Copyright (c) 2009 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla Recent documents in Sarosh Kuruvilla en-us Sun, 31 May 2009 11:46:20 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/19 http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/19 Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:49:48 PDT We examine trends in union density and union influence in several Asian countries. While we find considerable variation in union density across the countries in our sample, all of the labour movements in these countries experienced membership decline in the 1990s. Asian countries also varied on our union influence measure, although as a group, their scores were much lower than those of Western nations. We examine the pattern of union growth, decline, and influence in each country within the differing institutional context of unionism, using a "logics of action" framework. Based on our examination of how these institutional contexts are changing, and what we know about the strategies of unions, we are not hopeful regarding the near term prospects for reversing union decline. Sarosh Kuruvilla http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/18 http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/18 Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:49:47 PDT In this paper, we briefly describe the institutional background to Singapore's successful national skills development model. We devise a tentative framework to evaluate national level skills development efforts, and we use it to assess the Singapore model. We argue that the model has the potential to constantly move towards higher skills equilibria, and in those terms, it is successful. However, we question the long-term sustainability of the model, and whether it is transferable to other developing nations. We outline several useful principles that other nations might use in organizing their own skills development systems. Sarosh Kuruvilla http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/17 http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/17 Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:49:46 PDT [Excerpt] The aim of this chapter is to describe and analyze the efforts at skills development in Singapore and in India's booming outsourcing sector. Singapore is an important case because it started its skills development efforts in the early 1980s at a time when outsourcing of manufacturing was just beginning, and it has become one of the best-known examples of a nation that has successfully and continuously upskilled its workforce over the past twenty-five years. India, on the other hand, is just beginning to focus on skills development, stimulated by the growth in outsourcing of high-end services such as software development and business process outsourcing (BPO) of financial and medical research and low-end services such as call centers. Sarosh Kuruvilla http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/16 http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/16 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:57:22 PDT This paper contributes to the partial resolution of the debate regarding the role of governments in leading national upskilling efforts through a descriptive case study of the Singapore system of skills development. The paper identifies the major reasons behind Singapore's remarkable success in upgrading workforce skills in a relatively short period of 40 years. First, a general linkage between economic development needs and skill formation and development has been facilitated by an institutional structure that places the Economic Development Board at the center of the effort with responsibility for both areas. Authors argue that this general linkage is a necessary but insufficient condition for rapid skills upgradation. Second, the EDB's model of technology transfer, which over a period of time brought about the integration of three crucial aspects, i.e., linking foreign direct investment to skills development and joint government-private sector operation for skills training, was crucial in the ability of the economy to meet its short and medium term skills development needs. Third, educational reform for long term skills development and fourth, a levy/grant scheme (the Skills development Funds) that induced private sector firms to invest in upskilling were important contributors to the success of the system. Finally, the institutional linkages across various different skills development institutions and initiatives further ensured the effectiveness and relevance of upskilling programs i.e., the interconnectedness of the various parts of the system was a crucial element in the success of the Singapore effort. In sum, Singapore's system is consistent with the notion of a concerted national effort. Given that several nations have indicated their desire to copy selected aspects of the Singapore system (e.g., skills development funds) this paper cautions that it is important to understand that each component works because of the institutional context, and cannot be transplanted independently to a different institutional context and be expected to provide the same results. Sarosh Kuruvilla http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/15 http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/15 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:57:19 PDT Much attention has been focused on the decline of traditional employment structures in the advanced industrial countries. Lesser attention has focused on this issue in Asia. In this comparative essay, the authors examine the changes in employment security in China, India, Japan, and South Korea. They focus on the historical development of the employment security social contract in these countries, noting the institutional features that gave rise to it in each country. They then examine the resilience of employment security norms under recent economic pressures. They find there has been substantial erosion in employment security during the 1990s in all four countries due to both increased competition and economic liberalization, although there is some variation in both the rate of erosion as well as the prospects for revival of the social contract. They assess the possibilities of a revival in this particular social contract, and the impact of the erosion on unorganized workers. Adam Lee http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/14 http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/14 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:57:16 PDT [Excerpt] In this chapter, a different view is taken of the relationship between industrialization strategies and industrial relations policy and practice. I argue that it is not the logic of industrialism or the levels of industrialization per se but the choice of an industrialization strategy and the shifts between such strategies that influence changes in industrial relations policies. Sarosh C. Kuruvilla http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/13 http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/13 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:57:13 PDT [Excerpt] Over the past three decades the nature of work in many American organizations has drastically changed. Alongside a general organizational restructuring, the traditional employment relationship is being redefined and is taking on a variety of new shapes and forms. In this masterful and insightful book, Stephen Barley and Gideon Kunda study the intricate and often counter-intuitive consequences associated with the changing nature of work. Specifically, they examine one of the clear manifestations of organizational restructuring--the shift to contracted work in the high-tech sector. Employing their ethnographic expertise, Barley and Kunda successfully reclaim the mandate of organizational studies to explore the complex and multidimensional effects of organizational transformation on the way individuals (in this case, technical contractors) work. By focusing in particular on the meaning contractors give to their emerging work arrangements, they illuminate why technical contractors choose a contractual relationship rather than permanent employment, the ways they cope with employment uncertainty, and their strategies for human and social capital formation. Sarosh Kuruvilla http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/12 http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/12 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:57:09 PDT This is a case study of an important innovation in providing healthcare for the rural poor: the Yeshasvini Health Insurance Scheme for rural farmers and peasants in Karnataka, India. Arguably the world's largest health insurance scheme for the rural poor, the scheme commenced in 2003. Designed in ways that overcome several obstacles to providing health security for rural populations, the scheme covered, in its second year, about 2.2 million widely dispersed peasant farmers for surgical and outpatient care for a low annual premium of approximately US$2. In this paper, we describe and evaluate the scheme in its first year of operation, and explore its potential to be a model for the developing world generally. Sarosh Kuruvilla http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/11 http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/11 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:57:06 PDT [Excerpt] This paper aims to develop usable indicators of the concept of social dialogue, as part of the ILO's effort to develop operational measures of Decent Work. Section 1 examines the concept of social dialogue. Section 2 looks at past approaches to measuring social dialogue. Section 3 discusses what we have learned from past approaches and the implications for developing indicators and collecting data. Section 4 describes and justifies the proposed indicators. Section 5 concludes the paper with a discussion of the implications of this methodology for practice, and an examination of the costs. Sarosh Kuruvilla http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/10 http://works.bepress.com/sarosh_kuruvilla/10 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:57:03 PDT A logic of action framework is developed in order to conceptualize and understand the impact of globalization on employment relations, as well as to predict the future trajectory of employment relations. The argument is that the interplay between three different logics of action, i.e., the logic of competition, the logic of industrial peace, and the logic of employment-income protection determines the employment relations pattern in any given nation. The strengths of the logics themselves are determined by five often related factors, i.e., economic development strategy, the intensity of globalization, union strength, labor market features and government responsiveness to workers. Drawing on extensive field research on national policies and workplace practices in India, China, the Philippines and Malaysia, we show support for our framework. We find that ER patterns are reflect different combinations of logic strengths, that globalization's impact on employment relations is not only complex, but contingent, and we suggest that long term convergence in employment relations is unlikely given variations in the combinations of logic strengths in different countries, and changes in logic strengths over time. Stephen Frenkel