OutsourcingFoundation.org
Everybody sees things happening in the world that they don’t like, things they don’t agree with or things they would like to see change and I mean EVERYBODY. The reason we don’t do anything about it is quite simple. It’s known in the psychological field as “Diffusion of Responsibility”. I’ve always had a hard time explaining exactly what that term means or how it hurts our society. I will try to do so by first telling you a story of my own.
When I was a teenager I read Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” and being the adventurous kid that I was, I thought it would be cool to hitchhike across America. Well on my way though the Midwest, I got dropped off in the middle of Oklahoma City during rush hour traffic. I will never forget walking along the interstate with my thumb out while thousands of cars just past me by. Some people wouldn’t even make eye contact as they drove by. The sun beat down on me as I walked more than 20 or 30 miles to a truck stop on the outside of town. Exhausted, I passed out on a couch in their TV room. When I woke up the next morning I was able to get a ride from a trucker.
That ride took me well into Arkansas and I was let out in a rural area, with not a house or a car in sight. To my surprise it only took about 20 minutes for a car to come by and low and behold, that very first car gave me a ride. See, when I was in the city people just thought since there are thousands of other cars going by so someone else will pick me up but in the rural areas people figure they are the only ones around so they are stuck with the task. After talking to another hitchhiker I met along the way, I found out this was widely known but I learned it the hard way.
Now that you understand the term “diffusion of responsibility” let me tell you how it affects outsourcing in underdeveloped countries.
I have been traveling abroad to India, Philippines and other 3rd world countries since 2005 to work on call center outsourcing projects and nothing anyone could have told me would have prepared me for what I would see. Bangalore, India just outside the multibillion dollar outsourcing complexes were people living with disease, starvation and ridicule from the small but powerful upper-class while just blocks away the wealthy enjoy a lavish life of world first class amenities and this seemed to be the trend everywhere I went.
See outsourcing brought hundreds of billions of dollars to these countries and the international investment consultancy firm McKinsey & Co. suggests that outsourcing will reach $180 billion by 2010. Due to the corrupt policies in these developing countries only the top 10% of the population will enjoy the benefits of this money while leaving billions of people in poverty.
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Just outside the Call Center Area
When we hear stories of suffering, poverty, global warming, genocide or even political tyranny we say “what can I do, I’m just one person”? There are 6 billion other people in the world. The truth is if you look all major changes throughout history this way of thinking turns out to be very contradictory. The only time big changes ever took place was when just one person put it in his/her head that they alone could make a difference. Our whole world was carved and shaped throughout history by the acts of individuals.
Where should I start? It took only one man to free the Israelites from slavery and suffering in Egypt.
It took only one man to think up Democracy which laid the ground work for a free world.
It took only one man to paint the Mona Lisa and change the face of art for all eternity.
It only took one man to stand up against racial bigotry in America. His dream; is now a reality.
It took only one man to invent brail and open the eyes of the blind to a world of information.
It took one man (me) to write these words you’re reading now and decide it’s time to make a difference too.
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