This paper provides a critical review of Taylor, P., Bain, P. (2005). ‘”India calling to the far away towns”: the call centre labour process and globalization’, Work, employment and society, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 261-282.
Table of Contents
Summary of the reviewed article
Analysis of findings and practical implications
Assessment of the used methods
Objectives and Topics
The primary objective of this assignment is to provide a critical review of the academic article by Taylor and Bain (2005) concerning the offshoring of call centre services to India, specifically examining the labour processes, work organization, and associated socio-economic impacts.
- The impact of globalization on service industry employment.
- Comparative analysis of work organization in UK and Indian call centres.
- Economic drivers of offshoring, specifically cost-reduction strategies.
- Societal and health-related implications for the Indian call centre workforce.
- Critical evaluation of management practices, recruitment, and training needs.
Excerpt from the Book
Analysis of findings and practical implications
Taylor & Bain describe that on the first look the call centre industry seems to be a typical example for a genuinely borderless economy in view of new technologies and globalization. This means that massive cost savings can be achieved through service offshoring to locations with lower labour costs. Therefore, the paper identifies the possible cost reduction as the most important economic factor for the offshoring of call centres to India and refers to several studies suggesting that 40-80 percent savings can be achieved through migration to India (Nasscom 2002 and Nasscom 2003). In addition to this, call centre agents in countries of the developing world are generally supposed to be quicker, highly numerate, motivated and well educated. In combination, those factors led to offshoring and the devastation of the European service sector. One of the main findings of the paper is that mainly high standardized, low-value processes are sliced off from the UK/US call centres, being then transferred to India. This leads to an extreme kind of work organization there.
In contrast to this, the authors state that cost advantages alone are meaningless as one factor of crucial importance for offshoring is the substitutability of labour, i.e. the quality of the labour force in the foreign country. This is particularly true for the offshoring of call centres, where the labour process is significantly important (Holmann 2004 and Malhorta et al. 2004 and Sewell-Staples et al. 2003). This is why most call centres were initially located in rural areas in the home countries before they finally migrated to the developing world. This relocation happened mostly without recognising differences in the prevailing circumstances as well as related adjustments of the scripts and procedures. Also, the target group stayed the same, i.e. customers in the developed world.
Summary of Chapters
Summary of the reviewed article: This section provides an overview of the Taylor and Bain study, summarizing their findings on how Indian call centres reproduce problematic labour processes and the challenges posed by cultural and linguistic differences.
Analysis of findings and practical implications: This chapter examines the economic motivations behind offshoring and discusses the resulting work organizational challenges, including health issues and the necessity for specific training for agents.
Assessment of the used methods: This section critically evaluates the research methodology employed by Taylor and Bain, questioning the representative nature of their fieldwork and the independence of the sources utilized.
Keywords
Call centre, Offshoring, India, Labour process, Globalization, Work organization, Cost-efficiency, Customer satisfaction, Human Resource Management, Service quality, Employment, Migration, Training, Socio-economic factors.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this assignment?
The assignment provides a critical academic review of Taylor and Bain’s (2005) article, exploring the complexities of offshoring call centre operations from the UK to India.
What are the central themes discussed in the work?
Key themes include the economic pressures driving offshoring, the nature of call centre work organization, the socio-cultural impact on Indian workers, and the importance of labour quality.
What is the primary research question or goal?
The goal is to analyze whether the offshoring of voice services is as unproblematic as commonly perceived, focusing on labour process reproduction and cultural hurdles.
Which scientific method is utilized in the reviewed paper?
The original authors conducted fieldwork across seven Indian call centres, including company profile evaluations and semi-structured interviews with senior management.
What specific aspects are covered in the main body?
The text covers the economic drivers (cost savings), the operational challenges (stress, pressure, health), and the strategic requirements for successful offshore service delivery.
Which keywords best describe this assignment?
The paper is defined by terms such as offshoring, call centre, globalization, labour process, and service management.
Why do the authors question the economic benefit of offshoring?
They argue that cost advantages are meaningless without considering the "substitutability of labour" and the inherent quality of the workforce in the target country.
What criticism does the author level against the research methodology of Taylor & Bain?
The reviewer highlights a deficiency in research methods, noting that the authors lacked direct access to agents and relied on sources that may not be independent.
- Quote paper
- Andreas Klein (Author), 2006, Call centre offshoring to India, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/69456
