Cases in Organizational Behaviour: Perspectives from the New-Gen Workplace

Mathew J. Manimala (MBA, Cochin; MBSc., Manchester; and Fellow IIMA) has had an illustrious academic career spanning over three decades. His last position was as the Director of Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME), Bangalore. Prior to joining XIME in July 2015, he was Professor of Organization Behaviour and Chairperson of OB-HRM area at IIMB, where he has also served as the Jamuna Raghavan Chair Professor of Entrepreneurship and as the Chairperson of N. S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL). His earlier academic positions were at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI)―he was a Senior Faculty and Chairperson of the HRM area―and Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). He is a recipient of the Heizer Award of the Academy of Management for Outstanding Research in the field of new enterprise development as well as of research fellowships from the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and the Shastri Indo- Canadian Institute (SICI). He has carried out several research projects with the support of national and international agencies, such as the National Petroleum Management Programme (NPMP), the National Foundation for Corporate Governance (NFCG), the Conference Board of Canada, the European Commission, International Finance Corporation and Fondazione Cariplo (Italy), and was the leader of the India team (for two years) of the multi-country research project, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). He has published over 50 research papers, mostly in refereed international journals, and about 10 books (through reputed international publishers) in the areas of entrepreneurship and organizational behaviour. He is a member of the editorial board of a few journals and the Editor of South Asian Journal of Management (SAJM).

V. Vijaya is the Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli since 2013. She is a Clinical Psychologist trained in organizational psychology, psychometry and research methods. She had completed MPhil in clinical psychology from the University of Madras and completed her doctoral programme in HRM from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2000. She has been teaching psychology, organizational behaviour and HRM, including courses on organization theory and practice, organizational behaviour, organization development and change, learning and development, performance management and HR analytics in regular management programmes as well as executive management education programmes, for more than a decade and half. She began her teaching career with T. A. Pai Management Institute.

As a researcher, she has worked on sponsored projects of DSIR as well as ICSSR. She has published empirical and conceptual articles and has presented in various national and international conferences and forums as well. She has also authored some book chapters. She is a UGC Fellow, has qualified for the ICSSR Young Social Scientist Research Award and conducted research on psychological contract in the IT sector. Her research interests include the social psychology of teams and organizations, how knowledge develops through networks and relationships and the psychological contract. Her present interests include personality and Indian psychology, self and identity, and psychological contract and relationship building.

Her core competence is HR analytics―to study various human and organizational contexts scientifically with a quantitative and qualitative emphasis and apply behavioural science knowledge to help improve organizational effectiveness. As a psychologist trained in counselling, she can assess team-level dynamics and synchronization issues in various contexts and in designing and conducting organizational diagnostic surveys. She has directed and conducted management development programmes for the corporate on behavioural training and HR analytics. She was involved with the TEQIP II Management Capacity Enhancement Programme initiated by MHRD, Government of India, and facilitated by World Bank as co-programme director as well as faculty resource and in case writing.

She has been the Temasek Foundation–National University of Singapore Senior Fellow in the programme on leadership in university management in September 2014. She is on the board of studies of a few centres of management and universities and provides guidance in academic curriculum development. Dr Vijaya is a consultant accredited by Belbin Team Roles, and is trained in principles of value engineering by the Indian Value Engineers Society. She is also a certified associate value specialist, awarded by the Society of American Value Engineers International. She is a member of National Academy of Psychology and a life member of NHRD Bangalore chapter.

Ajit Chakravarti is Chairman and Founder Director of Mindware Management Services Pvt. Ltd. He is a BTech from IITK (1972) and holds a postgraduate qualification (1974) in business management from IIM Calcutta. He has held several senior management positions in HCL (corporate personnel manager, 1974– 1980), Hawkins Cooker Ltd. (factory personnel manager, 1980–1983) and Asian Paints (head of corporate HR function, 1984–1987). He has also had a five-year stint, from 1987 to 1993, as an independent management consultant and behavioural trainer based at Bombay, with a client list comprising of a number of blue-chip companies. In 1994, he was appointed as the CEO and Executive Vice President of the software entity (called Mindware) of Pertech Computers Ltd (PCL), which clocked the fastest growth in the software industry during that period, becoming the second largest software company after TCS in Japan. He was one of the pioneers in opening up the gate for Indian software companies in Japan. He served as the President and CEO of Ashok Leyland Information Technology Ltd, later rechristened as HTMT, from 1994 to 2002. Thereafter, he worked as the Vice President Global HR in K. K. Birla Group and was a member of the management committee (MMC), overseeing the group company’s corporate HR from 2002 to 2005.

He was the past chairman of the Karnataka chapter of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) for the year 2001–2002; Senior Vice President, South India Council of IACC for the year 2002–2003; and member of the National Executive Committee for the period 2010–2012. Since 2006, he has been rendering training, consulting and advisory help to companies and individual entrepreneurs. His areas of expertise cover business leadership, enhancement of individual effectiveness through self-exploration, building effective teams and strategic people management. 

He was Adjunct Professor for three years (2006–2009) in T. A. Pai Management Institute, offering courses in business leadership, career planning and management, HRM in the postgraduate programme in management. He was the Convenor of the Tapmi Centre for Collaborative Learning―a platform for engagement with the industry to facilitate collaborative learning. He was also an Adjunct Faculty at Presidency College, Bangalore, from 2011 to 2013.

Further, Chakravarti is engaged as a mentor to the founder CEOs of two start-up companies. He is also the sole investor of Mindware Management Services Pvt Ltd, a business rating company, and a sole distributor of a software app for vehicles for the city of Bangalore. He is a joint trustee of Cinderella Charitable Trust, a registered trust engaged in the upliftment of the girl child. Chakravarti enjoys travelling and building lasting relationships, and he is a quintessential HR person.