Articles by N R Sheth

Managerial Transformation by Values: A Corporate Pilgrimage by S K Chakraborty; Sage Publications, New Delhi 1993; pp 215, Rs 195.
S K CHAKRABORTY is a distinguished management scholar, teacher and consultant. He is also a citizen on a clear-headed social mission. His mission is to establish the supremacy of ancient Indian psychology and philosophy as means for transformation of managerial behaviour and attitudes in order to resolve the rapidly growing pressure of personal and social conflicts afflicting the performance and peace of people responsible for the performance oftheir enterprises. The author's learning, wisdom and exposure to the realities of Indian corporate and executive performance for over two decades have deeply anguished him about the increasingly evil effects of consumerism, greed, corruption and rat-race for personal power and control on the mindsets of managers and consequently on their executive effectiveness. These are symptoms of a "degenerate consciousness" which needs urgent transformation. Chakraborty is well acquainted with the wide spectrum of philosophies, approaches, methods and techniques developed in the western society and countries like Japan to deal with the human problems of industrial civilisation. He is convinced that the rationalistic-liberalistic value system of the west would not provide a durable means for the transformation of managerial values in the Indian context. He is impressed by the recent history of Japanese management philosophy and practice which have combined western technology and indigenous values with positive effects on both corporate performance and managerial happiness. In this background, Chakraborty has developed a firm belief that the degenerate consciousness of the Indian manager can be transformed in the right direction only by promoting the acceptance of the Indian spiritual ethos. The mission built on this prognosis has resulted in half a dozen books aimed at integration of managerial effectiveness and Indian values.

N R Sheth Are the content and form of management education relevant to the needs of Indian enterprise and society? Has management education generated elitism among its products with an attendant inability to perform urgent roles and a tendency to expect quick rewards?

Social Base for Entrepreneurship N R Sheth The Ahmedabad Cotton Textile Industry: Genesis and Growth by Makrand Mehta. New Order Book Co, Ahmedabad, 1982; pp xiv + 207; price not mentioned.

N R Sheth South Indian Factory Workers: Their Life and Their World by Mark Holmstrom; Allied Publishers, New Delhi, 1978; pp xii + 158, Rs 25.
SOCIOLOGICAL studies of Indian industrial workers have varied from impressionistic generalisations to sophisticated intensive and extensive researches in various aspects of the subject. Scholars interested in urban- industrial India have dwelt at some length on issues .such as the social consequences of industrialisation and workers' commitment to industrial jobs and the industrial way of life in the context of thir perceived attachment to traditional institutions such as extended family, caste, religion and a value system believed to be oriented to the rural agricultural ethos of Indian society. For some time it was fashionable to argue that there was an inevitable incompatibility between modern technology and traditional Indian institutions and values. As empirical studies of industrial workers in urban centres grew, it was first realised and then shown by data that loyalty to traditional institutions did not seriously hamper workers' acceptance of industrial jobs and the value system implied in them. An academic debate on the so-called problem of commitment of Indian workers has been going on for over two decades. Commitment is usually measured by scholars in terms of the Concepts of work adjustment, job satisfaction, motivation, attitudes, etc, formulated in relation to industrial workers in more developed societies. It is generally assumed that modern technology and the logic of industrialism are the phenomena of the future making demands on tradition- bound workers. Workers themselves are usually regarded as passive agents, accepting, rejecting or partially accepting the norms of religion, caste, family, urban society, modern technology and such other institutions. A worker is rarely seen as an active part, ner in the social reality around him. living through unique situations from time to time, and operating on his social and industrial environment by choices of his own.