Page 272 - DMGT548_GLOBAL_HRM

Unit 14: Indian HRM

With the retirement age being 55 to 58 years of age in most public sector organisations, Indian Notes
workplaces are dominated by youth. Increasing the retirement age in critical areas like
universities, schools, hospitals, research institutions and public service is a topic of considerable
current debate and agenda of political parties.
The divergent view, that each society has a unique set of national nuances, which guide particular
managerial beliefs and actions, is being challenged in Indian society. An emerging dominant
perspective is the influence of globalisation on technological advancements, business
management, education and communication infrastructures is leading to a converging effect on
managerial mindsets and business behaviours. And when India embraced liberalisation and
economic reform in the early 1990s, dramatic changes were set in motion in terms of corporate
mindsets and HRM practices as a result of global imperatives and accompanying changes in
societal priorities. Indeed, the onset of a burgeoning competitive service sector compelled a
demographic shift in worker educational status and heightened the demand for job relevant
skills as well as regional diversity. Expectedly, there has been a marked shift towards valuing
human resources (HR) in Indian organisations as they become increasingly strategy driven as
opposed to the culture of the status quo. Accordingly, competitive advantage in industries like
software services, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology (where India is seeking to assert global
dominance), the significance of HRs is being emphasised. These relativities were demonstrated
in a recent study of three global Indian companies with (235 managers) when evidence was
presented that positively linked the HRM practices with organisational performance (Khandekar
& Sharma 2005). In spite of this trend of convergence, a deep sense of locality exists creating
more robust ‘cross vergence’ in the conceptual as well as practical domain.
Figure 14.1: Drivers of Contemporary Indian HRM Trends

Source: http://rphrm.curtin.edu.au/2007/issue2/india.html
Figure 14.1 presents the key drivers for contemporary Indian HRM trends. In Figure 14.1, there
are four external spheres of intervention for HRM professionals and these spheres are integrated
in a complex array within organisational settings. The intellectual sphere, which emphasises the

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 267