Breathers, Releases, Outlets and Pauses: Employee Resistance in the Context of Depersonalized Bullying

Drawing on a study rooted in van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology, conducted with agents working in international - facing call centers in Mumbai and Bangalore, India, this paper describes employee resistance to depersonalized bullying. Data were gathered through conversational interviews and subjected to selective and sententious thematic analyses. The theme of ‘breathers, releases, outlets and pauses’ captures both the various behaviours that participants engaged in to gain respite from and to acquire control over their oppressive work environment and the factors that determine their behaviours, namely, their professional identity and their job - related material gains. The findings not only further our understanding of the nascent concept of depersonalized bullying but also retheorize power dynamics in the context of workplace bullyin

The Family Context of Care in HIV/AIDS: A Study from Mumbai, India

Though the continuum of care model has been adopted in HIV/AIDS intervention, there is little empirical work documenting the experiences of caregiving families. Addressing this gap, a study on family caregiving and care receiving was undertaken in Mumbai, India. In-depth interviews were conducted with seven seropositive caregivers, seven seropositive care receivers and five seronegative caregivers. Thematic analysis of the data was conducted, yielding a number of key themes. This paper discusses the key theme of the family context of care which includes the caregiving system, family values, perceived mode of infection, gender of the seropositive person, and class. Implications of the findings for policy and program planning are discussed

Caregivers\u27 Experiences of Informal Support in the Context Of HIV/AIDS

Social support is an important buffer for family caregivers of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHIV/AIDS). With limited formal support options, these caregivers have to rely increasingly on informal networks. Yet, accessing this avenue is also fraught with difficulty due to the stigmatising nature of HIV infection. Research in this area is not just not sparse, but focusses largely on sources of support and the circumscribing effects of stigma. To further our understanding, a qualitative study was conducted using various concepts from social support theory. Twelve family caregivers in Mumbai, India, were interviewed, using the in-depth interview method. An iterative, thematic analysis was done through which themes and major themes were identified. Major themes included sources of support, types of support received, spontaneous support, soliciting support, caregivers\u27 perceptions of support experiences and reciprocity. The findings raised several issues for intervention

Reconciling Dichotomous Demands: Telemarketing Agents in Bangalore and Mumbai, India

Though outsourcing has created enormous employment potential in India’s information technology enabled services/business process outsourcing (ITES/BPO) sector, the implications for employees remain to be understood. The present paper describes employee experiences in telemarketing outbound call centers in Bangalore and Mumbai, India. Following van Manen’s (1998) hermeneutic phenomenological approach, data were collected through unstructured conversational interviews with 18 telemarketing agents identified vi a snowball sampling and were subject to holistic and sententious thematic analyses. Reconciling dichotomous experiences at work was the label used to capture participants’ core experiences and indicated that while participants’ simultaneous positive and negative experiences contributed to a sense of concomitant stress and well-being, they employed various strategies to maintain a balance between positive experiences/well-being and negative experiences/stress

A Necessary Evil: The Experiences of Managers Implementing Downsizing Programmes

This paper presents the findings of a phenomenological study, which describes the experiences of human resource (HR) managers implementing a downsizing programme in a steel manufacturing organisation in India. Data were collected through conversational interviews. Following van Manens sententious analytic approach, the core theme of a necessary evil, emerged, which indicates that while participants were pained by their task of having to terminate workers and deprive them of their livelihood, they believed that they had no choice in the matter if they had to ensure the competitive position of the organisation and their own survival as employees. The findings of the inquiry provide insights into a virtually unstudied area and raise questions about the role of HR managers in contemporary organisations

Clarifying My World: Identity Work in the Context of Workplace Bullying

Based on a study rooted in van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology, conducted with agents working in international facing call centers in Mumbai and Bangalore, India, this paper describes targets’ identity work in the context of workplace bullying. Data were gathered through conversational interviews and were subject to sententious and selective thematic analyses. The core theme of “clarifying my world” captures participants’ attempt to reconstruct their identity following the emergence of identity disruptions stemming from the experience of being bullied. Major themes which include building personal security and insulation, recreating equilibrium, maintaining dignity and poise, re-establishing ontological foundations and seeking continuity in one’s evolution, represent the goals of identity work which address specific dimensions of identity disruptions. The findings highlight the long-term effects of workplace bullying on targets and targets’ attempts to restore their well - being

Protecting my Interests: HRM and Target\u27s Coping with Workplace Bullying

Based on a study rooted in van Manen\u27s hermeneutic phenomenology, conducted with agents working in international facing call centers in Mumbai and Bangalore, India, this paper describes targets\u27 coping with workplace bullying. Data were gathered through conversational interviews and were subject to sententious and selective thematic analyses. The core theme of protecting my interests displayed two prominent features: the presence of stages and the critical role of HRM in influencing multiple facets of the experience. Major themes, organized around these defining characteristics, include experiencing confusion, engaging organizational options, moving inwards and exiting the organization. The findings break new ground in empirically uncovering the organization\u27s etiological role in workplace bullying, apart from reconceptualizing targets\u27 exit coping response

Valuing Domestic Work

This report is based on a three-year collaboration with Domestic Workers United (DWU) and the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA). BCRW was proud to host the first National Domestic Workers Alliance congress at Barnard College in 2008 and subsequently the first East Coast Regional Congress in 2009. Together BCRW, DWU, and NDWA developed this publication in order to further knowledge about the processes by which domestic work has been devalued historically and how we can all work together to make domestic work safe, fair, and protected

Methods for the Study of Downsizing: A Review

There has been a world-wide increase in the incidences of downsizing practice across economies and across organizations. This has been considered as the basis for coping with increasing competition. The present paper looks into some studies on downsizing. The focus of the paper is majorly on the research methodology used in these studies. This paper analyses the methods used for the study of downsizing and suggests the ideal methods of study for: a) organizational outcomes, and b) individual outcomes, which include the victims, the survivors and the implementers. The suggestion is to have context specific and issue specific studies with more emphasis towards the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods to increase the soundness of the study.