Shaping Organizational Strategies

Volume 19, Number 4 Article by David Kimber December, 2007

Shaping Organizational Strategies: Future Perspectives, Concepts and Cases : By Gautam Raj Jain and Atul Tandan, 2006, Response Books, New Delhi, pp 236, Price: Rs 350. :

Jain and Tandan have a depth of teaching and business experience from their work as academics at the Mudra Institute of Communications in Ahmedabad (MICA). They are well aware of the problem of students understanding management theory when they do not have much practical experience. Consequently, this book uses case studies as its prime focus for learning, using organisational dynamics as a framework. It is clearly oriented towards assisting students who are undertaking an introductory study of management, most probably not as a major, in an undergraduate or graduate degree programme. The cases have been written by students of the 2004-05 batch in MICA’s postgraduate course in Communications Management. Thirty three cases were produced by the students, who visited organisations to experience and write up incidents which illustrate how modern organisations function. It is their work which makes up a significant proportion of the book.

Chapters 1 and 2 outline traditional and new paradigms of organisational dynamics, and explain how the subsequent chapters will use this framework as the basis for studying approaches to management. Chapter 3, on the organisation and its environment, gives a brief analysis of organisational approaches to environmental changes. It then outlines how the following nine cases cover issues relating to the ‘internal work environment’ and ‘external environmental changes’. Chapter 4 briefly overviews the concept of Corporate Governance, and presents two cases on the topic. Each of the next four chapters, covering personal and interpersonal dynamics at work, the challenges for future managers, mentoring and empowerment, and managing organisational crises, provides five to six pages overviewing theory, followed by a number of cases.

The cases are excellent analyses of issues which confront Indian businesses today. They are well written and provide a realistic and clear sense of the activities, attitudes, behaviours and approaches evident in Indian organisations. As such, the book clearly fulfils the authors’ objective to provide inexperienced students with a sense of ‘what goes on’ in organisations. Despite the restricted geographical coverage, the cases cover a wide variety of organisations – NGOs, cottage industries, cooperatives, small and medium enterprises, government entities and public sector undertakings, the Navy, BPOs and call centres, and multinationals. Their activities range from advertising and marketing, manufacturing, IT, air transport, financial services and retailing and distribution. They are clearly the strength of the book.

However, the emphasis on cases also highlights a weakness. The introductory segments to each chapter are not extensive, and give a very brief overview of the theory arenas being covered. The chapters are also strongly influenced by organisational dynamics as a framework of analysis. In some chapters, such as corporate governance, one would have liked the theory base to have been more fully considered, and the cases to be more specifically focused on the theory under review. It is difficult for students, without extensive academic or business experience, to pick up all the nuances of theory and practice relating to a wide variety of business arenas.

However, like all textbooks, the value of this one will emerge from how it is used in an educational setting. Its best feature is the use of Indian cases. Good education takes place when students are engaged and are thinking. This book is structured in a way that, if intelligently used, will enable this to occur.

An interesting side issue is how this book could be used by business researchers and practitioners to develop a deeper understanding of current Indian organisational practices. It could also assist expatriate managers to become more aware of organisational dynamics in India. As such, the book should have wide appeal, both as introductory cases and text, as well as a reference for those interested in understanding how organisations are being managed in India today.

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