Employee service abandonment in offshore operations: A case study of a US multinational in India

Indian Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) exports industry has witnessed an exponential growth over the last few years. This has been accompanied by a shortage of talented skilled workers to serve the BPO sector. Attracting and retaining talented employees has become the chief challenge of HR departments in the BPO industry. This study examines the demographic antecedents of job abandonment among call centre employees in India using a large firm level data. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Civil disobedience and whistleblowing: A comparative appraisal of two forms of dissent

This paper compares and evaluates two forms of dissent: civil disobedience — protests by citizens against the laws or actions of their government; and whistleblowing — disclosure by employees of illegal, immoral or questionable practices by their employees. Each is identified, the conceptual issues are distinguished from strategic and normative ones and parallel moral questions posed. Should one first dissent within prescribed channels before going outside them? Should one act publicly or is withholding one's identity permissible or desirable? What is the basis and limits for one's loyalty to one's country or employer, and how can transgressing these limits be morally justified?     

The philosopher in the workplace

This paper offers a series of reflections on the movement of philosophy beyond its traditional locus in colleges and universities into business settings. This movement is characterized as a variation on a persistent theme in the western tradition beginning with Socrates and running throughout modern (Spinoza, Hume, Locke and Berkeley) and recent philosophers (Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche, Sartre and Russell) who held no full time academic appointment. Increasingly philosophers are addressing the concerns of scientists, lawyers, and engineers on the job rather than in the classroom. To what end? As one of the liberal arts, philosophy expands our horizons by locating immediate concerns within a broader historical cultural context and provides conceptual tools and techniques for analyzing problems. Teaching ethics in a board room rather than graduate seminar can still serve to raise students' consciousness, clarify conflicting values, sharpen moral reasoning and help identify moral truths. Yet as the philosophers' role shifts from teacher and researcher as traditionally defined to agent provocateur, revolutionary, moral conscience or confidante, novel problems arise for philosophers that are long familiar to social and applied scientists. The traditional prerogatives of academic freedom are modified through new institutional arrangements that demand loyalty and confidentiality rather than neutrality and the dissemination of knowledge.     

Anonymity and whistleblowing

This paper examines the moral arguments for and against employees' blowing the whistle on illegal or immoral actions of their employers. It asks whether such professional dissidents are justified in disclosing wrongdoing by others while concealing their own identity. Part I examines the concept of anonymity, distinguishing it from two similar concepts — secrecy and privacy. Part II analyzes the concept of whistleblowing using recent definitions by Bok, Bowie and De George. Various arguments against anonymous whistleblowing are identified and evaluated. The author concludes with a defense of the practice in terms of social benefits — primarily the redressing of wrongdoing.     

Sex,ethics and the practice of law

A woman walks into a room and sits down beside a man. They talk and as they talk he puts his arm around her. After a few moments they kiss. He becomes excited and starts to fondle her. She does not resist. A few moments later, she gets up and leaves.A man and a woman drive into a parking lot. It is dark, the lot is empty. He stops the car, turns out the lights and puts his arm around her. They kiss, then make love. After 30 minutes they drive off.Frederick A. Elliston is Associate Professor of Education at the University of Hawaii and Executive Director of the Hawaii School/University Partnership. He has published books on crime, women, sex, policing and whistleblowing as well as phenomenology and existentialism.This paper was prepared for presentation at the 11th National Conference on Lawyers' Professional Responsibility, May 30th to June 1st, San Francisco, CA.