Employee Identity in Indian Call Centres : The Notion of Professionalism

by Ernesto Noronha

• ISBN13: 9788132100799
• ISBN10: 8132100794
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-03
• Publisher: SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd

Summary

This one-of-its-kind book presents the lived experience of call centre agents, and the perspectives of managers and trade unionists regarding employee experiences in the international call centres in Mumbai and Bangalore in India. It highlights how employee identity is invoked to gain employee commitment, for realizing organizational goals and ensuring competitive advantage. While professional identity is associated with a host of privileges, it not only results in agents justifying and complying with organizational requirements and absorbing job-related strain, but also precludes their engagement with collectivist endeavours aimed at representing and protecting their interests, causing the nascent trade union movement in this sector to reinvent itself.This book is unique in being based on empirical research and its multiple sources of data, in its use of qualitative methods, and in its focus on multiple thematic areas such as identity, control, collectivization and professionalism. It includes a detailed study of the dynamics of a subtle psychology that is at work in the Indian call centres regarding the notions associated with the term 'professional'.Providing new and holistic insights gained via rigorous academic research, this book will serve as an important resource of information for teachers and researchers in the fields of organizational behaviour, labour studies, industrial sociology, industrial psychology and human-technology interface. It will also hold the interest of occupational health specialists, trade unionists, and corporate organizations

Author Biography

Ernesto Noronha is Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour at IIM Ahmedabad. His research interests include diversity at work, industrial relations, organizational change, organizational control, and ICTs and organizations. Premilla D'Cruz is Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour at IIM Ahmedabad. Her research interests include emotions in organizations, self and identity, organizational control, and ICTs and organizations.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. vi
List of Abbreviations	p. vii
Preface	p. x
Acknowledgements	p. xii
Call Centres as Workplaces	p. 1
The Call Centre Industry in India	p. 33
The Research Process	p. 59
Professionalism as Lived Experience	p. 72
Professionalism and the Reinvention of the Trade Union Movement	p. 111
Professionalism Contested	p. 131
Final Word	p. 157
References	p. 166
Index	p. 179
About the Authors	p. 185
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