bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Knowledge Management: Generating Business Value Through Knowledge
Authors: Sumanjeet
Published: February 2012

Due to globalization of economy, rapid growth in information technology, increase in knowledge based work and competition pressure the concept of knowledge management has gained momentum in recent years. Knowledge management is a systematic process for creating, acquiring, synthesizing, learning, sharing and using knowledge and experience to achieve organizational goal. This knowledge can be inside the employees' minds or stored in paper form in filing cabinets and/or stored in electronic form. As a concept, knowledge management is very attractive and many business organizations would prefer to be associated with it. But knowledge management implementation is not easy. There are many barriers in knowledge management implementations such as organization culture, lack of understanding the power of knowledge management, fear of IT, immaturity of industry, etc. Above all knowledge management implementation requires sound strategy. For this it is important to make knowledge management a distributive system rather than a centralized system. It also requires a platform where the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge can take place.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance: Exploring the Relationship
Authors: Sandhu H. S. , Kapoor Shveta
Published: February 2012

Although there has been considerable research into the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance, yet no real consensus exists as various studies revealed conflicting results reporting positive, negative or inconclusive relationship between the two. Based on the dataset of 20 leading companies operating in India and covering a three-year period from 2000-01 to 2002-2003, this paper is an attempt to explore the association between corporate social responsibility and financial performance. The relationship is examined by using correlation and regression analysis which revealed no significant association between the variables under study.
Total Quality Management Through Total Quality Individuals: A Holistic Approach
Authors: Nachimuthu P
Published: February 2012

“Individual salvation can only bring Universal salvation”

— Anonymous

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach/philosophy that is becoming more popular since the early 1980's. It is mainly aimed at maximizing the productivity and minimizing the cost. Also it focuses on improving the value and ethics of the firm, for organizational excellence. Since ‘individual workers’ are the basic structural and functional unit of an organization, TQM is not only a process of quality control to produce quality products from natural and produced resources, but also to produce ‘quality humans’. So this paper focuses on the five levels of change and development, which is required for developing into a Total Quality Individual (TQI) viz. Change or development with regard to the body, speech, emotions, thoughts and self. Thus TQI=TQM.
Finding Cost of Capital when the Market Value of Debt is not Known
Authors: Mohanty Pitabas
Published: February 2012

Analysts usually estimate the cost of capital by using the market capitalization as a proxy for equity, and the book value of debt as a proxy for debt. This method is often justified by arguing that for healthy companies there is not much of a difference between the book and the market values of debt. Pre-tax cost of debt is however a function of both the overall interest rate in the economy and the credit worthiness of the company. Even if the company remains healthy, a change in the overall interest rate can change the pre-tax cost of debt of a company. One must therefore estimate the cost of capital by using the market value of debt even for the healthy companies.

In this paper we suggest a simple iterative approach that can be used to estimate both the true value of cost of capital and the market value of debt. This method does not require any free cash flow forecasting by the analyst.
An Examination of Transformational and Transactional Leadership: A Study of Dimensions and Outcomes in Indian Context
Authors: Srinivas E. S. , Kumar G. Ashok , Vikramaditya E.
Published: February 2012

This study examined the outcome of transformational and transactional leadership in the Indian context. Using data from a sample of 285 managers from a large private sector organization, the study examined: (i) the dimensionality of transformational and transactional leadership; (ii) the role of these leadership variables in explaining the select outcome variables in the Indian context. Transformational leadership and the five dimensions of it were positively related to extra effort of the follower, effectiveness of leader rated by follower, follower satisfaction with leader, organizational commitment of the follower, and negative relationship with turnover intention (intention to quit) of follower. The results of the study supported the hypotheses generated based on the review of the literature. The results of hierarchical regression analysis revealed that when the transformational leadership was added as predictor to the transactional leadership, significant proportions of additional variance were accounted for in three outcome variables. The study also examined the dimensionality of transformational and transactional leadership scales; the results suggest that the two-factor Active-Passive model may be more suitable. This study provides an empirical support to the transformational and transactional leadership model in the Indian context.
Strategic Perspective of Green Consumerism: Learning from Japanese Management
Authors: Dubey Parag
Published: February 2012

Japan has achieved economic wealth, however, this is seriously depleting the natural resources, and destroying environment. Turning a militarily defeated nation into one of the world's great industrial giants has always been a great mystery. No all embracing theory has as yet evolved from the mutual mediation of historical and theoretical studies of local Japanese business management practices. The Japanese style of management is based on ethics, honour and credibility. Comparing the culture of Japan in which vagueness, ambiguity, and tentative decisions were acceptable, and preferable to American culture that valued fast decisions. Japanese corporate product development strategies are the dynamic and continuous process of adaptation to change in the environment. The Japan government established the Basic Law for Establishing a Recycling-based society. One significant change that has occurred is that Japanese companies seem to have gained a clearer understanding. This clarification has changed the attitude of these companies toward recycling. The proper recycling of products is helping to contribute to a more positive brand image for companies. So far there is no comprehensive source based on Japanese management which could prove useful to heads of companies in a country like India. Corporations looking to reap the benefits associated with eco-innovation and green marketing should make a public commitment to developing more eco-innovative products and educate consumers about what they personally can do to help.
Study of Important Aspects Affecting Consumer Choice of Mobile Phone Service Providers
Authors: Chakraborty Shibashish , Chakraborty Dilip Kumar
Published: February 2012

It is important for mobile phone service providers to understand their customer needs which keeps on changing with time. This paper endeavors to make a study on demographic factors affecting brand choice of customers and identified important aspects of mobile phone service which affect choice of brands. This study will highlight pertinent aspects which customer considers while making a choice.
Determinants of Child Labour Participation: Review of Issues and Implications for Policy
Authors: Goswami Shreyas , Jain Vineet
Published: February 2012

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates the number of working children in the world in the age group of 5–14 years to be 250 million. In this article, we have discussed the various determinants of child labor in developing countries and its effects on a child's overall long-term development. Though, there are many non poverty factors contributing to child labor, but poverty has still been found to be the primary factor behind child labor. We have also proposed various policy measures for decision makers to tackle the problem of child labor effectively.
Exploring the Apparel Purchase Behavior of Urban Indian College-goers: A Qualitative Study
Authors: Goswami Paromita
Published: February 2012

The college-goers, as a market segment, are immensely significant in India in terms of both magnitude and spending capacity and one of the most important items purchased by young people is apparel. The apparel purchase behavior of the college-goers of Kolkata are explored in this paper in terms of types of apparel purchased, purchase frequency, store choice, and influence of shopping companions. Qualitative study with a purposive quota sampling design is used. Kolkata being a cosmopolitan city with residents of different states speaking different languages and belonging to different sub-cultures, the study helps explore the apparel shopping behavior of urban Indian college-goers in general.
Examining the Effect of Job Performance on Organizational Commitment
Authors: Kumar B. Pavan , Giri Vijai N.
Published: February 2012

The present paper analyses the relationship between job performance and organizational commitment of employees in the organization. Organizational climate has been used as a mediating variable. Data were collected from 380 employees from various organizations across India. It was observed that job performance has a significant effect on organizational commitment. It was further observed that organizational climate acts as a mediating variable between the relationship of job performance and organizational commitment. Organizational commitment and organizational climate differed significantly across the three levels of hierarchy. The findings implicate that job performance along with organizational climate play a vital role in organizations.
Leader Member Exchange Revisited: An Investigation of the Moderating and Mediating Effects of LMX in Two Samples — USA and India
Authors: Varma Arup , Pichler Shaun , Srinivas E. S. , Albarillo Marl
Published: February 2012

Numerous studies of supervisor-subordinate relationships (LMX) have confirmed the differential impact of the quality of relationship on subordinate ratings. In other words, subordinates that have high quality relationships with their supervisors receive higher rewards (e.g., ratings, guidance, support, etc.). However, most of these studies have assumed that high quality LMX relationships automatically lead to high performance ratings, without examining the impact of performance levels. In this two-nation quasi-experimental study, we test for the moderation and mediation effects of LMX quality. Further, given the recent emphasis on, and call for, cross-cultural studies, we extend the study of LMX to a cross-cultural context by comparing the workings of LMX in the U.S. and India. Our results show that the quality of relationship had a significant impact on performance ratings in India — while this did not hold true in the U.S. sample.
Management of Industrial Disputes in Orissa: Emerging Scenario
Authors: Sahoo Chandan Kumar , Pani Debabrata
Published: February 2012

The Industrial relations scenario of Orissa has been influenced by the liberalization of economy. Due to the traditional management system, too much dependence on the state ex-chequer and lack of competitive attitude in the state owned PSUs are either making a loss or being privatized or closed. The organizations, which have been privatized or are still making a profit, are carefully going for restructuring, downsizing, etc. for survival and growth in the competitive environment. The industrial relations scenario has been influenced by these factors. During the last decade strikes, lockouts, lay-offs, retrenchments, closures, etc. dominated the scenario. But there is a decreasing trend in the same in recent years. This is due to the acceptance of reality by managements, workers and trade unions. The role of the state is visible in setting the disputes through conciliation and adjudication proceedings. Conciliation seems to be faster to dispose the matters where as adjudication had become a time taking process. However in spite of financial difficulties the state has not failed in its duties to intervene and settle the disputes.
Factors in Inter-State Migration: A Study of Textile Workers in Punjab
Authors: Malhotra Naresh Kumar , Sidhu A. S.
Published: February 2012

This paper is an attempt to identify the push and pull factors which influence workers' inter-state migration, on the basis of perception of workers. A sample of 200 workers drawn from 19 textile units located in two districts of Punjab was interviewed. This study found that better job opportunities, higher wages and comparatively better living conditions in Punjab have emerged as the most important pull factors which motivate labour to migrate. Lack of development, unviable land holdings and poor economic conditions of family forced labour to migrate out of its native place. The study further found that economic factors have emerged more significant as compared to non-economic factors in the process of migration. The study recommends that in view of the slow absorption rate in the urban industrial sector, the labour migration should be regulated. Concrete plans and their effective implementation are necessary in order to minimize the differences between the economic opportunities in urban and rural sectors.
A Case Study on Lean Six Sigma Cultural Assessment at Timken India Limited, Jamshedpur
Authors: Chirayath Susan
Published: February 2012

The main purpose of the study was to revalidate and generate a progress report of the Timken India Limited, Jamshedpur, after having introduced and implemented Lean Six-sigma Culture for a year in the company and also suggest a few recommendations to improve the current score status as obtained.
Business School Research in India: Seeking the Why of Management
Authors: Mulla Zubin R
Published: February 2012

Business schools have of late been questioned about the value that they add to society through their research activities. Traditionally research in organizational sciences has been skewed in favor of empirical studies with too little focus on consolidation and theory building. Management education in India is booming and this is the time for young professors to choose their path. There are three options available (i) focus on teaching and consulting, (ii) conduct empirical studies, and (iii) focus on building relevant theory grounded in the Indian context. The choice will have critical implications to the future of management in our country.
Differences in Organizational Learning Processes: A Study of Two Organizations
Authors: Tripathi Nachiketa , Nongmaithem Sonia
Published: February 2012

The present paper makes an attempt to study the differences in the organizational learning processes across different organizations. Measures of organizational learning, job satisfaction, effectiveness and preparedness for change were administered on two different samples drawn from the banking sector and academic institutes (N=140). Measures of organizational learning and preparedness for change were developed by the authors. Organizational learning questionnaire was developed using earlier studies (Mehra & Dhawan, 2003). Factor analysis of organizational learning resulted in four factors, namely, essential processes of organizational learning, interaction, flexibility and innovativeness. Differences in organizational learning processes were analyzed using an ANOVA design (two types of samples vs. four factors of organizational learning, while the later was the repeated measure). Results indicated that there were significant main effects and interaction effect as well. These results are discussed in the light of previous research findings. Further, relationships amongst organizational learning, job satisfaction, effectiveness and preparedness for change have been analyzed.
The War for Talent: Strategies for Employee Retention in the BPO Industry
Authors: Shaikh Mohsin R.
Published: February 2012

India has emerged as the top destination for global offshore outsourcing. According to the latest NASSCOM McKinsey Survey IT & ITES would add 7% to India's GDP by 2010 along with the creation of 8.8 million new jobs, and the number of professionals employed in IT & ITES sector is estimated at 1,045,000 as of March 2005. However, among the most complex problem faced by the IT & ITES industry is labour attrition. According to analysts, employee attrition rate in this sector varys between 20% and 40%, while it is around 15 percent in top firms. If these are any indications, the outsourcing industry is likely to face a shortage of 262,000 professionals by 2010. There is virtually a war among the organisations for acquiring talent, which is scarce. In this context the current paper explores what organisations are doing to retain employees. It also explores out the reasons why employees leave the organisation and tries to evolve strategies for retention of scarce IT talent in the fiercely competitive labour market.
Employee Engagement — Application of IES Tool
Authors: Rajagopal N. , Abraham Sunu Mary
Published: February 2012

Today's ‘employee’ in organisations is treated more than an ‘employee’. The conventional cynicism of considering an employee as a mere ‘workforce for production’ has changed into a more ‘value based asset’. Employee engagement constitutes the core competence of a successful organization. It is suggested as a measurement tool of performance in many organisations.

The Institute of Employee Studies (IES, UK) suggests a diagnostic tool, which can be used to derive organisation-specific drivers from attitude survey data. The tool was developed on the basis of common drivers of engagement in all organisations though some variability is likely. A strong connection between ‘feeling valued and involved and engagement’ through organisation-specific drivers is established in this model. The study collects empirical evidence to support this model.

The survey was conducted among 108 respondents in the Kochi Refineries, Kerala, which is one of India's major regional oil refineries. This study highlights the application of the diagnostic tool propounded by IES to create ‘feeling value and involved’ which leads to employee engagement.
Performance of Indian Automobile Industry: Economic Value Added (EVA) Approach
Authors: Selvi A. Manor , Vijayakumar A.
Published: February 2012

Maximizing shareholders value is becoming the new corporate standard in India. The corporate, who gave the lowest preference to the shareholders' inquisitiveness, are now bestowing the utmost inclination to it. Shareholders' wealth is measured in terms of the returns they receive on their investment. The returns can either be in the form of dividends or in the form of capital appreciation or both. Capital appreciation in turn depends on the subsequent changes in the market value of the shares. This market value of shares is influenced by a number of factors, which can be company specific, industry specific and macro-economic in nature.

An important goal of financial management is to maximise the wealth of the organisation, highest capital employees' wealth and consequently enhance the value of the firm. Shareholder wealth is traditionally reflected by either standard accounting parameters (such as profits, earnings and cash flow from operations) or financial ratios (including earnings per share, return on capital employed, return on net worth, net profit margin, operating profit margin, etc). All these indicators failed to measure the true economic worm due to manipulative accounting techniques to state higher or lower earnings, depending on non meaningful decision on how to record revenues or expenses. Further, financial information is used by managers, shareholders and other interested parties to access their firm's current performance, and also by stakeholders to predict its future performance. The question that then arises is, whether these measures of corporate performance are linked to the expectation of the shareholders or not. To help corporate to generate value for shareholders, value-based management system has been developed.

Over the past several years, an alternative performance measure called Economic Value Added (EVA) has been gaining acceptance around the globe and has also been acknowledged by institutional firms as a credible performance measure. In order to overcome the limitations of accounting based measures of financial performance, Joel M Stern and G. Bennett Stewart & Co., introduced a modified concept of economic profit in 1990 in the name of Economic Value Added (EVA) as a measure of business performance. Stern Stewart has claimed that EVA, as a tool of financial management, was neither ‘just a phenomenon’ nor was it limited to ‘for profit’ organizations. Economic Value Added has been put to use for management performance evaluation, and is more than just a measure of performance, it is the framework for a complete financial management (for improving scarce capital allocation and valuation of a target company at the time of acquisition).
Issues and Concerns in the Implementation and Maintenance of HRIS
Authors: Krishnan Sandeep K. , Singh Manjari
Published: February 2012

This article looks at the issues and concerns faced by nine Indian organisations in implementing and managing Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS). The organisations are diverse in terms of size and sector that they belong. The critical success factors and weaknesses in various stages of implementing an HRIS are explored in this paper. The problems are rooted in mainly two factors. One is the fact that the HR department lacks knowledge about HRIS and hence is not able to clearly elucidate the requirements of the system. Poor need assessment is a continuation of this problem. Second is the lack of importance given to the HR department in the organisations.

The spectrum of cases covered shows the clear variation in terms of the success of implementation. In poorly managed implementations, the potential of HRIS has been under-utilised. Only a few modules have been implemented and at best HRIS's role is that of a centralised database. Very high dependence is placed on the vendors without having a clear idea about how to select vendors or a proper process or contract to ensure vendors' accountability. Another area of concern is that level of cooperation needed across various functions and divisions of the organisation for proper implementation of HRIS is also lacking. User satisfaction is low because there is minimal user involvement in the implementation project and the implemented package is not user-friendly.
Enhancing Employability Through Training and Assessment
Authors: Gupta Rakesh , Tomar Sarika
Published: February 2012

India's services-sector led growth has been receiving a lot of global attention. The growth is more skewed towards knowledge and skill intensive sectors and this has brought into focus the importance of skilled manpower. Fortunately, India has been blessed with the largest talent pool in the world in terms of size thanks to our higher education infrastructure. The quality of students passing out of IITs, IIM's, IIScs and many other top ranking institutions is globally recognized and this has been endorsed by the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) rankings. But recently concerns have been raised about the employability of this vast talent pool. Though the quality of students is excellent at the top tier institutions, but as we move down it declines sharply in terms of their employability. This has raised doubts about the suitability of the large talent pool, spread across a large number of institutions beyond the top tier; and questions have been raised about the actual size of the employable talent pool. This article focuses on the quality of the management graduates and how the use of employment enhancement initiatives, like assessment and training, can increase the size of employable talent pool by reaching out to inaccessible talent pool and raising their suitability through training.
Analysing the Association of Leadership Style, Face-to-Face Communication, and Organizational Effectiveness
Authors: Giri Vijai N. , Santra Tirumala
Published: February 2012

The present paper analyses the association of leadership styles, Face-to-Face communication (FtF) and organizational effectiveness. Data were collected from 324 employees from various organizations in India. It was found that leadership styles predicted significantly the organizational effectiveness. The transformational leadership and transactional leadership styles were found to be positively correlated to organizational effectiveness and lassaiz-faire leadership style was found to be negatively correlated with organizational effectiveness. Further, it was observed that transformational and transactional leadership styles were positively correlated with FtF communication. As observed, FtF did not act as mediating variable amongst the relationship of leadership styles and organizational effectiveness. The implication and limitation of the study have been discussed.
360 Degree Feedback Mechanism: A Tool for Managing Employee Performance
Authors: Sahoo Chandan Kumar , Sahu Gangadhar
Published: February 2012

In today's changing and volatile circumstances, business organizations are continually thinking and rethinking about best possible alternatives to improve performance, and satisfy the demands of all stakeholders. For an organization to develop human capital working within, it will have to adapt this technique, and for is to be successful, they would first of all need to know the basic philosophy of this technique. This is where 360-degree feedback mechanism is playing a vital role in organizations through its ability to provide a structured, in depth information about current performance and what will be required for an individual in the future to be competent enough and relevant strategic developmental plans to be formulated. Organisations have adopted 360 degree feedback mechanism which will increase individual self-awareness, survival and sustainability of the corporates in the twenty first century.
Perception of Product Attributes in Brand Switching Behaviour — An Explanation Through Multidimensional Scaling
Authors: Venkatesakumar Ramakrishnan , Ramkumar D. , Rajan P. Thillai
Published: February 2012

Brand loyalty and brand switching behaviour of the consumers are evergreen issues of research and strategic importance to the marketers and academic researchers. Due to the globalisation and privatisation, tremendous growth has been witnessed in the recent years and the market is flooded with MNC brands to Indian/private labels brands in all product categories, right from packaged atta/flour to mobile phones. The current research aims to address the significance of product attributes in brand switching behaviour through multi-dimensional scaling and results suggest that a set of product attributes trigger the intention to switch the current brand.
Changing Roles of Human Resources in the 21st Century
Authors: Venkatesh Bharti
Published: February 2012

The concept of modern management is primarily concerned with the planning and development of human resources. The man behind the machine has rightly become the focus of attention with a sense of responsibility to make the most of the skills, experience and initiative to its employees.

In the fast paced world of the 21stcentury, business as the management of business portfolios, leads to mergers, splits, redesigning, restructuring, finding synergies and achieving targeted values hinge on an effective executive. In such a climate, optimizing human and intellectual capital is the biggest challenge the organization faces.

The article focuses on the issues and concerns faced by the HR department of the organization nationally and globally, which is being triggered off by the changing scenario of the business environment. It also talks about how the organization is grappling with the concerns of hiring the best talent in order to sustain its hold in the competitive level of the organizational race.
Stress among the Women Faculty Members in Self Financing Colleges of Tamilnadu
Authors: Ganapathi R. , Premapriya M. S.
Published: February 2012

A study was undertaken to analyze the types of stress among the women faculty members in self financing colleges in and around Coimbatore. The survey indicated that among the various stresses viz., work stress, job related stress, health stress, common stress and personal stress, the stress emanating from work and job appeared to dominate the women faculty members. The data collected from 250 respondents were processed employing ANOVA and ‘t’ test to find out whether mere were significant differences among the faculty members based on age, family types, number of dependents, qualification, teaching experience, disciplines and reasons for taking up teaching as a profession. The analysis has revealed some interesting things, which are brought out in the study.
How Does Downsizing Affect Survivors? Insights from the Literature
Authors: Kulkarni Vilas V.
Published: February 2012

Liberalization has changed the way organizations are working. To be competitive, organizations have taken recourse to reduce the cost of production which is undertaken by the reduction in overhead costs. This has led to both positive and negative outcomes. The article takes the help of literature from all over to examine the effects of downsizing especially on the survivors and discusses the strategies for their successful handling. At the end it tries to develop a model mentioning the effect of downsizing on survivors and strategies to handle them.
Organizational Citizenship Behaviour as a Function of Organizational Commitment and Corporate Citizenship in Organizations
Authors: Srivastava Shomi
Published: February 2012

This article advocates a conceptual analysis to produce organizational citizenship behaviour to meet unprecedented contextual challenges due to highly competitive and volatile environment. It assumes that organizational excellence is the consequence of organizational citizenship behavior. The author has identified the corporate citizenship and organizational commitment as antecedent of organizational citizenship behaviour. Toward this end, a model is proposed to link antecedents and consequences of organizational citizenship behaviour.
Perceptual Factors in Quality of Work Life of Indian Employees
Authors: Rao P. Kameswara , Mohan A. Chandra
Published: February 2012

The present study examines perceptions of the quality of work life among a sample of Indian employees. Data are obtained from managerial executives through structured questionnaires and are used to illustrate their perceptions concerning QWL. Results from the factor analysis suggest four dimensions of QWL labeled, favorable work environment, personal growth and autonomy nature of job, and stimulating opportunities and co-workers. The results provide a useful benchmark measure of QWL in India. Overall, the findings support conceptualizations of factors involved in perceived QWL derived from different parts of the world and the implications of the research findings are discussed.
Stress in Organizational Roles Across Qualification Levels
Authors: Srivastav Avinash Kumar
Published: February 2012

Role stress was studied in a public sector industry across low, medium and high qualification levels. Role Erosion is the most prominent role stressor across qualification levels but role stress across qualification levels is nonuniform. Inter-Role Distance, Role Isolation and total role stress are stronger in medium qualification, compared with low qualification. Personal Inadequacy is stronger in low qualification, compared with high qualification. Role Stagnation is stronger in medium qualification, compared with high qualification. Self-Role Distance is stronger in medium qualification, compared with low and high qualification levels. Curvilinear relationship between Self-Role Distance and qualification level is hypothesized.
Learning ICT in Schools — DE Program in Orissa
Authors: Sarkar Subrat , Sundarakrishnan J.
Published: February 2012

Computer and information technology arising from it have created a revolution of sorts as far as classroom teaching is concerned. Use of the Internet and multimedia tools have engendered a newfound quest for knowledge both among the students as well as the teachers. Use of information communication technology (ICT) in the classroom teaching has given a cutting edge advantage to teachers who have understood and internalized the benefits of supplementing traditional teaching methods with computers, especially the Internet and curriculum softwares, rich in multimedia content. In some instances it has revolutionalized conceptual understanding, propelling teachers and students to explore new frontiers.

Orissa being one of the most backward states of India in terms of resources and availability of basic infrastructure, posed peculiar challenges as far as the implementation of the Digital Equalizer program is concerned, which started in November 2004. From extreme poverty, remote inaccessible areas, damaged school buildings ravaged by the devastating “Super Cyclone” to tackling traditional mindsets, we have faced it all in implementing the Digital Equalizer Program.

The article starts with a brief description of the ICT landscape in the state of Orissa with focuses on computer-aided learning before moving into an in depth analysis of the implementation challenges and the learning's gleaned from the pilot phase.

Training, Monitoring and Evaluation, Content and Sustainability issues on which the success of a large scale ICT program like the Digital Equalizer (DE) depends, have been subjected to an in depth analysis. The customizations made to the DE Program as necessitated by the geographic factors, historical traditions and the cultural landscape in the state of Orissa will serve as a rich source of learning for policymakers in the government, program managers, management practitioners, academicians, researchers and last but not the least, students of management.
Profiling Organisational Commitment
Authors: Luxmi  , Vashisth Tarun Kumar
Published: February 2012

The main objectives of this study were to compare Organisational Commitment for the employees in service and manufacturing public sector organisations, to see the association between subscales of organizational commitment and to compare these dimensions of organizational commitment vis-à-vis different psycho-demographic factors of the employees. The scope of the study was Public Sector Organisations belonging to Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. The sample comprised of 225 respondents drawn from eight public sector organisations, 2 each from Engineering, Textile, Banking and Insurance sectors, to represent the Manufacturing and Service Sector organizations adequately. Comparisons made on the basis of hierarchical levels and other psycho-demographic factors make the study comprehensive. The results revealed a very significant but weak positive correlation between three subscales of Organisational Commitment. Almost all other null hypotheses concerning level of Organisational Commitment vis-à-vis failed to be rejected unlike previous similar studies.
Work Conditions in Manufacturing Industries of West Bengal
Authors: Simlai Diptendu
Published: February 2012

Work conditions have impact upon labour productivity and hence upon labour cost. There has not been any in-depth research work on work conditions in the factories of West Bengal. Our study relates to the work conditions of factories of different manufacturing industries. By good work conditions we mean the standard work conditions as described in the Indian Factories Act of 1948 (amended subsequently). With the help of a survey we have tried to examine how far the surveyed factories have followed the provisions of that Act. Our survey covers manufacturing industries situated in and around the city of Kolkata.
A Product Oriented Analysis of Shoppers' Choice Towards Different Retail Formats
Authors: Devgan Deepak , Kaur Mandeep
Published: February 2012

India has emerged as the world's most attractive retail market. Many international retailers are showing keen interest to grab the maximum pie of this market. However, the choice of format for buying different varieties of products may not be same for Indian shoppers. Therefore, before entering such a market, there is a need to conduct a research for exploring the right shopping format for a particular product from the retailers' point of view. The present study is an attempt to bring out the preferred shopping formats for a wide variety of products. The analysis revealed that shoppers preferred to buy “convenience products” from small shops; whereas, “speciality products” from shopping malls and e-shopping failed to attract the attention of the shoppers. An interesting outcome of the study revealed a shift in the shoppers' interest from traditional small shops to well-equipped burgeoning shopping malls.
Measuring HRM-Horizontal Fit: Scale Construction and Validation Using Structural Equation Modelling
Authors: Azmi Feza Tabassum
Published: February 2012

It has been realized bv researchers and practitioners that piecemeal interventions in Human Resource Management (HRM) may not contribute positively to company performance. In order to be effective, the HR function needs be integrated both internally i.e. within its sub-functions as well as externally i.e. with other functional areas. This is also referred to as HRM-horizontal fit.

Despite the importance of HRM-horizontal fit, there are few studies that look beyond what the ‘fit’ actually comprises. There have been no significant efforts to develop a reliable and valid instrument to measure the various dimensions of this fit. Thus, a need was felt to develop and validate an instrument for measuring HRM-horizontal fit. On the basis of an extensive literature review, two constructs of HRM- horizontal fit were identified. The scales were empirically tested for unidimensionality, reliability and validity using Structural Equation Modelling capabilities of LISREL version 8.50.
Risk Perception of Individuals under Different Roles in Coimbatore District
Authors: Ganapathi R. , Vanitha S.
Published: February 2012

The human brain is a computer, built to process information about the environment and to judge which is most likely to be successful from a large number of possible courses of outcome. In a complex environment, decision making at high speed is going to be one of the necessary requirements of any animal if it is to survive and prosper. Some animals, of course, protect themselves from having to make too many momentous decisions by covering themselves with a thick armor so that the world can change around them while they plod on unheedingly. Man is the greatest risk taker of them all. Human beings even have the extraordinary capacity for enjoying danger. People like to take ride on roller coasters, to drive fast cars, to engage in highly competitive sports, and of course, they also like such intellectually risky practices as gambling. There is no person on earth who cannot take a risk and who does not enjoy it at least to some degree. Life presents us with risks every day: take too many and you are in trouble, take none and you will stagnate. Risk refers to the probability or outcomes which are measurable in a quantitative manner. Risk is a combination of the probability, or frequency, of occurrence of a defined hazard. Risk is defined as the ‘possible loss of something of value’. Risk is the probability of an event combined with the magnitude of losses and gains that it will entail. Risk is that which allows for a number of possible outcomes, not all of which are bad. In this complex world, each one of us is exposed to a lot of risky moments. It is the need of the hour to understand the risk involved in our surroundings and its influence on us. The vital question in this connection is “How much of a risk taker are we?” This study has the social objective of identifying the extent of risk as perceived by individuals having different roles in society.
Job Involvement: A Brief of Literature
Authors: Allam Zafrul , Habtemariam Rezene
Published: February 2012

Job involvement is an integral and growing concept in organizational behaviour. This paper surveys the literature on job involvement. The studies reviewed reveals that job satisfaction, stress, commitment, job authority, job enrichment, task identity, mental health, age, tenure, job anxiety, quality of life and burnout has been found significantly related with job involvement. It has also been observed that job involvement was higher among private sectors employees as compared to those in the public sectors.
Determinants of Financial Structure of Corporate Sector in India- Some Empirical Evidence
Authors: Vijayakumar A.
Published: February 2012

The number of changes have been taken place in the Indian financial scenario such as government policy with increasing emphasis on liberalization, increasing incentives for global investments, emergence of new means and instruments like GDR, Euro-Issues, FDI, Futures, Options, Swaps etc., have entered the Indian financial Market in to the new era. The change in the financial market certainly has got impact on the financing pattern of corporate sector in India. Over the past, many researchers have tried to establish the factors which influence a firm's financial structure. Some of them have presented affirmative evidence in respect of a particular factor or a group of factors as determinant of corporate financial structure, others have presented dissenting evidence in respect of the same factor or factors to be a clear determinant of financial structure. Hence in this study, an attempt has been made to study the corporate financial structure relationship with reference to size, profitability, operating leverage, external financing and Income gearing. The overall analysis leads to the conclusion that Industry class, size and profitability are the most significant factors which influence, to a great extent, the financial structure of Indian Automobile Industry.
A Study on Customer Profiling of Mobile Phone Service Providers in Emerging Markets — Case of Kolkata, India
Authors: Chakraborty Shibashish , Sengupta Kalyan
Published: February 2012

India is considered to be one of the fastest growing markets for mobile phones. The National target plan was to have a 250 million subscriber base by December 2007 (DOT Annual report 2006–2007). Primarily, which was a mode of fashion and status in the urban rich of the society, is fast changing its role as a convenient networking tool and penetrating in to all parts of the society including urban poor and even to rich rural class. Mobile phone service providers play a major role in satisfying needs of customers. It is becoming increasingly important for the companies to understand the changing customers' need, attitude and behaviour towards mobile phone services in order to compete efficiently which may lead to higher market share. Past researches focused extensively on measuring consumer perception of quality and determinants of service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1988, etc.). Cronin and Taylor (1992, 1994) have investigated the conceptualization and measurement of service quality and suggested relationships among service quality, consumer satisfaction and purchase intentions. It was Gronroos in 1990, who mentioned about importance of flexibility as one of the determinants of service quality, which may be considered as extremely valuable determinant in the face of future expectations from mobile phone service providers. The objective of the present study was to understand the nature and importance of generic requirements, functional quality, flexibility, and price which may generate satisfaction in the minds of customers of mobile phone service providers. A survey was conducted with a sample of 277 respondents from the city of Kolkata, where 19 items were selected to measure their importance and attitudes towards the current brand of service providers. Suitable multivariate techniques were applied to infer important determinants of customer satisfaction and possible segmentations.
Effect of Type A Pesonality on Stress-strain Relationship: A Study on Private Sector Managers
Authors: Srivastava Shalini
Published: February 2012

Stress has become an inevitable part of human life in recent times. It makes life more challenging and charming, however within a limit. When stress is beyond the coping ability of a person, it causes disturbances in his/her life. Stress has its roots in the demands of organizational and personal life. Any demand either of a physical or psychological nature, encountered in the course of living is known as stressor.

Stress in the work place is increasingly a critical problem for workers, employers and society. Researchers who study stress have demonstrated the direct and indirect costs of stress.(Matteson & Ivancevich, 1987). There are many variables which have been related to organizational stress. Ivancevich and Matteson (1980) proposed a model of organizational stress research that outlined the major antecedents of work stress. They noted the importance of individual differences as moderators of stress and detailed possible outcomes of stress at work.

The subject of stress at work has been thoroughly investigated in Public sector. Very little has been carried out in Private sector. Thus, it is probable that mangers and workers experience stress as much as their public sector counterparts. The present research study found that: Managers who experience greater occupational stress will also experience lower level of work satisfaction, higher levels of emotional exhaustion, feelings of depersonalization, feelings of personal accomplishment and anxiety and illness.

Type A personality was chosen as moderator variable which had two dimensions viz., Achievement Striving and Impatience-Irritability. But, only one dimension, Achievement Striving showed moderating effects. Impatience-Irritability failed to moderate stress and stress strain relationships. Overall, this study demonstrates that stress at work does exist for sample of Private sector managers and the antecedents of this stress are role related.
Effect of Consumer Demographic Attributes on Store Choice Behaviour in Food and Grocery Retailing - An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Prasad Ch. Jayasankara
Published: February 2012

The paradigm shift in consumerís socio-economic, demographic, geographic and psychographic dimensions has changed the face of Indian food and grocery retailing. The present paper endeavours to make a detailed study on the association and predictability of consumerís demographic dimensions towards supermarket store format choice behaviour in food and grocery retailing. The study is purely based on primary data collected from 1040 retail customers from forty different food and grocery supermarket stores through mall intercept technique using structured and non-disguised questionnaire in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad in Andhrapradesh. The descriptive statistical tools (percentiles mean standard deviation and cross tabulations) and inferential statistical tools (Chi-square, Correlations, Regressions, and ANOVA) were used to test the formulated hypotheses. It was found that customersí age, monthly household income, family size, distance travelled to store, gender, education and occupation have been the significant predictors of store choice behaviour. Various managerial and marketing implications are elaborately discussed in this paper.