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The purpose of this paper is to decipher the possibility of ensuring the effectiveness of sales training by focusing on selected organization-related variables and thereafter aims at making recommendations for enhancing the overall sales training effectiveness. Variables that are under organizations’ control, like training transfer climate, training evaluation and degree of choice (mandatory or by choice) were selected for this study. The study also attempted to understand how these variables influence at pre-training stage and post-training stage.

This cross-sectional research involved both exploratory and conclusive phases. To test the postulated hypotheses, data were collected in two phases from sales executives of a large oil and gas petrochemical company having the presence across India. A total of 370 sales executives, who were the part of a sales training program, were approached twice, one before the training and once after the eight weeks of training. Data from the respondents who completed both pre- and post-training survey (255) were used for analyses.

The results indicate that all the three predictor variables – training awareness, perceived transfer climate and the presence of an appropriate training evaluation mechanism, influence trainees’ motivation to learn. The results depict that motivation to learn mediates the association between the predictor variables and the resultant variable. Also, degree of choice was found to moderate the association between motivation to learn and sales training effectiveness. The research reinforces the significance of pre-training factors in designing sales training programs to ensure its better effectiveness.

The present study captures organizational-level variables as they are under the control of the organization and can be managed. The study included both motivation to learn and training effectiveness in the hypothesized model to understand the motivational issues in a holistic perspective. The outcomes of this research strengthen the role of trainees’ motivation to learn as a connecting variable between organizational-level variables and sales training effectiveness. Thus, the outcome of this study contributes to the literature on training motivation as well as training effectiveness.

The findings of this study are significant for sales organizations or the organizations offering sales training aiming to enhance overall training effectiveness. Training managers must focus on these factors and ensure that all the pre-training organizational-level variables are very well-taken care of. This implies that the trainees need to be well informed about the training calendar, training policies, training content, expectations from them and how the program will be evaluated after training, along with appropriate positive transfer climate. Organizations should also include proper training evaluation mechanism to measure training at different levels.

This study is an attempt to decipher the possibility of ensuring the effectiveness of sales training by focusing on select organization-related variables, and thereafter aims at making recommendations for enhancing the overall sales training effectiveness. The study’s uniqueness lies in simultaneous examination of influence of various variables, and that too at two different points of time (before and after the training). These two perspectives are apparently missing in the existing sales training literature.

Organisations invest heavily in training and development initiatives (Miller, 2012). However, a small percentage of what is learnt by the trainees from training gets transferred to the job (Mackay, 2007). The purpose of this study is to extend previous findings and examine various organisational factors, which have not been studied sufficiently, that influence training transfer.

A conceptual model based on previous research work is hypothesised and tested. The sample included 123 full-time employees working at one of the major public sector organisations operating in India.

The result suggested that training transfer climate, training awareness, participation and involvement in training decision and training assessment mechanism were found to be positively and significantly related to perceived training transfer.

Typical limitations consistent with self-report measures (e.g. social desirability) apply to this study as well. Another limitation was the small sample size. Future studies should assess a large sample size. Future research may assess the extent to which not only trainees but also other training stakeholders, such as trainers and supervisors, feel accountable and responsible for training and its transfer. This would provide a stronger test of the accountability hypothesis. It would also be worthwhile to study the type of evaluation/assessment mechanism that would be more appropriate for training transfer.

Organisations should take care of these organisational factors for increasing the transfer of training at the workplace. Organisations can have better control over these factors compared to individual-related variables. Future research studies may also look at the role of evaluation/assessment feedback in training transfer. Finally, the mediating or moderating role of some of the organisational factors can also be considered for future research work.

This study is an attempt to add value to the present literature on training transfer by focusing on organisational factors. Most factors studied were neglected by previous research studies. Hence, this is a moderate attempt to add to the transfer of training literature.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between relationship conflict and the perception of organization politics (POP) and the moderating role of employee engagement. The study hypothesizes that the conflict results in the presence of POP only for those employees who are relatively less engaged with the organization. The paper further explores the mediating role of perceived politics between the relationship conflict and job-related outcome variables including openness to diversity, turnover intent and perception of justice. In sum, the authors contend that employee engagement will act as a moderator between relationship conflict and POP, and POP further will act as a mediator between relationship conflict and its job-related outcomes.

A descriptive study was carried on to conduct this research. Data were collected at two different points of time from the employees of two public sector undertakings (n=206). About 80 questionnaires were not returned by the respondents, reducing the sample size to be 126. Of these, 115 were usable, resulting in a 55.83 percent response rate. SEM was employed to test the hypotheses with the help of Smart PLS 3.0. A two-step process was followed to test the hypothesized model. Testing the significance of proposed relationships in the structural model was followed by the evaluation of the measurement model.

The results of the study highlighted a positive association between the relationship conflict and POP. A moderating effect of employee engagement on relationship conflict and perceived organizational politics (POP) was observed. Further, POP was found to have a positive relationship with the intention to leave and a negative relationship with openness to diversity and perception of justice was observed. POP mediated the relationship between relationship conflict with the intention to leave and the perception of justice.

The very first limitation of the present study is its cross-sectional design. Since the data were gathered from the same respondents, the causal relationships between variables are subject to biases (Bobko and Stone-Romero, 1998). Further, the data were gathered with the help of self-report questionnaires, and the findings of this study might have been influenced by the social desirability response bias (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Hence, future work should focus on using a combination of sources for data collection. This study also proposes a possible role of emotional intelligence in employee engagement and their POP, which can be tested in future studies.

The study suggests that relationship conflict leads to POP, which eventually results in adverse job-related outcomes. In order to control the negative effects of politics perception, organizations should undertake conflict prevention and conflict management techniques. To further reduce the level of POP, organizations shall take steps to better engage their employees because even when the level of relationship conflict is high, people perceive less politics if they are highly engaged with the organization.

The study is an original work carried out to understand the relationship between relationship conflict and the POP, and the moderating role of employee engagement.

By undertaking a detailed review of the Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) discourse, the purpose of this paper is to uncover and explicate the power differentials embedded in the social structure of organizations and suggests ways to reconcile them.

Methods used are thematic review, content analysis, and inductive theorizing, with Foucault’s archaeological and genealogical analysis style as the overarching framework.

At the methodological level, the authors demonstrate the application of Foucault’s twin methods: archaeological and genealogical analysis. At the substantive level, the authors have two contributions. First, the authors critique and analyze the various themes of power that emerge from the SHRM discourse as well as the hybridized overlaps of SHRM with other organization studies topics of interest such as organizational learning, network studies, control and postmodernism. Second, the authors propose a “Power” theory based nomothetic, typological synthesis for crafting the business-facing human resource (HR) function. The power lens manifests as the meta-theory to guide a much required streamlining of constructs and “value laden” synthesis of the literature.

The potential of critical theory in crafting situated and context-sensitive research propositions is demonstrated.

Organizational strategists and HR managers can utilize the proposed typology to better understand their current ideological positions and decide future aspired images.

This is a conversation between two paradigms, SHRM and power theory, that are epistemologically at two opposite poles.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of change in loneliness on the experience of depression among the students in a business school in India. Building on the literature, the authors argued the dynamic nature of loneliness and depression and subsequently explored the linkage between change in loneliness and associated change in the experience of depression. Further, the purpose is also to explore whether such linkage depends on individual personality factors.

The present study is part of a bigger study that employed a longitudinal survey design. Data were collected in two phases with a six-month time lag between the phases. Data were initially collected in July 2014, and again with all measures repeated in January, 2015. Data were collected from two sections from the undergraduate program participants at one of the reputed institutions in India. Demographic variables such as gender, number of siblings, and family type (nuclear family or joint family) were collected. The authors controlled for age and qualification as all the students have the same qualification and almost all of them were in the same age group. All these variables were controlled due to their probable interference with the proposed theoretical model.

The findings reveal a significant role of loneliness on experience of depression and a moderating role of personality on the relationship. The linkage between change in loneliness and change in depression was found to be higher among those people who were high on extraversion. The findings clearly indicate that the impact of loneliness will be more as the need for attachment is high for individuals having higher extraversion.

Further research may explore the role of neuroticism in the link between loneliness and depression.

The findings of this longitudinal study are very relevant for all the professional groups in the college/university setting. It is important for students as well as college authorities to understand the dynamic nature and relationship of loneliness and depression, as well as the role of personality factors. Routine monitoring as well as various educational programs may be included as regular components of campus culture. Even curriculum can also be fine-tuned. Various programs can be designed to improve interpersonal skills, cognitive understanding, and resolution of aversive emotions, as these college going students or buddying managers are more receptive to intervention programs.

The paper clearly reflects its originality. It adds value in the form of contribution to theoretical development as well as to various college authorities to handle students emotions effectively.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of lifestyle orientation and perceived organizational functioning in psychological empowerment perceptions of information technology (IT) professionals.

This study is a cross‐sectional survey of 242 IT professionals across ten software product and services companies based in India. Established scales of the research instruments were used for data collection.

Findings indicate that professionals with aggressive, individualistic and resistive lifestyle orientation are likely to feel more psychologically empowered. Organizational functioning is also found to have a strong effect on psychological empowerment perceptions of IT professionals.

Use of self‐reported measures for all the variables may cause desirability bias on the part of participants. Future studies may explore demographic differences and incorporate empowerment climate as well.

Insights from the study would help organizations facilitate employee performance using the empowerment tool and consequently gain competitive advantage by retaining skills and experience within the organization rather than outside it.

Studies of such nature being few in the Indian IT context, findings present both opportunities and challenges for IT human resource managers and can also be taken up for future research work.