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Half Title Page

Humanizing Businesses for a Better World of Work

Title Page

Humanizing Businesses for a Better World of Work

EDITED BY

RADHIKA SHRIVASTAVA

Fortune Institute of International Business, India

AND

KOKIL JAIN

Fortune Institute of International Business, India

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL.

First edition 2024

Editorial matter and selection © 2024 Radhika Shrivastava and Kokil Jain.

Individual chapters © 2024 The authors.

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ISBN: 978-1-83797-333-0 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83797-332-3 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83797-334-7 (Epub)

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Figures

Tables

About the Editors

Radhika Shrivastava, Faculty of OB/HR, Fortune Institute of International Business (FIIB), New Delhi. Ms Radhika Shrivastava is a Faculty of Practice with unique past experiences and achievements. Over the course of her professional career spanning two decades, she has emerged as an inspiring trainer, advisor, coach, and higher-ed leader in enabling organizations to build enduring success through her work in varied settings across industries, organizations, cultures, decision contexts, and countries. Her recent work with companies has been with business leaders in the area of change management during times of rapid growth, and especially around rallying teams around a shared purpose, creating a strong sense of collaboration, as well as encouraging stretch thinking with a deep focus on action. A graduate from Tufts University, MA with Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering, and MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, she started her career with the global consulting firm Deloitte Consulting in Philadelphia, USA. She later worked with the International Finance Corporation in Washington DC for over 9 years as an Investment Professional. She is currently a Doctoral Candidate at the Henley Business School, UK, as well as at the helm of a Delhi based B-School FIIB, New Delhi, a top 40 B-School in India.

Kokil Jain, Faculty of Marketing, Fortune Institute of International Business (FIIB), New Delhi. Dr Jain is a Dean of Research & Professor of Marketing at FIIB, New Delhi. With over 20 years of experience in teaching and research, she has worked with some of the top academic brands and has been instrumental in enhancing the educational outcomes of Post Graduate Management Programs she has led. Her current role involves strengthening the research ecosystem at FIIB and promoting a positive climate of knowledge creation and dissemination. She is a passionate researcher, and her areas of research include Consumer Psychology, Consumer Brand Relationships, Service Transgressions & Inclusion in Marketing. Her work has been published in top-ranked international journals, including Product and Brand Management, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Internet Research, to name a few. Additionally, she has ‘guest-edited special issues for the Journal of Business Research (ABDC-A Ranked), International Journal of Information Management (A*), Journal of Promotion Management (ABDC- B), Journal of Global Marketing (ABDC-B) & Technology Forecasting & Social Change (ABDC-A). She and her team also received the AIM-Sheth Foundation Research Grant 2020 in Marketing Strategy.

About the Contributors

Vernika Agarwal is Associate Professor at Apeejay School of Management, New Delhi. She has a PhD in Operational Research from Department of Operational Research, University of Delhi, Delhi. Her research interests include sustainable supply chain management, multi-criteria decision-making, third-party logistic provider, sustainable lean manufacturing, operations management, optimization, and reverse logistics.

Rachna Agrawal is Associate Professor of Finance at J.C. Bose University of Science and Technology, YMCA, Faridabad, India. Her research interests include finance, accounts, and HR.

Kshamta Chauhan is Professor of International Business and Economics, and Dean-Academics at Fortune Institute of International Business (FIIB), New Delhi. She has a PhD in Economics from CCU, Meerut. Her research interests include non-performing assets, banking sector dynamics, sustainable development, skill development, employability, and the burgeoning green economy.

Shikha Choudhary is a PhD Scholar at the Department of Management, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani). Her areas of interest include organizational psychology, leadership, performance management, and employee emotions.

Riya Gupta is a PhD Scholar at J.C. Bose University of Science and Technology, YMCA, Faridabad, India.

Elahe Hosseini is presently in the Faculty of Economics, Management & Accounting, Yazd University, Iran. She has PhD in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran. Her research interests are employee voice, organization behaviour, human resource management, and social and entrepreneurship activities to develop entrepreneurship in developing countries.

Akanksha Jain is presently working at Leadership Boulevard Pvt. Ltd, a unicorn corporate startup in the field of education. She is Co-Founder and Director of ‘Bidoshala’, a startup based on experiential learning pedagogy.

Kanupriya is Assistant Professor of Economics and Trade Policy Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. She has a PhD from IIFT, New Delhi. Her interest lies in the areas of gender, trade, employment, and marketing.

Fehmina Khalique, Professor, Llyod Business School, Greater Noida. She has a PhD in Human Resource Management. Her research interests are human resource management, business communication, and cross-cultural management.

Yin Xia Loh is Lecturer at Department of Accountancy, Faculty of Accountancy and Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia. Her research interests include consumer behaviour, mobile payment, and online shopping.

Mei Peng Low is currently an Associate Professor of Faculty of Accountancy and Administration, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. Her research interests focus on organizational behaviour, micro-level CSR, ethics and social responsibility, and human resource management.

Mohammad Faraz Naim is presently an Assistant Professor, at Department of Management, BITS Pilani, Pilani, India. He has a PhD in Human Resource Management from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India. His research interests include Gen Y / Millennials, talent management, knowledge management, high-performance work systems, social media in HR, and employer branding.

Meera Peethambaran is a PhD Scholar at the Department of Management, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani). She holds M.Phil in General Management from the Institute of Management in Kerala (IMK), University of Kerala. Her areas of interest include positive psychology, organizational psychology, leadership, and employee emotions.

Mehdi Sabokro is presently in the Faculty of Economics, Management & Accounting, Yazd University, Iran. His research areas are organization behaviour and human resource management.

Rishabh Sachan is currently working as an Associate (T&E) at The Boston Consulting Group. He have a bachelor’s degree in management from Amity International Business School, Amity University, Noida. His expertise lies at the crossroads of business management and societal impact. His ongoing research showcases a deep dedication to green finance, technology-driven workforce dynamics, innovation, change management, and economic sustainability.

Aidin Salamzadeh is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Iran. His interests are startups, new venture creation, and entrepreneurship. Aidin serves as an Associate Editor for the Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (Nature.com); Journal of Enterprising Communities; Revista de Gestão; Innovation Management Review (Emerald), Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education, and The Bottom Line (Emerald). He is a Member of the European SPES Forum (Belgium), the Asian Academy of Management (Malaysia), Ondokuz Mayis University (Turkey), and the Institute of Economic Sciences (Serbia). He co-founded the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Lab (London).

Jayendira P. Sankar is at present Programme Head – International Business, College of Administrative and Financial Sciences, University of Technology Bahrain. He has a PhD from the University of Madras, India. His research interests include development economics, human resource management, and marketing. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8435-2123.

Ajeeta Srivastava is currently Associate Professor at Llyod Group of Institutions. She has PhD in Development Studies from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She is closely associated with organizations like Steel Authority of India, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd., Consortium of Women Entrepreneurs in India, etc.

Parul Wadhwa is Senior Manager Cognizant Consulting – Global Growth Market and has worked with the CXO level for multiple Fortune 500 companies spanning across geographies.

Shilpa Wadhwa is Associate Professor at I Business Institute-Greater Noida. She has a PhD from Sharda University and a Masters from the Delhi School of Economics. She is a Certified Trainer from The Indian Society of Training Development and Behavior Assessment certification from Indraprastha University. Her research interests include HR analytics and research.

Foreword

Radhika Shrivastava and Kokil Jain

Acknowledging the dynamics of technological business transformation, which now include a diverse set of intelligent social actors who are beyond biological human beings (Gladden, 2018), the ambition of the book is to bring forth and drive academic and practitioner discussions and debates around the importance of humanizing business within the context of this evolved landscape. By putting forward a human-centric approach to reimagine and reinvent future organizational structures, workplaces, and the workforce, the book provides distinctive perspectives on the main theme, Humanizing Businesses for a Better World of Work.

Academic debates on the topic have recognized the inadvertent need for businesses to respond and adapt to the evolving world of work by adjusting to more humanized thinking (Bowie, 2022; Guest et al., 2022; Lazarova et al., 2023; Mhatre & Mehta, 2023; Rotatori et al., 2021). The businesses need to be redefined by human norms, taking care of and allowing employees to be human (Dion et al., 2022). There is a well-grounded argument that businesses are integral parts of society and thus have a moral responsibility to build workplaces that promote employee dignity, work-life balance, and personal growth. Humanistic values can serve as a valuable resource in solving complex business challenges.

One of the key innovations necessary is the shift towards more flat, decentralized, and networked organizations (Mourtzis et al., 2022). These structures allow for greater autonomy and empowerment of employees, leading to increased engagement, motivation, and creativity. Furthermore, businesses need to recognize the value of diversity and inclusivity in the workplace and create structures that promote these values. This can include implementing flexible working arrangements, creating employee resource groups, and developing mentorship programs.

Organizations must redesign work models and environments to create meaningful experiences for employees, including gig workers and freelancers, by offering flexible working arrangements, remote options, and collaborative workspaces (Babapour Chafi et al., 2022).

Finally, organizations should cultivate their brand’s personality and values by engaging with customers through co-creation and feedback and involving them in their mission and values to build stronger customer relationships and drive growth.

The scholarly debate on humanizing businesses implicates multidimensional perspectives involving ethical, strategic, and pragmatic deliberations. As we progress, this discourse will become stronger, asserting the role of businesses in redefining a more humane, inclusive, and sustainable world.

This book reflects the ongoing trajectory on the topic and features nine new studies on new-age management challenges, work–family balance, gender-based skewness in entrepreneurship, participative practices for engaging employees, ambidextrous leadership, upskilling & reskilling, the conceptualization of employee voice, human-centred organizational design and employee-centred CSR. The studies make meaningful contributions to the progression of scholarly and practice thinking in the area.

The selected chapters provide an important strategic perspective on how organizations can transform their structures and practices to accommodate a more humanized, people-first workplace in the face of the fundamental transitions happening in the post-pandemic world.

The book will be of great value to management scholars working on the ‘human’ aspect of business across different disciplines. The book can also be a teaching resource across graduate, post-graduate, and doctoral programs. It can bring interesting perspectives in courses on ethics, human resource, organizational culture & behaviour, and others.

For practitioners, the book will provide pertinent insights and perspectives into topics important for business decisions.

A global call for chapters invited scholars researching at the forefront of the theme to submit their work on the following broad sub-themes – Remote work and virtual teams, Employee engagement and well-being, Sustainable practices, Diversity, equity, and inclusion, Human-centred design, Employee autonomy, and empowerment & Human-heartedness. After multiple rounds of rigorous review, nine articles were accepted to feature in the book. The following section briefly outlines a summary of the research articles curated in this book and how they contribute to advancing the chosen theme are included below.

In their paper titled, Outlook on Upskilling and Reskilling Capacities for Industry 5.0, authors Sachan, Chauhan, and Agarwal (2023) are motivated to explore the dynamics that accelerate the gap between corporate skill demand and academic education in the face of the dynamic human–machine interaction-focused production model termed industry 5.0. By analyzing training and development approaches through the survey of HR Directors and T&D specialists in 14 sectors, and employing the non-linear best-worst method technique for analysis, the research provides valuable insights to address employability challenges in Industry 5.0. The authors contribute by advocating for a more human-centred, dynamic, and adaptive education and training system that underlines the necessity of early career clarity, literacy, and a focus on domain-specific skills.

The next chapter in the book is an opinion article by Kanupriya (2023) which is an attempt at bridging the divide between contemporary literature on the new age management challenges and India’s journey to Target 2047 that marks the 100^th year of the country’s independence. Titled, Target 2047 and New-Age Management Challenges: An Indian Perspective, the article employs a simplistic review of literature-cum-personal analysis-based approach, to critically comment on the interaction between the challenges of a rapidly evolving workplace and the pre-existing socio-economic roadblocks in the country, to tell India’s development story. It contributes by advocating for concerted action for employee welfare, adoption of the latest digital technologies, improving inter-and intra-team communication, upgrading the skills of employees, promoting innovation, and employment of women in decent jobs with robust wage and social security structures.

The third chapter in the book, Relation Between Working Over Office Hours and Lengthy Commutes on the Work–Family Balance: The Moderating Role of Perceived Organizational Support, is unique in its adoption of extrinsic variables in work–family border theory to measure the work–family balance of IT-BPM employees. In exploring work–family balance, which is aligned with employee engagement, well-being, and human heartedness, the study authored by Sankar (2023), is an inferential statistics cross-sectional study utilizing data from 437 full-time employees of IT-BPM companies in five metropolitan cities in India. The implications from the study enhance the work-family balance’s theoretical and practical effects, by filling knowledge gaps and adding to the literature on the importance of work–family border theory, and providing a competitive benchmark for IT-BPM managers, administrators, and governing bodies of employee well-being.

The Pink Billion Dollar Club: Women Entrepreneurs, Public Policy and the Rise of Unicorns in India, authored by Srivastava and Jain (2023), examines the gender-based skew of women-led unicorns in India, and especially the impact of public policy on start-ups and women entrepreneurship in India. The study is of interest to policy-makers, researchers, and academicians who wish to study the gender patterns of the best-performing companies in the country. Using secondary data, the authors have hypothesized and tested the challenges associated with the success of women-led entrepreneurial ventures and conclude with suggestions for improving the policy framework in India.

Participation Practices and Engagement: Inducing Results in Service Sector of India, by Gupta and Agrawal (2023), connects two themes in the extant literature – ‘Employee engagement and well-being’ and ‘Employee autonomy and empowerment’ to explore the types of participative practices for engaging employees in service sector organizations in India. Using exploratory factor analysis on primary and secondary data, the authors have analyzed practices related to employee participation which includes delegation, empowerment, and autonomy as a tool that leads to mental peace, satisfaction and ultimately retention of the workforce in the organization. Their findings contribute to service sector employers devising effective employee engagement strategies.

Employee Voice Behaviour: Envisaging the Role of Ambidextrous Leadership and Employee Thriving, by Choudhary, Naim, and Peethambaran (2023), is a conceptual study that examines the relationship of ambidextrous leadership with employee voice behaviour, considering the intervening role of employee thriving. It contributes to theory by expanding the literature on leadership style, particularly ambidextrous leadership, employee thriving and employee voice behaviour. The proposed model in the study, that delves into unexplored territory of ambidextrous leadership acting as a catalyst for enhancing employee voice via the lens of employee thriving, is ripe for a future empirical study.

Beyond Dollars and Cents: Unveiling the Positive Influence of Employee-Centred CSR for a Better Workplace, authored by Low and Loh (2023), focuses on employee-centred CSR (ECCSR) which concerns the psychological and physiological well-being of the employees. The empirical evidence that generated through the study holds promise for theory, practice, and policy setting. Future researchers can extend the framework proposed to explore additional determinants that mediate or moderate the relationship between ECCSR and employees’ well-being. For organizations, the study contributes strategies to implement ECCSR and reap its multifold benefits. For policymakers, the study proposes good practices of ECCSR for both the organization and national well-being.

Explorative Study on Understanding the Human-Centred Design to Nurture the Employee Experience, by Wadhwa, Wadhwa, and Khalique (2023), aims to develop a nuanced understanding of the outlook of corporate professionals towards the scope of AI with humans to create human-centred design (HCD) in order to nurture the employee experience (EX). By spotlighting HCD as a problem-solving methodology, the mixed methods study finds that companies can attract and retain top talent, increase employee engagement and productivity, and gain a competitive advantage by integrating robotics and EX design into their HCD efforts. The study thus advocates for striking a balance between automation and human interaction to positively impact employee experience.

The last paper in this collection by Hosseini, Sabokro, and Salamzadeh (2023) titled Conceptualizing Employee Voice Within Organizations: A Systematic Literature Review Based on Five Decades’ Studies, is a maiden attempt to conduct an employee voice systematic literature review based on the definition of key factors and the complex relations in an employee voice process. A unique contribution of the study is to present a coherent conceptualization of employees’ voices, which was previously a multi-dimensional, emerging field that has been the subject of definitional debates in the literature. Through the study the authors have progressed the discourse on employee voice from conceptualization to its implementation, thus making a sound contribution.