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The purpose of this paper is to investigate dimensions of employee silence in Indian work context with regard to the supervisors and how job satisfaction mediates the relationship between silence and turnover intention. The study also explores the relevance of superior-subordinate relationship and self-image maintenance perspectives in Indian socio-cultural context to explain and understand the phenomenon of silence in India.

Qualitative (n=55) and quantitative data (n=334, n=314 and n=116) were collected from employees working in private, public and multinational organizations located in northern part of India. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to explore and validate the dimensions of silence behavior among Indian managers and structural equation analysis was carried out to see the meditating role of job satisfaction in the relationship of silence and turnover intention.

Results have indicated the existence of four major dimensions of silence in India namely; fear of retaliation, internal motivation, self-competence and self-image as the possible causes of silence. Further job satisfaction has mediated the effect of silence on turnover intention. This study showed the positive impact of silence on satisfaction which is contrary to the western studies. These results have supported the theoretical arguments developed in this paper in the Indian work context.

The results are useful in understanding the dynamics of silence in Indian organizations as employees might use silence in a strategic manner to regulate their satisfaction and in maintaining their membership with the organization.

The present study is among the first attempts to empirically examine the causes and consequences of employee silence in the high power distance and collectivistic cultural context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how cultural differentiation can affect the successful transplantation of lean management and production techniques from the parent country to subsidiary countries in the developing world. In particular, the focus will be on car manufacture in India and the role of hierarchy in Indian society, with reflection on how this seeps into workplace and power relations.

Lean production techniques have been hailed as revolutionising modern manufacturing, particularly in the automotive sector. In developed world countries, car manufacturers have made significant gains in efficiency and productivity as a result of their implementation. However, as many of these multinational companies (MNCs) have expanded production into rapidly-developing nations to take advantage of both their market and low-labour costs, the introduction of lean production practices have met some resistance. This is because certain underpinning concepts and values of the lean system, such as team work, delegation of authority and upward communication can be considered incompatible with aspects of local culture and employees’ attitude towards work and their superiors. The analysis presented is based on a series of semi-structured interviews with managers and workers from an India-based subsidiary of a MNC car manufacturer and engagement with the existing literature.

It concludes that paternal relationships, religious values and group orientation in Indian society have a significant impact on the dynamics of the workplace and result in a brand of power distance that is specific to this national context, raising questions about the suitability of universal implementation of lean production practices.

“Power distance” has become a catch-all term for cultures with an orientation towards hierarchy and status in society. However, this categorisation masks some of the factors belying the phenomenon and intricacies relating to how it plays out in the workplace. It is simplistic to postulate that high power distance cultures might be incompatible with management approaches that decentralise authority and increase worker participation. Rather than rely on overgeneralisations, the analysis provided has attempted to deconstruct the composition of power distance in the Indian context and document systematically how features of Indian culture conflict with the principles of lean production techniques, using a case study from an Indian subsidiary of a MNC. In particular, the study finds that religion, caste and paternalism create an India-specific power distance that manifests itself in worker behaviour and workplace relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of motives for volunteerism and organizational culture on organizational commitment (OC) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in Indian work context.

The data were collected from 248 middle and senior managers of a public sector organization in India. The self and other reported questionnaires were used to collect the data.

Results of hierarchical regression analysis have shown that personal development dimension of volunteerism was found to be the positive predictor of OC and OCB both. However, career enhancement, empathy and community concern dimensions of volunteerism had mixed effects on both the criterion variables. Furthermore, culture had not shown a significant impact on OCB; however, it had a positive influence on affective and continuance commitment. Moreover, demographic variables (age, education and tenure) had strong impact on OC than OCB.

OC and OCB are highly desirable forms of employees’ behavior in which motivation for volunteerism and organizational culture can play a significant role. However, both OC and OCB are differentially predicted by these antecedent variables.

This is the first study which has explored the impact of motives for volunteerism on OC and OCB in the field of organizational behavior in a non-western work context such as India.

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of empowering leadership (EL) on work attitudes [job satisfaction (JS) and organizational commitment (OCOM)]. The effects of EL on these work attitudes were also analysed in terms of the mediating effects of psychological empowerment (PE).

A survey research methodology was adopted where responses were collected on relevant measures of the constructs from 431 middle-level executives from 12 Indian organizations.

Results implied that EL enhanced the levels of JS and OCOM of employees. The results further indicated that EL was positively related to PE at the workplace. The findings also revealed that PE was positively related to these positive work attitudes. Moreover, strong indirect effects of EL were observed on these work attitudes through PE, implying that PE partially mediated the impact of between EL on JS and OCOM.

The findings of this study affirm the efficacy of EL and PE in predicting positive work attitudes in a different cultural milieu than the West –the Indian work context. Especially, by establishing a strong positive relationship between empowerment and JS, it contributes to the existing literature underlining inconsistent findings with regard to this relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to measure employees’ attitude toward distributed leadership (DL) practices and investigate the challenges involved in implementing DL practices in Indian organizations.

This study is conducted within an exploratory research framework. The data were collected from 180 young middle-level executives from a diverse group of industry sectors belonging to private and multinational organization located in northern part of India. Unstructured (personal interviews and focus group interviews) and structured interview schedule (questionnaire) were administered to measure employees’ attitude and challenges of implementation.

The qualitative and quantitative analytic strategies were adopted to analyze the data. Results of exploratory factors analysis showed the existence of five underlying dimensions about the significance of DL practices, namely, self-initiatives, improved functioning, achieving organizational goals, accountability and mutual respect. Furthermore, results showed the importance of contextual factors in implementing DL practices namely horizontal structure, professionalism, work commitment and power sharing. Also, the attitudinal dimensions were found to be positively correlated with the dimensions of implementing DL practices in Indian work context.

This study strengthens the importance of measuring employees’ attitudes that can be a good predictor of implementing best practices in organizations. The major limitation of this study is of the small sample size and has been limited to young managers.

This is an original paper based on the empirical data from Indian managers. No study is conducted on the concept of distributing leadership in Indian work context on a similar or related theme.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of personality factors in influencing mentoring relationships in the South-Asian context.

The sample included 363 subjects from public and private sector organizations in North India.

Results revealed that in the Indian context, conscientiousness acts as significant predictor of perceived psychosocial mentoring, agreeableness acts as significant predictor of perceived career mentoring support, and emotional stability acts as significant predictor of both categories of mentoring relationships. Further, managers employed in public sector organizations were found to be high on all the Big Five personality factors and mentoring functions in contrast to managers from private sector organizations.

Overall, the results suggest that mentoring relationships should operate in organizations with a firm understanding of employees’ personality traits. Implications and future research directions were also discussed. Further, suggestions have also been given for incorporating various interventions in order to handle employees with different personality attributes such as counseling for helping emotionally unstable employees manage their emotions and stress.

To the knowledge, this is the first study that seeks to examine impact of personality factors on mentoring relationships in the South-Asian context.

India's emergence in the international business arena presents challenges to Western‐trained expatriate managers assigned there. These expatriates are familiar with management theories and practices based on value orientations very different from those in India. Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's Value Orientations Framework is used to provide an overview of the different types of cultural values an expatriate manager will confront in Indian society. The impact of Indian values on various management practices, including team composition, leadership, motivation, and human resource management functions is also discussed It is hoped that this examination of the dominant value orientations of Indian employees will facilitate the successful transfer of Western expatriates to India.

This chapter examines the impact of working capital management (WCM now onwards) which is measured by cash conversion cycle (CCC now onwards) on the financial performance of firms in the Indian context. The period of study is from the year 2000 to 2014, that is, for a span of 15 years for 4,687 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange. This chapter uses regression model to analyze panel data. Data for 4,687 listed companies have been analyzed for a period of 15 years. For some companies with data availability issues, the period of inclusion is less than 15 years. This chapter is limited to a sample of Indian firms; further research could examine the generalizability of these findings to other countries. Some previous studies have been undertaken on this topic, but the dataset used for this chapter is comprehensive enough to delineate the WCM and performance dynamics in the Indian context. Improved working capital policy could improve firm profitability by reducing the firm’s CCC, thereby creating additional firm value. In addition, the results can be used for other purposes, including monitoring of firms by auditors, debt holders, and other stakeholders. This chapter contributes to the literature by extending the extant literature in an emerging market context. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study to address this issue in the Indian context based on a large dataset covering more than 4000 companies.

The negative links between psychological empowerment (PE) and perceived stress may be arguable when evaluated in Indian work settings characterized by socio-cultural values like dependence proneness and high power distance. To explore this possibility, the present study aimed to examine the links between PE at work and perceived stress in the Indian milieu. Potential moderating effects of gender, personality (generalized self-efficacy and Big-5 traits) and power distance on this relationship were also investigated.

An experiment with 2 (high PE/low PE) × 2 (male/female) between-subjects design was used on 120 employees from four commercialized banks. PE was manipulated by presenting a work scenario to each participant, where employees experience either high or low PE. Relevant scales were used to measure perceived stress, personality and power distance.

PE has a significant negative relationship with perceived stress, thus validating the effectiveness of PE in Indian work settings. Emotional stability and agreeableness are established as significant moderators which enhanced the negative links between PE and perceived stress.

The current research has uniquely contributed to the limited literature regarding the role of personality in empowerment and its outcomes. Furthermore, it has captured the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the PE-perceived stress link in Indian work-context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between high-performance HR practices (HPHRPs), psychological climate (PC), work engagement (WE) and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) among IT professionals. This study further intends to provide a framework to understand and predict factors affecting organizational citizenship performance in the Indian IT sector.

The analysis is based on a sample of 464 IT employees working in 29 information-intensive global organizations, and the statistical method employed is structural equation modeling.

The results of the present study demonstrated the significance of employees’ perceptions of PC through which HPHRPs can boost employees’ WE, which, in turn, has come out to be the principal mechanism through which HPHRPs and PC have impact on OCBs.

The results have established a platform where HR managers can be motivated to open up new avenues to employees where they can be psychologically involved in work roles and feel highly motivated to bring their good spirits at the workplace in order to benefit the organization at large.

This research explores the changing dynamics of Indian business scenario in the IT context. IT professionals may perceive and react differently to the HR system in the organization and have higher expectations of congenial working conditions that enhance their capability to employ personal skills and resources in the realization of organizational goals. Thus, the study tries to tap their experiences and perceptions and map their performances in the organization.