Papers by Prof. Ernesto Noronha
Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers
European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Jun 30, 2023
This paper reports a study of how the Indian IT industry navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. Agility... more This paper reports a study of how the Indian IT industry navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. Agility emerged as the crucial determining factor aiding the industry's successful survival. IT organisations' agility, facilitated by the state's response to the pandemic and by both their anticipation of the lockdown and their technological capabilities, helped them overcome the crisis. The slowdown forced firms to downsize, reduce bench strength, freeze wages and intensify work, while deferring client payments. When the economy recovered, high attrition, termed 'The Great Resignation', forced employers to increase wages. Employers were unable to compel employees to return to the office, despite facing issues relating to organisational culture, data security and moonlighting. Remote working helped employees maintain work-life balance and save on cost of living, forcing employers to provide a hybrid option.
XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018), Jul 17, 2018
UnITeD sTATes AnD InDIA sAROsh kURUvILLA AnD eRnesTO nOROnhA* In this article, the authors argue ... more UnITeD sTATes AnD InDIA sAROsh kURUvILLA AnD eRnesTO nOROnhA* In this article, the authors argue that offshoring of legal work from the United states has contributed to the fracturing of the longestablished internal labor market arrangements in large U.s. law firms. Drawing on evidence from the United states and India on legal employment, the growth of offshoring, and the rapidly changing nature of work that is offshored, the authors contend that the changes in employment systems in law firms are likely to be permanent, in contrast to other researchers who suggest they are temporary adjustments to the financial crisis. As U.s. law firms are dismantling their internal labor market systems, Indian law firms are partially recreating them. T he legal services industry and the U.s. labor market for lawyers is changing, especially after the financial crisis. both the academic and the trade literatures (e.g., henderson 2008a; bull and Furlong 2011) have highlighted a number of key trends. These include the sharp declines in revenues and profitability after the financial crisis, law firm bankruptcies, changes in business practices to reduce costs through technological solutions (e.g., e-discovery software), and the rise of new low-cost firms such as LegalZoom that specialize in the web-based delivery of legal services. Attention has focused particularly on the layoffs of lawyers for the first time in half a century, the deferments in lawyer hiring, and the overall declines in industry employment. Finally, some researchers have focused on the consequences for labor and education markets, notably increased discontent among current law *sarosh kuruvilla is a Professor at cornell University. ernesto noronha is a Professor at the Indian Institute of Management. we thank John Flood, Diane burton, Tashlin Lakhani, Premilla D'cruz, and participants of seminars at cornell, Rutgers, Penn state, University of california-Los Angeles (UcLA), warwick, and the London school of economics and Political science (Lse) for helpful comments, and brittany heiman, Ranga kanthadai, Paulo Ferreira, and Jinyoung Park for research assistance. we also thank anonymous reviewers and an ILR Review editor for helpful feedback. Interview transcripts, suitably redacted to keep our informants anonymous, can be made available to interested readers
Economic and Labour Relations Review, Jan 24, 2019
Workplace bullying literature has focused mainly on actions of individual targets of mistreatment... more Workplace bullying literature has focused mainly on actions of individual targets of mistreatment, undertaken to address the problem, and on analyses of the effectiveness of responses. Less attention has been paid to the efficacy of state regulation in establishing a climate of prevention as well as redress. We examine the role of the Dutch Working Conditions Act as a means of mitigating workplace bullying from the perspective of legislative intention, processes and outcomes. Semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in creating, influencing and implementing the Act are analysed thematically to highlight how contextual, employer and phenomenon-specific factors affect the effectiveness of legislation with regard to workplace bullying. The findings indicate that state involvement, organisational commitment and collective action are
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, 2021
Journal of Business Ethics, Oct 1, 2022
To commemorate 40 years since the founding of the Journal of Business Ethics, the editors in chie... more To commemorate 40 years since the founding of the Journal of Business Ethics, the editors in chief of the journal have invited the editors to provide commentaries on the future of business ethics. This essay comprises a selection of commentaries aimed at creating dialogue around the theme Technology, Megatrends and Work. Of all the profound changes in business, technology is perhaps the most ubiquitous. There is not a facet of our lives unaffected by internet technologies and artificial intelligence. The Journal of Business Ethics established a dedicated section that focuses on Technology and Business Ethics, yet issues related to this phenomenon run right through all the sections. Kirsten Martin, editor of the Technology and Business Ethics section, joins our interim social media editor, Hannah Trittin-UIbrich, to advance a human-centric approach to the development and application of digital technologies that places Business Ethics at centre of the analysis. For Shuili Du, technology is the defining condition for a new era of Corporate Social Responsibility-CSR 3.0-which she defines as "a company's socially responsible strategies and practices that deal with key ethical and socio-technical issues associated with AI and related technologies on the one hand and leverage the power of AI and related technologies to tackle social and environmental problems on the other hand." It is not just technologies that are a determining feature of our lives but technology companies, an argument made by Glen Whelan as he examines Big Business and the need for a Big Business Ethics as we try to understand the impact of Big Tech on our post-work world. Indeed, as noted by Ernesto Noronha and Premilla D'Cruz, megatrends in addition to advancement in technologies, namely globalization, the greening of economies, and changes in demographics and migration, are shaping the future for workers in ways previously unimaginable. Contributing to this important debate, Praveen Parboteeah considers the influence of another longstanding but oft overlooked megatrend, the role of religion in the workplace. Given the enormity of the influence of technology and other megatrends in our world, it is not surprising that this essay introduces groundbreaking ideas that speak to the future of business ethics research.
Work, organisation, labour & globalisation, Apr 1, 2016
This article reports on an empirical study of Indian freelancers working via Elance-oDesk (now re... more This article reports on an empirical study of Indian freelancers working via Elance-oDesk (now renamed Upwork). In a qualitative approach, data were gathered from 24 freelancers across India through in-depth telephone interviews and analysed thematically. The core finding that 'the positives outweigh the negatives' highlighted the fact that the challenges were eclipsed by what these freelancers gained, in terms of employment opportunities, income, skill utilisation and enhancement, career progression, emphasis on merit, international exposure, flexibility and platform-based protection of worker interests. Participants' favourable experiences are explained by the nature of the Indian labour market. The study extends insights into crowdsourcing for paid work which has so far been largely researched in the West and has focused disproportionally on the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform.
Palgrave McMillan eBooks, 2009
Across the globe, the platform economy, comprising online and offline variants, engages freelance... more Across the globe, the platform economy, comprising online and offline variants, engages freelancers as independent contractors, excluding them from employee status, thereby advancing precarity. Internationally, there are various initiatives to address the vulnerabilities of platform workers. Indian online freelancers hold mixed views about their predicament, considering their gains juxtaposed against their problems. In dealing with these contradictions, some freelancers invoke merit and conformity, deeming regulation and collectivization as irrelevant, while other freelancers, acknowledging merit and conformity, emphasize the importance of external oversight. Enhancing the prospects of Indian platform workers appears to be left to the endeavours of progressive pressure groups within the subcontinent, perhaps aided by the middle-class membership of the workforce. Alongside this, international responses unifying the voice of labour across the North-South divide and placing the platform economy within the purview of non-standard employment at least and standard employment at best are relevant ways ahead.
International Journal of Conflict Management, Sep 5, 2022
Purpose Adapting a positive business ethics framework, the purpose of this paper is to offer a ne... more Purpose Adapting a positive business ethics framework, the purpose of this paper is to offer a new perspective to manage bullying at work. Specifically, this paper reports an empirical study which examines how the good work of servant leadership may lower employees’ exposure to workplace bullying, with compassion as a mediator and social cynicism beliefs (SCBs) as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were gathered from 337 essential health professionals working in various public and private health-care organisations in Pakistan. Structural equation modelling was used to test the research model. Findings This study found that perceived servant leadership helps in lessening employee exposure to workplace bullying by strengthening their compassion. However, SCBs moderate the mediating role of compassion in employees’ perceptions of the servant leadership–bullying relationship. Research limitations/implications This study has implications in developing models of leadership to build employees’ empathetic resources to combat workplace bullying. The authors found that servant leadership and workplace compassion, embodying positive, ethical and sustainable attributes, play a crucial role in managing bullying at work by promoting relational dignity. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines the relationships between employee perceptions of servant leadership, workplace bullying and employee compassion while considering SCBs as a boundary condition.
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Mar 9, 2016
SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd eBooks, Mar 7, 2014
Handbooks of Workplace Bullying, Emotional Abuse and Harassment, 2019
The study of workplace bullying (WPB) in India dates back over a decade, rendering it an establis... more The study of workplace bullying (WPB) in India dates back over a decade, rendering it an established area of inquiry. This chapter, using the lens of D'Cruz and Noronha's (Res Emot Organ 12:409-444, 2016) varieties of workplace bullying, elaborates on the sociocultural underpinnings of the phenomenon in the subcontinent, drawing on the extant literature. While the incidence rate of workplace bullying in India at over 40% across numerous inquiries is higher than many other countries, factors such as power, social categories, individualism and materialism are seen as triggers while factors such as spiritualism and social support are seen as antidotes. In showing how available empirical evidence from India demonstrates the role of the country's ethos in the dynamics of workplace bullying, the chapter reinforces D'Cruz's (Workplace bullying in India. Routledge, New Delhi, 2012; India: a paradoxical context for workplace bullying. In: Omari M, Paull M (eds) Workplace abuse, incivility and bullying: methodological and cultural perspectives. Routledge, London, pp 55-70, 2016a) thesis that India serves as a paradoxical context for the phenomenon. The chapter urges the incorporation of a sociocultural lens in studies of workplace bullying in India, maintaining that such an approach is critical to facilitate relevant and effective interventions to tackle the problem in the subcontinent. To this end, it proposes the adoption of metaphorical or a combination of dimensional and metaphorical frameworks in inquiries of workplace bullying in the country.
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Papers by Prof. Ernesto Noronha