Dignity-Led Supply Chain Management: A Cross-Country and Cross-Industry Study of Workplace Dignity in Supply Chains

该项目旨在改变衡量和管理供应链中劳工权利的方式，将注意力转向工作场所尊严（WD）——一种基本的心理基准——定义为来自工作场所互动的自我价值感。超时工作、欺凌、虐待、羞辱和恶劣的工作条件等行为违反了世界保护原则，这是英国公司全球和国内供应链中数百万工人的共同经历。媒体、民间社会和学术报告轶事般地表明，公司的采购实践与供应链中违反WD之间存在联系。除了影响供应链上工人的生活外，违反WD对英国公司的生产力也有严重而直接的影响。它可能对工人的承诺、健康和福祉造成重大负面影响，从而导致供应商业绩下降。因此，英国企业的生产率可能会受到负面影响。WD是当前企业、政府和民间社会干预的一个关键基本原则，旨在保护供应链中的劳工权利。然而，他们未能有效地衡量和管理供应链中的WD。这是因为这些干预措施依赖于“一刀切”的劳工标准和人权公约。相比之下，WD是一种深刻的个人经历，一般的干预措施只能在有限的程度上解决它。尽管人们对供应链中的WD有广泛的兴趣，但迄今为止，还没有系统的调查表明，一家公司的采购实践如何影响其供应商工厂工人对WD的看法，或者它对供应商绩效的连锁效应。因此，我们显然需要了解采购实践、WD和供应商绩效之间的关系，从而为进一步的学术研究以及改善供应链WD的干预措施建立一个令人信服的证据基础。该项目是在与政策制定者、企业、民间社会、媒体和工人协商后共同创建的，旨在通过开发以尊严为主导的供应链管理（DSCM）框架来解决这一需求，使WD成为供应链管理的核心。采用新颖而雄心勃勃的研究设计，包括访谈，图纸，调查和实地实验，研究将在两个截然不同的英国公司采购地点（英国和印度）和工作环境（信息技术产品和服务，纺织和服装）进行。在这些环境中，该项目将调查：(1)WD对供应商设施中的工人意味着什么；(2)英国公司的采购实践如何、何时以及为何影响供应商设施工人对WD的看法；(3)员工对WD的认知如何、何时以及为何影响供应商绩效；(4)协同设计有影响力的工具包和政策，以改善供应链中的WD。我设立这个奖学金，不仅是为了完成这个雄心勃勃的项目，改善弱势工人的生活和经济，也是为了培养一套技能、关系网和团队，使我到2030年成为可持续供应链管理领域的全球领导者。在整个项目中，我将与联合国开发计划署、联合国商业与人权组织、汤森路透基金会、印度工业联合会和Twentyfifty等机构的管理学、文化心理学、政治学和法学方面的国际学术专家，以及商业和人权政策与实践方面的专家密切接触。通过促进供应链中WD的改进，我的创新DSCM框架将对学术领域产生重大影响，但更重要的是对英国，印度和其他国家直接参与开发我们产品和服务的数百万工人的生活产生重大影响。此外，DSCM框架将有助于解决英国经济面临的最令人担忧的生产力挑战。

The project aims to change the way labour rights in supply chains are measured and managed by redirecting the attention to workplace dignity (WD) - a fundamental psychological benchmark - defined as a sense of self-worth derived from workplace interactions. Violation of WD, by practices like overwork, bullying, abuse, humiliation and poor conditions, is a collective experience for millions of workers in UK companies' global and domestic supply chains. Media, civil society and academic reports anecdotally show that there is a connection between a company's sourcing practices and violation of WD in the supply chain. Besides influencing the lives of workers in supply chains, violation of WD has serious and direct implications for UK companies' productivity. It can cause significant negative impacts on workers' commitment, health and wellbeing with a consequent decrease in supplier performance. The productivity of UK companies' can be negatively impacted, as a result. WD is a key underlying principle of current business, government and civil society interventions aimed at protecting labour rights in supply chains. Yet, they fail to measure and manage WD in supply chains effectively. This is because these interventions rely on 'one-size-fits-all' labour standards and human rights conventions. In contrast, WD is a profoundly personal experience, and generic interventions can only address it to a limited extent. Despite extensive interest in WD in supply chains, to date, there is no systematic investigation of how a company's sourcing practices contribute to perceptions of WD for workers in their supplier facilities or its knock-on effect on the suppliers' performance. Hence, there is a clear need to understand the relationship between sourcing practices, WD and supplier performance to build a compelling evidence base for further academic research as well as interventions for improving WD in supply chains. The project, co-created in consultation with policymakers, businesses, civil societies, media and workers, aims to address this need by developing a Dignity-led Supply Chain Management (DSCM) framework, which makes WD central to supply chain management. Using a novel and ambitious research design consisting of interviews, drawings, surveys and field experiments, research will be conducted in two radically contrasting sourcing locations of UK companies (UK and India) and work settings (Information Technology Products & Services, and Textile & Garments). Across these settings, the project will investigate: (1) what WD means to workers in supplier facilities; (2) how, when and why sourcing practices of UK companies influence perceptions of WD for workers in supplier facilities; (3) how, when and why workers' perceptions of WD influence supplier performance; and (4) the collaborative design of impactful toolkits and policies for improving WD in supply chains. I have developed this fellowship not only to complete this ambitious project and improve the lives of vulnerable workers and the economy but also to develop a skill set, network and team that will make me a global leader in the field of sustainable supply chain management by 2030. Throughout the project, I will closely engage with international academic experts in management, cultural psychology, political science and law, and experts in business and human rights policy and practice in United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Business & Human Rights Group, Thomsen Reuters Foundation, Confederation of Indian Industry and Twentyfifty. By contributing to the improvement of WD in supply chains, my innovative DSCM framework will have a significant impact on the academic field but more importantly on the lives of millions of workers in the UK, India and other countries who are directly involved in developing our products and services. Besides, the DSCM framework will help to address the most concerning productivity challenges facing the UK economy.