Vasanthi Srinivasan

Expatriates of host-country origin: ‘coming home to test the waters’

Expatriates are an integral part of any multinational companys (MNC) staffing strategy. However, the high failure rate of expatriates has forced these firms to look at alternate or complementary staffing strategies. This paper focuses on one such strategy, i.e., transferring people of host-country ethnic origin from parent-country to manage host-country operations. The purpose of this exploratory study is to ascertain whether and how MNCs have used expatriates of host-country origin (EHCO) as a global staffing strategy, in the context of India, and the extent of its success both for the individuals and the organizations concerned. Based on a survey and in-depth interviews of human resource managers of 15 MNCs with operations in India, the study concludes that EHCOs are more willing to accept expatriate assignments than parent-country nationals (PCNs); however, their success on the assignment depends on the breadth and depth of their experience both in the parent and host country. With regard to their work effectiveness vis-à-vis PCNs, no significant difference was found. Managerial implications of this staffing strategy are explored and future research directions identified.

HRM innovations in rapid growth contexts: the healthcare sector in India

Human resource management (HRM) researchers have shown that rapid-growth organizations face HR challenges that vastly differ from their low-growth counterparts. These include acquiring and retaining key talent, and adapting the mind-set of the employees as the organization expands in size and scope. However, there is a paucity of research that examines the HRM challenges faced by rapidly growing organizations in dynamically growing sectors in emerging economies, particularly healthcare. In this study, we attempt to fill this gap by examining the HR challenges faced by rapid-growth organizations in the healthcare sector in India. Through interviews with 23 key top managers in healthcare organizations, the study identifies the specific challenges arising out of the privatization and corporatization of healthcare facilities, and the new emerging business models being used in healthcare delivery. Some of the challenges are at the sectoral level requiring policy interventions by government, such as stepping up educational curriculums to keep pace with the rapid growth in the need for healthcare workers. Others are at the firm level demanding hybridized approaches to HR both as a function and as a strategy, specifically encouraging companies to innovate to fill the voids rather than waiting for crisis to appear.

Career persistence of women software professionals in India

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore career centrality, belief in gender disadvantage, and career success definition as the determinants of career persistence among women software professionals in emerging economies like India. The control variables used are marital and parental status.Design/methodology/approach – A survey questionnaire was administered to 190 software women professionals and statistical analyses were used to test the hypotheses.Findings – Belief in gender disadvantage and objective success definition are differentiators for career persistence while career centrality is not. Marital status and parental status are relevant control variables.Research limitations/implications – Further exploration is needed of the dimensions of career centrality constructs and control for demographic variables.Practical implications – Organizations should consider investments in child care support and other flexible work options so that women continue to remain in their careers.Originality/value – This is ...

Status of Corporate Governance Research on India: An Exploratory Study

This paper examines the status of corporate governance research on Indian in the Indian and International journals between the period 2000-2010. The paper attempts to understand the nature of global research on corporate governance in top tiered international journals reflects the growing interest in India and whether the research published in the top journals in India reflect the differences vis-a-vis the global discourse on corporate governance. Our analysis of the papers in international and Indian journals indicates that there has been a steady and growing interest in the field of corporate governance in India. The convergence of the importance of certain topics like Performance and regulatory mechanisms between international and Indian journals can be seen as indicative of the presence of the common body of knowledge in the field of corporate governance research. There is however, a need for more empirical research in the Indian context and also the development of theories that are embedded in local realities. Given that the institutional context of an economy impacts significantly the nature of governance practices, more papers that explore the institutional contextual realities of India are needed. This would contribute significantly to deepening the research in a comparative management perspectives.

Understanding the Human Resource Challenges in Not-for-profit Organisations from a Lifecycle Perspective:

In the last two decades not-for-profit organisations in emerging countries like India have witnessed a phenomenal growth. This growth has been managed through a variety of organisational forms and structures. The complexity arises because the basic structure of the NGOs is a project organisation. Most Indian NGOs are externally funded and this funding is often provided only for a project. The projects are expected to deliver a set of activities and are necessarily short term in nature. An NGO often executes multiple projects simultaneously. As a consequence of this, the project tends to gain prominence compared to the organisation. The vital question that many NGOs have to engage with is: are we an organisation or are we a set of projects? An organisation by its very definition exists in perpetuity, while the life of a project is often specified and limited. This article will explore the challenges that NGOs face in their lifecycle of growth—evolving from a single project-based entity into a vision-led professional entity. The lifecycle view of organisations proposed by Greiner (1998) postulates that they move through five stages of development, and each stage is accompanied by a period of crisis. The article will present each of the five stages and the crises, and the resulting implications for organisations in terms of their vision, structure, strategies and human resource practices. The focus of the article will be on understanding the appropriate human resource strategies and practices that NGOs will have to engage with in the various stages of growth.

Multi-level gaps: a study of intended, actual and experienced human resource practices in a hypermarket chain in India

Abstract Multi-level (Multi-level in this paper refers to three levels- intended, actual and experienced- at which HR practices are theorised in the existing strategic human resource management process research) gaps in human resource (HR) practices have not been extensively investigated in the HR literature. Using a multiple embedded case study design within a multi-unit hypermarket chain in India, we identify ‘Intended-Actual-Experienced’ gaps across nine HR practices in seven retail units. We find that these gaps arise from implementers’ adaptation of HR practices due to different understandings of the intent of HR practices, the importance given to their contents and the processes adopted in their implementation. We propose an inductive model for emergence of multi-level gaps in HR practices. Our model depicts the processes and variables that have the potential to enable or disable adaptation, delivery and experience of HR practices, thus creating gaps between intended and experienced HR practices. This paper highlights the need for further research on HR implementation with particular focus on gaps. It also provides a framework for practitioners to take cognisance of the gaps that could impact implementation and experience of corporate-driven HR practices.

CSR and ethics in MSMEs in India

The extant literature on CSR and ethics suggests that there is a need for a greater understanding about SMEs. The role of SMEs in the economic growth and development of emerging countries like India is significant. Given the geographical diversity of India and its high reliance on agriculture, MSMEs (medium, small and micro enterprises) are the lifeline of economic development and growth in future. However, the current state of knowledge and practice in the field of CSR and ethics in SMEs in the Indian context is limited. This paper attempts to outline the state of the SME sector in India, Ethics and CSR practices in MSMEs, and identify the knowledge gaps in the field of CSR and ethics in SMEs in India.

ICT and work–family balance: context of Indian software services

While advances in information and communication technology (ICT) have diminished the constraint of location, created new outsourced models and show a promise of employee flexibility, it is not very clear how implementation of ICT affects the work–family balance for employees working in these new industries. In this conceptual paper, we explore the effect of ICT on employees in the context of the software services industry in India. We unpack the role of characteristics of service interaction in determining whether the use of ICT leads to improved or deterioration in work–family balance by investigating factors such as frequency and duration of interaction, and the temporal and cultural distance between the service provider employees and client. We argue that while the ICT media, geographical and temporal distance may enhance the need for longer customer interaction and work time, employee autonomy can potentially help harness the flexibility of the ICT advances to mitigate the detrimental impact on employee work–family balance and well-being.

India: CSR and Ethics in MSMEs in India

The extant literature on CSR and ethics suggests that there is a need for a greater understanding about SMEs. The role of SMEs in the economic growth and development of emerging countries like India is significant. Given the geographical diversity of India and its high reliance on agriculture, MSMEs (medium, small and micro enterprises) are the lifeline of economic development and growth in future. However, the current state of knowledge and practice in the field of CSR and ethics in SMEs in the Indian context is limited. This paper attempts to outline the state of the SME sector in India, Ethics and CSR practices in MSMEs, and identify the knowledge gaps in the field of CSR and ethics in SMEs in India.