Abstract
This insightful and informative book is a collection of essays each of which discuss, analyze, and examine the effects of outsourcing of technical communication and other products and services abroad. The book synthesizes critical issues that affect the field of technical communication in the United States, and it differentiates between communication contents and contexts practiced in different parts of the world. The contributors analyze specific issues associated with the current trend of outsourcing technical communication and other educational services and products. The impact of cultural differences and ethical standards in technical communication is the focus of several chapters. The contributors are subject matter experts whose academic and professional backgrounds and relevant experiences enhance their essays.
Described as a highly problematic and controversial topic in the United States, outsourcing is defined as exporting local jobs and services to foreign countries, depriving domestic businesses the opportunity to provide services to American citizens. The authors make a distinction between outsourcing and offshoring, which is the acquisition or procurement of services from foreign suppliers. Many domestic corporations now buy or import goods and services from overseas—goods that were traditionally manufactured and distributed locally. Over the years, especially during election campaigns and political debates, outsourcing has been a major issue, causing heated debates, polemics, and disagreements among candidates. As noted in the text, the motives of outsourcing have not been quite understood or acceptable to many people, especially in the United States. Both as a concept and as a practice, outsourcing is perceived to have had a negative impact on domestic economic stability, employment opportunities, and the job market.
Educators and practitioners from a wide range of areas have criticized the outsourcing of technical documentation. They contend that exporting such professional projects and services creates cultural, ethical, and legal vulnerabilities; fosters political manipulations and exploitation; and potentially compromises national security. Thatcher and Evia describe technical communication as a creative form of professional writing, with content and context shaped largely by culture and technology. They state that “non-native English speakers might be able to write an effective set of instructions for household appliances, but they might not understand the context in which the tool will be used” (p. 3). In Addition, Thatcher and Evia point out that an American corporation might establish or develop standards, guidelines, and procedures that an Indian, Mexican, or African business of a similar structure might not comprehend or analyze. Because nations have rules and regulations that are often incompatible with one another, technical communication projects could be performed in an environment of uncertainty and disagreement over procedures, largely because of diversity of cultures, management styles, and varied legal/ethical interpretations.
This collection is arranged and subdivided into three distinct divisions: Outsourcing Practices by Region; Management and Cross-Cultural Communication Issues; and Legal, Ethical, and Political Implications of Outsourcing. Discussions and analyses of topics in each section concentrate on theoretical and practical frameworks, effects and implications of outsourcing in global business environments, and misinterpretations of processes driven by inconsistencies in values and ethical standards. As Thatcher and Evia note, cost–benefit analyses of outsourcing indicate a fundamental disapproval by citizens, educators, and business experts. Indeed, while some of the contributors perceive outsourcing as a natural outgrowth of globalization, others conclude that it is a means of exploitation, abuse, and deprivation.
In “Technical Communication and IT Outsourcing in India—Past, Present, and Future,” Prashant Natarajan and Makarand Pandit explain that technical communication had a humble beginning in India and gained recognition only in the past decade and a half. Natarajan and Pandit further state that interest in technical communication in India is driven by a national need for information technology and software infrastructural development, which is completely contrary to the generally held notion that it is motivated by domestic economic growth and stability.
Natarajan and Pandit explain that because of the interdependent nature of world economic developments and the creation of the global marketplace, which have been engendered by globalization and free trade, the technical communication industry in India has a robust potential and capability to serve as a distributive channel. They stress that Indian technical communicators possess a combination of knowledge, technological competence, and production skills, which uniquely position the country for outsourcing. They also note that a survey of 100 members of the Indian chapter of the Society for Technical Communication indicates that a number of Indian technical communicators in the information technology outsourcing field provide documents for end users in Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world.
Additionally, the high standard of linguistic expertise in the Indian society over the past two decades places the country at a competitive advantage in the development of technical documents for global utilization. Natarajan and Pandit note that the Indian educational system has invested in the development of a strategic framework for technical communication in advanced software design needs. This competitive advantage is sustainable because technical communicators in India use their process maturity (advanced software development skills) and expertise in software technology and data mining to support global businesses and networks.
However, Thatcher and Evia point out that while Indian technical communicators could compete effectively in the global marketplace for opportunities and resources, Indian professionals and educators should also embrace current management strategies and trends in technical communication. They point out that effective engagement in the contemporary competitive global economy will be successful if citizens of all nations could make a conscious effort to appreciate diverse talents and understand different cultures, values, and rhetoric. The ability to appreciate diversity among people will be instrumental in the advancement of outsourcing technical communication projects.
In an essay on the contrastive assessment of technical communication in the United States and India, Carlos Evia focuses on the concepts of “curricula and desired abilities” (p. 31). The author addresses the general impression that outsourcing of technical communication diminishes the chances of technical professionals in the United States. Citing a number of scholars, Evia makes the point that downsizing in many private organizations, as well as job market shrinkage in the United States, is the direct outgrowth of sending technical communication work offshore, especially to India. Evia stresses that the quality of technical documents designed and produced in developing nations is visibly inadequate and leaves much to be desired, largely because of the low level of education and training provided to students and workers.
As Evia further notes, technical communication in the United States involves a rigorous educational training and extended time frame, which requires a sequence of introductory undergraduate courses to advanced-level writing and editing courses and internships. Specific skills and competencies that American-trained technical communicators must acquire include the ability to collaborate with subject matter experts, practitioners, and colleagues. Significantly, American technical communicators should be able to use technologies, as well as make independent assessments of their work performance and productivity. Evia’s essay concludes that technical training and education in India and other emerging markets lacks sound practical academic preparation and appropriate language translation skills.
Making a critical assessment of recent economic developments and business practices in Africa, an essay by Michael Jarvis and Kwadzo Bokor emphasizes the need for the continent to be involved in the outsourcing of information and communication technology. Regrettably, existing economic, business, and political constraints in African domestic environments must be eliminated in order for the countries in the continent to attract outsourcing of technical communication and other foreign resources and investments. Jarvis and Bokor identify the availability of credible and accountable leaders, as well as the elimination of corruption in the formation of strategic alliances and business collaborations, as necessary conditions for attracting any form of outsourcing. Africa has great potential as a site of outsourcing, but the opportunity is contingent on the support of requisite human, economic, and technical resources.
With the current globalization trend, there has been an increasing need for multilingual documentation, technical communication for international businesses, and workforce diversity management. An essay by Petra Drewer and Charlotte Kaempf provides an interesting perspective on “Outsourcing of Technical Communication Tasks From German-Speaking Contexts.” They stress that current issues associated with offshoring practices and their impact on technical communication and communicators in the United States is nonexistent in German-speaking countries. The expansion of markets from domestic to multinational contexts provides a unique challenge for jobs in production and service, and requires the ability to both communicate effectively in other languages and translate technical documents from English-speaking to German-speaking countries. Drewer and Kaempf note that for some time now outsourcing has focused on technical communication jobs involving services and commodity products.
Dewer and Kaempf further explain that curricula development in German-speaking communities adequately prepares students and the workforce for a competitive global business environment. Their corporations are technologically equipped, proficient in managing databases and complex technical documentation systems, and sophisticated with business and technical communication processes. Dewer and Kaempf postulate that with a commitment to innovation and scientific methods, German-speaking organizations will thrive and outperform their competitors in the 21st-century competitive economy.
Describing the “Implications of Outsourcing for Technical Editing,” Clinton Lanier argues that editing is an important component of technical communication, because it focuses on the creation and delivery of documents, web pages, and help files. While there are other critical aspects of technical documentation, editors provide essential functions such as basic copyediting, document coordinating, and proofreading. In addition, technical editors are fundamentally involved in investigating and documenting information within an appropriate context, and document writers depend on the technical editor for the standards and professional guidelines required by publishing organizations.
In an essay titled “Approaching Outsourcing in Rhetoric and Professional Communication: Lessons From U.S-Owned Maquilas in Mexico,” Barry Thatcher and Victoriano Garza-Almanza share lessons learned from U.S.-owned Maquilas in Mexico regarding outsourcing rhetoric and professional communication. This essay provides an interesting contrast between cultural and rhetorical traditions in the two countries and describes the relationship of rhetorical traditions to technologies and writing. With respect to the standards of technical communication, the essay also affirms that the quality of training and performance is higher and more developed in the United States and Western Europe than in Mexico and other developing economies. Technical documentation or professional writing is not commonly practiced in Mexico, but Maquilas have a number of technical writers who produce technical and business documents.
Thatcher and Garza-Almanza identify four crucial cultural adaptations that should be carefully considered before accepting employment in U.S.–Mexican intercultural business environments. It is critically important that American-trained technical communicators and Western European technical communicators seeking employment in Mexico fully understand the cultural and rhetorical traditions in order to be effective and competitive in their positions. The cultural adaptations are identified as follows: universal–particular, high and low context, individual–collective, and High- and low-power distance. The authors emphasize the importance of understanding these unique cultural, communicative, and contextual differences, especially as they affect written instructions. For example, U.S. rhetorical and technical communication traditionally emphasizes objectives, processes, and expected outcomes, none of which is considered important in framing, analyzing, or documenting materials in a Mexican business environment. A comparison and evaluation by Thatcher and Garza-Almanza demonstrates that outsourcing technical communication to some parts of the world, such as the non–English-speaking countries, requires very serious consideration in order to ensure that an acceptable level of performance and high quality is maintained and achieved.
In his discussion of “Language, Culture, and Collaboration in Offshore Outsourcing: A Case Study of International Training Team Communication Competencies,” Jim Melton identifies the specific impact of offshore outsourcing on nations and industries. Professionals in the field of technical communication face tremendous cultural and economic challenges as a result of their inability to remain competitive in a global business context. Melton suggests international training as an alternative employment opportunity for technical communicators to increase their value, productivity, and competitiveness. Skills, competencies, and opportunities available in international training provide a competitive advantage both at home and abroad. In addition, the training holds tremendous promise for career advancement for technical communicators and will position them for success in demanding jobs in multinational industries.
“The Implications of Outsourcing for Technical Editing” is the focus of an essay by Clinton Lanler, who considers this function as critically important in outsourcing technical communication. As Lanler notes, web pages and help files are essential in designing, creating, and distributing information materials. And a technical editor’s role is instrumental in ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and precision in the final phase of a documentation project. Indeed, a technical editor’s oversight function in the production of projects is inestimable. Many organizations rely on technical editors for the quality of documents to satisfy their clients’ needs. Lanler points out that it is customary for outsourcing organizations of local documentation to include an expert for editing and proofreading of materials in order to ensure high-quality reports. This measure is of strategic value, as it provides financial advantages and protects the credibility of the outsourcing organization.
An essay by Kirk St. Amant analyzes privacy problems associated with international outsourcing and identifies fundamental issues involving privacy of individual and organizational records and data. Because world nations are at different levels of economic and political development, there are conflicting ethical and legal issues in interpreting and evaluating documents. St. Amant notes that the level of ethical concern is even greater when technical documents are outsourced from developed nations to developing ones, because in some of the less developed societies ethical lapses are not adequately addressed.
Furthermore, St. Amant describes international outsourcing as “one of today’s most controversial topics,” largely because it sends domestic jobs to organizations located overseas (p. 165). In addition to exporting jobs abroad, there is a potential range of abuses of personal and organizational data and information (especially in developing countries there is a propensity to compromise private or confidential material). This situation is of great concern to organizations in the United States primarily because of cultural, philosophical, and ethical differences among nations and organizations. Overall, St. Amant’s essay expresses serious misgivings about exporting local information abroad through outsourcing and offshoring, particularly to countries with less sophisticated methods in information technology management.
Over the past decades, the concept of outsourcing has gradually become an internationally accepted practice, but current scholarly analyses, including those in Outsourcing Technical Communication, indicate mixed feelings about the process. Interestingly, some of the essays in this collection describe disconcerting costs and benefits of outsourcing, especially from developed nations to the emerging markets. Even among industrialized nations, outsourcing has been criticized for placing local businesses at a competitive disadvantage by exporting domestic jobs and compromising quality for cheap labor. Overall, Outsourcing Technical Communication is quite informative and instructive, and the scholarly contributions are well researched and experience based. Discussions are country specific and could serve as a source of reference to consultants and business practitioners. I highly recommend this book to undergraduate and graduate students in international or global business programs. Faculty and researchers interested in multinational business transactions are also strongly encouraged to read this book to broaden their perspectives on current thinking about outsourcing, offshoring, and globalization.