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The purpose of this study is to identify the needs and concerns of older people in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India during the lockdown phase of the Covid-19 crisis. The study also aims to present a viable model for extending needed support through a telephone helpline run by a team of young student volunteers.

The study uses a thematic analysis of the interaction between callers (service users) and volunteers.

The study shows that the main reasons that motivate the use of the helpline are to seek medical advice and to request medical services and medical supplies free of charge. However, the study also shows that other reasons for calling the helpline are feelings of loneliness and the need for psychological support, especially due to insufficient assistance from families.

The study shows the benefits of providing this type of service for older people during a time of national health crisis. The service is cost-effective and offers a one-stop assistance point.

The service also constitutes an avenue for building intergenerational solidarity and empathy between younger and older people. This is especially important for citizens who feel socially isolated and disconnected from the rest of society.

The study offers a model for an easily created resource that could usefully be exported to other geographic settings.

MBA.

Master’s level in Change Management, Organizational Leadership and Human Resource Management.

Mr Sharma, the dynamic and entrepreneurial Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the newly formed Soni Manipal Hospital (SMH), Jaipur, and Unit Head, Manipal Hospitals [Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt Ltd. (MHEPL)], in a meeting with SMH’s Head of Human Resources and the Head of the Nursing Management, Mr Yaduvanshi realised the exponential growth of employee resistance, their lack of skills and technological advancements for documentation hindering the hospital's transformation goal. The case study highlighted the challenges the protagonist faced when taking charge as the CEO after nine months of acquisition and the factors contributing to them.

Students reading this case are expected to understand leadership theories, strategic and quality management approaches, and theories of social behaviour, such as Herzberg’s two-factor theory and social exchange theory (SET) and the application of these concepts in acquired organisations to develop healthy leadership–employee relations and change management theories.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

The cases highlight the challenges in running a new start-up especially by women in a developing nation such as India in a high growth industry. The success of a business depends on employee motivation, sales, marketing, functional coordination and coordinated efforts from all the executives. Experten Office Supplies Pvt. Ltd. (EXOS) was women empowered entrepreneurial startup (printing) in Mumbai established themselves as a trustable brand among their clientele for their office stationeries need. At Initial stages, they started with a good pace and growth in revenue. Directors of EXOS, Komal and Upasana Sanjay Kumar, were facing a downturn, their declining sales and were stressed regarding the resignation of their core member Pravin. The reasons for the situation were many, including unplanned motivational factors, non-risk-taking ability, no proper sales management (organization structure), planning process issues, lack of reward system and dependency on a person, less marketing initiative. These issues must be resolved to come back in the business, increase its sales, better sales organization structure. After the case analysis, students should be able to: know the key role of marketing and sales as a management function. Develop motivation policies for the salesforce and key team members in the organization. Understand the salesforce retention strategies of the organization.

In September 2019, directors of EXOS, Komal and Upasana Sanjay Kumar were discussing the downturn of EXOS and were stressed regarding their declining sales and profit margin. Both were disappointed at the resignation of their Business Manager. They were in worry as the new deal that they were about to get which could have made them earn, but Pravin resigned from the job in short notice. The case has short- and long-term aspects. The short-term aspect is about the decision related to EXOS’s top performer, Pravin, how to retain him, which motivational factor will help him to rethink his resignation. The long-term aspect deals with framing a motivation model that will prevent the organization from a similar situation in the future. The case outlines the human resource management issues and particularly the importance of motivation to retain the talent of a small startup firm. Directors recognize the importance of Pravin and they have a realization that the deal on which Pravin is working is critical. Under this situation, Upasana has to stop Pravin.

Undergraduate, Master of Business Administration (MBA) or in the Management Development Programs.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 8 Marketing.

This chapter aims to examine the role of consumer demographics over the chosen parameters of online shopping. Online shopping had emerged as an important platform for the consumers during the phase of pandemic spread in India which even included several phases of lockdowns. The state of pandemic commenced at a severe note leading to restrictive movement, social distancing, observing least contact with objects, and several other limitations. Due to this, many businesses had moved to online selling in order to target greater sales. This study was conducted in order to provide insights to various businesses, experts, and academic researchers in this domain to find out the role of demographical and behavioral differences of different consumer segments. It could serve as a robust study providing information about the current consumer behavior at the time of pandemic spread toward online shopping. This would help marketing experts explore the different opportunities and challenges involved in this new scenario formed due to COVID-19. Apart from adding value to the existing literature, this study leads a way to future research.

This study aims to contribute to the darker side of consumer–brand interactions by examining the relationship between consumer-related antecedents, particularly consumer personality traits, in triggering brand-hate emotions. Additionally, the link between brand hate and brand forgiveness was also taken into account, as well as the moderating impact of personality attributes. The impact of brand forgiveness on consumer coping behavior was investigated, particularly for brand switching (flight) and negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) (fight) on Indian e-commerce shopping websites/apps.

Using a structured questionnaire survey and a nonprobability purposive sampling approach, data were obtained from 438 online shoppers who had experienced hate directed at a particular shopping website or app. The hypotheses were tested statistically using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling with SmartPLS 4 software.

First, the findings demonstrate that agreeableness, extraversion and neuroticism significantly affected brand hate. Second, the results indicate that personality traits, particularly extraversion and conscientiousness from the Big-Five model, play a substantial role in moderating the relationship between brand hate and brand forgiveness. Third, the study also reveals the significance of brand forgiveness in mitigating the adverse consequences of NWOM and brand switching in the context of e-commerce platforms.

Practical steps such as complaint-management processes and prompt resolutions through an appropriate means of active interaction and understanding the consumer’s personality when their concerns are heard and handled can help brand managers earn customers’ forgiveness and reduce brand hate toward e-commerce websites/apps.

Based on the authors’ understanding, this study is the initial one to incorporate brand hate, brand forgiveness and coping strategies into the model in a service context with the interaction effect of consumer personality traits.

The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesise literature on the role of human resource practices (HRP) in shaping employee psychological contract (PC). Based on this review, a conceptual framework for examining the relationship between HRP and PC and their impact on employee attitudes as well as behaviour has been put forward for further examination.

An extensive review of the literature, examining the role of HRP in influencing PC of employees, between the periods 1972 to 2007 has been conducted. Adopting the multi‐level approach, the paper discusses the role of individual variable (PC) and organisational variable (HRP) on employee attitudes and behaviours.

The review brings to fore the following: the role of business and employment relationship strategy on HRP; the relationship between HRP and organisation culture as well as employees attitudes and behaviours; the relationship between HRP on and employee's psychological contract; and the moderating effect of those conceptions on employee attitudes and behaviours relationship.

HRP and PC influence employee attitudes and behaviours as well as have a bearing on organisational effectiveness. Suggestively, as a policy implication, firms need to craft and effectively communicate their HR toolkit based on their employment relationship and business strategies.

The main contribution of this paper is that it synthesises the research examining the impact of HRP on PC. Adopting a meso theory, the paper integrates both organisational and individual level variables and proposes a conceptual model.

The notion of deeper experiences of Hindu devotees inspired by divine images and sacred places has roots in the historical past, going back to the Vedic period (ca. 2500 BCE), where we find rich literature on performances, rituals and merits of pilgrimages. Considered the bridge between human beings and divinities, the experiences received are the resultant ‘blissful fruit’ (phala) that helps the spiritual healing of pilgrims through awakening conscience and understanding the manifested meanings, symbolism, purposes and gains. This system can be viewed concerning the ‘texts’ (the mythology, ancient text and related narratives) and the ‘context’ (contemporality and living tradition). These rules and performances have regional perspectives of distinctions, but they also carry the sense of universality, i.e. locality (sthānic) and universality (sarvavyāpika) interfaces. The devout Hindus reflect their experiences in conception, perception, reception and co-sharedness – altogether making the wholistic network of belief systems, i.e. the religious wholes in Hindu society. This chapter deals with four aspects: the historical and cultural contexts, the meanings and merits received, the motives and the journey and interfacing experiences. The study is based on the experiential and questionnaire-based exposition and interviews of pilgrims at nine holy places during 2015–2019 on various festive occasions and is illustrated with ancient texts and treatises. The sacred cities included are Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gaya, Ayodhya, Vindhyachal, Ganga Sagar, Chitrakut, Mathura Vrindavana and Bodh Gaya.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the relationship between organizational commitment (OC) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as mediated by employee engagement (EE). The impact of different facets of OC (affective, continuance and normative) and EE (alignment, affectiveness and action-orientation) is examined with respect to OCB.

Insights from the literature underpin the hypotheses on how EE mediates the relationship between OC and OCB. Primary data using survey questionnaire were collected from 881 permanent employees of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in India. Hayes' model 4 has been used for the mediation analysis.

The analyses show that only one facet of OC- affective commitment and the alignment and action-orientation dimensions of EE positively affect OCB. The relationship between OC and OCB is fully mediated by EE.

The results imply that engaging employees is pivotal for effectively fostering citizenship behavior among employees. Organizations should be willing to implement strategies and interventions which enhance the emotional experience of employees to foster a sense of belongingness with the organization and engage them.

The paper draws on a unique data set of a prestigious organization in India to provide insights with substantial degree of generalizability into the relationship between OC, OCB and EE, whilst applying a comprehensive definition of these constructs. It is the first study to examine the inter-relationship among different facets of these constructs.

Today, corporate sustainability is at a tipping point. With average lifespan of organizations shrinking, striving for corporate longevity and sustainability has become indispensable in this fast-paced world. Despite the growing interest in this domain, companies are struggling to define sustainability in a way that is relevant to their business. This article attempts to synthesize the extant literature and provide a conceptual perspective on corporate sustainability and sustainable business models.

Thematic literature review was done to gain an understanding of the extant literature and the ongoing debates on organizational sustainability. As the literature in context of corporate sustainability was found to be in a fluid state, a thematic review was found suitable to systematize and disclose valuable insights that open avenues for addressing sustainability concerns.

The paper attempts to throw light on the journey of organizations towards sustainability and how the context of sustainability has changed for the organizations over time. The paper discusses how companies embarked on their sustainability revolution by shifting their focus from mere compliance and philanthropy to attaining a sustainability edge and also explicates the transformation from traditional business models to sustainable business models. Finally, the research gaps are identified to pave the way for future research in the domain of corporate sustainability.

The extant literature on corporate sustainability is in a shambolic state. This creates a need to investigate what has been done and how the context of corporate sustainability is being shaped. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on sustainability by providing a conceptual perspective and highlighting the research gaps which pave the way for future research on sustainability paradigm.