T. J. Kamalanabhan

Unearthed: The Other Side of Group Cohesiveness

Abstract One of the most consistently studied constructs in group dynamics research is Cohesiveness. It is a fact, that there is a tendency to see the effects of group cohesiveness as being largely positive. The periodic review of cohesiveness–performance relation had been positive. However, not much attention has been devoted to the fact that group cohesiveness can be detrimental to the group performance and other group outcomes. There are only few studies, which focuses on this aspect of cohesiveness. The objective of this paper is to examine and throw light upon other aspects of cohesiveness, which requires much needed attention. The present paper in contrast to majority of cohesiveness studies suggest a simple relation between cohesiveness - performance, seeks out to discuss the plausibility of some of the very few studies, which tried to empirically find out the other side of cohesiveness. The paper supporting these studies, suggests that the relationship between cohesiveness and performance is not that simple and may not necessarily result in better performance. The paper also highlights the need for future empirical research, which could test this relationship.

Internal corporate communication and its impact on internal branding

Purpose – The primary objective of this paper is to model internal corporate communication (ICC) process, examining the nature of the process, the outcomes thereof and the variable that has the ability to mediate the process, in the context of an Indian petroleum public sector undertaking (PSU).Design/methodology/approach – Following a review of the internal corporate communication and internal branding literature, an exploratory methodology was designed to capture the perceptions of employees on internal brand communication practices prevailing in the organization with an ambition of becoming a leading employer brand. Transcripts of interviews were analyzed, coded thematically and the essence of experiences was jointly combined into one description.Findings – First, a relation between ICC dimensions and internal branding outcomes is established. Second, it is recognized that ICC practices and brand training have a positive impact on communication satisfaction that further promotes a sense of brand identi...

Employee Engagement and Job Satisfaction in the Information Technology Industry

Employee engagement has been identified as being important to employee productivity and performance. Measures of employee engagement and job satisfaction in the context of information technology (IT) were developed to explore how employee engagement affects perceived job satisfaction. In a sample of IT professionals (N = 159), controlling for age, sex, job tenure, and marital status, employee engagement had a significant and positive correlation with job satisfaction.

Healthy Life Expectancy in the Context of Population Health and Ageing in India

This study examines life expectancy (LE) and healthy life expectancy (HLE) in India longitudinally over the period 2007 to 2020, providing projections into the future. Specifically, the Indian Healthy Life Expectancy Projection model was developed based on epidemiological data (mortality, disability rates) obtained from the World Health Organization and the Government of India. The current model contributed to 4 key findings: decreases in mortality but not in all age and gender groups; increasing disability in the Indian population over time; increase in LE and HLE into the future in all age and gender groups; and the largest gains in LE and HLE are in the older age bands starting from the 70+ age band in women and 65+ age band in men. This study sheds some light on the population health measures needed to improve the understanding of the determinants of health for the efficient allocation of resources and to inform policy in the planning of health and social services.

Employee Commitment to Organizational Change: Test of the Three-Component Model in Indian Context

The study aims to check whether the three-component model of commitment to change proposed by Herscovitch and Meyer is applicable in an Indian context. The three dimensions of commitment to change considered for the study are affective, continuance, and normative commitment to change. Data were collected via survey from employees who have been part of major transformational change like restructuring, merger, and acquisition from various organizations across manufacturing and IT sectors. A total of 305 responses were obtained and the data were subjected to exploratory factor analysis. The results demonstrated that affective and continuance commitment are clearly distinguishable; however, the normative commitment items loaded into two factors rather than one. The results provided evidence for potential cultural differences in the three-component model of commitment to change.

Social and Cultural Challenges in ERP Implementation: A Comparative Study Across Countries and Cultures

This paper studies the differential practices of change management in organizations of western origin and compares it with the best practices prevalent in Indian organizations, with special emphasis on social and cultural challenges faced in these countries. Since Enterprise Resource Planning ERP, as part of an information and communication technology ICT initiative, is frequently associated with organization change and transformation in relation to its adaptation, it has been used as the context in this study. The impact of social factors and cultural challenges on change management processes and elements are compared and contrasted using multiple case studies from USA, Canada, European Western/Eastern and Indian organizations who have adopted ERP technologies. The conceptual framework highlights cultural and social factors that affect ERP implementation, and offers suggestions to researchers to empirically test these influences using sophisticated analytical methods and develop change strategies and practices in response to these challenges. Further, it also draws attention to the need for a contemporary, result-oriented, quantitatively measurable framework of change management at the individual and enterprise levels. It is expected that such an approach would result in better buy-in from all stakeholders in terms of increased accountability.

The Impact of Cynicism on Ethical Intentions of Indian Managers: The Moderating Role of Their Level Of management

A vignette study was undertaken to examine if cynical attitudes predicted unethical intentions among Indian managers when faced with a range of ethical dilemmas. Cynicism—the belief that others are engaging in unethical acts or that unethical behavior is common or normal—has been found to predict unethical intentions. The study is an empirical evidence of the hypothesis that general and organizational cynicism influence ethical intentions. Hierarchical regression analysis on a sample of 199 Indian managers from different organizations provides strong evidence for the assumption of this study, i.e., the moderating role of level of management between organizational cynicism and ethical intentions. A three-way interaction effect was found, whereby managers working at middle and senior level management positions at higher levels of organizational cynicism were less unethical than managers at the junior management positions.

Evaluation of Knowledge Strategies in the Indian Software Industry

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to construct and validate a tool that measures the knowledge strategies in software organizations in India. The knowledge strategies discussed in this paper are based on the characteristics of organizational learning typology, which are classified as consolidators, transformers and co-inventors. This tool measures the extent to which the software organizations practice the consolidator strategy, transformer strategy, and co-inventor strategy. Data were collected from 39 software companies in India. The tool was tested for psychometric properties such as unidimensionality, validity, and reliability. These properties of the tool are at a very acceptable level in view of the confirmatory fit index (CFI), Bentler Bonett Coefficient, and Cronbachs alpha, which are above the recommended minimum values. Descriptive statistics were tested to quantify the extent to which knowledge strategies were being practiced across the software companies in India. ANOVA was performed to see the role of organization size and age in view of knowledge strategies. Significant differences were observed in knowledge strategies based on the organizations size and age.

Performance pressure and peer reporting of infractions: a moderated mediation model

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine how the relationship between performance pressure and unwillingness to report ethical infractions of peers is mediated by moral disengagement, while considering organizational cynicism as a moderator in the mediating relationship.Design/methodology/approach – Data collected from 302 managers working in public, private and multinational companies were used to test a model employing a moderated mediation analysis. The strength of the indirect effects of performance pressure on peer reporting via moral disengagement was found to depend on organizational cynicism when tested using a generalized approach to simultaneously test combined, moderation and meditation effects as suggested by Edwards and Lambert.Findings – Path analytic tests of moderated mediation supported the hypothesis that moral disengagement mediates the relationship between performance pressure and unwillingness to report ethical infractions by peers and that the mediation effect is stronger in the...

Impact of perceived organisational support on job performance among healthcare professionals

The study examined the impact of perceived organisational support on in-role performance and extra performance towards supervisors, co-workers and patients. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among medical officers and staff nurses working in primary health centres of Tamilnadu. From the results, it is found that perceived organisational support showed a positive impact of on in-role performance and extra role performance. It is found the extra role performance towards patients is greater compared to other job performance measures. The results of the study emphasise the public health department has to identify and reward substantial performers and review welfare policies that are perceived to be unattractive by healthcare professionals.