230157 SE India as the back-office of the world (2015S)

Working conditions and trade unionism in call centres and business process outsourcing

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 23 - Soziologie

Continuous assessment of course work

Prof. Ernesto Noronha

Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Registration is open from Mo 09.02.2015 08:00 to Mo 23.02.2015 08:00
Registration is open from Th 26.02.2015 08:00 to Su 01.03.2015 08:00
Deregistration possible until Fr 20.03.2015 23:59

Details

max. 35 participants

Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

    
    Friday
    24.04.
    13:15 - 16:00
    Seminarraum H10, Rathausstraße 19, Stiege 2, Hochparterre
    
    Monday
    29.06.
    09:00 - 13:00
    Seminarraum H10, Rathausstraße 19, Stiege 2, Hochparterre
    
    Monday
    29.06.
    14:00 - 18:00
    Seminarraum H10, Rathausstraße 19, Stiege 2, Hochparterre
    
    Tuesday
    30.06.
    09:45 - 18:15
    Prominentenzimmer  Hauptgebäude, Tiefparterre Hof 4
    
    Wednesday
    01.07.
    09:00 - 11:00
    Seminarraum H10, Rathausstraße 19, Stiege 2, Hochparterre

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

In recent decades economic development was characterized by an expansion of transnational value chains and the digitization of information and work. In this global restructuring of work-organization India plays an important role. Because of low labour costs and a well-educated English-speaking workforce business process outsourcing (BPO) became an important part of the Indian economy. The characteristics of these emerging jobs and the working conditions in this field are analysed in this course. Workers are not only seen as passive victims. Rather, labour agency is also taken seriously. The main questions are: What are the job characteristics in the Indian BPO sector? How do workers experience this new form of labour? What are the individual and collective reactions of workers? How can trade unions improve working conditions?

Assessment and permitted materials

Participation in discussions, summarizing texts, writing an essay

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The case of India provides a valuable example for understanding global work organization. Especially the perspective of emerging nations is often inadequately covered in the European context. Students should get better knowledge about the global restructuring of work and about the connectedness of economic processes in a globalized economy.

Examination topics

Lecture, discussions, working with texts

Reading list

Noronha, Ernesto, Premilla D'Cruz (2009): Employee identity in Indian call centres: The notion of professionalism. New Delhi: Sage/Response
Noronha, Ernesto, Premilla D'Cruz, Phil Taylor and Dora Scholarios (2011): The experience of work in India’s domestic call centre industry.International Journal of Human Resource Management. (Early online edition published 1 June 2011 -DOI:10.1080/09585192.2011.561216)
Noronha, Ernesto, Premilla D'Cruz, Phil Taylor and Dora Scholarios: 'From boom to where? : the impact of crisis on work and employment in Indian BPO'.New Technology, Work and Employment
Noronha, Ernesto, Premilla D'Cruz (2013): Hope to Despair: The Experience of Organizing Indian Call Centre Employees,Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 48 (3): 471-486, 2013.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: We 15.12.2021 00:23