Global Forum: Introduction
Michael M. Harris
University of MissouriSt. Louis
I have a hunch that I am the only contributor to TIP to write two different columns (Hmmm, I wonder if there is a Guinness World Records entry for this?). As you may recall, I wrote the
Practice Network column for about 6 or 7 years. Like Dr. Who, I have chosen to reinvent myself and write the
Global Forum column instead of retiring completely from TIP. In my inaugural edition of
Global Forum, I would like to do two things. First, I briefly describe some trends that prompted me to author this column. Second, I will discuss some future features of
Global Forum.
Global Trends
Im sure it comes as no surprise to you that the business world is becoming increasingly global. Indeed, it is difficult to ignore the international scope of our world in general. As one example of the global nature of our world, consider this Web site:
www.rentacoder.com. Like ebay, rentacoder.com allows people to bid on things. Unlike ebay, however, people are bidding on contracts to perform information technology (IT) work. Bidders are rated on their previous projects and their ratings are displayed for all to see. When I examined rentacoder.coms list of the highest-rated bidders, I found that of the top five, two were based in India, two were based in the U.S., and the fifth highest-rated was based in Romania. This is one clear illustration of how, with the use of the Internet, work has become far more global than in the past.
Everyone has heard the term off-shoring. A leading consulting firm recently claimed that by 2015 over a half-million U.S. IT jobs would be sent overseas along with more than 600,000 management and business positions, about 200,000 architectural jobs, and more than 300,000 other jobs, including legal, sales, and life sciences positions.
Indeed, I have been wondering which occupations, if any, will be unaffected by off-shoring. Perhaps the legal profession is protected, I thought. Until I discovered this Web site: www.atlaslegal.com. According to this Web site, Mr. Dhir, the founder and owner of atlas legal, was born in India, but moved to the U.S. and received his JD from the University of Michigan Law School. His company, however, is based in India. Atlaslegal.com provides a wide range of legal services, including finding answers to any U.S. federal or state law issue, and drafting motions and briefs, as well as other documents, including discovery requests, deposition notices, subpoenas, and interrogatories.
Up until just a few days ago, then, I had concluded that perhaps only the medical field was limited (I have read that x-rays are being sent from the U.S. to doctors in India for interpretation) in the degree to which work could be off-shored. Just the other day, however, a friend of mine pointed out that he heard about people who didnt have health insurance going to India for expensive surgery to be performed. According to the story he read, surgery that would have cost nearly $200,000 in the U.S. cost only about $10,000 in India. Perhaps that will be the next strategy of insurance companies; they will send patients in need of surgery to other countries, where the costs are likely to be much lower.
Are you wondering whether any of this relates to I-O psychology? I believe that if it affects the world of work, it affects I-O psychology. To a large extent, I-O psychology has been dominated by North Americans. This is beginning to change, as work simply becomes more global. There are also increasing numbers of scholars in other parts of the world (e.g., Belgium, Holland, Israel, and the UK, to name just a few countries), who are conducting high-quality research and writing. Indeed, I will argue that in order to maintain our credibility, let alone our creativity, we must incorporate an international perspective to a far greater extent than heretofore has been the custom.
Future Features
By now I hope that you are intrigued enough to be wondering what future editions of this column will cover. I hope to have a number of interesting features in
Global Forum, including guest columnists, some dialogues between different experts, and comments and questions from the practitioner world in regards to global issues. I hope to write at least one column from another part of the world (Im planning a trip to the University of Zurich in May of 2005). I plan to cover some major business trends (e.g., off-shoring) and address the implications for I-O psychology.
If you have any suggestions for topics to cover here, please send me an email (mharris@umsl.edu). I look forward to having the
Global Forum become part of your regular reading material!
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