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626 items in total found

Journal Articles | 2017

Human resource planning as a strategic function: Biases in forecasting judgement

Manjari Singh and Jatinder Kumar Jha

International Journal of Strategic Decision Sciences

This paper explores the strategic importance of human resource (HR) planning and the various techniques employed by organizations to attract talent and thus to gain a competitive edge. In this paper, the authors have tried to explore the various biases that come into play when supervisors forecast for human resources. Backed by research, the paper recommends the integration of line managers with HR managers and their participations in strategic planning to enable the HR managers to gain valuable insights for HR planning. The paper further suggests that though biases cannot be ruled out completely but they can be controlled by providing relevant training to the HR and line managers to forecast dynamics. Further, the judgement of the line managers could be complemented with other forecasting techniques to make the process more reliable.

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Journal Articles | 2017

Multilevel analysis of ambidexterity and tagging of specialised projects in project-based information technology firms

Srihari Suresh Sohani and Manjari Singh

International Journal of Operations & Production Management

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the expression of ambidexterity at the “between” projects level as well as the “within” project level in project-based information technology firms (PBITF). The research also provides a framework for the classification of specialised projects. This classification is essential to clarify the level of attention the project will receive with respect to the appropriation of resources and the requisite management bandwidth.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on a nine-month long field-based qualitative study and ensures a rigorous triangulation of the findings through an analysis of archival data and actual project artefacts.

Findings

The authors bring forth three critical implications for practice. First, strategizing ambidexterity at the level of “between” projects and “within” projects is heavily dependent on the interaction among distributed actors and partners. Second, routines and actions to deal with manpower constraints are completely different at these two levels. Lastly, the classification framework of specialised projects proposed here should enable firms to appropriately apportion resources to engagements that are strategic in nature.

Originality/value

The study extends the concept of ambidexterity to the “within” project level and finds it relevant at the lowest level in the project-based structure. Also, the framework for the classification of specialised projects that is provided will assist decision makers in PBIT firms to decide the organisational response to such projects.

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Journal Articles | 2017

Tactical decisions at Vastrapur car rental services

N. Ravichandran

Informs Transactions on Education

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Journal Articles | 2017

Operations research in India: The past, present and the future

N. Ravichandran

Annals of Management Studies

The purpose of this perspective article is to review the development of Operation Research (OR) as a discipline in the Indian context. Based on this review, we suggest a plan to re-energize the discipline.

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Journal Articles | 2017

The low politics of higher education: saffron branded neoliberalism and the assault on Indian universities

Navdeep Mathur

Critical Political Studies

Through an examination of recent events and controversies at Indian universities, this article reflects on the neoliberal creep taking over academia. The narrative connects the suicide note of a Dalit caste doctoral student, a student festival of political dissent, missives from the education minister, the financialization of higher education, and a market-oriented performance management system to discipline the professoriate. The latter element in the narrative is illustrated through my own teaching and research practice whose intellectual foundations draw on Professor Frank Fischer’s scholarship. This personal reflection draws on my experiences in seeking to inhabit the role of a facilitator of participatory learning, engaging directly with policy actors and their cultural modes of communication.

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Journal Articles | 2017

Assessing Administrative Reform in India

Kuldeep Mathur and Navdeep Mathur

Chinese Political Science Review/Springer

This paper outlines trends in efforts at administrative reform in India. It spans the shift of ideological paradigm of the Indian political economy. While the pre-1991 period was marked by a waning Statism, structural economic reforms marked a shift towards neo-liberal public management in the post 1991 period. This shift made the role of markets more salient as a framework for public services, in contrast to traditional perspectives of public administration. In the last two decades, even though some concern regarding administrative reform was expressed, substantive change took place outside the realm of the state machinery while blurring the borders between private and public institutions in delivering public services. The current political regime has added emphasis in the direction of using the bureaucracy to promote marketization and privatization in the allocation of public resources.

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Journal Articles | 2017

Do financially distressed firms misclassify core expenses?

Neerav Nagar and Kaustav Sen

Accounting Research Journal

Purpose

This paper aims to examine whether financially distressed firms manipulate core or operating income through the misclassification of operating expenses as income-decreasing special items.

Design/methodology/approach

This sample comprises firms in the USA with data from 1989 to 2010. The authors used the methodology given in McVay (2006) and multiple regressions.

Findings

Managers of financially distressed firms are more likely to inflate core or operating income as compared to the healthy firms to meet or beat earnings benchmarks. They do so by misclassifying core or operating expenses as income-decreasing special items. Specifically, core expenses are shifted to income-decreasing special items like goodwill impairments, settlement costs, restructuring costs and write downs.

Practical implications

The paper sheds light on an important firm characteristic, financial distress that intensifies classification shifting – an earnings management tool which auditors, investors and regulators find tough to detect. The findings have implications for investors, as they fail to comprehend such shifting (McVay, 2006); analysts, who issue forecasts based on street earnings; lenders, as distressed firms may be concealing their true performance; and regulators, as the misclassification of income statement items is a violation of accounting principles.

Originality/value

The authors extend the literature on accruals and real earnings management by the financially troubled firms and present first evidence that the managers of such firms also manipulate core or operating income through classification shifting.

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Journal Articles | 2017

Customer dependence and customer loyalty in traditional and modern format stores

Hari Govind Mishra, Piyush Kumar Sinha, and Surabhi Kaul

Journal of Indian Business Research

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between customer loyalty and customer dependence in the context of modern format and traditional format stores. In the process, the role of switching cost and trust in this relationship has been explored.

Design/methodology/approach

Building on the literature, the authors have postulated a conceptual model and formulated relevant hypotheses. Quantitative methodology is applied with previously established. The data were collected through convenient sampling. Methods like Factor analysis, cross-tab and regression analysis have been used.

Findings

The findings indicate a significant relationship between customer loyalty and customer dependence. Switching cost and trust have been found to have a moderating effect over the relationship in both modern and traditional environments.

Research limitations/implications

The limitation is the restriction to the Jammu context. The studies have brought about the difference in attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. Future research can be carried out on the role of dependence in explaining and strengthening this relationship.

Originality/value

The present study provides an insight into for the customer loyalty and customer dependence in the context of modern and traditional retail formats.

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Journal Articles | 2017

Identifying a typology of organizational transformations in India

Supriya Sharma and Pradyumana W. Khokle

International Journal of Organizational Analysis

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a comprehensive typology of organizational transformations that is based on both content and process characteristics of transformations, and it is relevant to organizations in India.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a review of literature, 17 different features/elements of organizational transformations were identified and organized into three dimensions – object, magnitude and speed of transformation – to develop a foundational framework of transformations. Through a comprehensive search of publicly available information, 52 cases of organizational transformations between 1991 and 2011 were identified. A case report for each transformation was then prepared and examined to identify elements of each transformation by referring to the foundational framework. Transformations were then classified into different types using cluster analysis, with elements as variables and cases as objects to be clustered.

Findings

Nine distinct types of transformations were found. They were named quickfixer, extender, healer, evolver, peripheral, recurrent, methodical, internal and cultivator based on each case’s characteristics as captured in case reports.

Originality/value

This study brings together transformation characteristics that have been largely considered distinct in literature to develop a comprehensive typology that depicts the complexity of organizational transformations. This is also one of the first studies to develop a typology of transformations that is based on and thus relevant to organizations in India.

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Journal Articles | 2017

How inclusive and effective are farm machinery rental services in India? Case Studies from Punjab

Sukhpal Singh

Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics

Increasing cost of cultivation in most parts of India has led to the realisation that mechanisation of farm operations is one of the ways to tackle it as mechanical solutions are more efficient as well as cost effective compared with human labour based activities in most situations. However, given small farm dominance of Indian agriculture, it is not possible and viable for small farmers to own farm machinery and equipment for its use. Therefore, what they need is access to it, and not ownership. This has led to a new phenomenon of custom rental services of farm machinery and equipment in many parts of India by a range of players like co-operatives, private entrepreneurs, organised sector players and even producer companies. In this context of changing landscape of farm mechanisation, the paper examines the small holder inclusiveness of agro machinery rental service channels and the nature and the level of their effectiveness in helping the farmers access better services. It compares the performance of co-operative, private organised and local informal service providers in Punjab and identifies major issues and challenges in delivery of such services across types of farmers and examines the possible policy and enabling provisions to promote cost and quality effective custom rentals of farm machinery in India.

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