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 ….!