Kanika T. Bhal

LMX‐citizenship behavior relationship: justice as a mediator

Purpose – It has been proposed that issues of justice and equity should be incorporated in the dyadic study of leadership (LMX) for predicting subordinate outcomes, as both the theories are based on social exchange. This research had two objectives: to assess the impact of two dimensions of LMX – contribution and affect – on citizenship behavior and to test the mediating impact of the three types of justice – distributive, procedural and interactional – on the LMX‐citizenship relationship.Design/methodology/approach – The study reports responses of 306 professionals from 30 software organizations operating in different parts of India. Data were collected on a structured questionnaire containing standard scales of LMX, citizenship behavior, distributive, procedural and interactional justice. After establishing the psychometric properties of the scales, hypotheses were tested through statistical analysis of the data. Proposed mediation hypotheses were tested using Baron and Kennys recommendations.Findings ...

Leader‐member exchange‐subordinate outcomes relationship: role of voice and justice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore, deriving from social exchange theory, the process paths between leader‐member exchange (LMX) and subordinate outcomes (satisfaction and commitment). LMX is conceptualized as a two‐dimensional construct, consisting of LMX‐Contribution and LMX‐Affect. The two dimensions are hypothesized to have differential impact on subordinate outcomes. Procedural and distributive justice perceptions are hypothesized to mediate the relationship of LMX with subordinate outcomes, and voice is hypothesized to mediate the relationship of LMX with procedural justice. Additionally, alternate models based on the primacy of the procedures are tested.Design/methodology/approach – The study reports responses of 295 professionals from 30 software organizations operating in different parts of India. Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire containing standard scales of LMX, distributive, and procedural justice, voice, satisfaction and commitment. After establishing ...

Leader‐member exchange and subordinate outcomes: test of a mediation model

Purpose – Following Hackett et al.s treatment of the reasonably established role of leader‐member exchange (LMX) in employee outcomes, this paper seeks to examine the mechanism which operates between LMX and various work outcomes in an attempt to bridge this gap in the literature.Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses were tested using data from 306 working software professionals in India. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire that contained standardized scales of LMX (perceived contribution and affect), satisfaction, commitment, and citizenship behavior (loyalty).Findings – A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was done to examine the dimensionality of the study variables. Results provide support to all the hypotheses.Research limitations/implications – Data were collected from a single source, direction of causality is assumed (not tested) and all the data were collected through self‐reports. Some measures are taken to control them.Practical implications – The findings have implic...

Managing Dyadic Interactions in Organizational Leadership

The importance of leadership in any organization is a widely accepted and much studied phenomenon. However, the authors of this book maintain that most research on leadership has focused only on the leader and ignored the subordinates, treating them as a homogeneous entity and passive recipients of leadership efforts. The book begins with a comprehensive introduction which sets out the conceptual foundations of the dyadic approach and delineates a model. In the next chapter the methodology employed in both the first study and the corroborative study is outlined. The empirical data collected from these studies, which were conducted at different times is used to develop a two-dimensional scale for measuring the quality of interaction. The next three chapters present the results of the research and their implications while the analysis in the concluding chapter lays stress on the Indian social milieu and the Indian value system.

Perceived Role of Human Resource Management in Indian Organizations: An Empirical Study 1

The role of HR professionals needs to undergo a radical shift with the changing Indian corporate scenario. A new set of roles where the focus shifts from doables to deliverables based on Ulrich (1997) has been con ceptualized and operationalized in this study. The first role of HR Professionals as a Strategy Integrator deals with aligning business and HR strategies of an organization. The second role focuses on being an Efficient Administrator, which would mean designing and developing efficient transaction mechanisms. The third role focuses on the HR Professionals acting as a Nurturant Patron to help employees accomplish their goals by providing them with resources and ensuring that employees are not overwhelmed by expectations. Finally, the fourth role of the HR Professional is that of a proactive Transition Facilitator to help organizations to anticipate change and deal with it. To begin with, examples of these roles from Indian organizations are identified to explicate these roles. Further, a questionnaire survey of 103 respondents from 14 organizations (five from Consumer Durables and nine from IT) was conducted. The key results of the study indicated that HR is not perceived to play a differentiated role in Indian organizations. The survey also found an inherent bias in the perceptions of the HR professionals vis-à-vis the non-HR professionals (from other areas) regarding the role played by HR professionals in these organizations. Results and their implications are discussed.

Strategic HR Integration and Proactive Communication during M&A: A Study of Indian Bank Mergers

Research in the past has documented the use of strategic human resources (HR) integration and proactive communication as best practices in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to deliver the expected synergy out of a combination (merger or acquisition). The failure of majority of M&A deals has been attributed to improper handling of HR issues and lack of a thorough understanding of the merger/acquisition context by the acquiring management. This study was initiated to understand how proactive communication and strategic integration of HR issues improves the chances of deal success. Based on data collected through field interviews with managers of two bank mergers in India, it was concluded that strategic employee communication, appropriate changes in the performance management system and a compensation structure with cutting edge strategic HR practices paved the way for successful integration and merger success in one of the cases studied.

Ethical Issues in Change Management: An Empirical Study

This research was conducted to study the ethical issues involved in managing change-related issues and assess whether people in organizations perceive them to be ethical. Besides assessing peoples perceptions of ethicality, it also explored the reasons people give for judging a situation as ethical or unethical. Research was conducted using scenarios involving ethical dilemmas related to lay offs, skills obsolescence, misinfor mation and preference for younger over older employees. Results show that the respondents were divided over three situations, namely, lay offs, misinformation and preference for younger employees. The issue of skills obsolescence was considered unethical by most. The reasons given for judging a situation were different, implying that the ethical and unethical were not treated as two ends of a continuum.

Personality and Justice—Perceptions of the Software Professionals of India

The growth of the software industry in India requires that issues related to knowledge workers be understood and dealt with in greater detail if software professionals are to be managed effectively. Issues of appraisal and salary administration are paramount in the context of software professionals in India, and the professionals’ perceptions of fairness/unfairness of these systems are important for the design of socially valid HR systems. This study explores some of these issues. It examines the extent to which personality predicts employees’ perceptions of justice at the workplace. We defined workplace justice in terms of procedural and distributive justice and personality was conceptualized in terms of the locus of control, emotional quotient and justice orientation constructs. A survey of 310 employees was conducted across various software organizations in India. Locus of control and emotional quotient were found to be strong predictors of procedural justice, and equity orientation and emotional quotient were the best predictors for interactional justice. Results and their implications are discussed.

Ethical Decision Making by Indian Managers: Identification of Constructs, Their Measurement and Validation

The paper reports the development of a scale for assessing the ethical framework used by individual Indian managers. Construct definitions were developed and items were generated and evaluated for content validity. After an initial content validation process, the scale was tested through a structured questionnaire with a sample of 319 managers. A varimax rotated factor analysis of the data yielded two neat factors – a religious and a pragmatic framework. The two factors showed factor stability and high reliability coefficients. The criterion validity of the measure was also established by relating individual ethical frameworks with ethical decision making in given situations. The implications of the results are discussed and conclusions are drawn about the new measure in the Indian context.

relationship between gender sensitive practices and family support and its impact on psychological wellbeing of women employees in call centres in india

Purpose The aim of the paper is to examine the relationship of gender sensitive practices and family support in predicting psychological wellbeing of women assessed as stress, job satisfaction, commitment and intent to leave. Using the crossover theory, it also examines how gender sensitive practices lead to family support, which in turn leads to reduced stress leading to high satisfaction and commitment and reduced intention to leave. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from a sample of 302 women employees working in call centres in NCR, India on psychometrically sound scales. Findings Analysis revealed that gender sensitive practices are positively related to family support through the mechanism of crossover. Amply supported by data, the study, exhibits the complementary relationship between gender sensitive practices and family support, and their impact on psychological wellbeing of women employees. Research limitations/implications The sample may reflect same source bias as the data is coll...