Shehzad Nadeem
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691147871
- eISBN:
- 9781400836697
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691147871.003.0006
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter traces the offshoring of work from the United States to India as it occurred at one company. It considers the types of work being moved and the labor conditions under which they are ...
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This chapter traces the offshoring of work from the United States to India as it occurred at one company. It considers the types of work being moved and the labor conditions under which they are performed. While the complexity of services offered from India is increasing, there are presently limits to how high subsidiaries and subcontractors will move up the so-called value ladder. That is, they depend on standardized work for the bulk of their revenues. This translates into extreme levels of work rationalization, or the Taylorization of information work, and consequently, high turnover. The chapter also emphazies two points: first, the Indian outsourcing industry is not terribly innovative; second, Indian workers are innocent of the knowledge of what to do and must be told. It argues that outsourcing workers do not take “ownership” of their work for a variety of reasons beyond an ingrained lack of initiative.Less
This chapter traces the offshoring of work from the United States to India as it occurred at one company. It considers the types of work being moved and the labor conditions under which they are performed. While the complexity of services offered from India is increasing, there are presently limits to how high subsidiaries and subcontractors will move up the so-called value ladder. That is, they depend on standardized work for the bulk of their revenues. This translates into extreme levels of work rationalization, or the Taylorization of information work, and consequently, high turnover. The chapter also emphazies two points: first, the Indian outsourcing industry is not terribly innovative; second, Indian workers are innocent of the knowledge of what to do and must be told. It argues that outsourcing workers do not take “ownership” of their work for a variety of reasons beyond an ingrained lack of initiative.
John Hatcher
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198282822
- eISBN:
- 9780191684418
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198282822.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Economic History
A venturer, having decided to mine coal, was presented with a number of choices of how to manage his enterprise. Basically, the alternatives lay between managing directly, with a high degree of ...
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A venturer, having decided to mine coal, was presented with a number of choices of how to manage his enterprise. Basically, the alternatives lay between managing directly, with a high degree of personal involvement, or indirectly, by delegating managerial functions to subcontractors and agents. This chapter discusses the priorities of colliery management, the management of small collieries, the management of larger collieries, and accounting procedures.Less
A venturer, having decided to mine coal, was presented with a number of choices of how to manage his enterprise. Basically, the alternatives lay between managing directly, with a high degree of personal involvement, or indirectly, by delegating managerial functions to subcontractors and agents. This chapter discusses the priorities of colliery management, the management of small collieries, the management of larger collieries, and accounting procedures.
Adam Moore
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501742170
- eISBN:
- 9781501716393
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501742170.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
This chapter describes the emergence of labor export as a development strategy by the Philippines starting in the 1970s and the concurrent development of labor flows between Gulf states and South and ...
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This chapter describes the emergence of labor export as a development strategy by the Philippines starting in the 1970s and the concurrent development of labor flows between Gulf states and South and Southeast Asian countries. It analyzes the links between recruiting pathways, logistics subcontractors, and Filipino employment on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. The chapter also discusses the United States' annexation of the Philippines following the Spanish–American War of 1898. During the subsequent colonial period, and in the decades following independence when the Philippines operated as a U.S. client state, Filipino labor was enrolled to facilitate a number of military and civilian projects. It concludes by explaining how the prevalence of Filipino labor in the Middle East, and the Philippines' unique historical relationship with the United States, shaped President Arroyo's decision to support the invasion in Iraq, with an eye to the economic and political benefits she anticipated would accrue.Less
This chapter describes the emergence of labor export as a development strategy by the Philippines starting in the 1970s and the concurrent development of labor flows between Gulf states and South and Southeast Asian countries. It analyzes the links between recruiting pathways, logistics subcontractors, and Filipino employment on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. The chapter also discusses the United States' annexation of the Philippines following the Spanish–American War of 1898. During the subsequent colonial period, and in the decades following independence when the Philippines operated as a U.S. client state, Filipino labor was enrolled to facilitate a number of military and civilian projects. It concludes by explaining how the prevalence of Filipino labor in the Middle East, and the Philippines' unique historical relationship with the United States, shaped President Arroyo's decision to support the invasion in Iraq, with an eye to the economic and political benefits she anticipated would accrue.
Adam Moore
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501742170
- eISBN:
- 9781501716393
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501742170.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
This chapter examines stark differences in pay, perks, and working conditions between those employed by prime contractors or subcontractors, and ways that race, nationality, and gender shape ...
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This chapter examines stark differences in pay, perks, and working conditions between those employed by prime contractors or subcontractors, and ways that race, nationality, and gender shape relations and hierarchies among workers and between workers and service members on bases. It examines two social fields that significantly influence the experiences of the military's third country nations (TCN) workforce, which in their most basic form can be referred to as company and identity. Perhaps the most important influence on life on a military base in a warzone concerns the type of company that one works for. The chapter further emphasizes how important employment with a prime contractor or subcontractor is in determining pay and privileges, as well as relations among workers, and between workers and service members. It also discusses in further detail the introduction of tiered contracts by Fluor and DynCorp in Afghanistan, which has blurred the distinction between prime contractors and subcontractors in recent years.Less
This chapter examines stark differences in pay, perks, and working conditions between those employed by prime contractors or subcontractors, and ways that race, nationality, and gender shape relations and hierarchies among workers and between workers and service members on bases. It examines two social fields that significantly influence the experiences of the military's third country nations (TCN) workforce, which in their most basic form can be referred to as company and identity. Perhaps the most important influence on life on a military base in a warzone concerns the type of company that one works for. The chapter further emphasizes how important employment with a prime contractor or subcontractor is in determining pay and privileges, as well as relations among workers, and between workers and service members. It also discusses in further detail the introduction of tiered contracts by Fluor and DynCorp in Afghanistan, which has blurred the distinction between prime contractors and subcontractors in recent years.
Virginia Doellgast
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801450471
- eISBN:
- 9780801463976
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801450471.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
This chapter examines the extent to which the case studies discussed earlier are representative of broader trends in the U.S. and German call center industries, as well as of international ...
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This chapter examines the extent to which the case studies discussed earlier are representative of broader trends in the U.S. and German call center industries, as well as of international developments. Survey data show that Germany's call centers were more likely to adopt high-involvement practices, but take-up of some of these practices was strongest where both labor unions and works councils were present. At the same time, patterns of inequality were similar. Average pay and working conditions differed between call centers, with subcontractors having low pay and low collective bargaining coverage in both countries. A comparison of survey results from other countries in North America and Europe also show within-country variation in wages and working conditions, but countries varied somewhat in the structure of union and works council representation as well as in patterns of outcomes.Less
This chapter examines the extent to which the case studies discussed earlier are representative of broader trends in the U.S. and German call center industries, as well as of international developments. Survey data show that Germany's call centers were more likely to adopt high-involvement practices, but take-up of some of these practices was strongest where both labor unions and works councils were present. At the same time, patterns of inequality were similar. Average pay and working conditions differed between call centers, with subcontractors having low pay and low collective bargaining coverage in both countries. A comparison of survey results from other countries in North America and Europe also show within-country variation in wages and working conditions, but countries varied somewhat in the structure of union and works council representation as well as in patterns of outcomes.
Clay Spinuzzi
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226236964
- eISBN:
- 9780226237015
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226237015.003.0003
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies
This case study of nonemployer firms illustrates the characteristics of all-edge adhocracies. These one- to two-person firms must assemble a temporary team of subcontractors to tackle each job, ...
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This case study of nonemployer firms illustrates the characteristics of all-edge adhocracies. These one- to two-person firms must assemble a temporary team of subcontractors to tackle each job, manage and coordinate them, and stage-manage them so that the subcontractors don’t undermine the firm’s performance. And they have to do all of this with very little leverage over the subcontractors. This chapter examines how these all-edge adhocracies work, succeed, and fail.Less
This case study of nonemployer firms illustrates the characteristics of all-edge adhocracies. These one- to two-person firms must assemble a temporary team of subcontractors to tackle each job, manage and coordinate them, and stage-manage them so that the subcontractors don’t undermine the firm’s performance. And they have to do all of this with very little leverage over the subcontractors. This chapter examines how these all-edge adhocracies work, succeed, and fail.
Peter Temin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262036160
- eISBN:
- 9780262339988
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036160.003.0003
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
Worker incomes stagnated in the 1970s, barely growing in the following decades. Jobs grew for low-wage occupations and for high paying jobs, but not in the middle, leading to an hour-glass job ...
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Worker incomes stagnated in the 1970s, barely growing in the following decades. Jobs grew for low-wage occupations and for high paying jobs, but not in the middle, leading to an hour-glass job profile. Factory and good service jobs were threatened by introduction of computers that replaced workers, the dictates of finance that changed employees into subcontractors, and by the growth of foreign competition and investments. African Americans migrated north to find that good entry-level jobs were hard to find. As the Great Migration ended around 1970, Latino immigration swelled, spreading poor people from the South and Latin America to the rest of the United States.Less
Worker incomes stagnated in the 1970s, barely growing in the following decades. Jobs grew for low-wage occupations and for high paying jobs, but not in the middle, leading to an hour-glass job profile. Factory and good service jobs were threatened by introduction of computers that replaced workers, the dictates of finance that changed employees into subcontractors, and by the growth of foreign competition and investments. African Americans migrated north to find that good entry-level jobs were hard to find. As the Great Migration ended around 1970, Latino immigration swelled, spreading poor people from the South and Latin America to the rest of the United States.
Guy Mundlak
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198793021
- eISBN:
- 9780191834769
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198793021.003.0010
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Public and Welfare
Neoliberalism is typically associated with the commoditization and flexibilization of the labor market and a project of deregulation. In constructing responsibility between the employees and ...
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Neoliberalism is typically associated with the commoditization and flexibilization of the labor market and a project of deregulation. In constructing responsibility between the employees and employer, deviations from the “standard employment relationship” (SER) indicate the neoliberal thrust. However, this study reveals a growing body of state-led regulation of one such deviation—mediated employment through temp-work agencies and subcontractors. The body of regulations, a source of social action, derives from collective bargaining, extension decrees, judicial decisions, and formal regulation by statutes and executive action. The chapter critically examines two interpretations of these legal developments: one that refutes the claim that neoliberalism dissolved the state’s responsibility, as evidenced by the ever-growing safety net; and another which claims that regulation is merely a token correction of dualism and fragmentation in the labor market.Less
Neoliberalism is typically associated with the commoditization and flexibilization of the labor market and a project of deregulation. In constructing responsibility between the employees and employer, deviations from the “standard employment relationship” (SER) indicate the neoliberal thrust. However, this study reveals a growing body of state-led regulation of one such deviation—mediated employment through temp-work agencies and subcontractors. The body of regulations, a source of social action, derives from collective bargaining, extension decrees, judicial decisions, and formal regulation by statutes and executive action. The chapter critically examines two interpretations of these legal developments: one that refutes the claim that neoliberalism dissolved the state’s responsibility, as evidenced by the ever-growing safety net; and another which claims that regulation is merely a token correction of dualism and fragmentation in the labor market.
John Tackaberry and Trevor M. Rajah
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199389735
- eISBN:
- 9780199389759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199389735.003.0011
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration, Public International Law
This chapter deals with the construction and engineering claims of non-Kuwaiti corporations. These claims included ones for contract losses, loss of profits, and tangible property losses, and claims ...
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This chapter deals with the construction and engineering claims of non-Kuwaiti corporations. These claims included ones for contract losses, loss of profits, and tangible property losses, and claims related to the evacuation of personnel from Iraq or Kuwait. The chapter reviews substantive principles relevant to the proof of the construction and engineering claims drawn from widely accepted domestic models and reinforcing generally applicable commercial law. The chapter also details the panel’s development of its “Summary of General propositions” in order to record the procedures involved in evaluating claims before it, as well as its analysis of recurrent substantive issues relating to construction and engineering claims.Less
This chapter deals with the construction and engineering claims of non-Kuwaiti corporations. These claims included ones for contract losses, loss of profits, and tangible property losses, and claims related to the evacuation of personnel from Iraq or Kuwait. The chapter reviews substantive principles relevant to the proof of the construction and engineering claims drawn from widely accepted domestic models and reinforcing generally applicable commercial law. The chapter also details the panel’s development of its “Summary of General propositions” in order to record the procedures involved in evaluating claims before it, as well as its analysis of recurrent substantive issues relating to construction and engineering claims.