Mct Manegerial Concept N Therories

REDISCOVERING INDIAN MANAGEMENT1

We would like to acknowledge the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore for institutional support during this research project. We would also like to thankfully recognize the students of the Management in Asia class, University of St. Gallen, participating in the India Study Trip in April 2003. Explicitly, we would like to acknowledge Bianca Braun, Reto Candrian, Martin Heusi, Carole Hofmann, Nicolas Markovic, Philippe Rose, Vincent Sennhauser and Nicole Ziegler for undertaking part of the interviews underlying this research and for supplying part of the within-case analyses as referred to in the methodology section of this paper. We also extend our deepest gratitude to the companies participating in this research project.

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Abstract: Rediscovering Indian Management In 1990-1991 the Indian economy took significant steps from a socialist to a market economy fundamentally changing the traditional face of the Indian business environment. Similarly, the economic liberalization triggered fundamental changes in management practices in India. Whereas traditional Indian management practices are well described in the literature, this research contribution is the first to throw light onto the emerging contemporary Indian management style. Based on six case studies of family-owned and multinational companies with a total of 36 interviews, we found that Indian managers tend to value relevant educational background and experience higher than caste belonging for employment decisions. Furthermore, Indian managers tend to display medium to low levels of nurturance for subordinates and tend to increasingly incentivize subordinates by non-monetary development opportunities. A participative management style tends to be appropriate in the contemporary Indian environment. Key Words: India, Management, Case Study

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INTRODUCTION During the years preceding the liberalization of the Indian economy, companies faced limited competition

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