment opportunities
for women in non-traditional sectors, thus enabling them to earn and control income. This
is potentially empowering and may contribute to enhancing women’s capacity to
negotiate their role and status within the household and society. Negative effects can
include increased exploitation and dependency on direct engagement with the market,
and particularly on the vagaries of the market. In the past two decades, the relocation of
labour intensive industries from advanced market economies to middle income
developing economies has increased employment of women in the latter. Even though
female employment remains concentrated mainly in low skill sectors and the gender
wage gap shows no signs of disappearing, the rapid increase in the female labour force
participation rate has a considerable positive effect on women’s economic well being and
that of their families. Nevertheless, the issue of the poor conditions under which many
women enter the labour market needs to be consistently raised. The problem is
particularly acute in sweatshops in the informal sector, which through arrangements such
as sub-contracting and outsourcing became an integral part of the formal economy and
has experienced an explosive growth in recent years. In the developed countries, on the
other hand, as industries relocate elsewhere in search of cheaper labour and production,
labour demand has been shifting towards relatively high-skill manufacturing, while
employment growth in traditionally low skill sectors such as relatively low-skill sectors
in textiles and apparel, where women workers predominate, has been declining. The
impact of these trends as observed, in both developing and developed countries, on
gender relations is still not too clear. Evidence from around the world on women’s labour
market participation and gender inequalities (e.g. wage gap, power relations, etc.) is still
mix.
OVERVIEW OF THE SOME BPO ORGANIZATIONS:
Over the past 15 years, HP has developed a depth and breadth of business process
expertise, managing our own business operations with increasing effectiveness through a
global shared services organization. HP has repeatedly been recognized as one of the
premier leaders in shared services. In fact, Shared Services News named HP among the
"Top 10 Most Admired Shared Service Organizations" in both 2002 and 2003. We also
draw on extensive experience in outsourcing and transforming IT operations for large,
multi-national organizations.
BPO experience that works to your benefit
HP offers:
Low-cost global delivery - With seven Global Business Centers, HP has one
of the largest shared service operations. Taking advantage of our scale and global
locations, we are able to deliver low-cost, high-quality services.
Proven process solutions and tools - HP consistently surpasses industry
benchmarks in process efficiency and leverages our position as an industry leader
in innovative imaging, printing, and workflow solutions.
Quality and reliability - HP adheres to the highest standards - with emphasis
on ISO 9000 certifications, business continuity, security, and privacy, regulatory
compliance regulations (e.g., Sarbanes-Oxley) and capital market expectations.
Smooth transition and implementation - Our BPO team has extensive
experience in managing large-scale change programs with complex financial
models and systems integration requirements. We've instituted a proven,
systematic methodology to facilitate the successful implementation of new
processes and organizational structures.
Customer-centric approach - HP doesn't believe that one size fits all. We
want to work with you to find the best solution that meets the specific needs of
your organization.
Business Process Outsourcing and Customer Care
Convergys' end-to-end Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) solutions help take your
customer care strategy to the next level by transforming your care process through the
strategic integration of automation, re-engineering and day-to-day operations. Convergys
can help you optimize every customer interaction, from revenue generation through
reduced cost per contact while maintaining or exceeding current quality levels.
BPO engagement approach includes the following benefits:
Generates real, substantial, year-over-year capital and operation expenditure
improvements
Provides greater operating flexibility by migrating from a fixed to a variable cost
model
Enhances the customer experience by leveraging Convergys' infrastructure and
proven people and process
Offsets risk by sharing it with Convergys.
BPO is also an excellent way for companies to mitigate customer care risks:
Customer Ownership. Focus on meeting business goals and your
relationship with customers while Convergys manages day-to-day customer care
tasks
Financial. Dramatically reduce capital requirements and reduce total cost of
care operation
Operational. Improve collaboration and communication while realizing service
level metrics to achieve your objectives
HR SERVICES
Today’s successful human resource organizations must be responsive, intelligent business
hubs, providing the talent, employee and management support, and workforce data
needed to drive efficiency and boost business performance. But what if HR teams are
mired in administrative functions, from answering benefits entitlements questions and
ironing out payroll glitches to sorting through resumes? If HR doesn’t have the time to
focus on talent strategies, organisational skill-building and workforce productivity
improvements, who in your organization will?
Through HR Services, HR departments worldwide are rapidly becoming the agile, highly
efficient workforce management centers that support global decision making with critical
business intelligence. They are regaining the time and resources to drive bottom-line
savings through transformed management practices, streamlined business processing, and
continuous improvement. Building on a nearly 20-year experience of outsourcing
leadership, Convergys offers comprehensive HR Services across the entire employment
life cycle to include:
Payroll Solutions
Benefits Solutions
HR Administration
Recruiting and Staffing Solutions
Learning Solutions
ASIA PACIFIC
Convergys provides services in more than 18 countries in the region and supports client
employees in multiple languages.
Convergys’ presence and capabilities in Asia were enhanced in April 2004 with the
acquisition of two market leaders in the HR Outsourcing field in the Asia Pacific: Out-
Smart, an independent provider of HR, payroll, and benefits administration outsourcing
solutions, and i-Benefits, an established leader in the Asia Pacific region providing a
comprehensive range of flexible HR and benefits services. The services offered by Out-
Smart are now offered directly by Convergys.
i-benefits continues to offer services as a fully owned subsidiary of Convergys.
A PROVEN AND DYNAMIC PROPOSITION
Convergys adds value to clients’ businesses through market-leading employee care
programmes. Amongst the key qualities that appeal to clients are:
A high degree of business flexibility
Strong programme and project management teams
Robust, well-tested scalable platforms and processes
Ability to deliver reduced operational and financial risk
Predictable cost savings/metrics over the life of the client relationship
Guaranteed service levels
Consistent reporting, leading to improved management decision-making.
IMPROVING PROCESSES AND REDUCING COSTS
Convergys drives operational cost savings and process improvements through a variety of
measures, including:
Consolidating and rationalising business activities and systems
The Introduction of a ‘self-service’ employee culture through the provision of
web-based and multi-media facilities, supported by conventional post or
telephone where appropriate
The transfer and managing of assets
COMBINING GLOBAL REACH WITH LOCAL PRESENCE
Convergys’ global support model combines a consolidated service infrastructure with
localised centres of excellence. This approach offers client partners:
A pan-national integrated technology, including a centralised database for
standard and ad-hoc reports
Global best practice HR processes, with local processes
Multi-lingual capabilities tailored to specific in-country legislation/regulations
and standards
Integrated contact and case management
Point of service evaluation
Data capture and tracking, including interfaces to payroll.
FAST FACTS ABOUT CONVERGYS
20 years experience in HR outsourcing
Global reach & local presence
Is Outsourcing Right for You?
When considering outsourcing of mission-critical applications, such as billing and
customer support needs, a service provider must determine whether it can achieve a
sustainable competitive edge by performing such activities internally. Many companies
have discovered that outsourcing their billing and customer care operations enables them
to better meet overall business objectives and to concentrate on the core activities that
grow their business.
Benefits of Outsourcing
A typical outsourced relationship with Convergys includes new service development and
initiation coupled with the ongoing operation of your billing and customer care
application, resulting in benefits such as:
Increased operational efficiency and effectiveness. Convergys provides
and manages world-class billing and customer care solutions with contracted service
level agreements for online system availability, bill timeliness, bill accuracy, and
critical outputs. This enables your company to focus on strategic business issues
while gaining access to Convergys' world-class operations organization.
Improved revenue stream and cash flow. Convergys helps you attain a more
predictable cost structure that closely matches your revenue stream and cash flow,
allowing you to focus on your core business.
Reduced financial risk. Outsourcing to Convergys reduces the need for capital
expenditure and provides long-term cost stability and predictability.
Growth flexibility. With Convergys, your company has immediate access to a
billing operations workforce. Furthermore, the Convergys outsourcing option enables
additional resources to be added quickly.
World-class billing operations performance. Convergys provides
immediate access to a variety of robust billing applications that support pre-, post,
corporate and m-commerce settlement and that currently handle over 100 million
subscribers on three continents using multiple-technology standards
Business Process Outsourcing
In addition, Convergys offers Business Process Outsourcing, which expands on the
outsourcing delivery model to include facets such as:
Customer Strategy Development
Process Reengineering
Customer Data Analytics
Database Migration and Conversion
History -A report published by the Yankee group stated that in the US, '67% of online
transactions were being abandoned due to inadequate customer support'. And with this,
an idea was born. The year - July 1999. In no time, the entrepreneurial drive and the
realization of opportunity within India became the two most important factors towards
the inception of what would be the largest BPO service provider in India - Daksh. A core
team of 4 members sprung into immediate action to put together a sturdy business plan
which got them their first client and the first round of funding.
It was not a company that was created but a whole new enterprise, a potentially new
industry that had no history and no business model to follow. All it had was sound
leadership, a focused vision and an undying passion.
A strong people orientation and adherence to their principles helped the core team touch
the 5000 people mark in 2003 as opposed to their initial target of 2005.
And today, IBM Daksh…
Is a Leading 'BPO' player.
Has a strong platform of corporate governance.
Has a 6000 strong team that has embraced the IBM Daksh values.
Is a winner of multiple globally recognized awards in the domain of employee
and customer satisfaction.
Has built a strong platform of quality around Six Sigma and COPC across the
enterprise.
Has five service delivery locations.
Is known to be profitable since inception
IBM acquires Indian BPO company Daksh
IBM hopes to enhance its ability to deliver CRM and back-office services to its clients in
various industries by this acquisition, according to an IBM statement. It will also increase
the scope of IBM's global network of 22 business transformation delivery centers, adding
capabilities in India and the Philippines, IBM said.
The company is not new to using India to deliver low cost services to its customers. The
9,000 employees at its Bangalore subsidiary handle software development for IBM and
its clients.
The proposed acquisition of Daksh by IBM is a continuation of the consolidation in the
Indian BPO industry, according to Ravindra Datar, principal analyst for IT services and
BPO at Gartner India Research and Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai.
"Successful businesses in the BPO space in India that want to expand further abroad,
need the brand, marketing muscle and financial support from a large multinational
company or a large Indian corporate house," Datar said. "The acquisition of Daksh by
IBM will fit into this category."
Daksh eServices is one of India's largest independent BPO companies. It offers customer
care, technical support and back-office transaction processing services to companies
worldwide, including Amazon.com Inc. in Seattle, Washington. In addition to its BPO
facilities in India, Daksh set up a BPO facility in Manila in the Philippines in January that
is expected to employ 1000 people by year end. The company's investors included
Citigroup Venture Capital Fund, CDC Capital Partners in London and General Atlantic
Partners LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut.
"Daksh eServices has made its mark rapidly in the global business services market by
providing clients not just with cost efficiencies, but also with significant improvements in
the way they run their business," said Sanjeev Aggarwal, chief executive officer of
Daksh. "This vision of strategic skills applied to high value business transformation is
one we share with IBM."
The proposed acquisition of Daksh is the first that IBM has announced in India in the
BPO space. The transaction, which is subject to Indian regulatory approvals, is expected
to close in May. The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
After the acquisition, Daksh will become a part of IBM Business Consulting Services,
according to a spokeswoman for IBM India, who added that all the staff at Daksh's
operations would be absorbed by IBM after the acquisition. Daksh currently has about
6000 staff spread over four facilities in Gurgaon and a fifth in Mumbai.
Rather than set up BPO operations from scratch in India, with all the hurdles involved,
IBM has instead acquired a company with existing clients, revenues, BPO service
capacity and a successful management team, according to Gartner's Datar, who described
the deal as a win for both companies. While IBM is likely to continue to service Daksh's
current clients both for contractual and other reasons, over the long term IBM is likely to
align Daksh's business to its own strategic objectives and priorities, Datar added.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The basic objective of the research is to find out:
To study the satisfaction level of women in BPOs.
To study the facilities provided by the BPO to the employees
To know the response or opinion of the employees regarding the job.
To study the challenges of the job.
To know the different threats.
Are women comfortable in their job?
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.Martin and Hanson (1985)
It was proposed that the characteristics of the employee interact with the internal and
external characteristics depicted in the structural model. The realisation that personal
characteristics (i.e. age, education, gender and job security) have a distinct affect on job
satisfaction implies that job satisfaction may perhaps be more a result of the ‘fit’ between
employee needs and work requirements on the one hand and the actual job characteristics
on the other.
2.. Blackburn and Bruce (1989)
It was found that ‘quality of work life’ factors have a comparatively diminutive impact
on job satisfaction levels as compared to the ‘personal’ factors of age, length of service
and education.
Job satisfaction is a combination of cognitive and affective contentment for an individual
within a company. Affective satisfaction is that founded on an overall positive emotional
assessment of the employee’s job. This satisfaction focuses on their mood wh en
working; i.e., whether the job evokes a good mood and positive feelings while working.
3.Vitell and Davis (1990)
A research was conducted to study the impact of ethical behavior of MIS professionals.
Among other things they found that MIS professionals were less satisfied when unethical
behavior was common within the firm and more satisfied when the top management was
perceived as supporting .
4. Emmert an Taher (1992)
Some recent research of employees show that such things as flexible working hours,
social satisfaction and the characteristics and behaviours of superiors also have an affect
on employees’ satisfaction levels. The results of such studies support the idea that job
satisfaction is a product of many different variables operating on the employee (DeSantis
et al.,1996). A great deal of the research on this issue has been dominated by the
purported ‘structural’ or job related explanation of job satisfaction. Such explanation
centres on the attributes of ‘good’ jobs as the principal factors explaining worker
satisfaction.
.
5. Deshpade (1996)
A study of non-profit employees was conducted in this year,it was found that a “caring”
organizational climate is associated with high level of satisfaction withsupervisors, and
that instrumental and authoritarian and task oriented climate types have negative
influence on overall job satisfaction as well as satisfaction with promotion, coworkers,
and supervisors.
6. Wilson (1996)
It was found that employees want to have the best quality of life possible for themselves
and their families, and managers are confronted with increasing challenges of managing
effective and efficient organizations by utilizing human, financial, and technological
resources available to them. Understanding job satisfaction and what it means is not only
desirable but also a critical aspect of life for both individuals and organizations
7.” Power and personality: an analysis of gay male intimate abuse”
Monica A. Landolt and Donald G. Dutton (1997)
A study was conducted to investigate the issue of gay male intimate abuse in a sample of
52 couples. The objective of the study was to explore the association between
relationship power dynamics and the perpetration of psychological abuse, and to
investigate the correspondence between intimate abuse and factors associated with the
Abusive The majority of participants were middle to upper class and their ethnic/racial
breakdown is as follows: White (86%), Native American (7%), Asian (4%), and Other
(3%). In terms of power, results indicated that the more frequent form of psychological
abuse was significantly higher in relationships characterized by divided power (i.e.,
partners sharing decision-making authority by the partners each making decisions in
different domains). This finding supports the supposition that abuse can occur in
relatively egalitarian relationships.. Conclusions are drawn regarding the generalizability
of intimate abuse across lines of sexual orientation.
8. Nir Kshetri (2005)
A study was conducted using institutional theory as a lens, to analyzes the drivers of
offshore business process and information technology outsourcing. The mechanisms by
which regulative rules, social rules, culturally supported habits were examined and
subconsciously accepted rules and customs influence assessment, selection as well as
continuation of outsourcing projects. Managerial and policy implications are discussed
and directions for future research have been suggested.
9. Saying ‘Good Morning’ in the Night: The Reversal of Work Time in
Global ICT Service Work
Winifred Re becca Poster (2007)
Through case studies of three firms, and interviews with 80 employees, managers, and
officials, It was shown how this industry involves a “reversal” of work time in which
organizations and their employees shift their schedules entirely to the night. Rather than
liberation from time, workers experience a hyper-management, rigidification, and re-
territorialization of temporalities. This temporal order pervades both the physical and
virtual tasks of the job, and has consequences for workers’ health, families, future
careers, and the wider community of New Delhi. It was said that this trend is prompted
by capital mobility within the information economy, expansion of the service sector, and
global inequalities of time, and is reflective of an emerging stratification of employment
temporalities across lines of the Global North and South.
10. Santanu Sarkar (2007)
Drawing on data from a survey of 342 employees from three BPO organizations in
Mumbai (India), this study examined whether cultural variables of individual cultural
orientation and organizational culture, and their interaction were predictive of employees’
attitudes toward union membership in BPO organizations in India where unionization has
hitherto not taken place. Using regression analysis, the researcher found that over and
above the effects of demographic and job-related variable, and work stress and job
satisfaction, horizontal individualism could predict union attitudes significantly and
negatively whereas vertical individualism and collectivism could predict the attitudes
significantly and positively .
11.“Call centres: A decade of research”
Bob Russell (2008)
. This paper critically examines all aspects of research that has been undertaken on call
centres, from the publication of the first novel pieces of research up to the most recent
contributions. A good deal of effort has gone into classifying call centres, comparing the
organization of work in them with other types of work and considering the extent of
variation between call centres. Different aspects of call-centre work are emphasized and
different conclusions regarding call-centre employment and its possibilities are reached..
It is also the case that the study of call centres invites critical reflection upon theories of
management, and this is also entered into in this paper.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The Research always starts with a question or a problem. Its purpose is to find answers to
questions through the application of the scientific method. It is a systematic and intensive
study directed towards a more complete knowledge of the subject studied.
Research Design
(i) Descriptive Research
Descriptive approach cannot be changed every now & then it is therefore, necessary
that the researcher gives sufficient thought to framing research questions and deciding
the types of data to be collected and the procedure to be used for this purpose.
(ii) Analytical/Causal Research
As the name implies, a causal design investigates the cause & effect relationship
between two or more variable. The design of causal research is based on reasoning along
will tested lines.
Descriptive and a little-bit analytical review is used.
DATA SOURCE : Primary Data & Secondary Data
RESEARCH APPROACH : SURVEY/ANALYSIS
RESEARCH INSTRUMENT : QUESTIONNAIRE
Data Collection
1) Internal Sources
2) External Sources
1) Internal Sources : The illustration of internal data are employee’s, reports etc.
2) External Sources : It is used to make a more detailed study of marketing problem.
The sources can be sub classified into two categories primary data & secondary data.
DATA COLLECTION
DATA COLLECTION METHOD
In my Research I have use both Primary and Secondary Data
In Primary Data I collect Data individually from the IBM DAKSH.
In Secondary Data I Collect Data from the Information already exists which I get
from Manuals.
DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS
For Collection of Information I have used questionnaire and on that basis I have done
Analysis.
SAMPLING DESIGN
SAMPLING UNIT
The Sampling Unit used for the Project is HR Department of both( IBM DAKSH ). Out
of these Departments, I have chosen my Sample Size of 100 respondents.
SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
The Sampling Technique, which I used for collection of data, is Probability
Technique.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Respondents for the survey were geographically dispersed. So it was difficult to
access all of them.
Lack of response on the part of respondents was a big problem.
Time was also a hurdle.
Contacting the BPO firms without any contacts was a tough job. So I could not
make it properly.
Secondary data has been collected from Internet which may not be sufficient.
. Whole population is not considered to avoid in the analysis. As the complete
enumeration of the whole population would not have justifiably increased the
accuracy.
Sample has been taken out according to personal judgment, which may not be
accurate.
Respondents might not have answered few questions correctly out fear of
management and unstated biasness.
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Q. Are you satisfied with the job ?
OPTIONS %age of Response
Delighted 30
Satisfied 30
To some extent 25
Dissatisfied 15
%age of Response
30%
30%
25%
15% Delighted
Satisfied
To someextent
Dissatisfied
Q. Are you satisfied with the services provided by BPO ?
Options %age of Response
Excellent 85
Good 10
Bad 5
%age of Response
Excellent 85%
Good10%
Bad5%
The above graph and table depicts that 85% of the respondents are satisfied with the
facilities provided to them. Where as 10% of the respondents are replaying good and only
5% are not satisfied.
Q. Do you get enough salary to work in night shifts because working in night shifts is
difficult than working during day?
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Yes 35
No 65
%age of Response
Yes35%
No65%
The above graph and table depicts that 65% are satisfied with the salary provided to them
and 35% of the respondents are not satisfied.
Q. Do you get enough security while working in night shifts?
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Yes 95
No 5
%age of Response
Yes95%
No5%
The above graph and table depicts that 95% of the respondents are satisfied with the
security provided to them in the night shifts while 5% are not satisfied with the security
system.
Q. Does this job affects your social life?
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Yes 75
No 25
%age of Response
Yes75%
No25%
The above graph and table depicts that 75% of respondents says that BPO job affects
their social life and 25% says it does not affects.
Q. Does your work affect your health?
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Yes 54
No 46
%AGE OF RESPONSE
54%
46% Yes
No
The above graph and table depicts that 54% of the respondents says that it affects their
health and 46% says that it does not affect.
Q. What kind of facilities are being provided by the company to you ?
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Transport 60
Refreshment 10
Medial 20
Any Other 10
%AGE OF RESPONSE
Transport60%Refreshment
10%
Medial 20%
Any Other 10%
The above graph and table depicts that 64% of the respondents says that they are
satisfied with the conveyance facility, while 20% are satisfied with the medical facilities
10% of the respondents are not satisfied.
Q. What is the level or degree of motivation as far as the job is concerned?
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Bottom Level 20
Middle Level 38
Top Level 42
%AGE OF RESPONSE
20%
38%
42% Bottom Level
Middle Level
Top Level
The above graph and table depicts that 42% of the respondents are motivate upto top
level where as 38% of the respondents are satisfied upto middle level and only 20% are
motivated upto bottom level.
Q. What is your opinion regarding job?
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Satisfactory 60
Dissatisfactory 30
Indifferent Attitude 10
%AGE OF RESPONSE
Satisfactory 60%
Dissatisfactory
30%
Indifferent Attitude
10%
The above graph and table depicts that 60% of the respondents are satisfied where as
10% indifferent attitude where as 30% are dissatisfied with the job.
Q. What is the attitude of management towards you?
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Good 60
Poor 30
Aggressive 10
%AGE OF RESPONSE
Good60%
Poor30%
Aggresive10%
The above graph and table depicts that 60% of the respondents are satisfied where as
10% aggressive and 30% are having poor attitude of management towards them.
Q. Are you satisfied with the management attitude with you .
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Yes 75
No 25
%AGE OF RESPONSE
75
25
0 20 40 60 80
Yes
No
The above graph and table depicts that 75% are satisfied with the management attitude
towards them and 25% of the respondents are not satisfied.
Q Is there any discrimination based on gender?
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Yes 57
No 43
%AGE OF RESPONSE
57%
43%
Yes
No
The above graph and table depicts that 57% says that there is discrimination on the basis of
gender and 43% of the respondents says that there is no discrimination.
Q. To which extent your degree of skills are utilized?
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Grass root level 28
Average 40
Maximum Extent 32
0
10
20
30
40
Grassroot level
Average MaximumExtent
%AGE OF RESPONSE
%AGE OF RESPONSE
The above graph and table depicts that 40% on average level are utilizing the skills , where
as 32% are using on maximum extent and 28% are using at grass root level.
Q. Do you have any language barrier during calling ?
OPTIONS %AGE OF RESPONSE
Yes 28
No 40
Up to some extent 32
28
40
32
0
10
20
30
40
Yes No Up to someextent
%AGE OF RESPONSE
The above graph and table depicts that 28% of the respondent says that they are having
language barriers where as 40% are not having this problem where as 32% has this
problem upto some extent.
FINDINGS
Most of the employees are satisfied with the facilities provided to them in BPOs
Majority of the women employees are satisfied with the salary provided & 95% of
them are satisfied with the security provided in the night shifts.
BPOs effect the social life and health of employees.
Most of them are having job satisfaction & satisfied with management attitude.
Discrimination on the basis of gender is prevelant in BPOs.
Majority of the employees have language problem in communicating with other
employees working there.
CONCLUSIONS
The major factors affecting retention are communication and compensation.
Employees are mostly keen to have an open communication which can help them
to be up to date but this is not the situation in practical that’s why they are shifting
fastly after getting disengaged.
Career opportunity and monetary growth are among the top priorities of
employees today, not the loyalty, because of the increased materialization.
Mostly marketing people, call centers employees and top level authorities feel
their jobs 24 hour pressure as a result of increased work load which needs to be
taken care of.
Employees are more attracted to brand names in expectation of increased facilities
which are not possible everywhere that makes them disengaged.
Most BPOs today are providing pay for performance which is attracting more
employees.
BPOs also strive for collective learning instead of pointing out errors which is
quite attracting to new entrants.
SUGGESTIONS
Incentive for more women employment in BPO and Call center.
Lower taxes and duties on equipment (such as PCs and mobile phones)
Affordable Internet access
Convenient access keeping women’s needs in mind
Flexible shift schedule
Flexible leave planning
Directed training for BPO and Call centers offered to girls and women as
“technical trade course” which will enhance her skills to generate sufficient
income and add value to the quality of their life styles, build necessary confidence
and then grow.
The communication system must be made strong. Informal communication along
with formal should also be used properly.
The informal methods for communication like discussions during lunch, informal
talks with top authorities must be used to make employees feel engaged.
A knowledge portal for employees including all information and direct contact
with any authority anytime may work well.
They must be given a proper induction and a clear understanding of the job what
he is expected to do.
They must be paid attention for career counseling also so that they feel you are
worried for them.
Personal development programs must be organized regularly to make them able to
foster.
Inviting and involving their families in some events makes them feel engaged.
Some leadership campaigns and bottom up programs must be organized regularly.
Companies should move into value creation and value enhancement programs.
Their perception must be changed from life style to career.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Respondents for the survey were geographically dispersed. So it was difficult to
access all of them.
Lack of response on the part of respondents was a big problem.
Time was also a hurdle.
Contacting the BPO firms without any contacts was a tough job. So I could not
make it properly.
Secondary data has been collected from Internet which may not be sufficient.
. Whole population is not considered to avoid in the analysis. As the complete
enumeration of the whole population would not have justifiably increased the
accurate.
Sample has been taken out according to personal judgment, which may not be
accurate .
Respondents might not have answered few questions correctly out fear of
management and unstated biasness
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
1. Trivedi,R.S.,Personnel Management,Oxford & IBH Publishing company,1992.
2. Ashwathapa,K.,Human Resources & Personnel Management,Tata Mcgraw Hill,
New YAMUNA NAGAR,1999
3. Kothari,C.R., Research Methodology, Himalyan Publication house,1984.
Magazines
1. Business World
2. Outlook
3. Express Computers
WEBSITES
www.hr.com
www.businessgyan.com
www.hrmguide.com
www.google.com
msnsearch.com
QUESTIONNAIRE
Q. 1 Are you satisfied with the job?
a) Delighted [ ]
b) Satisfied [ ]
c) To some extent [ ]
d) Dissatisfied [ ]
Q.2 Are you satisfied with facilities provided by BPO?
a) Excellent [ ]
b) Good [ ]
c) Bad [ ]
Q.3 Do you get enough salary to work in night shifts because working in
night shifts is difficult than working during day?
a) Yes [ ]
b) No [ ]
Q.4 Do you get enough security while working in night shifts?
a) Yes [ ]
b) No [ ]
Q.5 Does this job affects your social life?
a) Yes [ ]
b) No [ ]
Q.6 Does your work affect your health?
a) Yes [ ]
b) No [ ]
Q.7 What kind of facilities are being provided by company to you?
a) Transport [ ]
b) Refreshment [ ]
c) Medical [ ]
d) Any Other [ ]
Q.8 What is the level or degree of motivation as far as the job is
concerned?
a) Bottom Level [ ]
b) Middle Level [ ]
c) Top Level [ ]
Q.9 What is your opinion regarding job?
a) Satisfactory [ ]
b) Dissatisfactory [ ]
c) Indifferent Attitude [ ]
Q.11 What is the attitude of management towards you ?
a) Good [ ]
b) Poor [ ]
c) Aggressive [ ]
Q.12 Are you satisfied with management attitude with you?
a) Yes [ ]
b) No [ ]
Q.13 Are you feeling any social threats while working?
a) Yes [ ]
b) No [ ]
c) Sometimes [ ]
Q.14 Is there any discrimination based on gender?
a) Yes [ ]
b) No [ ]
Q.15 To which extent your degree of skills are utilized?
a) Grass root level [ ]
b) Average [ ]
c) Maximum Extent [ ]
Q.16 Do you have any language barrier during calling?
a) Yes [ ]
b) No [ ]
c) To Some Extent [ ]
Q.17 Suggestion ______________________________________________
____________________________________________________________.
Thanks ….!