DESSERTATION REPORTON

JOB SATISFACTION OF EMPLOYEE IN BPO,S

AT

DEHRADUNSUBMITTED FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

(HUMAN RESOURCE)

(2012-2014)

Submitted To – Submitted By –

Mrs Shweta Sethi Kanchan Sharma

Management Faculty MBA IV Sem

S.G.R.R.I.T.S

SHRI GURU RAM RAI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE

PATEL NAGAR, DEHRADUN PHONE(0135)27217663,2726435,2726209 FAX:2721762

Page 1

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the dissertation report entitled “To study the job satisfaction level in BPO sectors” has

been prepared and submitted by Miss.Kanchan Sharma , student of MBA (HR) for the partial fulfillment of

MBA batch (2012-2014), under my supervision and guidance.

DATE: Mrs Shweta Sethi

(HR. Lecturer)

PLACE: MBA Department

S.G.R.R.I.T.S

Page 2

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that dissertation report titled “To study the Job Satisfaction level in BPO sectors” is

submitted as a requirement for partial Fulfillment of Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from

Uttarakhand Technical University.

KANCHAN

SHARMA

DATE: (HR Specialization)

M.B.A (Batch.2012-2014)

PLACE:

Page 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I hereby take the opportunity to express my profound sense of gratitude and reverence to all those who have

helped and encouraged me towards the successful completion of the project report.

I am very thankful to Mrs.Shweta Sethi, department of marketing, SGRRITS Dehradun for his invaluable

guidance in steering the course of the study, without his help it couldn’t have been possible.

I would also thanks the librarian and staff members of SGRRITS for providing me the required literature in. I

am also thankful to the respondents who gave valuable primary data for my study.

Lastly, I am thankful to my parents who gave me their full faith for the completion of my dissertation report.

KANCHAN SHARMA

MBA (HR) Batch 2012-14

Page 4

CONTENTS

Chapter-1 INTRODUCTION 6-43

Chapter-2 LITERATURE REVIEW 44-48

Chapter-3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 49-51

Chapter-4 DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION 52-65

Chapter-5 CONCULSION 66-67

Chapter- 6 RECOMMENDATION 68-69

Chapter 7 BIBLIOGRAPHY 70-71

ANNEXURE 72-74

Page 5

CHAPTER – 1

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Page 6

Job satisfaction overview

Job satisfaction is the most widely investigated job attitude, as well as one of the most extensively researched

subjects in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (Judge & Church, 2000). Many work motivation theories have

represented the implied role of job satisfaction. In addition, many work satisfaction theories have tried to

explain job satisfaction and its influence, such as: Maslow’s (1943) Hierarchy of Needs, Hertzberg’s (1968)

Two-Factor (Motivator-Hygiene) Theory, Adam’s (1965) Equity Theory, Porter and Lawler’s (1968) modified

version of Vroom’s (1964) VIE Model, Locke’s (1969) Discrepancy Theory, Hackman and Oldham’s (1976)

Job Characteristics Model, Locke’s (1976) Range of Affect Theory, Bandura’s (1977) Social Learning Theory,

and Landy’s (1978) Opponent Process Theory.

As a result of this expansive research, job satisfaction has been linked to productivity, motivation,

absenteeism/tardiness, accidents, mental/physical health, and general life satisfaction (Landy, 1978). A common

idea within the research has been that, to some extent, the emotional state of an individual is affected by

interactions with their work environment. People identify themselves by their profession, such as a doctor,

lawyer, or teacher. A person’s individual well being at work, therefore, is a very significant aspect of research

(Judge & Klinger, 2007).

The most widely accepted explanation of job satisfaction was presented by Locke (1976), who defined job

satisfaction as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job

experiences” (p. 1304). Additionally, job satisfaction has emotional, cognitive and behavioral components

(Bernstein & Nash, 2008). The emotional component refers to feelings regarding the job, such as boredom,

anxiety, or excitement. The cognitive component of job satisfaction refers to beliefs regarding one's job, for

example, feeling that one's job is mentally demanding and challenging. Finally, the behavioral component

includes people's actions in relation to their work, which may include being tardy, staying late, or pretending to

be ill in order to avoid work (Bernstein & Nash, 2008).

Page 7

There are two types of job satisfaction based on the level of employees' feelings regarding their jobs. The first,

and most studied, is global job satisfaction, which refers to employees' overall feelings about their jobs (e.g.,

"Overall, I love my job.") (Mueller & Kim, 2008). The second is job facet satisfaction, which refers to feelings

about specific job aspects, such as salary, benefits, and the quality of relationships with one's co-workers (e.g.,

"Overall, I love my job, but my schedule is difficult to manage.") (Mueller & Kim, 2008). According to Kerber

and Campbell (1987), measurements of job facet satisfaction may be helpful in identifying which specific

aspects of a job require improvements. The results may aid organizations in improving overall job satisfaction

or in explaining organizational issues such as high turnover (Kerber & Campbell, 1987).

There are several misleading notions that exist about job satisfaction. One such fallacy is that a happy employee

is a productive employee (Syptak, Marsland, & Ulmer, 1999). Research has offered little support that a happy

employee is productive; furthermore, some research has suggested that causality may flow in the opposite

direction, from productivity to satisfaction (Bassett, 1994). So, knowing that research does not support that

happiness and employee satisfaction creates higher production, why do I/O psychologists and organizations still

attempt to keep employees happy? Many have pointed out that I/O psychologist's research more than just

increasing the bottom line of an organization. Happy employees do not negatively affect productivity and can

have a positive effect on society; therefore, it is still in the benefit of all parties to have happy and satisfied

employees. Another fallacy is that pay is the most important factor in job satisfaction. In reality, employees are

more satisfied when they enjoy the environment in which they work (Berry, 1997). An individual can have a

high paying job and not be satisfied because it is boring and lacks sufficient stimulation. In fact, a low paying

job can be seen as satisfying if it is adequately challenging or stimulating. There are numerous factors that must

be taken into consideration when determining how satisfied an employee is with his or her job, and it is not

always easy to determine which factors are most important to each employee. Job satisfaction is very

circumstantial and subjective for each employee and situation being assessed.

Page 8

Causes of Job Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction

Since people tend to be evaluative, they look at their work experiences in terms of liking or disliking and

develop feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction regarding their job, as well as the organization in which they

work (Jex, 2002). There are many probable influences that effect how favorably an individual appraises his or

her job: specifically, an individual’s attitude toward his or her job. Through years of extensive research, I/O

psychologists have identified numerous variables that seem to contribute to either job satisfaction or

organizational commitment (Glisson & Durick, 1988). To explain the development of job satisfaction,

researchers have taken three common approaches: job characteristics, social information processing

(organizational characteristics), and dispositional (worker characteristics) (Glisson & Durick, 1988; Jex, 2002).

1. Job Characteristics -In relation to the job characteristics approach, research has revealed that the nature of

an individual’s job or the characteristics of the organization that the individual works for predominantly

determines job satisfaction (Jex, 2002). According to Hackman and Oldham (1980) a job characteristic is an

aspect of a job that generates ideal conditions for high levels of motivation, satisfaction, and performance.

Furthermore, Hackman and Oldham (1980) proposed five core job characteristics that all jobs should

contain: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Hackman and Oldham

(1980) also defined four personal and work outcomes: internal work motivation, growth satisfaction, general

satisfaction, and work effectiveness. These characteristics have been added to the more popular dimensions

of job satisfaction assessment: the work itself, pay, promotional opportunities, supervision, and co-worker

relations (Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 1969). A common premise in research of the effects of job

circumstances on job satisfaction is that individuals determine job satisfaction by comparing what they are

currently receiving from the job and what they would like to or believe that they should receive For

example, if an employee is receiving an annual salary of $45,000 and believes that he or she should be

receiving a salary of $43,000, then he or she will experience satisfaction; however, if the employee believes

that he or she should be receiving $53,000, then he or she will feel dissatisfaction. This comparison would

Page 9

apply to each job facet including: skill level, seniority, promotional opportunities, supervision, etc

2. Social information processing - Based mainly on Festinger’s (1954) Social Comparison Theory, Jex

(2002) explains that during social information processing, employees look to coworkers to make sense of

and develop attitudes about their work environment. In other words, if employees see that their co-workers

are positive and satisfied then they will most likely be satisfied; however, if their co-workers are negative

and dissatisfied then the employee will most likely become dissatisfied as well. Accordingly, organizations

are counseled that new hires can become “tainted” during the socialization process if they are placed around

employees who are dissatisfied (Jex, 2002). Although laboratory studies have found that social-information

has a prevailing impact on job satisfaction and characteristic perceptions, organizational tests have been less

supportive (Jex & Spector, 1989).

Weiss and Shaw conducted a study where the subjects viewed a training video where assembly line workers

either made positive or negative comments about their jobs. The subjects who viewed the video were then given

the opportunity to perform the job. The study found that the subjects who were shown the positive video

enjoyed performing the job tasks more than the subjects who viewed the negative tape (Aamondt, 2009).

Mirolli, Henderson and Hills (1998) also conducted a similar study. In this study, the subjects performed a task

with two experimenters who were pretending to be other subjects (the study referred to them as confederates).

In one condition, positive comments were made by the confederates about the job and how much they enjoyed

it. In the second condition, the confederates made negative comments about the job and how much they disliked

it. In the control condition, no positive or negative comments were made regarding the job. The actual subjects

exposed to the confederates who made positive comments rate the job tasks as more enjoyable than the subjects

exposed to the negative comments by the confederates. This further supports social information processing

theory (Aamondt,2009).

Generally, “the research on social information processing theory supports the idea that social environment does

have an effect on employees’ attitudes and behaviors” (Aamondt, 2009, p.374).

Page 10

As an application of social information processing theory, an IT company in Germany, Netzwerk, implemented

rules in their contracts. Employees who work at this company must sign a contract agreeing not to whine or

complain. They have even fired employees for excessive whining (Aamondt, 2009).

3. Dispositional (worker characteristics ) - Internal disposition is the basis of the latest method to

explaining job satisfaction and hints that some people are inclined to be satisfied or dissatisfied with their

work no matter the nature of the job or the organizational environment (Jex, 2002). More simply, some

people are genetically positive in disposition (the glass half full), whereas others are innately negative in

disposition (the glass half empty). For instance, a study of twins who were reared apart (same genetic

characteristics but different experiences) found that 30 percent of inconsistency in satisfaction was

accredited to genetic factors (Arvey, Bouchard, Segal, & Abraham, 1989). Furthermore, although

individuals change jobs and employers, individual disposition has been shown to be consistent by the use of

survey results on job satisfaction (Staw & Ross, 1985). Additionally, Staw, Bell, and Clausen (1986) also

found that adolescent evaluations of affective disposition were correlated with adult job satisfaction for as

many as forty years later.

Many years of research has been conducted on the dispositional source of job satisfaction and has presented

strong evidence that job satisfaction, to some extent, is based on disposition (Judge & Larsen, 2001).

Dispositional affect is the predisposition to experience related emotional moods over time (Judge & Kammeyer-

Mueller, 2008). Accordingly, this approach assumes that an employee’s attitude about his or her job originates

from an internal (mental) state. Positive affect is a predisposition favorable to positive emotional experience,

whereas negative affect is a predisposition to experience a wide array of negative emotions (Watson, Clark, &

Carey, 1988). Positive affective people feel enthusiastic, active, alert, and optimistic (Watson, Clark, &

Tellegen, 1988). On the contrary, negative affective people feel anger, contempt, disgust, guilt, fear, and

nervousness (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988).

Page 11

Other perspectives relevant to worker characteristics are the Big Five personality traits and core self-

evaluations. Out of the five personality traits - neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness,and

openness (Funder, 2010), neurotisicm, extraversion, and conscientiousness were most closely related to job

satisfaction (Judge, Heller, & Mount, 2002). Extraversion, and conscientiousness were positively related to job

satisfaction, whereas neuroticism was negatively related.Core self-evaluations refer to beliefs people hold about

their functions in the world in general and consist of factors such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, emotional

stability, and locus of control (Sirgy, 2012). Meta-analysis conducted by Judge and Bono in 2001, showed a

strong positive correlation between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction.

There is also strong evidence supporting disposition causing job satisfaction from a Social Cognitive aspect as

well. Causation through disposition indicates that job satisfaction can be determined by an individual's general

overall outlook. In psychology, Cognitive Theory of Depression states that individual’s thought processes and

perceptions can be a source of unhappiness. Further, the automated thoughts and processes (Beck, 1987)

resulting from irrational and dysfunctional thinking perpetuate emotions of depression and unhappiness in individuals.

Judge and Locke (1992) examine these concepts in detail. They discuss cognitive processes like perfectionism, over-

generalization, and dependence on others as causation for depression leading to unhappiness. They claim that subjective

well-being resulting from an affective disposition leads to individuals experiencing information recall regarding their job.

In short, happy individuals tend to store and evaluate job information differently than unhappy individuals do. This type

of recollection indicates that job satisfaction can be influenced by subjective well-being. Tait, Padgett, and Baldwin

(1989) performed a meta-analytic review discovering an average correlation between job and life satisfaction to be .44,

which supports the theory of a dispositional effect on job satisfaction. In addition, Howard and Bray (1988) determined

through a study they performed on AT&T managers that motives such as ambition and desire to get ahead serve as some

of the strongest predictors for advancement. Also, Bandura (1986) states that individual's aspirations become their

standards of self-satisfaction indicating that those with high goals, theoretically, should be harder to satisfy than people

with low goals. This would indicate that a high level of ambition resulting from high standards can point to a lower

satisfaction as an end result. In addition, it is oftentimes the case that unsatisfied workers are highly ambitious but

unhappy as a result of their inability to be promoted within an organization. For this reason, ambition can

Page 12

negatively influence job satisfaction. However, Judge and Locke caution that dysfunctional thinking is not

singularly responsible for dispositional factors affecting job satisfaction. They mention self-esteem, locus of

control, self-efficacy, intelligence, and ambition as well.

4. Life Satisfaction - Life satisfaction is often considered separately from job satisfaction with regard to

productivity in the workplace, but as the majority of this research is correlational, it is beneficial to explore

potential relationships between these two factors themselves rather than strictly with regard to performance.

Research suggests there is in fact a significant relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction,

with a correlation of .44 (based on a meta analysis of 34 studies with a combined sample size of 19,811).

(Tait et al., 1989) With this relationship being correlational, causation cannot be determined, though it is

suggested that the nature of the relationship is reciprocal or bi-directional. (Judge et al., 1993) In other

words, life satisfaction may positively influence job satisfaction, and job satisfaction will also positively

influence life satisfaction. Conversely, some research suggests that life satisfaction often precedes and is a

good predictor of job satisfaction--some directionality (Judge et al., 1993). Whichever the case may be, it

cannot be ignored that there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction based

on correlational research (Jones, 2006).

5. Other Face - It is difficult to establish all the antecedents leading towards job satisfaction. However, an

additional construct that suggests a positive correlation to job satisfaction not yet discussed is engagement.

In a meta-analysis, the correlation between job satisfaction and engagement is .22 (Harter, Schmidt, &

Hayes, 2002). Stirling (2008) notes that 20 percent of engaged individuals do 80 percent of the work.

Therefore, it is vital to continue to cultivate job satisfaction among these highly productive individuals.

The Importance of Job Satisfaction

As mentioned in the overview, job satisfaction has been linked to many variables, including performance,

absenteeism, and turnover, which will be discussed further in this section. Job satisfaction is significant because

Page 13

a person's attitude and beliefs may affect his or her behavior. Attitudes and beliefs may cause a person to work

harder, or, the opposite may occur, and he or she may work less. Job satisfaction also affects a person's general

well being for the reason that people spend a good part of the day at work. Consequently, if a person is

dissatisfied with their work, this could lead to dissatisfaction in other areas of their life.

1. Employee performance - The link between job satisfaction and job performance has a long and

controversial history. Researchers were first made aware of the link between satisfaction and performance

through the 1924-1933 Hawthorne studies (Naidu, 1996). Since the Hawthorne studies, numerous

researchers have critically examined the idea that "a happy worker is a productive worker". Research results

of Iaffaldano and Muchinsky (1985) have found a weak connection, approximately .17, between job

satisfaction and job performance. On the other hand, research conducted by Organ (1988) discovered that a

stronger connection between performance and satisfaction was not found because of the narrow definition of

job performance. Organ (1988) believes that when the definition of job performance includes behaviors

such as organizational citizenship (the extent to which one's voluntary support contributes to the success of

an organization) the relationship between satisfaction and performance will improve. Judge, Thoreson,

Bono, and Patton (2001) discovered that after correcting the sampling and measurement errors of 301

studies, the correlation between job satisfaction and job performance increased to .30. It is important to note

that the connection between job satisfaction and job performance is higher for difficult jobs than for less

difficult jobs (Saari & Judge, 2004).

A link does exist between job satisfaction and job performance; however, it is not as strong as one would

initially believe. The weak link may be attributed to factors such as job structure or economic conditions. For

example, some jobs are designed so that a minimum level of performance is required which does not allow for

high satisfaction. Additionally, in times of high unemployment, dissatisfied employees will perform well,

choosing unsatisfying work over unemployment.

"In 2006, researcher Michelle Jones analyzed three studies pulling together 74 separate investigations of job

satisfaction and job performance in 12,000 workers. She wrote: 'The conclusions drawn by these researchers,

Page 14

and many others, indicate the presence of a positive, but very weak, relationship between job satisfaction and

job performance.' Jones argues we have been measuring the wrong kind of satisfaction. Instead of job

satisfaction, we should be looking at the link between overall satisfaction with life and output at work" (Bright,

2008). In this study, Jones implies that the more satisfied someone is with their life in general, the more

productive we will be in our jobs.

2. Employee absenteeism - One of the more widely researched topics in Industrial Psychology is the

relationship between job satisfaction and employee absenteeism (Cheloha & Farr, 1980). It seems natural to

assume that if individuals dislike their jobs then they will often call in sick, or simply look for a new

opportunity. Yet again, the link between these factors and job satisfaction is weak. The correlation between

job satisfaction and absenteeism is .25 (Johns, 1997). It is likely that a satisfied worker may miss work due

to illness or personal matters, while an unsatisfied worker may not miss work because he or she does not

have any sick time and cannot afford the loss of income. When people are satisfied with their job they may

be more likely to attend work even if they have a cold; however, if they are not satisfied with their job, they

will be more likely to call in sick even when they are well enough to work.

3. Employee turnover - According to a meta-analysis of 42 studies, the correlation between job satisfaction

and turnover is . (Carsten & Spector, 1987). One obvious factor-effecting turnover would be an economic

downturn, in which unsatisfied workers may not have other employment opportunities. On the other hand, a

satisfied worker may be forced to resign his or her position for personal reasons such as illness or relocation.

This holds true for our men and women of the US Armed Forces, who might fit well in a job but are often

made to relocate regardless. In this case, it would be next to impossible to measure any correlation of job

satisfaction. Furthermore, a person is more likely to be actively searching for another job if they have low

satisfaction; whereas, a person who is satisfied with their job is less likely to be job seeking.

4. Correlation vs. causation - While one may wish to understand which variables increase or decrease job

satisfaction, it is important to remember that correlation is not equivalent to causation (Steinberg, 2008).

Page 15

Research has shown that there is a correlation between job satisfaction and performance, turnover, and

absenteeism. A correlation indicates that there is a relationship between these variables; however, it does not

explain "which variable, if either, caused the relationship" (Steinberg, 2008, p. 419). It is entirely possible

that an outside variable is responsible for the correlation (Steinberg, 2008). For example, job satisfaction

and job performance are positively correlated (when job satisfaction increases, job performance increases).

However, for one person, satisfaction may increase because performance increases, whereas, for another,

performance may increase because satisfaction increases. It is impossible to tell whether job satisfaction

causes increased job performance or that job performance causes increased job satisfaction based on

correlation alone.

The following is a list of alternative explanations of a correlation (Pearson, 2010):

Reverse causation - The causal direction is opposite what has been hypothesized; e.g., job performance

causes an increase in job satisfaction rather than the other way around.

Reciprocal causation -The two variables cause each other; e.g. high job satisfaction causes high job

performance which then increases job satisfaction.

Common-causal variables -Variables not part of the research hypothesis cause both the predictor and

the outcome variable; e.g. individual disposition may cause both satisfaction and job performance.

Spurious relationship -The common-causal variable produces and “explains away” the relationship

between the predictor and outcome variables; e.g., individual differences in disposition as described

above.

Extraneous variables -Variables other than the predictor causes the outcome variable, but do not cause

the predictor variable; e.g., pressure from a supervisor causes high performance.

Mediating variables -Variables caused by the predictor variable in turn cause the outcome variable; e.g.

experience could cause high performance which then could cause satisfaction (performance would be

the mediating variable).

Page 16

Figure 4. Job satisfaction correlation .

. Application of Job Satisfaction in the Workplace

The application of job satisfaction in the workplace is a tough concept to grasp due to its individualistic and

circumstantial nature. What one employee desires from their work, another may not. For instance, one

employee may put their salary in high regard, while another may find autonomy most important. Unfortunately,

one aspect alone will most likely not effect an employee's job satisfaction. According to Syptak, Marsland, and

Ulmer (1999), there are numerous aspects of a job that an organization can manage to increase satisfaction in

the workplace, such as:

Company Policies - Policies that are clear, fair and applied equally to all employees will decrease

dissatisfaction. Therefore, fairness and clarity are important and can go a long way in improving

employee attitude. For example, if a company has a policy for lunch breaks that are the same length and

time for everyone, employees will see this as the norm and it will help cut down on wasted time and low

productivity.

Salary/Benefits - Making sure employee salaries and benefits are comparable to other organization

salaries and benefits will help raise satisfaction. If a company wishes to produce a competitive product

they must also offer competitive wages. In addition, this can help reduce turnover, as employees will

often be more satisfied when paid competitive wages as opposed to being underpaid.

Page 17

Interpersonal/Social Relations - Allowing employees to develop a social aspect to their job may

increase satisfaction as well as develop a sense of teamwork. Co-worker relationships may also benefit

the organization as a whole; given that, teamwork is a very important aspect of organization productivity

and success. Moreover, when people are allowed to develop work relationships they care more about

pulling their own weight and not letting co-workers down.

Working Conditions - Keeping up to date facilities and equipment and making sure employees have

adequate personal workspace can decrease dissatisfaction. A cramped employee is a frustrated employee

plus faulty equipment provides frustration in trying to get work done.

Achievement - Making sure employees are in the proper positions to utilize their talents may enhance

satisfaction. When employees are in the proper role and feel a sense of achievement and challenge, their

talents will be in line with the goals best suited for them.

Recognition - Taking the time to acknowledge a job well done can increase the likelihood of employee

satisfaction. Positive and constructive feedback boosts an employee's morale and keeps them working in

the right direction.

Autonomy - Giving employees the freedom of ownership of their work may help raise satisfaction. Job

satisfaction may result when an individual knows they are responsible for the outcome of their work.

Advancement - Allowing employees, who show high performance and loyalty, room to advance will

help ensure satisfaction. A new title and sense of responsibility can often increase job satisfaction in an

employee.

Job Security - Especially in times of economic uncertainty, job security is a very high factor in

determining an employee's job satisfaction. Giving an employee the assurance that their job is secure

will most likely increase job satisfaction.

Work-life Balance Practices- In times where the average household is changing it is becoming more

important for an employer to recognize the delicate balancing act that its employees perform between

Page 18

their personal life and work life. Policies that respond to common personal and family needs can be

essential to maintaining job satisfaction.

Measures of Job Satisfaction

The following are measures of job satisfaction as outlined by Fields (2002):

Overall Job Satisfaction - Cammann, Fichman, Jenkins, and Klesh (1983) developed this measure as

part of the Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire (OAQ). In this measure three items are

used to describe an employee’s subjective response to working in the specific job and organization

(Fields, 2002, p. 20).

Job Descriptive Index (JDI) - This was originally developed by Smith, Kendall, and Hulin (1969).

There are 72 items on this index which assess five facets of job satisfaction which includes: the work,

pay, promotions, supervision, and coworkers. Through the combination of ratings of satisfaction with

the faces, a composite measure of job satisfaction is determined. Roznowski (1989) updated the JDI to

include work atmosphere, job content and work technology. A shorter, 30-item version, was developed

by Gregson (1990) based on 6 items which included work, pay, promotions, supervision and co-workers

(Fields, 2002, p. 23).

Global Job Satisfaction - Warr, Cook, and Wall (1979) developed this measure which includes 15

items to determine overall job satisfaction. Two subscales are used for extrinsic and intrinsic aspects of

the job. The extrinsic section has eight items and the intrinsic has seven items (Fields, 2002, p. 27).

Job Satisfaction Relative to Expectations - Bacharach, Bamberger, and Conley (1991) developed this

measure. It assesses the degree “of agreement between the perceived quality of broad aspects of a job

and employee expectations” (Fields, 2002, p. 6). It is most effective to determine how job stresses, role

conflicts, or role ambiguities can hinder an employee from meeting job expectations (Fields, 2002, p. 6).

Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire - The long form of this survey is made up of 100 questions

based on 20 sub scales which measure satisfaction with “ability, utilization, achievement, activity,

Page 19

advancement, authority, company policies and practices, compensation, co-workers, creativity,

independence, moral values, recognition, responsibility, security, social service, social status,

supervision-human relations, supervision-technical variety, and working conditions” (Fields, 2002, p.7).

There is a short version of the MSQ which consists of 20 items. This can also be separated into two

subscales for intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction.

Job in General Scale - This measure was developed by Ironson, Smith, Brannick, Gibson, and Paul

(1989). It consists of 18 items which describe global job satisfaction and can be used in conjunction with

the JDI, which assesses satisfaction with five job facets. This was developed to “assess global

satisfaction independent from satisfaction with facets” (Fields, 2002, p.9).

Job Satisfaction Survey - This was developed by Spector (1985) and contains 36 items based on nine

job facets. The job facets include pay, promotion, supervision, benefits, contingent rewards, operating

procedures, co-workers, nature of work and communication. When it was initially developed, it was

specific to job satisfaction in human service, nonprofit and public organizations (Fields, 2002, p.14).

Job Satisfaction Index - Schriescheim and Tsue, (1980) developed this measure. It consists of six items

that form and index which determines overall job satisfaction. The items are the work, supervision, co-

workers, pay, promotion opportunities, and the job in general (Fields, 2002, p. 16).

Job Diagnostic Survey - Hackman and Oldham (1974) developed this survey which measures both

overall and specific facets of job satisfaction. There are three dimensions of overall job satisfaction

which includes general satisfaction, internal work motivation, and growth satisfaction, which are

combined into a single measure. The facets which are measured on the survey include security,

compensation, co-workers, and supervision (Fields, 2002, p. 20).

Career Satisfaction - Greenhaus, Parasuraman, and Wormley (1990) developed this measure. This is a

measure of career success, as opposed to job satisfaction. It assesses general satisfaction with career

outcome, but also satisfaction with career progress (Fields, 2002, p. 29).

The Consequences of Job Dissatisfaction

Page 20

Researchers Henne & Locke (1985) designed a model that illustrates what they hypothesis happens to

individuals who are dissatisfied with their jobs. When job dissatisfaction strikes it is merely an emotional state;

in response to the emotional state people will devise an alternative plan that is dependent upon the individual,

his estimation of the situation and his own capabilities or aspirations. The alternative plan (see diagram above)

will be behavioral or psychological (Henne & Locke, 1985).

Action Alternatives -Performance -It’s almost intuitive to conclude that people who are dissatisfied don’t

perform as well as people who are satisfied with their job. However this isn’t always the case; discontent can

trigger a change for people to come up with creative solutions to problems (Zhou & George, 2001). If a person

is dissatisfied they may perform better to rectify the situation. So performance level may be high of low

depending on the individual.

Protest – Another form of action an unhappy worker may use is the protest. One form of protest is

unionization. People tend to join unions for a number of reasons the pinnacle being, support if there is a

problem at work and improved pay and conditions (Wadditigton & Whitston, 1997). Protests are usually

an attempt to change the cause of the unhappiness (Henne & Locke, 1985).

Withdrawal - Absenteeism and/or leaving the job is another recourse a worker may take when they

become dissatisfied in the workplace.

Psychological Alternatives

Change perception – People can choose to change their outlooks and views on life. They can decide

instead of focusing on the things at the job that are dissatisfying they would focus on things about the

job that they enjoy.

Change values – Most companies have a mission statement or a group of core values. If there is a

conflict between personal values and company values a person can change their value so that is more in

line with the company’s values to alleviate dissatisfaction.

Page 21

Change reaction – Another alternative an individual might have when experiencing dissatisfaction

would be to avoid it using psychological defense mechanism such as repression and evasion (Henne &

Locke, 1985). The may choose to avoid aspect of the job that are unhappy with or suppress their

unhappiness.

Toleration – Others may simply just tolerate the displeasure, they may reason that they derive happiness

from other sources in their life so they can put up with displeasure at work (Henne & Locke, 1985).

Consequences of Choices

Life satisfaction – Henne & Locke (1985) believed that work is a component of a person’s life and will

affect one’s attitude towards life as a whole.

Mental Health – Locke (1976) suggest that the existence of dissatisfaction implies conflict in the

employees mind and the conflict may lead to issues.

Physical Health - If the dissatisfaction event increases stress levels in an individual there may be a

relationship tied to health (Henne & Locke, 1985).

Business process outsourcing

Business process outsourcing ( BPO ) - is a subset of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the

operations and responsibilities of specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider.

Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments of

its supply chain.]

BPO is typically categorized into back office outsourcing, which includes internal business functions such as

human resources or finance and accounting, and front office outsourcing, which includes customer-related

services such as contact center services.

Page 22

BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a

company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called nearshore outsourcing.

Often the business processes are information technology-based, and are referred to as ITES-BPO, where ITES

stands for Information Technology Enabled Service.[2] Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and legal process

outsourcing (LPO) are some of the sub-segments of business process outsourcing industry.

In 2010, the Philippines surpassed India as the largest business process outsourcing industry in the world.

After growing 20 per cent in 2012, the BPO industry of the Philippines is estimated to gross revenue of upwards

to $25 billion by 2016. By these estimates, the Philippines' BPO industry will account for approximately 10 per

cent of the nation's GDP.

INTRODUCTION

The level of compensation is one of the more important job attributes to individuals (Jurgensen, 1978). Not

surprisingly, salary or wages as measures of pay level consistently have been shown to predict pay satisfaction

among a number of different occupational groups (Berger & Schwab, 1980; Dreher, 1980; Dreher et al., 1988;

Futrell, 1978; Hemmasi, Graf, & Lust, 1992; Lawler, 1971; Motowidlo, 1982; Ronan & Qrgant, 1973; Schwab

& Wallace, 1974). Moreover, for almost all motivational theorists salary or compensation is a strong motivator.

For example, as per Herzberg’s (1968) two factor theory, salary is a hygiene factor as well as motivator. Studies

suggest that individuals who historically have received higher raises in the past should be more satisfied with

their raises (Dyer & Theriault, 1976). And people report more satisfaction to pay raises when it is related to

performance (Folger & Konovsky 1989) and that to follows fair criteria (Dyer & Theriault 1976). Similarly,

previous research has identified several demographic factors that influence employees’ satisfaction with

compensation such as age (Dreher, Ash & Bretz, 1988), educational level (Klein & Maher, 1966), gender (Nash

& Carroll 1975) & tenure (Dreher 1981). However, recent findings on salary and job satisfaction do not come to

Page 23

a clear conclusion. Although it is not denied that it has multiple correlates (Hemmasi, Graf & Lust 1992), some

studies find no relationship between compensation and job satisfaction (Igalens & Roussel 2000).

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is one of the fastest growing segments of the Information Technology

Enabled Services (ITES) industry. A major success of the BPOs can be attributed to its ability to attract the

youth of India. The changing lifestyles, demand for luxury and emergence of high-income spending groups

coupled with a thoroughly cosmopolitan outlook of life are the factors along with the glamour attached with the

BPO jobs generated passion in Indian youth for BPO jobs (Purwar, 2010). India has become the leading

destination for such companies with 46 percent of the global business-process-off shoring (BPO) market (Kaka,

Kekre & Sarangan, 2006) and will probably remain so for sometime as it is predicted from its growth. The

driving forces that account for this growth of BPO in India are emphasis on quality service, skilled sets and

workers, cost effectiveness, English speaking manpower, enabling business policy and regulatory environment,

rapid growth in key business infrastructure etc. (NASSCOMMcKinsey, 2002). In present scenario, the Indian

BPO employees represent a new middle class—with its employment base in the increasingly globalized private

sector. The new middle class identifies with an image of a professional that the BPO work provides them

(Sandhu, 2006). In terms of the moral fiber of BPO employees, this particular group, above all, exemplifies an

interesting and important part of the so-called knowledge workforce holding a significant covert influence

through their proximity to and involvement with electronic means of production and accumulation (Batstone,

Boraston, & Frenkel, 1978). BPOs have been found to be creating highest number of employment in India.

According to the sixth quarterly survey by the Ministry of Labour and Employment the IT/BPO sector has

shown the highest increase at 6.9 lakh during 2009-10. Also, the wages for the IT/BPO sector showed the

maximum growth of 9.3 percent during the last quarter (Siliconindia 2010). With all these achievements and

characteristics BPOs could draw the attention of researchers and media equally. While there was publicity

regarding its popularity among the Indian middleclass job seekers, on the other hand lots of reporting were there

regarding its attrition problems and job induced stress with its consequences. While unraveling the causes of

attrition, HayGroup in its 2008 "BPO Sector Special Survey," came to the following findings. a) the salary

Page 24

structure is not competitive in BPO firms as compared to the rest of the Indian market; b) the short-term

variable component was just 4% last year while the rest of India's workers enjoyed 10%. Such a low figure does

not give any scope in creating incentive programs to encourage employees to work harder or stay at the

organization; c) the attrition rate at BPOs last year was 23.5% compared to 15% in the general market; d) the

benefits package mainly focused on retirement benefits, which clearly does not mean much of an incentive for a

20 year old. The employee gets the money at age 60. So retirement benefits like PF do not encourage employees

to stay at one company (BPOWATCH, 2010). In the same line the present study tries to find out the satisfaction

level of BPO employees related to their compensation package and other benefits. It tries to answer the

basicquestions like

a)what is the satisfaction level of employees of the different components of compensation;

b) Do people differ in perception of compensation satisfaction with regards to their demography?;

c) what is their job satisfaction level with respect to different employee

Benefit and limitations

The main advantage of BPO is the way in which it helps increase a company's flexibility. However, several

sources] have different ways in which they perceive organizational flexibility. In early 2000s BPO was all about

cost efficiency, which allowed a certain level of flexibility at the time. Due to technological advances and

changes in the industry (specifically the move to more service-based rather than product-based contracts),

companies who choose to outsource their back-office increasingly look for time flexibility and direct quality

control. Business process outsourcing enhances the flexibility of an organization in different ways

Most services provided by BPO vendors are offered on a fee-for-service basis, using business models such as

Remote In-Sourcing or similar software development and outsourcing models. This can help a company to

become more flexible by transforming fixed into variable costs.[ A variable cost structure helps a company

responding to changes in required capacity and does not require a company to invest in assets, thereby making

Page 25

the company more flexible. Outsourcing may provide a firm with increased flexibility in its resource

management and may reduce response times to major environmental changes.[

Another way in which BPO contributes to a company’s flexibility is that a company is able to focus on its core

competencies, without being burdened by the demands of bureaucratic restraints Key employees are herewith

released from performing non-core or administrative processes and can invest more time and energy in building

the firm’s core businesses The key lies in knowing which of the main value drivers to focus on – customer

intimacy, product leadership, or operational excellence. Focusing more on one of these drivers may help a

company create a competitive edge. A third way in which BPO increases organizational flexibility is by

increasing the speed of business processes. Supply chain management with the effective use of supply chain

partners and business process outsourcing increases the speed of several business processes, such as the

throughput in the case of a manufacturing company.

Finally, flexibility is seen as a stage in the organizational life cycle: A company can maintain growth goals

while avoiding standard business bottlenecks. BPO therefore allows firms to retain their entrepreneurial speed

and agility, which they would otherwise sacrifice in order to become efficient as they expanded. It avoids a

premature internal transition from its informal entrepreneurial phase to a more bureaucratic mode of operation

A company may be able to grow at a faster pace as it will be less constrained by large capital expenditures for

people or equipment that may take years to amortize, may become outdated or turn out to be a poor match for

the company over time.

Although the above-mentioned arguments favor the view that BPO increases the flexibility of organizations,

management needs to be careful with the implementation of it as there are issues, which work against these

advantages. Among problems, which arise in practice are: A failure to meet service levels, unclear contractual

issues, changing requirements and unforeseen charges, and a dependence on the BPO which reduces flexibility.

Consequently, these challenges need to be considered before a company decides to engage in business process

outsourcing.

Page 26

A further issue is that in many cases there is little that differentiates the BPO providers other than size. They

often provide similar services, have similar geographic footprints, leverage similar technology stacks, and have

similar Quality Improvement approaches.

Issues Related To Call Centres

A survey among 774 agents in four large Danish companies in house call centers shows that working in a call

center is stressful. Lack of control and autonomy, lack of potentiality and challenges, conflict between

qualitative and quantitative demands and monitoring all have an adverse effect on job satisfaction. The survey

reveals a need for improving working conditions and for development of the work as such in call centers. The

survey suggests that the agents both want to participate in the process of development and that they can

contribute to the process in a competent way. In the project as part of which the survey has been undertaken

there is already several examples of how this can be done.

The telephone call center industry in India has been established only over the last 10 years. The Industry is

touted as a magic wand that will ward off unemployment for thousands of young graduates. There is a concern

regarding issues of health and safety that are unique to this new and developing industry. The lack of reliable

and relevant information on which to base the response to this concern poses a challenge for safeguarding the

health of call center employees. There is a need to discuss the issues and concerns regarding the health of the

call center employees, to develop recommendations to this new industry. The background for the study was a

data quest survey whose results were disturbing.

This study was undertaken to:

• dentify the problems of the call centre employees.

• Assessment of the risks perceived.

• Suggest measures to reduce the risks identified.

• Review the status of the employees.

Page 27

1. Health concerns - Long hours of work, permanent night shifts, incredibly high work targets, loss of

identity are these the dark clouds that threaten to mar the 'sunshine' call center industry in India? The

odd timings and nature of work roots people to a chair 9 h a day, reading pre-scripted conversations on

the phone endlessly - often to irate customers from across the globe. Where every single second of an

employee's time is recorded, measured and automatically logged onto a computer for praise or censure

on a weekly basis. Where walking down to the water cooler for a drink and a chat with a friend messes

up performance metrics, salaries, and hikes. Where the three acts of listening, watching and talking - all

at the same time - never get a break. This performance monitoring also puts enormous stress on the

employees. The call center ranked high for attrition due to health reasons, for:

Sleeping disorders-83% compared to industry average of 39.5%,

Voice loss-8.5% as against 3.9%,

Other problems were:

Ear problems (8.5%),

Digestive disorders (14.9%) and

Eye sight problems (10.6%).

India is situated 5 h ahead of UK, 10 h ahead of New York and 13 h ahead of Los Angeles. US and UK

companies can claim overnight response capability because during their night time, it is day time in India and

agents in India can respond to emails during Indian business hours. This is known as follow the sun model. It is

this working at nights that requires adjusting the biological clock and social practices to a different time, which

is turning out to be a major cause for health-related and social problems.

About 30-40% of the employees working in the call center had complained of eye problems. Soreness, dryness,

blurred vision, light sensitivity, headache, all these put together is labeled as the Computer vision syndrome.

This problem is more acute with the team leaders who need to come in early and go back late. Digestive

Page 28

disorders are common among employees in the call center. Thirty-four percent of employees had complaints on

this count as revealed by the HR managers.

It was also pointed out that the employees are facing the possibility of losing their voice. The problem known

earlier as 'the teacher syndrome' is now being found in the young workers of call centers. Some of them may

face the acute manifestation of this in the form of permanent loss of voice. In the chronic form it is

characterized by inability to speak (Dysphonia), pain, croakiness of voice, irritating cough, poor vocal power,

inability to modulate and breathing difficulties.

1. BOSS stands for burnout stress syndrome - The BOSS syndrome is seen very commonly among

young people working in call centers. The symptoms of this syndrome include chronic fatigue, insomnia and

complete alteration of 24-hour biological rhythm of the body are routine cause for sickness absenteeism.

Chronic levels of stress affect the heart, endocrine system and also lead to sleep disorders.Although most such

cases do not require treatment or medication, they need guidance on physical and mental coordination to cope

with a job that requires hyper-alert efficiency. There is a concern regarding the noise hazard especially of the

Acoustic shock, which is due to sudden high frequency noise, which is very damaging to the ear and can also

cause permanent deafness. There are also complaints regarding muskuloskeletal disorders, we need to wonder

whether they outsource body pain along with work. The call center processes are designed to fit the technology

and not the workers.

Little documentation is available as yet on these health problems but there are three clear issues emerging from

the nature of call center work, the first is on the issue of identity, and the second issue is the isolation faced by

call center employees. Given the intense contact between team members on a shift, there is bound to be some

development of inter-personal relationships. When the shift changes, there is a sudden break-up of relations.

There is a period of total isolation both within the work environment and without - since family lives get

disrupted and contacts between family members break-up. The third issue is related to the stress levels of

employees put to work on night shifts and given high targets - this may force some towards drug abuse of some

Page 29

sort like pep-up pills and other drugs to keep them going - especially when youngsters have money to indulge -

this is a very genuine apprehension.

2. Staffing troubles - One prediction is that by 2008, India will employ two million people as call center

operators. The only obstacle to runaway growth may be finding enough high-standard recruits with good

enough English to meet demand. Today, most top executives acknowledge that a steady turnover of staff is an

inevitable aspect of the industry. The reasons for this could be boredom with the job, seeking better prospects or

a change, better monetary benefits lack of career opportunities especially when it comes to vertical growth

which is very minimum, or even the failure of the call center to effectively train employees to stay at the job.

Because the work is so repetitive, most employees leave within 2 years. Ambitious youngsters, out to make a

fast buck, hop skip and jump across BPO companies, making staff turnover the single largest issue for business

leaders and boardrooms.

Turnover rates as high as 30% have created a major problem for the call center as they have to compete with

each other for a slice of the business cake. And some have found a unique way to meet their growth numbers by

turning to the "been-there-done-that 40 plus" generation. The greying of the BPO sector began a few months

ago and is a newly emerging trend in India.

There are fears about the social impact when within a couple of years the first crop of young 19-20-year-old

employees slogs it out and inevitably suffers burnout. They are less responsible people, their maturity level is

low, and thinking power towards planning their career is also low. Recognition is not so high for those who

work for call center in our society for various reasons. Some time they themselves hinder to introduce to the

society that they are employed in a call center. As a result of work pressure to meet the target day and day out

and competition among the group they get frustrated and quit these jobs. Because of minimum qualification,

they cannot compete with out side world and they are blank when are out of this job. They have given up on

higher studies for the seemingly lucrative call center job. Where do they go from here?

Page 30

3. Role stress in call centers: Its effects on employee performance and satisfaction - Call centers have

become an important customer access channel as well as an important source of customer-related

information. Frequently, call center employees experience role stress as a result of the conflicting

demands of the company, supervisors, and customers. In this article, antecedents and consequences of

role stress in a call center setting are examined. Specifically, we investigate which forms of

empowerment and leadership styles decrease role stress and how this subsequently effects job

satisfaction, organizational commitment, performance, and turnover intentions. It was found that

particularly the autonomy dimension of empowerment has a role-stress-reducing effect. Interesting

substantive direct positive effects of empowerment competence and leadership consideration on job

satisfaction were found. Job satisfaction was found to be conducive to job performance. Furthermore, it

was found that job satisfaction reduces turnover intentions, directly and indirectly via organizational

commitment.

4. Working conditions, well-being, and job-related attitudes among call centre agents - A comparison

of 234 call centre agents with 572 workers in traditional jobs with long lasting training revealed lower

job control and task complexity/variety and higher uncertainty among call agents. However, time

pressure, concentration demands, and work interruptions were lower in call agents. Within the call agent

sample, controlling for negative affectivity and other working conditions, job control predicted intention

to quit, and job complexity/variety predicted job satisfaction and affective commitment. Social stressors

and task-related stressors predicted uniquely indicators of well-being and job-related attitudes.

Furthermore, data confirm the role of emotional dissonance as a stressor in its own right, as it explained

variance in irritated reactions and psychosomatic complaints beyond other working conditions. Results

indicate that strong division of labour may be a rather general phenomenon in call centres. Therefore,

working conditions of call agents require a redesign by means of job enrichment or—better—

organization development. Moreover, measures of social stressors and emotional dissonance should be

integrated routinely into stress-related job analyses in service jobs.

Page 31

5. Emotional dissonance, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction in call centre workers - The rapid

rise of the service sector, and in particular the call centre industry has made the study of emotional

labour increasingly important within the area of occupational stress research. Given high levels of

turnover and absenteeism in the industry this article examines the emotional demands (emotional labour)

of call centre work and their relationship to the job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion in a sample of

South Australian call centre workers (N=98) within the theoretical frameworks of the job demand-

control model, the effort-reward imbalance model, and the job demands-resources model. Qualitatively

the research confirmed the central role of emotional labor variables in the experience of emotional

exhaustion and satisfaction at work. Specifically the research confirmed the pre-eminence of emotional

dissonance compared to a range of emotional demand variables in its potency to account for variance in

emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. Specifically, emotional dissonance mediated the effect of

emotional labor (positive emotions) on emotional exhaustion. Furthermore emotional dissonance was

found to be equal in its capacity to explain variance in the outcomes compared to the most frequently

researched demand measure in the work stress literature (psychosocial demands). Finally, emotional

dissonance was found to exacerbate the level of emotional exhaustion at high levels of psychosocial

demands, indicating jobs combining high levels of both kinds of demands are much more risky. Future

theorizing about work stress needs to account for emotional demands, dissonance in particular. Potential

ways to alleviate emotional exhaustion due to emotional dissonance is to reduce other psychosocial

demands, increase rewards, support and control as conceptualized in the JDR model. Ways to boost job

satisfaction are to increase control, support, and rewards.

Call centers are a rapidly growing, IT-based channel for service and sales delivery, particularly in the financial

services and telecom industries. Although little research has been undertaken on the human resource aspects of

call centers, two contrasting images are emerging. The first emphasizes the bureaucratic, constraining nature of

these work settings, while the second image points towards worker empowerment characteristic of knowledge-

intensive settings. Which of these two images more faithfully portrays the nature of work organization in call

Page 32

centers is the subject of our paper. Drawing on qualitative research undertaken in six call centers and a survey

of front-line workers, we show that elements of both models coexist and that a hybrid model predominates. The

theoretical basis for this contention, and its institutionalization as mass customized bureaucracy, lies in

management's on-going attempts to reconcile two conflicting principles: standardization of processes and

customization of products. The paper also explores, as key consequences of mass customized bureaucracy,

front-line workers' satisfaction with various facets of their job and their overall job satisfaction, in addition to

discretionary work effort. Only in relation to job security and co-worker relations could front-line workers be

considered satisfied. Overall, these employees were ambivalent in their responses. They were however more

likely to give more discretionary work effort than indicated by their extent of satisfaction. We conclude that,

although the existing pattern of work organization may be superior to more bureaucratic forms, it is by no

means ideal from the standpoint of either front-line workers or management.

ISON

ISON BPO is a leading Business Process Outsourcing firm, with a strong focus in sub-saharan Africa, ISON

BPO has now operations in 10 countries in Africa and India with 6000 employees within 3 years of ISON

BPO’s establishment.

• Our approach to ‘delivery’ in BPO combines building and managing call and data centre infrastructure and

global manpower outsourcing and call centre operations. We help clients with experience- centric solutions

that empower them in enhancing business efficiencies, streamlining operations and reducing costs. Through

/wEWDgLDtc+tCgK

Page 33

our GLOCAL delivery model we ensure that we bring the right local skill sets and global experience

together to serve our customers better.

• We truly are a multi- cultural organization, with employees from 10 nationalities in Africa, growing

persistently with diversity. We have more than 99% local African employees with expertise and experience

in leading edge business process outsourcing expertise and experience.

• We have extensive experience and insights from consulting, migrating and executing thousands of large and

complex business functions and processes in a global delivery framework.

• Key Differentiators

• Demonstrated expertise in BPO services

• Integrated BPO- IT solution to address holistic requrements

• Customer Experience- centric solutions to empower the end-user of our customers

• Multi-lingual back office services

• Large pool of qualified talent with specialized skill set

• GLOCAL delivery model with onsite, on shore and nearshore delivery centers

MANAGEMENT TEAM

Pravin Kumar

• GLOBAL CEO

• Pravin is an industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience during which he has been credited

with the creation of three large business empires. Pravin is a widely respected name in the Business

Process Outsourcing space and is regarded as a pioneer in call center services. He is the Board member

of ISON BPO - the leading ITeS services company in Africa. Under his strong leadership, ISON BPO

has now operations in 10 countries in Africa and India with 6000 employees within 3 years of ISON

BPO’s establishment.

Page 34

• Pravin started his career in 1974 with the Flowmore group for 12 years. He was instrumental in

conceptualizing and setting up diverse businesses like Capital Goods, Power and Polyester firms. He

spent 19 years with the Dalmia group where he spearheaded various business units ranging from cement

to textiles to Radio Paging Services. He was the Managing Director of DSS Mobile Communications;

which was a JV between Dalmia's, Samsung and Sunkyong of South Korea. DSS, in 2000 was the

largest domestic call center in the country.

• He is also credited with the creation of the "Mobilink" paging brand in India. In 2002, he was one of the

shortlists for the Ernst & Young Manager of the year award. Just before conceptualizing ISON BPO,

Pravin served as the CEO for Omnia BPO Services, the BPO arm of the Spice Telecom group.

• Pravin holds a Masters in Finance, Advertising & Sales from BITS Pilani. He was the first President of

Indian Paging Services Association and an active member of the telecom committee of Confederation of

Indian Industry (CII).

Sanjay Kamboj

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

• Sanjay is an action-oriented financial & commercial leader with a strong track record of over 25 years

in multi-channel businesses across sectors in Africa & India.

• Before joining ISON BPO he worked with Elektrint (Nigeria) Limited as Group CFO for 9 years, whose

business interests included EPC Contracting, Oil & Gas services and trading. He was responsible for

client negotiations for various contracts in oil & gas sector and power sector. Also, he was accomplished

financial closure of all the projects undertaken by them.

• He was responsible for closing international cotton procurement contracts with international commodity

traders and managed export contracts with their customers spread over Europe during his tenure at

Royal Spinners Plc.

Page 35

• His expertise in corporate finance, corporate governance , capital structuring , equity & debt funding ,

strategic business planning, projects funding, treasury & financial management, financial & internal

control , supply chain management , budgetary control, cost control, process improvement, compliance,

statutory and management reporting has resulted in some great achievements throughout his career.

• He is a qualified Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Amit Bhargava

SENIOR V. P. - BUSINESS OPERATIONS & MIGRATIONS

• With more than 24 years of experience, Amit has spent 16 years in BPO in different capacity and roles.

During his tenure till date, Amit has been responsible for managing P&L, Operations and Customer

Care activities for in-house and third party clients and implementation of new centers globally. While

working with Spice BPO, he was instrumental in building the team from 13 to 1300 for a leading

Airlines process in 6 months time and from start-up to large nos. ranging between 1000 to 7000 people

globally in multiple geographies in other assignments. Amit is very well conversant with Migrations &

Process Transitioning with hands on experience in setting up New Process dealing for leading clients in

Private Sector and Government Undertaking from Telecom, Travel, DTH, BFSI, E-Governance verticals

and Radio Paging companies. In his career, he led many process improvement initiatives to enhance

efficiency in overall operations across diversified culture and geographic locations, towards the

accomplishment of overall objectives.

• He has worked with many companies like Spice BPO, Mobilink, Omnia BPO to name a few.

Sanjeev Johari

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER

• Sanjeev in his current role leading the ITeS Projects across Africa has been involved in setting up Call

Center Infrastructure across various countries. With more than 29 years of experience in working with

Page 36

leading Government & Private organizations in IT, Telecom & ITES (BPO), he brings strong domain

knowledge & expertise around IT infrastructure and IT services delivery.

• He has been instrumental in accomplishing mid- to large-sized projects in IT hardware, software, project

management and has been delivering turnkey solutions to corporate and government clients.

• He has been involved in the area of infrastructure setup, process migration, technology solution

designing, process automation, project management etc.

• Prior to joining ISON BPO, he has worked at senior level positions in various private & government

organizations like Spice BPO, Sparsh BPO, DSS Mobile Communication, Electronics Corporation of

Board, U.P. State Observatory etc.

• on Customer life cycle management projects.

OUR CULTURE

• Culture of excellence

• Strive for excellence is the way of life in ISON BPO. The four cornerstones of our culture are our core

values, entrepreneurship, innovation and leading edge skills. Our human resource policies and

practices are focused towards reinforcing this culture with our existing employees and making new hires

imbibe it. The talent and leadership abilities of our people are our precious resources.

• Culture of learning

• ISON BPO has a culture that allows our people to have ownership in their future…a culture that

supports total engagement and passion…a learning culture. We believe that through synergizing the

strengths of our employees we can achieve the highest level of creativity in solving our customer needs.

Hence, we encourage every employee to look at work situations from a fresh perspective and develop

ideas identifying fresh approaches.

• “It is important to bring focus on specialized training, which helps and empowers the employees to go

up the value chain and be able to do the same job more efficiently and effectively and also be ready for

Page 37

growth”

– Pravin Kumar, Global CEO

• Rights Reserved

SERCO GROUP

Serco Group plc is a United-Kingdom based international service company. The Company provides end-to-end

business process outsourcing (BPO) services to public and private sector customers. The Company operates in

Europe, Americas, AMEAA and Global Services. United Kingdom and Europe segment offers frontline

services in areas including home affairs, defense, transportation and local government direct services; Americas

segment includes United States defense, intelligence and federal civilian agencies operations, and Canadian

operations; AMEAA, includes Frontline contracts in Australasia, Middle East, Asia, including Hong Kong and

India and Africa, and Global Services include BPO middle and back office services. It offers three lines of

service: BPO, consulting and technology services. In October 2013, it sold its United Kingdom occupational

health business. In November 2013, the Company sold its London streets maintenance and UK transport

technology business to Cubic Corporation.

Page 38

CHAPTER – 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature review

1.Measuring job satisfaction in surveys comparative analytical report

This report provides a comparative overview of how job satisfaction is measured in national working conditions

surveys, based on 16 national contributions to a questionnaire. It investigates conceptual and methodological

issues in the study of job satisfaction. The report then examines survey results on levels of general or overall job

/wEPDwUINTYzMzI

Page 39

satisfaction among workers, as well as identifying the relationship between specific factors relating to work and

job satisfaction. The national contributions from the following 16 countries

are available (as PDF files): Austria , Bulgaria , the Czech Republic , Denmark , Estonia , Finland , France ,

Germany , Hungary , Italy , the Netherlands , Portugal , Romania , Spain , Sweden and the United Kingdom .

Jorge Cabrita and Heloisa Perista (CESIS, Portugal) coordinated the preparation of this comparative analytical

report

1. . Job Satisfaction among Nurses

The current nursing shortage and high turnover is of great concern in many countries because of its impact upon

the efficiency and effectiveness of any health-care delivery system. Recruitment and retention of nurses are

persistent problems associated with job satisfaction. This paper analyses the growing literature relating to job

satisfaction among nurses and concludes that more research is required to understand the relative importance of

the many identified factors to job satisfaction. It is argued that the absence of a robust causal model

incorporating organizational, professional and personal variables is undermining the development of

interventions to improve nurse retention

2. Analysis of Employee Satisfaction in Banking Sector

In present, Employee satisfaction is important for organization’s success and survival. It is an established

indicator to measure employee satisfaction. Survey questionnaire structure is based on office environment.

Office environment are based on lighting, furniture, noise, temperature and others arrangement. Three

hundred fifteen responses have been received from different banks. The purpose of this study is to analysis

the employee satisfaction in banking sector. Employee need and satisfaction have been identified, elements

Page 40

have been established and analyze. The results show differences in employee satisfaction with the office

environment between employees in public sector banks and private sector banks, many of which were

statistically significant. Differences between employee’s satisfactions with their banks with regard to health,

wellbeing, improvement in employee productivity, best services, good behaviour between staff, socially,

economically, improvement in banking sector and job satisfaction are analyzed.

3. Concepts of job satisfaction - In a literature review, Lu, While, and Barriball (2005) mentioned the

traditional model of job satisfaction focuses on all the feelings about job of an individual. However, what

makes a job satisfying or dissatisfying does not depend only on the nature of the job, but also on the

expectations that individuals have of what their job should provide. Maslow (1954 cited in Huber, 2006)

arranged human needs along a five level hierarchy from physiological needs, safety and security,

belonging, esteem to self-actualization. In Maslow’s pyramid, needs at the lower levels must be fulfilled

before those rise to a higher level. According to Maslow’s theory, some researchers have approached on

job satisfaction from the perspective of need fulfillment (Regis & Porto, 2006; Worf, 1970). Job satisfaction

as a match between what individuals perceive they need and what rewards they perceive they receive from

their jobs (Huber, 2006). However, overtime, Maslow’s theory has diminished in value. In the \current

trend, the approach of job satisfaction focuses on cognitive process rather than on basic needs in the studies

(Huber, 2006; Spector, 1997).Another approach as proposed by Herzberg (Herzberg et al., 1959; cited in

Huber, 2006) is based on the Maslow’s theory. Herzberg and colleagues built Herzberg’s motivation-

hygiene theory of job satisfaction. Theory proposed that there are two different categories of needs, which

are intrinsic (motivators) and extrinsic (hygiene) factors. Theory postulates that job satisfaction and/or is

dissatisfaction is the function of two need systems. Intrinsic factors are related to the job itself. Intrinsic

factors seem to influence positively on job satisfaction. The motivators include advancement, growth and

development, responsibility for work, challenging, recognition, and advancement. In other words, extrinsic

factors are closely related to the environment and condition of the work. The hygiene’s relate to job

Page 41

dissatisfaction including supervision, company policy and administration, working condition and

interpersonal relation (Lephalala, Ehlers, & Oosthuizen, 2008; Shimizu et al., 2005). This theory has

dominated in the study of job satisfaction, and become a basic for development of job satisfaction

assessment (Lu et al., 2005). In summary, some previous theories have proposed many factors contributed

to job satisfaction such as the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the set of motivation-hygiene theory. This

study is going to measure job satisfaction in two categories, including motivator and hygiene factors, which

are related to Herzberg’s theory

4. JOB SATISFACTION IN BPOS,

Indian BPOs have been in news for certain contradictory issues. While this industry is able to create more

employment on the other hand is facing the problem of attrition. Although these issues have been addressed

from different perspective, more and more researches are required to understand the employment trends and

employee expectation and satisfaction, may be in the local level. An online survey was conducted at Mumbai to

address compensation issue in different BPOs. 106 respondents selected on the basis of snowball sampling fully

completed the survey. With the help of descriptive statistics and correlation tests findings were generated.

Overall it was found out that BPOs are no more considered as stepping stones to other jobs rather are thought of

as long term career prospects. And the compensation satisfaction was highly correlated to job satisfaction

among the respondents .The research is highly significant in determining the future path for the outsourcing

firms for maintaining a harmonious between the expectation and satisfaction balance amongst its employees.

5. The job satisfaction in NASSCOM-Mckinsey

India is all set to register the highest growth rate in call center services industry in Asia Pacific Region. A recent

survey on Information technology enabled services has revealed that currently more than 150 call centers are

operating in the country, inclusive international and domestic. It is widely believed that this industry is expected

to compensate for the loss of revenue, for the software industry. India's call center industry accounts for a

Page 42

quarter of the software and service exports from the country, according to the National Association of Software

and Service Companies. Presently more than 10 000 seats in the country handle an average of 45-80 calls per

seat per day. The cost of investment per seat varies from Rs. 5 to Rs. 8 lakhs to set up a state of the art call

Center with 100-300 seats .Revenues from each seat ranges from Rs. 8 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh per month. The

NASSCOM-Mckinsey report predicted that IT enabled services would account for a mammoth $17 billion

business per year. The report also predicts that in India it might generate 1.1 million jobs and Rs. 810 billion in

revenues by the year 2008.

And despite rumblings by unhappy US workers who have lost their jobs to foreign firms, India's Business

process outsourcing (BPO) sector is projected to grow as much as 30% in the next few years. Already, 1 60 000

Indians are employed in call center operations. In Bangalore more than 45 large BPO units have sprung up in

the last couple of years. In the past 8 months more than 35 000 people have been recruited in Bangalore and

according to industry experts, there is a shortage of over 8000 operators in the city based call center alone.

This is a sort of level two economic shift, the first was when low cost manufacturing shifted from the west to

China, Malaysia and so on and now it is the second wave, because of IT services, good telecommunications

links, it is possible to outsource a lot of the basic service and call center jobs out of one country to other

countries.

Page 43

CHAPTER - 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1. RESEARCH PROBLEM

The business process outsourcing industry in India is growing at a phenomenal pace. The tremendous turnover

rate is undeniably one of the main problems of job satisfaction faced by the BPO industry globally. Retention of

Page 44

key employees is critical to the long-term health and success of BPO sectors. Thus a need was felt to study the

causes of job satisfaction level of employees.

2. PROBLEM FORMULATION

To study of the job satisfaction level in BPO.

3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the level of satisfaction of employee with the various factors of the job.

To study the impact of job satisfaction on turnover intention of employee.

4. DATA COLLECTION METHOD

There are two types of resources through which data is collected.

PRIMARY DATA

Primary data is collected through observation, interviews &

questionnaires.

SECONDARY DATA

Secondary data is collected through books, reports, journals & internets.

5. RESEARCH DESIGN

Descriptive research design has been used as it includes various types of fact finding & inquiries which are done

through survey which includes questionnaire, interviews.

SAMPLE AREA: BPO’s in Dehradun

Page 45

SAMPLE SIZE: 50

SAMPLING: Random sampling

SAMPLE UNIT: Employees in BPO

6. LIMITATION:

People took a lot of time to fill the questionnaire.

Due to restriction of time the sample size has to be kept small.

They do not have enough time to fill the questionnaire because of their busy schedule.

Due to lack of trust on us they were not ready to reveal any information of their organization

Page 46

CHAPTER - 4

DATA ANALYSIS AND

INTERPRETATION

Q1. Intrinsic factor of job satisfaction

S.NO Intrinsic Factor Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Mean

1 Workload & stress

level is high

30 18 0 2 3.52

Page 47

2 Relationship with

employer

15 10 10 15 2.5

3 Respect from co-

workers

8 5 10 17 1.68

4 Opportunity for

advancement

8 5 20 17 2.08

5 Work interesting

& challenges

20 15 5 10 2.7

6 Work life balance 10 5 20 15 2.2

a) Workload and stress level in BPO sector

Page 48

30

18

2

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION

Since mean score is the 3.32 it shows that most of the respondents agree the workload & stress level is very high in the BPO sector

b) congenial relationship between employee & employer exist in my organization

Page 49

15

1010

15

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION

Since mean score is 2.5 it shows that the average number of the respondents agree there is the good relationship between employee & employer

c) Respect from co-worker

Page 50

8

5

10

17

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION:

Since mean score is the 1.68 it is shows that average respondents agree with it.

d) opportunity for advancement

Page 51

8

5

20

17

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION

Since the mean score is 2.08 so it shows that the most of the respondents agree with it.

e). Work is interesting and challenging ?

Page 52

20

15

5

10

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION:

Since the mean score is 2.7 it shows that the most of the respondents strongly agree the work is interesting and challenges.

e). Work life is balance.

Page 53

10

5

20

15

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION:

Since the mean score is the 2.2 so it shows that the most of the respondents strongly disagree with it

Q2.Extrinsic factor of job satisfaction?

Page 54

S.NO Factors Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree

Disagree Mean Score

1 Working Condition 10 5 20 15 2.2

2 Financial Reward 0 10 20 20 1.8

3 Salary &Wages 12 10 18 10 2.48

4 Staff Training 20 15 5 10 2.7

5 Information Availability

15 10 10 15 2.5

6 Communication 20 15 5 10 2.9

7 Do you like your job or join some other organization

15 5 15 15 2.5

a). Working condition is satisfactory in my organization ?

Page 55

10

5

20

15

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION

:

Since mean score is the 2.2 it shows that the most of the respondents are not satisfy with the working condition in the organization.

b). Financial reward offered in my organization is satisfactory ?

Page 56

10

20

20

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION:

Since mean score is the 1.8 it shows that the most of the respondents strongly disagree with it.

c). Compensation package offered in my organization is satisfactory ?

Page 57

12

10

18

10

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION:

Since mean score is the 2.4 so it shows that the most of respondents are not satisfy with it.

d). Staff training is provided in my organization ?

Page 58

20

15

5

10

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly diagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION:

Since the mean score is 2.7 so it shows that the most of the respondents agree with it.

e). Information availability in my organization ?

Page 59

15

1010

15

%

strongly agree agreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION:

Since the mean score is the 2.5 so that it is shows that the average respondents are agree with it .

f). My organization clearly communicates its goals.

Page 60

20

15

5

10

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION:

Since the mean score is 2.9 so it shows that the most of the respondents agree with it .

g) you feel like leaving the present job & join some other organization

Page 61

15

5

15

15

%

strongly agreeagreestrongly disagreedisagree

INTERPRETATION:

Since the mean score is 2.4 so it shows that the most of the respondent strongly disagree with it .

Page 62

CHAPTER -5

CONCULSION

A study has been made on “Job satisfaction level in BPO sector” and it was found that the majority of

employees are satisfied with the following factors :

Page 63

1. The relationship between employee and employer is coordial.

2. The work is very interesting and challenging.

3. The BPO provides the staff training time to time.

4. The manager clearly communicates its goals and strategies to employees.

But there are certain areas of dissatisfaction amongst employees which are as under :

1. The employees perceive loss of identity, isolation, and work pressure due to long hours of work,

permanent night shifts, and high work targets.

2. The employees working in the call center had complains of eye problems. Digestive disorders were also

common among employees in the call center.

3. The working environment is not perceived as so good

4. There is Dissatisfaction with rewards and hikes

Page 64

CHAPTER -6

RECOMMENDATION

Page 65

1. The employees job should be made more meaningful. This may mean letting them volunteer for a task

force or committee whose work interests them, or simply getting clear on how your work participation

benefits the organization.

2. Organization should conduct certain stress management activities, so that employee feel relax.

3. After completing target, employees should be given reward and incentives so that they feel motivated.

4. Salary and wages should be given according to their skills and performance.

5. Working environment should be friendly ,boss and subordinate relations should be made more coordial.

6. Targets set should be specific and achievable.

Page 66

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLOGRAPHY

Page 67

1. http://www. wikipedia.org/wiki/Call centre

2. http://www.home.att.net

3. www.callcentre.com

4. Chakra borty, Paul, “Job Satisfaction”, Industrial Relations, 1965,Pg 124-149,

Edition II

5. Maslow, A.H., “A Theory of Human Motivation”, Psychological Review, 1943,Pg

98-124,Edition 3

6. Factors of job satisfaction, by Dr Himanshu Agarwal “Principle & Practice on

Management”

Page 68

ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE

Page 69

Respected Sir/ Mam,

This questionnaire is a part of my dissertation topic “Job Satisfaction in BPO Sector” So kindly give your

opinion by ticking the correct option to the following questions.

Q1. Intrinsic factors

a). Workload & stress level in my BPO sector .

b). Congenial relationship between employee & supervisor exist in my organization .

c). Respect from the co –worker .

d). Opportunity for advancement .

e).Work is interesting & challenges.

f). work life balance

Q2. Extrinsic factors

Page 70

SA A SD D

SA A AD D

a). Working condition is satisfactory in my organization .

b). Financial reward offered in my organization is satisfactory .

c). Compensation package offered in my organization is satisfactory .

d). Staff training is provided in y organization .

e). Information availability in my organization .

f). My organization clearly communicate its goal .

Page 71