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The labor regulatory framework in India provides a conducive environment for social dialogue and collective participation in the organizational decision-making process (Venkata Ratnam, 2009). Using data from a survey of workplace union representatives in the federal state of Maharashtra, India, this paper examines union experiences of social dialogue and collective participation in public services, private manufacturing, and private services sector. Findings indicate that collective worker participation and voice is at best modest in the public services but weak in the private manufacturing and private services. There is evidence of growing employer hostility to unions and employer refusal to engage in a meaningful social dialogue with unions. These findings are discussed within the political economy framework of employment relations in India examining the role of the state and judiciary in employment relations and, the links between political parties and trade unions in India.

This paper examines the employment relations (ERs) scenario in Indian organisations. The investigation is based on a questionnaire survey of 137 Indian firms in the manufacturing sector. The analysis of existing literature highlights the role of three key actors (management, unions, and the state) in the management of ERs in Indian organisations. It also shows the significant impact of the competitive pressures created by the liberalisation of the Indian economy in the changing nature of ERs in Indian firms. The study has key implications both for academicians and for practitioners.

This paper on women in labour unions in India highlights the occupational segregation suffered by women in union structures. The authors explore and document the extent of female participation in trade unions in India. They suggest that less than 8 per cent of the 380 million workforce in India are unionized and women account for a very small fraction of trade union membership. They provide a number of reasons for the low female membership and participation in unions. In the occupations where women are organized, the incidence of union leadership among women varies considerably. On the positive side, the authors note that India has been a pioneer in organizing women in the informal sector such as workers’ cooperatives, self help groups such as Working Women’s Forum and Self Employed Women’s Association etc. In fact, they find that these unions are creating social unionism, thereby rewriting the meaning of trade unionism. The focus is on broad objectives of empowerment, development and fighting for their rights rather than the business unionism in North America (that is, focus on the bread and butter issues alone). The initiatives dictated by the Indian Constitution such as reservations or quotas for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes may have to be applied to labour unions and the private sector employers in the case of women in India. Policy makers and managers can learn a great deal from the theories discussed above.

Focuses on affirmative action programmes in India for people belonging to the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes in the sphere of employment. The constitutional safeguards and the measures initiated to give effect to them are briefly reviewed. Examines the progress achieved in realizing the goals in terms of the fulfilment of the quotas (i.e. reservation targets) and discusses the problems in implementing the affirmative programmes. The extremely complex Indian experience sheds light on various unique measures initiated to give effect to public policy concerning affirmative action programmes. It affords many lessons for other countries wishing to pursue similar objectives.

This paper is developed from the second author's ongoing Ph.D. research, which focuses on the managerial thinking (personnel specialists) about strategic management of human resources from a cross‐cultural viewpoint between India and Britain. The Indian Personnel Specialists are under a severe pressure to bring about large scale structural changes in their organisations to cope with the challenges thrown by the recent liberalised economic policies. The role of Human Resource (HR) function has become more important than ever in such conditions. An attempt is therefore made to analyse the HR function in India in the changing economic environment. The influence of a number of national and contingent variables on the HR function is therefore studied to place it against the worldwide patterns of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices.

Analyses the magnitude and complexity of the challenge of diversity in managing people in the Indian workplace. Considers the challenges for human resource management in the 1990s, and highlights the major issues and opportunities in coping with these challenges. Aims to provide direction for future empirical studies.

The purpose of this paper is to assess cognitive, affective, and behavioral reactions of employees to merger and acquisition (M&A) situations.

The paper reports responses of 225 managers of four banks that have gone through mergers (two merger cases), recently in India. Data are collected on a structured questionnaire containing standard scales of leader‐member exchange (LMX), leader communication and employees' reactions to M&As. The psychometric properties of the measures are established before testing the hypotheses.

Results show that affect mediates the relationship between cognitive and behavioral reactions to M&A. Leader communication fully mediates the relationship of the contribution dimension of LMX with cognitive reactions.

The results have implications for using LMX and communication with the leader in M&A situations. Though, single source data may be a limitation but primary data from real‐life M&A situation is strength of the paper.

The study offers insight into the affective, cognitive and behavioral reactions of employees to merger and acquisition situations.

This paper examines and discusses the developments in the field of career management, bringing in the international perspective. In particular, the paper explores career management practices in 108 Indian organizations. A factor analysis procedure suggested five groups of practices: formal planning, formal active management, developmental, career stages and assessment. These are found to be associated with certain organizational and cultural characteristics. The research has both theoretical and practical implications.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between employee perceptions of diversity (i.e. significance of diversity and diversity management, and value of diversity practices employed) and perceived organizational performance. It also attempts to examine whether the perceptions of diversity vary among employees from different diversity backgrounds (i.e. across gender and categories) in Indian IT industry.

Primary data based on 402 respondents were analysed using statistical tools like factor analysis, correlations, analysis of variance, means, grand means, and regression.

Results indicated that employees irrespective of their diversity backgrounds positively acknowledged diversity and diversity management. However, limited but significant differences were observed among employee perceptions regarding valuing the diversity practices employed based on their diversity backgrounds. Further, employees’ perception of promotion of gender diversity was found to be positively related to perceived organizational performance.

This paper relied on self-report surveys for data collection. Future studies should collect data using multiple methods to avoid common-method bias. As the sample was drawn from India, specifically from IT industry, the conclusions may not be generalized to other industries. Future studies may be conducted across industries covering different cultural settings.

Implications are first, that, in addition to investing in initiatives for promoting diversity, especially gender diversity, organizations need to ensure positive perceptibility of these initiatives by employees. Second, to foster acceptance and effectiveness of gender/diversity initiatives in organizations, managers need to ensure men and majority group employees are part of these initiatives. Third, IT industry needs to reassess their hiring strategies and should design diversity programmes with goals in mind, if not quotas, to hire and retain diverse employees to explore their potential contribution.

Inclusion of employees of Indian IT industry of different categories will definitely add value to the existing knowledge on diversity, management theory, and practice.