We don't have time in class to watch Outsourced, but there are many options for you to watch it on YouTube. This is the trailer for the TV show, but the trailer for the movie is there as well to give you an idea where it all started.
First of all, what do you think about outsourcing? Is it necessary or should we be keeping jobs in the US?
What do you think of this series? Should we understand another culture before we go and work there, or should they understand ours if they are a call center for our products and services?
I think that we should outsource a percentage of things and keep the rest here in the U.S. I think with the proper balance a company can save money, but also keep their customers happy. I find it very frustrating when I get a person on the phone that I can barely understand. Lately I have been calling AT&T customer service and so far I have been able to talk to people I understand. I am not sure if it is because they don't outsource their call center employees or if I just get lucky. I do know for a fact that one of the gentlemen I spoke with was in the U.S. because he was telling me about his son who lived in another country. Maybe if they are going to outsource any of their services, let the international employees handle the e-mail and instant chatting requests.
ReplyDeleteI think that they should understand they company that they work for as well as the American culture. I also think that we should understand their culture. I think that it is very important for people to understand where the other is coming from when working together.
Personally, I think this is a very hard topic to choose a side on. From a business standpoint, with how much the government charges businesses and how selfish, lazy, and unproductive some people are in the US, sometimes I don't blame companys for outsourcing, giving those individuals who don't bread on their table a job. However, from a community standpoint I don't not think it is right to take jobs away from hard workers in the US.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very important to understand another culture before going in that work environment; however, from a customer standpoint, I think it is somewhat disrespectful towards the customer when having to speak to a service operator that you can't even understand. I agree with Jessica and think that they should make sure they understand the American culture before, because Americans will be their customer.
From an accounting point of view I understand that for some companies to save costs it is important for them to outsource. But there is also a huge part of me that is against that. I feel like American businesses should be focusing on the American people how to help boost our economy. I was in a class a few semesters ago with a group of women who had worked for a company for years, and had recently lost their jobs due to outsourcing. How is that fair? How is that helping the American economy? Profit is important, but so is corporate responsibility. Giving back to the community is not just about charities, it is also about providing jobs for people within the community.
ReplyDeleteI personally cannot stand to speak with a representative that I can hardly understand. It is so frustrating to try and communicate and I feel like they are frustrated to because of the language barrier. It's almost robotic.
There are many pros and cons of outsourcing. I am not particularly a fan of it because I sometimes think it is very difficulty to speak with foreign people on the phone. It sometimes frustrates me also if someone would call my house to sell me something and then they are really hard to understand. Although, on the flip side of things, I think it is good for the company to spread to different countries to try to sell their product. It expands the company and makes it more well known.
ReplyDeleteI think this series seems very interesting and quite humorous. I would consider watching it. By watching the trailer and with common knowledge, I think it would be best for a person that is going to work in another country to definitely learn their culture. There are many countries that have totally different cultures, and us as Americans could easily and unintentionally offend somebody just because of the lack of knowledge.
I agree that outsourcing is a tough topic to talk about in business. You want Americans to have jobs but also you want your company to expand and spend less money. I think having equal parts in outsourcing and non-outsourcing would make a company thrive more and make costumers happy too. I think a company should understand the culture of a country before beginning work there and the workers should understand the culture of the US as well. This make the company look better and make costumers happy as well.
ReplyDeleteI believe from a corporate company's point of view outsourcing would help save them money on labor and taxes. However, as a U.S citizen I would like to see more jobs stay in America, especially with the unemployment rate so high. If some of these job were not outsourced a good majority of the unemployed would be able to work and support their families.
ReplyDeleteI think this series seems extremely funny! I definitely believe we should know about other cultures before we go over to work or even on vacation. Some common things could easily offend people and could cause many problems for you.
I agree with the majority. I can see where outsourcing is extremely beneficial for companies because of expense reasons. However, our economy is struggling right now, people need jobs, and by giving our jobs and money to people in other countries, all we are doing is fueling their economy and standing by while ours suffers.
ReplyDeleteI have seen the movie once, it was okay. The series seems a lot funnier, but not something I would sit down and watch. If we are going to outsource to other countries, we should definitely to our best to understand their culture and do things their way. Americans area already known for being cocky, why encourage that thought process? It goes back to the saying most everybody's heard. "Treat others how you want to be treated." I'm pretty sure if foreigners came to our country and tried to make us mold to their ways and standards we wouldn't put up with it. One of the most frustrating things about call centers is that they we can't understand what they are saying. I think employees should definitely be trained on things, but not asked to change their way.
Saw the movie this weekend. I enjoyed it. It got me to see the other side, India's side.
ReplyDeleteBe forewarned, I'm very opinionated in my ideas of outsourcing. I believe that a company that outsources its work to another country has no faith in America. It throws a rock that leaves a rippling affect.
My opinion is that if a company wants to do business in America, they need to work IN America. If they want to work in India, they should do business in India. Whatever country you live and work in, speak that country's language, learn their customs, abide by their idioms. Yeah, that might mean you need to take language lessons, but guess what, how do you think you learned to speak English? You took lessons when you were an infant. Total immersion. You naturally speak the language of your parents. Every other language you can speak is learned with effort. If you don't want to make the effort, don't do business or hire employees in that country.
We don't want to adapt to another country's culture, but we want to employ their people to work in place of American's. Yet we think nothing about how put-out we feel when we get on a bus with a bunch of Latinos in NYC or LA, who are not willing to speak English or abide by our idioms, sometimes creating a hostile environment we do not condone. (This is not meant as a racist comment, but only speaking to the reality of what actually occurs. This does not happen just with Latinos, you will find it with Asians as well and maybe other foreigners. It has been my experience that if a person is from the European side of the world, they are more willing to adapt. Maybe because their society is very similar?)
Getting off my soap box, I'm not against globalization. I think that's a great opportunity for our society. But at some point we have to wake up and realize who we are hurting and how far the ripple will go when we throw the rock. Laying off Americans to outsource to another country is going to hurt America. There has to be a better way and I don't think we'll find it until we as a society stop paying homage to the almighty dollar (a different soap box, entirely).
The thing that I liked in the movie is it reiterated my opinion. The supervisor was not happy about his re-assignment to India. The Indians told him to let go of his "Westernization" and accept India for what it is. Only then could he be happy working in India. And he did and he found happiness while he was there. We as Americans need to take something from that. . . We're not always right.
I agree with Adrienne, in business as well as personal lives, we need to "treat other how we want to be treated."
So, the question becomes, how do we create a globalized society without losing the individualization of each country? Every country has something beautiful to offer to the mix. Do we all really need to fit the same mold?
I think that there are both benefits and drawbacks of outsourcing. For example, outsourcing is cheaper for American companies, but at the same time it takes jobs away from American individuals causing them to have less income. Outsourcing also makes American goods cheaper, but once again, if individuals are losing their jobs they are also losing their money to buy the products these companies are making. So to a certain extent I could see how outsourcing feels necessary to American companies, but I can also see how it is necessary to keep jobs in the US. Both have benefits and drawbacks and I would say in the end it depends on the company’s values whether or not they decide to outsource.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that it is necessary to understand a country’s culture if we are going to work there or even if we are going to serve as a call center for another country’s product. When individuals work and talk they use different mannerisms and slang depending on where they are from. If you are working in another country or working for another country’s product it is necessary to understand these in order to work efficiently and accurately.
I have never seen this show, but it looks histerical. I definitely think it is important to learn something about the culture if they want to be the customer service provider. For instance, I had to use the "help line" at work the other day. I usually do this online, via web chat, but my internet was down, so I had to make the call. Everyone I have spoken to at the Help Line have Indian accents, so I am going to assume they are located in India. The gentleman I spoke to the other day had such a strong accent that when he would ask me to type certain letters I could not understand him until he said "c, as in Charlie, i, as in indigo" and so on. Of course, in order for this to even work, he must know of words that are commonly used in English (when he used "indigo", I did find it odd, since not many Americans use that word on a regular basis). I also found myself using some humor while speaking to him since I was on the phone for at least half an hour. It is important for him to understand American humor, slang, or idioms if he is going to be able to serve the general public, since we use this a lot. I don't necessarily think we need to learn the same about the Indian culture unless we are in the business to serve their public. Then we need to understand what is taboo, their manners, their idioms, etc.
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