Investigating Cultural Aspects In Indian Organizations

The purpose of this edited collection is to analyse the cultural aspects of Indian organizations. As the world’s largest and most diverse democracy, Indian society can be best described as an amalgam of multiple cultures, value systems, socio-political and institutional orientations. This book offers a theoretical and empirical basis for understanding the evolving and changing nature of these aspects in Indian organizations. The World Bank predicts that in the near future India will become the world’s second largest economy. The recent high growth rates reported by businesses in the Indian economy needs to be sustainable, especially amidst its high cultural diversity. Whilst there is tremendous interest in understanding the intricacies of Indian culture and a growing literature focusing on topics such as India-specific management and internationalization strategies of Indian firms, the cultural aspects of Indian businesses have been largely ignored. This book aims to fill this gap. It covers various topics in organizational culture and management such as human resource management, cross-cultural communication and coaching, cultural similarity, cultural literacy, multiculturalism, generational cultural values, talent acquisition and knowledge management. It also features case studies from high growth sectors such as the IT and health industries. Presenting contributions from local Indian and international researchers, this book provides a multidimensional perspective that will appeal to students, scholars and practitioners interested in organizational culture and management in India.

This book presents case studies of South Asian companies that have strategic business implications, highlighting the complex interplay of business and social dynamics in South Asia. This region is a wide agglomeration of very different countries that share somewhat common cultures and issues and yet it is torn apart by religion and politics. There is an abundance of local entrepreneurship but a widespread institutional void. The book investigates how local companies survive and thrive in this environment and discusses those companies that have withstood the competitive pressure of MNCs, depicting their management and business practices. In today’s world, where multinationals are so omnipresent that their management and business practices are considered as the de facto recipe for success, there is a need to have an alternative view that challenges the ubiquitousness of multinational management practices. The case studies in this book focus on the business and management practices of local organizations in South Asia and thus provide that alternative viewpoint of how to achieve success in South Asia. Exposing readers to a local perspective on doing business in South Asia, it is a valuable resource for students and practitioners of management.

This book analyses key theoretical influences on Indian culture in a business context. It shows the interactions between indigenous culture and workplace ethics which is increasingly being populated by multinational corporations. It discusses how the Indian workplace has evolved over time as well as retained some managerial practices dating back to the classical traditions of ancient India. It further demonstrates the changes brought about by globalisation, especially through information technology and business process outsourcing industries. This volume will be useful to the scholars and researchers of business and management studies, cultural studies, Asian studies as well as human resource (HR) professionals.

We are extremely pleased to present a comprehensive book comprising a collection of research papers which is basically an outcome of the Second IFIP TC 13.6 Working Group conference on Human Work Interaction Design, HWID2009. The conference was held in Pune, India during October 7–8, 2009. It was hosted by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, India, and jointly organized with Copenhagen Business School, Denmark; Aarhus University, Denmark; and Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, India. The theme of HWID2009 was Usability in Social, C- tural and Organizational Contexts. The conference was held under the auspices of IFIP TC 13 on Human–Computer Interaction. 1 Technical Committee TC13 on Human–Computer Interaction The committees under IFIP include the Technical Committee TC13 on Human–Computer Interaction within which the work of this volume has been conducted. TC13 on Human–Computer Interaction has as its aim to encourage theoretical and empirical human science research to promote the design and evaluation of human-oriented ICT. Within TC13 there are different working groups concerned with different aspects of human– computer interaction. The flagship event of TC13 is the bi-annual international conference called INTERACT at which both invited and contributed papers are presented. Contributed papers are rigorously refereed and the rejection rate is high.

"Within this book, readers will find insightful theoretical analyses and detailed micro-level studies that broaden our understanding of pressing contemporary issues through an anthropological lens. Each paper within the book contextualizes its findings within the larger societal framework, providing a comprehensive view of the situations being examined. This book's particular strength lies in its emphasis on decolonizing anthropological knowledge, exploring the nuances of stigma from an anthropological perspective, highlighting the significance of religion as an ethnic marker, exploring the problems and prospects of writing indigenous ethnohistory of tribes and indigenous people, illuminating food culture through an anthropological lens, examining borderland markets, and exploring the connection of biology and society within the realm of health issues."

Organizations and National Culture presents an analysis and empirical testing of competing perspectives in organizational theory on the influence of social context on organizational structure and organizational behaviour Drawing on a comparative analysis undertaken in England and India, Monir Tayeb explores the impact of culture and other societal factors on organizational structure, management systems and employees' work attitudes and values. The author both investigates similarities and differences in the ways English and Indian companies and employees respond to their social and cultural environments, and relates these to the significant part that technical and other task-related factors play in the process. Tayeb argues that it is the "combined "factors of culture, political economy and contingency which define employees' attitudes to people in positions of power and authority, their ability to cope with ambiguity and uncertainty, and their expectations from a job. In conclusion the author outlines a multi-perspective model in which contributions of cultural contingency and political economic theories are recognized and incorporated. This model offers a more comprehensive and realistic cross-cultural understanding of organizations, providing the means to examine both formal organizational structure and employee behaviour.

The last two decades have seen an explosive increase in the ethnic diversity of the workforce, growth in international business, and the emergence of many more multinational companies. The potential for problems as companies operate across borders and managers manage in countries which have different values, norms and cultural behaviors is great. By looking at organizational psychology in a cross-cultural context, we can gain an understanding of the challenges facing organizations and business today. This text breaks new ground in introducing organizational psychology from a cross cultural perspective. It provides a foundational overview of the current major theories in organizational psychology, and illuminates the impact of cultural differences on organizational dynamics. It also makes available specific research concerning our current understandings of how these dynamics play out in particular regions and countries, such as autocratic versus democratic leadership styles in Africa and Europe or conflict management in Asia. The volume offers a welcome introduction to the topic to those in industrial/organizational psychology, international relations and management, and international business/MBA programs focusing on international issues.