Deepti Bhatnagar

Life Role Salience: A Study of Dual-Career Couples in the Indian Context

To explain career development of professional men and women, the developmental approach is becoming increasingly popular as it allows for a broad perspective encompassing both work and family roles. It recognizes the fact that developmentally men and women are different. The present study explored whether, for dual-career couples working in the Indian context, the salience attached to different life roles by male and female partners does indeed vary differentially across the life cycle in keeping with the propositions of the adult developmental theories of men and women. Data were collected from 92 dual-career couples. Results provided only partial support for the propositions of adult development theories, examined in terms of the differences between the life role salience of male and female partners. In particular, the expected reversal of salience attached to work and family roles at mid-life, between men and women, was not evident. Our results seem to challenge the universality of the existing developmental frameworks and suggest the need to broaden the theoretical base to incorporate diverse socio-cultural realities that have a bearing on life role salience.

Professional women in organizations: New paradigms for research and action

Writings about professional women in organizations often adopt an advocacy approach and look at problems of women in isolation from the rest of the organization. This article suggests a systems perspective for viewing these problems as concerns of an organizational subsystem that can have important ramifications for the other subsystems and for the organization as a whole. Reviewing research on some major issues encountered by professional women at the workplace, this article demonstrates the usefulness of complementary research to integrate these issues into an organizational framework.

Attitudes Towards Work and Family Roles and Their Implications for Career Growth of Women: A Report from India

This paper explored attitudes towards work and family roles of professional men and women in India. Ninety-two husband–wife pairs from salaried, upper middle class, dual-career families in India participated in the study. Propositions based on adult development theories of men and women, regarding reward value derived from and commitment made to occupational, parental, marital, and homemaker roles over the life cycle, were tested. Results indicated that there was no change with age, in attitudes towards occupational and homemaker roles. Instead, gender-based differences in attitudes towards these roles were observed. Attitudes towards the marital and parental role varied across the life cycle, although not in keeping with propositions based on the adult development theories of men and women. There was no reversal in attitudes towards work and family roles of men and women after midlife. Rather, some reversal in attitudes appeared to occur between the marital and parental role, over the life span of both men and women. Results are reviewed within the Indian cultural context and their implications for the career development of women are discussed.

Leader values for constructive controversy and team effectiveness in India

Leading teams effectively is a challenge for organizations in many countries. This study proposes that leaders who value people, productivity, and participation help teams work effectively and productively by encouraging team members to discuss their diverse views open-mindedly. Working in diverse organizations in India, team leaders indicated their participation, people, and productivity values and team members rated their constructive controversy and their effectiveness and performance. Structural equation analysis suggested that productivity values affect constructive controversy and team effectiveness and productivity. However, contrary to expectations based on the idea that India is a collectivist society, people values were not predictive. The studys findings and previous research were interpreted as suggesting that leader productivity values coupled with constructive controversy provide a foundation for effective teamwork in India.

EVALUATION OF MANAGERIAL INFLUENCE TACTICS: A STUDY OF INDIAN BANK MANAGERS

The present study was undertaken to find out whether different influence tactics are evaluated the same way, or differently, in downward and upward exercise of influence; and whether appropriateness and effectiveness constitute two different dimensions of evaluation. Data were collected from 144 bank managers. Discusses implications of these findings. Results showed that for influencing subordinates, many more tactics are seen as being highly appropriate and effective, than for influencing superiors. Appropriateness and effectiveness emerged as two different dimensions of evaluation.

Effect of Emotional Labor on Emotional Exhaustion and Work Attitudes among Hospitality Employees in India

The present research explores the relationship of emotional labor strategies (i.e., surface and deep acting) with emotional exhaustion, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions among employees in the hospitality industry in India. Data were collected from 204 frontline hotel employees representing different departments. The results of the study demonstrate that surface acting is positively related with emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions and negatively related to affective organizational commitment. Moreover, deep acting was observed to have a negative influence on emotional exhaustion. The findings of the study indicate that frequent use of surface acting may have detrimental consequences for employees as well as for the organization. Managerial implications of the study are discussed.

Gender and Workplace Experience

“Men are dominant, women are subservient;” “Men are aggressive, women are passive;” “Men are agentic, women are communal;” “Men are power-centric, women are person-centric;” “Men are single-focused, women are multi-focused;” “Men are bread winners, women are home makers.” The list of differences identified by researchers is seamless. Similarities have, rarely if ever, been recorded or found their space in research journals. Questions that readily come to the mind are: Does biological difference transcend all boundaries and get reflected in attitudes and behaviours clubbed under binary heads as “male” and “female?” Or is it that when the “difference” hypothesis yields null results, interest in the research topic wanes?

Leadership Development in Organizations in India: The Why and How of It (Part II)

Aarti Shyamsunder, Anand S*, Ankush Punj*, Arvind Shatdal*, B M Vyas, Balaji Kumar, Binu Philip, C Manohar Reddy*, Chitra Sarmma, Gopal Mahapatra, Govind Srikhande, Kartikeyan V, Manoj Jaiswal*, Nandini Chawla*, Prabhat Rao, Prakash K Nair, Prasad Kaipa, Rajshekhar Krishnan, Rishikesha T Krishnan*, Rituraj Sar*, S K Vasant, S Ramesh Shankar*, Santrupt Misra*, Shabari Madappa, Sudhakar B*, Swasthika Ramamurthy, Twisha Anand, Vasanthi Srinivasan*, Vikas Rai Bhatnagar*, Vishwanath P, Vivek Subramanian and Neharika Vohra and Deepti Bhatnagar (Coordinators)

Power and Politics in Grievance Resolution: Managing Meaning of Due Process in an Organization

This paper studies the relatively less explored issue of the actual process of grievance resolution from a political perspective. In a steel plant in India, six grievance cases were analyzed from the filing of a grievance to its final resolution. Cases were reconstructed through semistructured interviews and analyzed from a political perspective. The sources of power of the key actors and their influence tactics vis-A-vis one another were found to determine whether the case would be decided in favor of or against the grievant. The understanding of the dynamics in grievance resolution was enhanced when we analyzed cases as episodes nested in the ongoing political process of the organization. A comprehensive understanding of political behavior required analysis at two levels: the explicit-dealing with apparent behavior; and the implicit-exploring the underlying concerns and intents of the actors often manifested through symbols. Implications of multiple levels of political behavior for institutionalizing due process are discussed.

Developing Leadership Skills among EMBA Students: Innovations in Design

Saying that doing business in a highly dynamic and volatile work environment poses unprecedented challenges to organizations and their leaders is stating the obvious. In order to effectively deal with various challenges, and succeed, organizations need leaders who could help them realize their objectives. Furthermore, it is required that people from each level in the organization are involved in leading. Management researchers and practitioners argue that it is vital for any organization to develop leadership skills among its members if it aspires to succeed and take an edge over others. Scholars, working in the area of leadership development, maintain that leadership skills can be developed among organizational members and MBA students through carefully designed programmes/interventions. The challenge often is that leadership training is extremely resource-intensive. Leadership development arguably needs an understanding of self, others, and the systems. It is assumed that it can be best done in small groups with attention to the individual, and it takes prolonged engagement. Thus, designing learning inputs for large groups is a challenge that is real and remains unaddressed by many practitioners and faculty in management schools.