See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/260278364

The Role of Strategic Human Resource Management in Globalizing India: Issues

and Future Prospects

Article · January 2007

CITATIONS READS

0 3,991

1 author:

Debi S. Saini
Formerly Professor of HRM Management Development Institute
297 PUBLICATIONS   1,242 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Approaches of Japanese MNCs to Employee Relations in Indian Automobile Sector View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Debi S. Saini on 28 February 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

The Role of Strategic Human Resource Management in Globalizing India:
Issues and Future Prospects
Debi S. Saini*

I. INTRODUCTION

The globalizing world has been contributing towards redefining the economic models of countries
in the developed as well as the developing countries. Economists have been forecasting a very
bright future for the Indian economy in times to come, thanks to the rich natural, human and other
resources that the country possesses. Goldman Sachs’ report of 2003 foresees a leading role by
especially four economies—now popularly known as BRIC countries––in the next 40 years or so i.e.
Brazil, Russia, India and China. Among other things, the shape of the future projected by this report
is as follows: The Indian economy could become larger than that of Japan by 2032, and China could
overtake the US by 2041. It has suggested that China will overtake all economies accept that of the
US by 2016. As can be seen in table 1, the BRIC countries are poised to take on the global
economic leadership, leaving behind economies like those of the G-6 countries i.e. USA, Japan,
Germany, France, UK and Italy in the next 45 years or so. It is projected that by 2050 India will
move upwards from its present 9th rank to 3rd largest economy of the world in dollar terms.

Table1: BRIC Countries Economic Magnitude in Relation to G7

2003 2050 (Goldman Sachs)
Rank Country ----------------------- Country ---------------------------
Country GDP in Country (GDP in
billion dollars, billion dollars, current
current prices prices)
1 USA (10,882) China (44,453)
2 Japan (4,326) USA (35,165)
3 Germany (2,401) India (27,803)
4 UK (1,795) Japan (6,673)
5 France (1,748) Brazil (6,074)
6 Italy (1,466) Russia (5,870)
7 China (1,410) UK (3,782)
8 Canada (834) Germany (3,603)
9 India (599) France (3,148)
10 Brazil (492) Italy (2,601)
11 Russia (433)
Source: Pelle (2007).
Note: In Goldman Sachs (2003) the basis for comparison is 6; so Canada is not included in the projections for 2050

It is now well-known that India is being seen as the outsourcing backyard for the developed
world especially for the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. Similarly, manufacturing
sector is growing due to competitive advantages of low cost and technology-savvy workforce
though not at the rate Chinese manufacturing sector is advancing. These two developing economies
have been getting perhaps the maximum attention of the world business community, investors, and
*
Professor of HRM, Management Development Institute, Mehrauli Road, Gurgaon—122001.
1
governments as never before. So there is a talk of the emergence of a new India. Sometime back it
was observed by Economist that after the opening up of the Indian economy some 15 years ago, a
caged tiger is said to have been set free to grow in a more natural environment. This is what speaks
of considerable increase in the gross domestic product (GDP) of India in the past years.

Many multinational companies (MNCs) are trying to make early entry in the emerging markets
including India to gain competitive advantage. At the same time, this results in contributing towards
the future health of the Indian economy. The total FDI (foreign direct investment) inflows in 2006-
07 are expected to be as high as 14 billion dollars, compared to 7.7 billion dollars last financial year.
India’s total foreign exchange reserves have increased from US$ 5.8 billion as at end-March 1991
(when India was on the brink of a major foreign exchange crisis) to US$ 175.5 billion on 15
December 2006. This raises questions of differences in cross-cultural realities between India and
the countries to which these MNCs belong. MNCs bring with them the working patterns operating
in their country of origin or so-called global practices. There is no doubt that the increasing
importance of the role of the HR function in corporate turnaround and excellence is largely
attributable to the adoption of advanced HR practices by the MNCs and benchmarking of these
practices by their Indian counterparts.

Of course, all is not yet too rosy for Indian economy; the country has to tackle massive problems,
which among others, include: poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, inadequacy of infrastructure,
shortage of power and water resources for a large part of the population. The globalization
philosophy itself claims to possess the mantra for solving these problems through encouragement of
entrepreneurship, and trickle down effect. But realizing its full potential necessitates rearranging
systems and processes of human resource management (HRM) in organizations to make this happen
at an exponential rate. In the new era, while companies have been breathing fresh air and have freed
themselves from the claustrophobic regulatory controls, they are also finding it difficult to compete
in the new dispensation due to chaotic competition caused by the opening up of the economy. They
are now searching novel ways to compete more effectively. Investing in human resource
management (HRM) strategy is considered as essential or a kind of a panacea for managing and
retaining talent and ensuring employee engagement. HRM strategy today is the single largest area
of corporate consultancy at the global level. Thus corporates across countries are taking interest in
the development of the HR function for performance excellence, as also in internalizing it to line
managers.

So far as India is concerned, there are mixed signals about the development of the HRM field.
Research evidence (see Budhwar and Sparrow, 1997; 2002b; Budhwar and Khatri, 2001) regarding
the strategic nature of HRM in Indian firms suggests that there is a low representation of the
personnel function at the board level. And, few organizations have clear conception of formal
corporate strategies. At the same time, there is no doubt, however, that the status of the personnel
function in the country has improved in many sectors over a short span of 10 years or so. Indian
firms have been showing an increased emphasis on training and development of HR (see Budhwar
and Sparrow, 2002b). But there is little evidence that business development strategy is associated
with a closer integration of HRM into the business planning processes. This dilutes the impact of
human resource systems and processes. Hence, the need of the hour is the adoption of a more
strategic approach to HRM. Perhaps, attempts are being made to put this agenda to practice (see
Agarwala, 2003; Singh, 2003). It is interesting to ask how the subject of people management in
India has evolved in all its dimensions and whether it is moving in the desired directions so as to
meet the emergent challenges of the time.
2
 This paper analyzes the issue of the emergence of HRM in India from the stage of traditional
personnel management and industrial relations (IR) to the present stage of criticality of strategic
people management in sunrise sectors. It has argued that for organizational capacity-building for
performance excellence in Indian context, companies should undertake an integrated view of things,
and should judiciously intertwine hard and soft strategic HR interventions so as to successfully
march towards their vision. This would require a massive agenda of benchmarking HR practices
from similar locales and knitting them conceptually in clearly articulated and developed HRM
strategy.

II. STRATEGIC HRM: THE CONCEPT AND ITS CONTENTS

Literature on general management shows that we are presently in the HRM era of evolution of
management thought. The HRM discourse underscores proactive handling of people issues, policy
of cooperation rather than adversarialism, transformation rather than just transactional HR activities,
focus on competitive or strategic advantage. Since the advent of globalization tremendous
developments have taken place in both the academic literature on strategic HRM and its practice.
HRM represents a new philosophy of managing and developing people to secure competitive
advantage through personnel, structural and cultural interventions (Storey, 1995). Some argue that
the HRM era has further given way to the talent era, whereby all managerial focus is centred on
recruiting, retaining and motivating talent for securing competitive advantage. In any case, this era
puts primacy on adopting state-of-the-art practices in people management and/or in talent
management that are aligned with organization’s vision and mission. The top management is
expected to align its HR strategy with business strategy. Line and HR managers are expected to
demonstrate behaviour that fits in the employees’ and other stakeholders’ new expectations from the
organization. In fact, behaviour modification has become a flourishing industry in strategic HRM
discourse at the global level. Behaviour expected in today’s business world is demand-led and
customer focused.

Several themes have emerged in contemporary HRM strategy that is being worked upon to
promote the requisite behaviour and performance standard. They include: empowerment,
communication, diversity management, flexibility management, employee involvement, total
quality management, new industrial relations, team building, reward strategy, quality improvement,
learning organization, knowledge management, culture building, and human resource development
(Saini, 2000). Lately, some more themes have got added including: talent management, work-life
balance, six sigma, and employer branding.

Strategic HRM focuses on integrating HR functions, changing roles of HR, aligning HR strategy
with business strategy, and experimenting strategic HR themes for implementation to gain
competitive advantage. HRM strategy interventions involving these themes can be broadly divided
into two categories: “instrumentalist” (hard) and “empowerment/commitment” (soft) (Saini, 2000).
HR interventions in actuality, however, are generally an amalgam of hard and soft measures. This
was the case at NDPL referred to earlier (Saini and Bhatnagar, 2005). This company used, among
others, interventions such as performance management system, new technology, flexibility
management, and transformational leadership as key HRM strategy devices for managing and
internalizing change.

3
III. PROBLEMS IN IMPLEMENTING HR BEST PRACTICES IN INDIA

Many problems come in the way of developing global HR practices in the Indian context. Some of
the crucial issues in this regard are: traditional hierarchy-oriented mindset of people in general, high
power distance and internalization of inequality, strong family ties that dilute individualism and
promote dependence, acceptance of the value of caste hierarchy, high incidence of illiteracy, high
uncertainty avoidance and thus low willingness to take risk, orientation towards personalized
relationships rather than towards performance reflecting low masculinity, and low willingness to
accept change. Feudalism created by the British promoted inequality and hierarchy amongst the
urban as well as non-urban population, which over period got internalized in the social psyche. The
caste system in India has also played a contributory role in this regard. The family-owned business
houses have made full use of the inculcation of these values in society in practicing a kind of neo-
feudalism in industry. This is reflected in the organizational structures and social relations which
reflect hierarchy, status consciousness, power distance and low individualism. These values have
helped strengthen hierarchical superior–subordinate relationship which acts as a kind of a
mechanism of social control on the managed. Studies have revealed that the common Indian values,
norms of behaviour and customs exercise considerable influence on their HRM policies and
practices (Budhwar, 2001).

Indian social and cultural environment puts primacy on strong family ties that undermine
individualism, resulting in greater dependence on others. This highlights the importance of
interpersonal relations in people management in India, more than the importance given to it in other
societies. The core bases of the management system in social and family relationships can then be
attributed to various factors including a strong caste system, agrarian based society, high incidence
of illiteracy, poverty and indifference of the state system to the needs of the individual (Budhwar,
1999).

Kanungo and Mendonca (1994) have shown significant cultural differences between India and
western countries on the basis of Hofstede’s (1991) four initial dimensions of power distance,
uncertainty avoidance, individualism and masculinity. India stands relatively high on uncertainty
avoidance and power distance and relatively low on individualism and masculinity dimensions.
Relatively high uncertainty avoidance implies an unwillingness to take risks and accept
organizational change. The relative low individualism implies that family and group attainments
take precedence over work outcomes (Sharma, 1984). The relative high power distance implies that
managers and subordinates accept their relative positions in the organizational hierarchy and
operate from these fixed positions. Obedience is facilitated by the supposedly superior authority of
the position holder and not on any rational basis. This is simply by virtue of the authority inherent
in that status. The relatively low masculinity implies that employees’ orientation is towards
personalized relationships rather than towards performance (Kanungo and Mendonca, 1994: 450).
On the fifth dimension of long-term versus short-term orientation, traditionally, India is known as a
long-term oriented nation (see Tripathi 1990). However, results of a recent research (see Budhwar
and Sparrow, 2002b) suggest that due to the severe pressure created by the recent liberalization of
economic policies and the presence of foreign operators in Indian organizations, the question of
immediate survival has become more important. This explains a recent shift of emphasis towards
short-termism. However, one should be cautious in generalizing any such analysis.

4
 Research (see for example, Sharma, 1984; Sinha and Kanungo, 1997; Tayeb, 1987) reports that on
an average Indians resist change, hesitate to delegate, or even accept authority, are fearful of taking
an independent decision, are possessive towards their inferiors and frequently surrender to their
superiors. The traditional hierarchical social structure of India has always emphasized respect for
superiors, who can be elders, teachers or superiors at work, i.e., the nature of Hinduism evidenced
by the caste and social system ( Sahay and Walsham, 1997).

From the above discussion, it can be deduced that the Indian societal culture has made a lasting
impact on most management functions such as staffing, communication, leadership, motivation and
control. Staffing for top managerial positions among Indian organizations (especially in the private
sector) is generally restricted by familial, communal and political considerations. Authority in
Indian organizations is likely to remain one-sided, with subordinates leaning heavily on their
superiors for advice and directions. Motivational tools in the Indian organizations are more likely to
be social, inter-personal and even spiritual (see Budhwar and Sparrow, 1997). A recent research
investigation with 65 top HR managers in as many foreign firms operating in India (see Budhwar
and Bjorkman, 2003) reports that local firms are more rigid to change, less transparent in their
operations, provide less learning opportunities, and operate many traditional HR practices. All
these factors considerably limit the scope of performance and efficiency-driven HR practices. They
need to be looked into critically for developing global workforce and for planning and
benchmarking appropriate strategic HR interventions in Indian locales.

The existing literature suggests that employment practices in Indian organizations are based on
social relations, political affiliations, political contacts, caste, religion and economic power (see
Budhwar and Khatri, 2001). This is largely so in public systems. But to some extent it happens in
the private sector also. Often MNCs too face pressure for recruiting kin of politicians and
bureaucrats bypassing consideration of potential for performance.

Interestingly, the study by Budhwar and Bjorkman (2003) reveals that the HR managers see the
scenario to be rapidly changing. This should be one of the main agenda for Indian firms. It is certain
that the liberalization of economic policies, globalization realities and the operating practices of
foreign firms will all put pressure on Indian firms for a more professional performance. Of course,
the MNCs and many private sector organizations have been working hard in building global HR
practices. Globalization dynamics necessitates the speeding-up of the merit- and performance-based
decision-making in all sectors. With the coming-in of a very large number of MNCs to India one
can expect an active mixing-up of different management systems (such as Japanese or the
American way of doing things). In such conditions, there will be a greater possibility of
standardization of managerial roles across different firms. This is an outcome of the globalization
exigencies (see Debrah and Smith, 2002) or some kind of ‘crossvergence’, i.e., blending of work
cultures (due to the active interface of diverse groups), that is taking place in India (see Saini and
Budhwar, 2004; Gopalan and Stahl, 1998; Ralston et al., 1993).

The HRM policies of the foreign companies have been considerably influencing the HR practices
of other companies as well. For example, the professional customer handling by the Citibank has
been positively influencing the public sector banks in the country who have to now operate in a
competitive environment. The Indian managers view these practices as benchmarks. Further, most
foreign firms and an increasing number of local firms emphasize the need to attract talent. They are
increasingly adopting formal, structured and rational approaches to attract, acquire and retain talent.
This has significantly influenced the behaviour both at the individual and organizational levels. The
5
opportunities provided by the new sectors such as software, contact centres and IT on the one hand
and the MNCs on the other have encouraged females to come and join the mainstream workforce.
Such developments are expected to continue and will eventually help transform the adoption of
HRM practices in the country.

IV. CLAIMS OF PRACTICING STRATEGIC HRM: RHETORIC AND REALITY

Many high-performing organizations are going all out to build on the empowerment/commitment
model of HRM strategy. This is a way of telling people that they matter, and that the organization
survives as a high performance system because of them. This helps realize the full potential of
people working in the organization. Companies having belief in this model generally develop some
or all of the above-mentioned super-ordinate mantras or values to guide and drive their purpose. In
what follows may be noted the rhetoric and reality of implementing strategic HR interventions by
Indian and global companies in India.

A review of research on HR practices shows that HR has still not reached the strategic level in
India the way it should be. Even in the larger companies strategic HR is more at the level of rhetoric.
Taking a cue from the global developments, the HR has expanded a great deal in the last five years
or so. Most companies in the sunrise industries are trying to cope with the issue of attraction and
retention of talent. There is not much evidence that companies are going beyond this. Implementing
strategic HRM would warrant that HR learns to look at the larger picture. Not many are actually
doing workplace planning and human capital measurement (Grossman, 2006).

One of the respondents of Grossman (2006) observed that of the 50 companies in the automotive
supply sector, only three or four are trying out cutting-edge HR practices. Most HR managers admit
that strategic HRM is the need of the hour but somehow are not able to put it in practice. CEOs do
want it to happen but very few of them are happy at the contribution that HR department makes in
actuality. Most HR managers are not able to see the issues as business managers. Key HR activity is
believed to be the practicing of functional HRM. HR managers in India feel that contributing to
building of strategy is the job of top line managers and not theirs, quite like the way line managers
often feel that HR issues are the job of HR department. In effect, HR people reconcile themselves
“to be in the back office rather than the front” (Grossman, 2006).

Interestingly, the National HRD Network has recently entered into a collaboration arrangement
with the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, to revamp their two-year postgraduate HR
programme so as to train HR managers who actually understand business and not just the HR issues.

Interestingly, there are many companies that are going ahead with the practice of HRM strategy.
Skyworks Solutions has been able to reduce its attrition to just around 10 percent against the
industry practice of 30 percent to 40 percent for engineers in the software industry. The HR
director there is part of a triumvirate that runs the operation along with the site director and the
controller. The India HR director is a board member of the Indian company. Along with traditional
HR duties, he is expected to run the site from an operations perspective. This is indeed a strategic
function.

Similarly, Prudential Process Management Services (PPMS) in Mumbai—a company with 1,200
employees that serves Prudential UK’s financial products customers in the United Kingdom—is
able to reduce its attrition to around 20 percent in an industry. Its strategy comprises of quickly
6
hiring good candidates, rapidly enhancing their skills and offering them a conducive environment
that makes them stick. On his visit to this company in February, 2006 some employees told this
author that “PPMS is so great that one can come here drunk, still you can be tolerated by the
management.” PPMS quickly zeroes in on candidates and closes the deal. It also offers them
facility of sponsoring continuing education. After 18 months, employees are eligible for one of
Prudential’s MBA programs, specially tailored in partnership with top-rated Indian business schools
at half the tuition fee. The remaining half is payable by the employee concerned. The company
competes on its culture and not on compensation. It claims to offer a lifestyle to the employee. This
means focusing on creating a fraternal environment along with facilities like training, management
education and career advancement. Family including friends, boyfriends and girlfriends are
encouraged to visit the workplace. It believes in building an employer brand. In this company the
author also discovered that the most important individual in the company after the CEO was the
HR chief. He was well aware that if HR failed to live up to the expectation, this could prove
disastrous to the company. Likewise, ICICI Bank, the major Indian financial institution that is
going head-to-head with the mammoth Citibank, in some markets, has also developed its HR skills
very fast and cashed upon them.

A recent study done by an HR academic, Aneeta Madhok (Grossman, 2006) found creating
performance culture managing talent, and recruiting to be the three most important challenges of
the CEOs. Her list of eight key factors in order of importance included the following: creating a
high-performance culture; retaining talent; recruiting; moving from patriarchic, hierarchical
management to a more team-based, informal organizational culture; linking training with
performance; compensating knowledge workers; building interpersonal relationships/managing
conflict; and going global. Quite in line with the saliency of these factors, Mahindra & Mahindra
has gone to the extent of hiring a Yale University-educated president of HR, who was earlier a CEO
for two companies in the Tata Group. Now he heads 150 HR managers at Mahindra & Mahindra.
He claims to be doing a lot of work that is strategic to the success of the company’s businesses:
talent management, creating synergy, creating a culture of integration, mapping, succession
planning and developing a global mind-set.” (Grossman, 2006).

V. HR BEST PRACTICE COMPANIES

Several companies in India, especially those in software and other services, have state-of-the-art HR
practices. Some like Intel Technologies India have adopted “building great place to work” itself as a
core value. Some companies in India have gone far ahead of others in giving importance to the
function of HR strategy. Many such companies have been able to make it to the best employer
companies. They include Indian IT and ITES companies as well as the MNCs operarting in India.
We may note some such practices as follows:

Employees at Sasken Communication Technologies in Bangalore take pride in the work culture
that the company has been able to create and the values it upholds; they are inspired by the
company’s vision of “unleashing India creativity.” Some companies democratize the value-
generation process and adopt those values that are on higher priority of the organizational members
in general; such democratization facilitates the actual practice of the values in the organization. For
example, at MindTree Consulting (India), each employee gave a vote on values the company stands
for, to arrive at these values as CLASS––caring, learning, achieving, sharing and social conscience
(Jaishankar, 2004: 52). Values reflect what people and/or organizations stand for. Boatright (1999)

7
has rightly argued that what people in general want is respect for the rights of others, a sense of
justice and fairness, the value of human dignity, and honesty in relationships.

Employees’ faith in the company gets enhanced if the employer demonstrates fairness and
promotes a sense of organizational justice. NDPL has introduced saarathi––a system of online
submission of employee grievance, which minimizes chances of procrastination by managers in
grievance redressal. FedEx has a still better “Guaranteed Fair Treatment Procedure.”

Sasken Communication is a situation of complete trust and equality. No doubt, lack of monitoring
leads to transparency and freedom from fear. Sasken believes in this. Thus, it has no attendance
system and no limit on sick leave that an employee can avail. It gives complete freedom to
employees to come and go, and also freedom to think and innovate. The rules are the same for all
categories of people. When on travel everyone stays in similar hotels; and the CEO as all others fly
economy class; the CEO sits in similar cubicles as all others (Hari, 2004: 54).

Removing hierarchical differences is difficult to practice in status-ridden and caste-ridden

societies like India. But the passion to excel, and thus retaining the talent along with its
idiosyncrasies in a chaotic competitive situation, drives companies to adopt it. Many best employer
companies are becoming open, friendly and no-hierarchy companies. Thus, financial rewards are
not the key reasons for employees to stick to a place. Companies are trying hard to create special
feeling of camaraderie among employees as an organizational value. Many companies are trying to
create family-like situation at the workplace. Some like Tata Steel, Hero-Honda, and Sapient
Corporation invite family members to visit the workplace to see the wonderful environment in
which their near ones are working, thus creating a link between home and workplace. When a
worker gets dissatisfied at the workplace for any reasons, the family controls those sentiments by
reminding him/her how great and caring the employer is. This is one of the strategies that have
helped Hero-Honda at Gurgaon to remain union-free. It helped Tata Steel to legitimize reduction of
employees from 78,000 a decade ago to 38,000 in 2007. Today, it is the cheapest steel-producing
company in the world, which has helped its credibility and in acquiring the British steel giant Corus.
.

VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS: FUTURE OF STRATEGIC HRM

There is no doubt that adoption of strategic approach to management of the human resource has
been becoming critical for organizations in the advanced world in the post-globalization era. The
values that are being passionately espoused include efficiency, productivity, autonomy,
empowerment and dignity. As the emerging economies march towards faster growth and realization
of their vision, greater, the need for their sensitivity to HRM issues will become imperative.

If we look into the general HR scenario in India, it would be noticed that the number of companies
which super-impose business strategy on people issues, and treat people like any other resource, is
so large that the practice of soft HR policies through empowerment and commitment model is just
a tip of the iceberg. There is a great scope for improvement in the practice of soft HRM
interventions by Indian companies, especially in view of the importance of inter-personal relations
in handling the Indian workforce. Of course, this prescription can not be made uncritically,
especially in view of the fact that a large number of Indian firms are sustaining themselves by
providing low-cost products and services. They employ casual and contract labour to survive. This

8
is done even in core operations. This feature of Indian companies is the single largest reason that
hinders the adoption of state-of-the-art HRM practices.

It is important to note that all soft HRM interventions do not involve cost. And even if some do,
the benefits derived in most cases can far exceed the costs involved. More and more companies
need to come out of the control mindsets. The case of Classic Stripes, a small company, is worth
noting in this regard. It employs 214 workers including contract workers in a manufacturing unit in
Mumbai. Majority of its employees are blue-collared. The company started with four employees 25
years ago in a 10 by 5 sq. feet space; it is shortly moving to a 44 acre campus in Vasai. The
founder’s main motto was “dignity at work.” The company believes in “valuing every individual,
giving people their due, freedom, respect, and opportunity backed by lots of training” The company
won the prestigious Safety and Environment 2003 award from SIGA given to only five companies
worldwide. Each employee spends 150 minutes every month on training which includes kaizen; the
company has a library with trade journals, magazines and books; most employees have been with
the company for the last 15-20 years; women make up a third of the workforce and it includes
handicapped people as per its proactive diversity policy; the company shares with the employees a
percentage of its annual profits.

To use the thesis of Hofstede (1991) Indian business configurations reflect moderate uncertainty
avoidance and high power distance. This tends to defy initiative and is likely to emphasize need
compliant employees. If HRM function grows fast it can help altering these cultural realities as
well. The practicing of progressive HRM practices by MNCs in their Indian locales has helped, and
is likely to foster a greater degree of transparency and creativity to be benchmarked by progressive
Indian organizations. For example, delayering has taken place in Indian organizations such as
ICICI. In many Indian organizations bosses are being addressed with first name. MNCs have
multiple options and India needs tremendous investment in capacity-building to attract them. They
will also contribute towards a faster dawn of the era of soft HRM as a way of organizational life that
will help expedite the realization of the goals of efficiency, productivity, trickle-down effect, and
economic prosperity.

REFERENCES:

Agarwala, T (2003), “Innovative human resource practices and organizational commitment: An

empirical investigation,” International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14: 175-
198.

Boatright, J. (1999), Ethics and the Conduct of Business, 3rd edition, Sydney: Prentice Hall.

Budhwar, P. (2001), “Human Resource Management in India,” in Budhwar, P. and Yaw A.

Debrah (Eds.) Human Resource Management in Developing Countries. London: Routledge,
75-90.

–––––(1999), “Indian Management Style and HRM,” in M. Tyab (ed.) International Business Text.
London : Pitman, 534-540.

9
Budhwar, P. and Bjorkman, I (2003), “A Corporate Perspective on the Management of Human
Resources in Foreign Firms Operating in India,” 2003 International HRM Conference. 4-6
June 2003, Limerick, Ireland.

Budhwar, P. and Singh, V. (2003), “HRM in Call Centres in India: An Exploratory Study,” 2003
International HRM Conference, 4-6 June 2003, Limerick, Ireland.

Budhwar, P. and Sparrow, P. (1997), “Evaluating Levels of Strategic Integration and Development
of Human Resource Management in India,” The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 8: 476-494

Budhwar, P. and Khatri, N. (2001), “Comparative Human Resource Management in Britain and
India: An Empirical Study,” International Journal of Human Resource Management, 13 (5),
800-826.

Debrah, Y. and Smith, I. (2002), “Globalization, Employment and the Workplace: Diverse
Impacts?” in Debrah, Y. and Smith, I. (eds.) Globalization, Employment and the Workplace.
London: Routledge, 1-23.

Gopalan, S. and Stahl, A. (1998), “Application of American Management Theories and Practices to
the Indian Business Environment: Understanding the Impact of National Culture,” American
Business Review, 16(2), 30-41.

Grossman, Robert (2006), “HR’s Rising Star in INDIA: The Cover Story,” HR Magazine, Society
for Human Resource Management (SHRM), September issue.

Hari, T. (2004), “Trust and Transparency,” Business World, 6 December.

Hofstede, G. (1993), “Cultural Constraints in Management Theories,” Academy of Management

Executive, 7 (1) 81-93.

––––(1991), Cultures’ Consequences: Software of the Mind. London: McGraw-Hill Book Company

Hofstede, G. (1980), Culture’s Consequences: Software of the Mind, Beverley Hill: Sage.

Jaishankar, Mitu (2004), “Leaders Set the Example,” Business World, 6 December.

Kanungo, R. N. and Mendonca, M. (1994), “Culture and Performance Improvement,”, Productivity,

35 (3), 447-453.

Pelle, S. (2007), Understanding Emerging Markets: Building Business BRIC by Brick. Sage: New
Delhi.

Ralston, D.A., Gustafson, D.J., Cheung, F.M., and Terpstra, R.H. (1993), “Differences in
Managerial Values: A Study of United States, Hong Kong, and PRC Managers, Journal of
International Business Studies, 24(2), 249-275.

10
 Sahay, S. and Walsham, G. (1997), “Social Structure and Managerial Agency in India.”
Organisation Studies, 18, 415-444.

Saini, Debi S. (2000), “Introduction” in Saini and Khan (eds.) Human Resource Management:
Perspectives for the New Era, New Delhi: Response Books (A Division of Sage).

Saini, Debi S. and Jyotsna Bhatnagar (2005), Management Case: “North Delhi Power Ltd: The
Dynamics of Change,” Vikalpa, Vol. No. 4.

Saini, Debi S. and P. Budhwar (2004), “HRM In India,” In Managing Human Resources in Asia-
Pacific. London: Routledge.

Sharma, I. J. (1984), “The Culture Context of Indian Managers,” Management and Labour Studies,
9 (2), 72-80.

Singh, S. (2003), “Strategic orientation and firm performance in India,” The International Journal
of Human Resource Management, 14: 530-543.

Sinha, J. B. P and Kanungo, R. (1997), “Context sensitivity and balancing in Indian organization
behavior,” International Journal of Psychology, 32, 93-105.

Storey, J. (1995), Human Resource Management: A Critical Text, London: Routledge.

Tayeb, M. (1987), “Contingency theory and culture: a study of matched English and the Indian
manufacturing firms,” Organization Studies, 8, 241-261.

Tripathi, R.C. (1990), ”Interplay of Values in the Functioning of Indian Organizations,”

International Journal of Psychology, 25, 715-734.

Author’s Profile:

Debi S. Saini is Professor & Chairperson--HRM Area at Management Development Institute

(MDI), Gurgaon. He has published 77 papers & management cases, 131 book reviews and 8 books
(edited or authored) including a book-size volume on “Social Security Law in India” which forms
part of the International Encyclopaedia of Laws published by Kluwer Law International, the
Netherlands. His areas of special interest for research and consultancy are Strategic HRM, New
Industrial Relations, Employment Law, and Diversity Management. Among others, he has done
consultancy assignments for the ILO and GTZ (Germany). Dr. Saini is the editor of Vision, the
journal of MDI, and has been on the editorial board of Industrial Relations Journal (Blackwell,
Oxford). He has been Vice-President—Asia and Africa of “RC-10: Research Committee on
“Organizational Democracy” of the International Sociological Association. He was awarded “The
Best Researcher Award of MDI for 2005” for excellence in research. Most recently, he has been
invited as a plenary on “Critical Issues in Managing HR in India” at the 30th Annual Conference of
the SHRM Global Forum organized by Society for Human Resource Management, USA held in
Los Angeles between 19-21 March, 2007.

11

View publication stats