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The study focuses on the inclusion practices and processes of five large organizations across diverse sectors where women are underrepresented. The purpose of this paper is to examine how organizations facilitate changes in behavior and mindset through formal and informal practices.

In-depth interviews of CEOs, HR team members, and diversity and inclusion leaders in the five organizations were used as data in this study. Coding was done over several rounds via content analysis for the development of themes around how organizations work toward women’s inclusion.

The findings indicate that in their inclusion practices, all five organizations took into consideration societal biases that often render women at a disadvantage. Some of the cultural biases regarding family role expectations and safety-related norms were recognized and incorporated in their practices, while other gender-based stereotypes impeding inclusivity were addressed with zero tolerance of prejudicial behaviors. Organizations achieved this balance through various communicative practices including lateral and informal communication, generalized and particularized conversations, and creation of alternate spaces for dialogue.

By examining women’s inclusivity initiatives of five large organizations working in India, this study helps create an understanding of how organizations can bring about such change, keeping in mind the societal and cultural context, for a more nuanced and achievable inclusion. This study also demonstrates how informal narratives enable deep-rooted organizational change such as inclusion. Such narratives facilitate in enhancing employee’s readiness to change, thereby laying foundations for a sustained impact.

Very few studies that focus on women’s inclusion practices also take into consideration both the demands of the organization as well as the societal expectations placed upon women. This study highlights how organizations try to manage this tension and refrain from “homogenizing” or fitting women into existing practices and routines.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a multi-dimensional second-order operationalization of strategic planning, to advance the understanding of this construct.

Data on the strategic planning construct were collected using survey questionnaire administered to 123 small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) in India.

The findings clearly reveal that the strategic planning construct can be effectively operationalized as a second-order multi-dimensional construct.

Data for this study have been collected primarily from SMEs of manufacturing firms. Further investigation in other kinds of firms may help in the enhancement of the construct.

Scholars have long called for using second-order constructs in strategy research. Operationalizing multi-dimensional constructs as unidimensional leads to inaccurate results and interpretations. By demonstrating a second-order operationalization of strategic planning, the authors illustrate better ways of operationalizing a construct. At the same time, this operationalization should help in better understanding of the implications of strategic planning on firm performance.

This study aims to explore a crucial but less-understood antecedent of individual innovativeness – cognitive style.

Data for this study were collected using a survey questionnaire administered to 201 individuals with industry work experience. Kolb’s learning style inventory was utilized to classify individuals into different cognitive styles. One-way ANOVA and multiple linear regression were utilized to test the hypotheses.

This study reveals that individual differences in grasping and transforming experiences significantly influence their innovativeness. Individuals whose cognitive learning styles are characterized by abstract conceptualization and active experimentation are more likely to exhibit innovativeness as compared to individuals with cognitive learning styles characterized by concrete experiences and reflective observation. Consequently, convergers who combine both the favorable modes of experience grasping and transformation are most likely to be innovative.

Promoting individual innovativeness is crucial for successful organizational innovation. This study reveals that an understanding of the cognitive style of the employees can help managers allocate appropriate individuals to various tasks.

While it has been conceptually argued that cognition is an important antecedent of individual innovativeness, emphasis in this stream of research is predominantly on cognitive abilities. This study extends previous research by empirically testing the impact of cognitive style on individual innovativeness.

The mechanisms through which superiors’ leadership styles and subordinates’ internal cognitions affect subordinates’ actual behaviour and attitudes are relatively unexplored in most contexts. This paper aims to bridge the gap by exploring the mediating effect of teachers’ cognitions (psychological empowerment) in the relationship between principals’ leadership style (empowering leadership) and teachers’ behaviour (job crafting) and attitudes (work alienation and organizational commitment).

Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used on data obtained from 624 teachers of primary classes in Indian private schools.

Psychological empowerment partially mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and job crafting and job crafting partially mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and work alienation and affective commitment. Work alienation partially mediates the relationship between job crafting and affective commitment. Empowering leadership has a direct effect on job crafting.

Due to the lack of longitudinal data, causality cannot be established. Also, there are concerns about the factor structure of scales.

Principals demonstrating empowering leadership can help teachers become more proactive and feel more empowered, less alienated and more committed. More proactive teachers and less alienated teachers are more likely to engage in self-initiated professional development and collaboration, thereby improving the teaching-learning process. Though this study was done in the school context, it is believed that the findings can plausibly apply to managers/leaders who work with complex, ambiguous work and knowledge workers.

First, the study extends the research on job crafting by studying the relationship between leadership style (empowering leadership) and job crafting. Second, the identification of the mechanisms through which leaders (principals) can help subordinates (teachers) find meaning in work (reduction in alienation) and develop commitment is an original contribution.

Performance management systems (PMS) are integral to an organization's human resource management but research is ambivalent on their positive impact and the mechanism through which they influence employee behavior. This study fills this gap by positing work engagement as a mediator in the relationship between perceptions of PMS effectiveness, employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

The study uses a survey-based design. Data were collected from 322 employees in India attending a management development program at a premier business school. Partial least squares–based structure equation modeling package ADANCO was used for data analysis.

Positive perception of PMS effectiveness was found to enhance employee work engagement. This increased job satisfaction and reduced turnover intentions among employees. Thus, work engagement mediated the relationship between PMS perceptions and job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

The results suggest that organizations need to focus on three characteristics of PMS, namely its distinctiveness, consistency and consensus. These characteristics determine the effectiveness of PMS in engaging employees and influencing their job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

Prior studies on performance management have largely been limited to aspects of justice and focused disproportionately on the appraisal aspect of performance management. This study takes a systems view of performance management and addresses prior shortcomings by examining the role of clarity and horizontal fit between PMS practices in determining employee engagement. The study also provides much needed empirical support to theoretical studies which have argued that PMS is a driver of engagement in organizations (Gruman and Saks, 2011; Mone and London, 2014).

Recent literature on high-performance work systems (HPWS) has questioned the universal success of HPWS and highlighted the need to examine contextual factors and micro-level employee experiences. To address this issue, this study aimed to explore the dynamics of HPWS implementation. Using the case of an Indian public-limited pharmaceutical company transitioning towards professionalisation, it examined the inconsistencies between the intended, enacted and perceived HPWS practices.

This study used a case study approach, drawing on multiple data sources, including surveys, interviews with various stakeholders, observations, documents and reports. Quantitative data was gathered through job satisfaction and organisational culture surveys completed by 888 employees. The qualitative interview data was analysed deductively, with themes derived from the existing HPWS literature.

The analysis revealed the organisation’s struggle in integrating professionally oriented HPWS practices within its promoter-driven bureaucratic culture. Employees reported a lack of autonomy, poor communication and inequitable opportunities for training and promotion. These cultural misalignments undermined the effectiveness of HPWS, leading to perceptions of exploitation, decreased job satisfaction and reduced trust in management. The findings highlight that HPWS practices cannot be implemented in parts without holistically considering the organisational context and culture.

The study offers practical guidance to organisations on implementing HPWS effectively. It emphasises the importance of continuously integrating employee feedback into HPWS practices to ensure sustainable performance improvements.

This study addresses a critical gap in HPWS literature by offering a post-implementation analysis focused on employee experiences within a traditional family firm. It highlights the systemic challenges that hinder the effectiveness of HPWS in practice.

Optifit, an international brand of fitness equipment, had entered the Indian market in 2010 and had rapidly opened 45 stores in 8 years in the four metros (NCR region, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata). Jaiveer Roy was identified by Pravin Gupta (South Zone head) and Raghav Mehta (HR head) to join as Optifit's Store Manager for its Alwarpet branch, Chennai, a store that had leadership difficulties from the day it started in May 2018. Roy joined the store in May 2018 and did very well soon after his appointment to the store. However, in less than three months, both Roy's and his store's performance began to suffer and his relationship with Gupta began to crumble. This case highlights issues in people management, especially support for people selected for leadership positions and examines the performance indicators of an individual's performance at a broader level. The case also points towards the mistakes or errors leaders may commit vis-a-vis their own role as a leader and mentor.

The case revolves around a critical incident that took place at an Indian pharmaceutical company, in which various stakeholders had very different perspectives regarding the nature, causes and consequences of the incident. By illustrating the contrasting perceptions of the same event, the authors have shed light on the nature of perception and perceptual processes, including cognitive biases and errors in human judgement. The case provides insights into how these manifest in the organisational context and how managers could be made more aware of them to avoid errors in judgment and make choices that are more informed.

This case is in four parts, highlighting the crossroads at which the protagonist Savita finds herself in and the difficulties she faces in balancing her career aspirations with family responsibilities. A Fellow of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, Savita's dilemmas concern working in a prestigious management institute in Kolkata versus getting a job in Mumbai in order to psychologically and financially support her family and get married; joining her husband in China on his posting versus going to the US on a prestigious fellowship prioritizing her career, and finally, starting a family versus postponing the decision till the couple were together and reasonably settled in their respective careers.

The case describes how a leader simultaneously addresses various aspects of business and people management to achieve a turnaround. The actions taken by the leader to get rid of the non-functional practices, nurture the existing practices, and create new strategies and processes to accomplish business growth are described. The leader reshapes the organisational culture in partnership with the human resource department. The case can be used to show the different leadership styles (transactional and transformational) and tactics for managing change-partnering with HR to revamp people practices, cherry-pick and develop the right talent, etc.