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Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Editors and Contributors -- Abbreviations -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- 1 The World of Work in Contemporary India: The Relevance of a Critical Lens -- Abstract -- 1.1 The Business Context of Globalization -- 1.2 Engaging Critical Perspectives -- 1.3 Current Issues of Work and Employment in India -- References -- India's Place in Global Production Networks -- 2 "White Gold" for Whom? A Study of Institutional Aspects of Work and Wages in Cotton GPNs in India -- Abstract -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Analytical Framework: Institutional Theory -- 2.3 Dynamics of Cotton Work and Wages -- 2.3.1 Social/Community Context of Cotton Farm Labour -- 2.3.2 Cotton Farmers and Workers: The Class Dimension -- 2.3.2.1 Structural and Associational Power of Cotton Farm Workers -- 2.3.3 The Cotton GPNs and Workers -- 2.3.4 Role of the State and Labour Agency in Cotton -- 2.4 Conclusion -- References -- 3 Why Has the Indian Automotive Industry Reproduced "Low Road" Labour Relations? -- Abstract -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The Automotive Industry on a Global-Historical Scale -- 3.3 Work and Labour in the Indian Auto Industry: Taking the "Low Road" -- 3.4 Why Has India's Auto Industry Taken the Low Road? Towards a Theoretical Explanation -- 3.5 Conclusion -- References -- 4 "The Recession Has Passed but the Effects Are Still with Us": Employment, Work Organization and Employee Experiences of Work in Post-crisis Indian BPO -- Abstract -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Work and Employment in Indian BPO -- 4.3 Case Studies and Research Methods -- 4.4 Findings -- 4.4.1 Immediate Impact of the Crisis -- 4.4.2 Post-recession Recovery and Corporate Strategy -- 4.4.3 Operationalizing New Strategies and Priorities -- 4.4.3.1 Process -- 4.4.3.2 People Management -- 4.4.4 Employee Experiences of Work -- 4.4.4.1 Nature of Work

What happens to workers when an industry closes down? This paper answers this question in detail, by studying the impact of the closure of the New Rajpur Textile Mill in Ahmedabad on the lives of its employees.

What happens to workers when an industry closes down? This paper answers this question in detail, by studying the impact of the closure of the New Rajpur Textile Mill in Ahmedabad on the lives of its employees.

This book showcases issues of work and employment in contemporary India through a critical lens, serving as a systematic, scholarly and rigorous resource which provides an alternate view to the glowing metanarrative of the subcontinent's ongoing economic growth in today's globalized world. Critical approaches ensure that divergent and marginalized voices are highlighted, promoting a more measured perspective of entrenched standpoints. In casting social reality differently, a quest for solutions that reshape current dynamics is triggered. The volume spans five thematic areas, subsuming a range of economic sectors. India is a pre-eminent destination for offshoring, underscoring the relevance of global production networks (Theme 1). Yet, the creation of jobs has not transformed employment patterns in the country but rather accentuated informalization and casualization (Theme 2). Indeed, even India's ICT-related sectors, perceived as mascots of modernity and vehicles for upward mobility, raise questions about the extent of social upgrading (Theme 3). Nonetheless, these various developments have not been accompanied by collective action--instead; there is growing evidence of diminished pluralistic employment relations strategies (Theme 4). Emergent concerns about work and employment such as gestational surrogacy and expatriate experiences attest to the evolving complexities associated with offshoring (Theme 5).

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report a study of bullying on online labour markets (OLMs), highlighting how abuse unfolds in digital workplaces and depicting the trajectory of target resilience.


Design/methodology/approach
Adopting van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology, targets' lived experiences of bullying on OLMs was explored. Data gathered from Indian freelancers located on Upwork via conversational telephonic interviews were subjected to sententious and selective thematic analyses.


Findings
The core theme of "pursuing long-term and holistic well-being" showed how targets tapped into yet augmented their resilience while navigating the features of OLMs as they coped with their experiences of bullying. The interface between targets' internal and external resources, including platform support, vis-à-vis the concreteness and permanence of the site as targets asserted agency, sought control and realized positive outcomes while preserving their reputation, relationality, success and continuity was captured. It may be noted that bullying in digital workplaces is exclusively virtual in form.


Research limitations/implications
Alongside theoretical generalizability, statistical generalizability of the findings should be established.


Practical implications
Recommendations for action for platforms and targets are forwarded. In particular, the critical role of formal workplace support in influencing employee resilience is emphasized.


Originality/value
The paper makes several pioneering contributions. First, it reports the first empirical inquiry examining bullying in digital workplaces. Moreover, OLM research on abuse and harassment has not been undertaken so far. Second, it furthers theorization of resilience, especially with regard to workplace antecedents. Apart from identifying the new organizational antecedent of formal workplace support, it uncovers the complexities of resilience. Third, it extends knowledge on workplace cyberbullying, positive outcomes of workplace bullying and OLMs in India.

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

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

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

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

The power and influence of trade unionism in telecommunications, state government employment and municipal bus services are examined in Gujarat, an Indian state ruled by the Hindu nationalist, pro-big business Bharatiya Janata Party. We identify significant examples of resilience in unions critical of the BJP, alongside conflicts of interest and challenges for pro-BJP unions. These are somewhat surprising findings in a context expected to be hostile to class-based trade unionism, suggesting an important pole of ongoing, organised labour opposition to Gujarat's perceived political hegemony, and posing some wider issues. In the interim between the writing and publishing of this article, the BJP won India's 2014 general election.

The present article furthers our understanding of the nascent concept of depersonalized bullying by exploring employee responses to the phenomenon. Through a qualitative enquiry of international-facing call centre agents in India, the major theme of 'bounded benefits' captured employees' response of ambivalence. Valuing their professional identity and material returns while ruing the depersonalized bullying of their oppressive work environment, participants recognized that their gains were limited by but inextricably linked to workplace demands. Perceiving no alternative to the continuity of their benefits, participants emphasized positive aspects of their experiences to reduce their misgivings. In contrast to interpersonal bullying where targets are victimized and undergo severe strain such that they usually exit the employer organization, depersonalized bullying entails a dualistic response where well-being and strain coexist and where approach dimensions compensate for avoidance dimensions such that compromise and trade-off facilitate coping.