Professional Documents
Culture Documents
North-Holland
Rabindra N. KANUNGO *
McGill University, Montreal, Can&
h s paper argues that the existing theoretical explanations of work alienation and corrective
management practices developed in the Western world have Limited cross-cultural applicability.
This argument is supported f i s t by identifying the cultural bias inherent in the Western
explanatory models of alienation and then by indicating how such a bias fails to adequately
explain work alienation and its opposite work involvement phenomena in Eastern societies Like
India. Finally, the paper probes into the role of some critical indigenous variables responsible for
the development of alienation among workers in India. The case of Indian workers provides an
illustrative example of what is needed for alienation research in a developing country context: to
avoid the folly of uncritically accepting the Western explanatory models and to encourage the
discovery of indigenous explanations.
ing, feeling, and performance they are shaped by such ideological and
cultural influences. Early interactions with social institutions and their
specific representatives form the basis of many enduring psychological
characteristics of future personality. The influences of socialisation in
India produce three types of behavioural dispositions (or ethics) that
are particularly relevant in the context of work motivation. These
dispositions w i l l be referred to as (a) a personal ethic of helplessness,
(b) an organisational ethic of personalised relationships, and (c) an
idealized, family-centred work ethic.
Workers at all levels of organisations in India seem to manifest a
personal sense of helplessness. In their day-to-day work and non-work
spheres of life, they exhibit a passive attitude towards their environ-
ment. They feel that they can do nothing (in a direct manner) to change
their environment. They have inculcated an external orientation; i.e. a
belief that the external environment controls them, rather than them
controlling their environment. Thus they become insecure and demon-
strate a strong need for dependence on others to reduce their feeling of
insecurity. As individuals, they feel that they are insignificant, power-
less particles of humanity and, therefore, believe in the futility of their
actions. These beliefs create an attitude of fatalism and they become
indifferent to work and work organisations. As individuals, therefore,
they do not strive for challenge and excellence, but rather remain
content with status quo and mediocrity. They become the victims of
‘what can I do? and chulegu type syndrome. (Chalegu is a common
vocabulary often used to express ready acceptance of status quo and
mediocrity).
Some social scientist (Kapp 1963; Weber 1958) have argued that the
passive helplessness attitude of the Indian worker may result from the
influence of Hindu doctrines of (a) Moksha (salvation) through re-
nunciation of all material possessions (Sanyas) as an ultimate goal in
life, (b) illusory nature of the material world (Maya) and the experi-
ences of present life resulting from the actions in previous life (the ‘law
of Karma’ in an endless cosmic causal chain). Although such beliefs
may play a role in the development of certain attitudes toward life in
general (such as contempt for competitive acquisitiveness or equanim-
ity in the face of extreme sufferings and hardships in life), they
certainly are not the soIe reasons for the helplessness feelings in a
worker’s day-to-day life. The helplessness feeling and the attitude of
fatalism or external locus of control (Rotter 1966) orientation are
R N. Kanungo / Culture and work alienation 803
going to receive in.return for their work, and the manner in which the
employees are treated by their superiors.
Task-related experiences
Work motivation suffers if there are no clear job expectations
regarding what the employee is supposed to do on the job, and whether
he can get what he values most through his job behaviour for the
satisfaction of his important needs. No one would perform adequately
on the job when one lacks job clarity, and is unable to satisfy his
pressing needs.
Many employees do not have clear task objectives. Very often, they
have confused knowledge of what their responsibilities are, what task
goals or targets they should be aiming for, what paths or procedures
they should be following to reach such targets and how they are moving
on these paths. Lack of job clarity in the employees’ mind is the fault
of management. Managements fail to develop adequate job descrip-
tions and job standards which might clarify employees’ duties and
responsibilities. Supervisors fail to provide their subordinates with
concrete task goals, and specified time periods for completion of the
job.
Furthermore, neither supervisors nor subordinates receive proper
feedback of work progress because of the absence of a systematic
reporting system and feedback procedures. Reporting and feedback
systems at work are simply absent, and the employees know it. When
standards of performance are an unknown quantity in the organisation
(in the minds of all employees including management), the problem of
increasing motivation for improving performance becomes meaning-
less. Employee motivation and performance can improve only when the
employees have a clear job perception with regard to what is required
of them for attaining very specific task goals within some prescribed
time by following some well tested paths (i.e. a work method). Task
clarity, goal specificity, and targeted time for task completion con-
stitute the minimal condition for improved work motivation and per-
formance.
Reward-related experiences
Even if job clarity is a necessary condition for worker motivation
and productivity, it is not sufficient. What is also needed is to provide
employees with job outcomes or rewards and compensations that the
RN. Kanungo / Cubure and work alienation 807
years later when the employee has already forgotten that for which he
is being rewarded.
In many Indian organisations, compensation schemes are set up and
administered without any consideration of their value, equity, con-
tingency, visibility, and timing. Employees are hired with the under-
standing of receiving a compensation package that is largely time-based,
rather than performance or skill-based. Employees know that their
skills and performance have no relation to the salary and benefits they
receive from the organisations. Many so-called performance- or merit-
based rewards are clearly perceived as arbitrary and inequitable since
the employees work in an inadequate (mostly non-existent) appraisal
system. They are often ill-informed about the reward system and
consequently perceive a state of randomness or arbitrariness in reward
allocation. Since job performance does not bring in the sought-after
reward, they feel impotent in controlling the reward through their job
behaviour and consequently develop apathy toward their job. They
withdraw their energy from the job and engage in organizationally
dysfunctional activities (gossiping, ingratiating supervisors, etc.) hoping
that such activities w i l l bring in the valued rewards (status in the eyes
of co-workers, or perhaps a promotion or accelerated salary-increment
from superiors). Organizationally dysfunctional behaviour among In-
dian employees is so pervasive that like the black market money
crippling Indian economic system, blackmailing at work (through de-
liberate inefficiency and apathy) is destroying the moral fabric or
Dharma and Karma ethic of the Indian society.
Supervision-related experiences
In addition to the lack of task role clarity and inadequate reward
system, many Indian organisations emphasize bureaucratic practices
with excessive reliance on rules and regulations. Such practices create
an organisational norm that is perceived by employees as cold and
impersonal. Workers in these organisations see themselves as legalistic
robots guided by rules and regulations of a depersonalized organisa-
tion. An impersonal and legalistic environment alienates workers from
both their job and the organisation. Organizational interests are seen as
separate and distinct from the interests of the workers, and workers’
behaviour is often directed toward meeting their own interests even at
the cost of organisational interest.
Supervisors and executives within organisations who engage in such
I. Historial Predisposing
Causes:
Socialization Leading Stable Behavior Reflected Three Levels
Practices to - in QLE!iuG
(a) Authoritarian
Practices
~ Dependence
-
(a) Personal Ethic
of Helplessness
(b) Noncontingent (b) Organizational Alienation 8
Reward System and Low \
Personalized Productivity c,
Relationship 3
s
(c) Religious -- Lack of Futuristic (c) Idealized
Traditionalism Thinking Family Context
Work Ethic s%
(d) Extended Kinship - Importance of Meeting B
Network Obligatory Damands P
2.
8
Fig. 1. A n explanatory model ofworker alienation in India.
rn
4-
(a) Inadequate Job ~ ~ Lack of Job
Descriptions, Job __t
Standards
(b) Inadequate Reporting
System and Feedback -
Procedure (I Work Methods
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Cette ttude soutient quc les explications thtoriques existantes de I'alitnation au travail et les
pratiques administratives correcuices mists au point dans le mondc occidental podde nt une
valeur d'application interculturelle limit&. Cet argument a t appuyt d'abord en identifiant l a
biais culturels inhCrents aux modkles utplicatifs occidcntaux de I'alitnation et ensuite cn indiquant
comment un tel biais nc r k i t pas A expliquer adtquatement l'alitnation au travail, ainsi que le
phknomhe oppod d'implication au travail, dans des sociktts orientals cornme I'Inde. Enfin,
cettc ttudc examine le r8le de Ccrtaines variables indighes critiques qui scraicnt responsables du
dtveloppement dc I'alihation cha les travailleurs Indiars. Lc cas d a travailleucs Indiens fournit
unc illustration de cc que la recherche sur I'alihation a besoin dans Ic contcxte d'un pays en voie
de dCveloppemcnt: Cvitn la foiie d'acccptcr sans esprit critique les modtles #explication oc-
cidentaux et encourager la dtcouverte d'explications indighnes.
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