CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEWshodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/97242/4... · 2020-06-23 · “A Study of the Efficacy of OCTAPACE Culture on IT based Services” By: Soniya

“A Study of the Efficacy of OCTAPACE Culture on IT based Services” By: Soniya Shah60

CHAPTER II.LITERATURE REVIEW

HRD Climate

Organizational Culture

OCTAPACE Culture

An Overview on Cultural Dimensions

Significance of the Study

Summary

“The selection of available documents, bothpublished and unpublished, on the topic,which contain information, ideas, data andevidence written from a particular standpointto fulfill certain aims or express certain viewson the nature of the topic and how it is to beinvestigated, and the effective evaluation ofthese documents in relation to the researchbeing proposed”. (Hart, 1998 / 2006)


CHAPTER – 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Literature reviews are performed to advance our collective understanding of what has

been done before, the strengths and weaknesses of existing studies, and what they might

mean. As a researcher, we cannot perform significant research without first

understanding the literature in the field (Boote and Beile, 2005).

Chris Hart presents one definition in his book “Doing a literature review” (Hart, 1998 /

2006), according to which a literature review is “The selection of available documents,

both published and unpublished, on the topic, which contain information, ideas, data

and evidence written from a particular standpoint to fulfill certain aims or express

certain views on the nature of the topic and how it is to be investigated, and the

effective evaluation of these documents in relation to the research being proposed”.

Hart also stresses that the purposes of a literature review are to demonstrate skills in

library searching, to show command of the subject area and understanding of the

problem, and to justify the research topic, design and methodology.

Furthermore, Hart reflects on these purposes for the common specification of academic

work and especially the specifications of a doctoral thesis, saying that a literature review

demonstrates specialization in scholarship and a high level of scholarship, enables the

making of a new contribution to an area of knowledge, and shows in-depth understanding

of the topic area and work related to the research.

2.1 HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT CLIMATEDeepa Katiyal, Nikky Ahuja, Suresh Patidar (2012), conducted a study titled “A

Study of Human Resource Development Climate in MP Board Schools of Indore” This

study considers the Human Resource Development Climate (HRDC) with reference to

MP Board Schools of Indore. Being a service industry, it is highly dependent on the

competency of the employees. Therefore it is relevant to study the impact of HRD

climate on the performance of the teachers.


Most of the researchers agree that a congenial HRDC is extremely important for

achievement of business goals. Education organizations are currently going through the

turbulent storm of change and uncertainty occasioned by fast paced technology, intense

competition, globalization, changing government regulations, changing demographics

and students and parents' expectations and demands, etc. In order to keep pace with the

prevailing state of fluxions, schools must be proactive, adaptive, creative, innovative and

responsive. The capabilities of the schools are totally dependent on the performance of

the teachers, which is a factor of Human Resource Development.

Competitive advantage "can be achieved by recruiting, and maintaining a well-trained

faculty whose knowledge, skills and abilities serve as a source of innovation. Conducive

Human Resource Development Climate plays a major role in enhancing the knowledge,

skills, abilities and other attributes needed by employees to respond to current job

demands and prepare for future challenges. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to ensure

that the right environment exists within which employees can develop their full potential.

Hence, creating and maintaining a supportive climate, where every employee could

realize and utilize their full potential is indispensable.

This study has described the importance of HRDC in schools, the impact of it on

overall performance, teamwork and communication system of the school. The sample

size was 100 teachers from different schools of Indore. Finally it has been concluded that

good HRDC can improve the overall performance of the teachers but, the present status

of the HRDC is average in MP Board Schools. The Principals are the motivational factors

in the school system that can encourage the teachers to perform the best, which will

improve not only the status of the students but also the school. In the survey most of the

schools were lacking in the coordination between the principal and the teaching staff.

Team work and cordial interaction among teachers encourage a good atmosphere in the

schools. So it can be concluded that, there should be human resource counselors to solve

the problems of the teachers. The government should make it compulsory to have HRD


cells in each and every school just like corporate companies. The schools have to pay

attention towards their manpower that is responsible for making good citizens of India.

Human Resource Development Climate contributes to the organizations well being and

self-renewing capabilities, resulting in increasing the enabling capabilities of individuals,

team and the entire organization.

Dr. Parvez Abdulla, Gaurav Sehgal and Asif Khan. (2012), conducted a study titled

“A Pragmatic Exploration of HRD Climate Practices in State and Central Universities”.

This study was carried out in the prestigious State and Central Universities of North India

to analyze the prevailing HRD climate to which the employees were exposed to.

The study attempts to identify the perception of employees towards the existing setup of

the HRD facilitators (OCTAPACE Culture) and mechanisms operational in these

universities. The sample was based on 300 employees which included teaching and non-

teaching officers from two State and two Central Universities of North India. Further

based on the responses of the employees of these universities the present study comes out

with a set of policies and procedures in form of suggestions to improve the HRD climate

in these Universities. Further in the study it was observed that the HRD climate in these

universities differed significantly.

This study also explains that HRD climate in the Universities in particular that of the

State Universities is relatively depressing. The overall HRD climate is seen to be existing

at an average level in these universities (M=3.07, SD=0.77) HRD Climate in Central

Universities (Mean value 3.16; SD of 0.68) is better as compared to State Universities

(Mean value is 2.93 and S.D of 0.85) (z-value= 2.52 at P=0.01). The HRD climate as

explained has three embedded dimensions - the general climate, the OCTAPACE culture,

and the HRD mechanisms. These components of HRD are seen to differ significantly.

Thus the perception of the employees towards these embedded dimensions of HRD

climate is just averagely poised though on few of its factors the perception of employees

is below average with Central Universities scoring high. The study concluded that the


satisfaction level of employees towards existing HRD and its components in State

Universities is not satisfactory.

Dr. Nishith Dubey, Mukesh Kumar Parashar (2011), Conducted a research titled “A

Study of HRD Climate in Service Industry: A Critical Review”. In this Research a critical

review of various researches has been done by researchers to find out the prevailing HRD

climate in various service sector organizations. In this review their prime focus is to

understand the nature of HRD Climate prevailing in service sector industries such as

Hospitals, Tourism, Bank and Air Lines etc., which contribute to major business domain

of service industry.

The findings of the research reveal that there are significant evidences which claim that

HRD climate is better in service industries than manufacturing industries. The HRD

climate consists of three variables: General Climate, HRD Mechanism and OCTAPACE

Culture and all three have to be taken with due care to generate competent employees

ensuring optimization of Human Resources. There is a direct relationship between HRD

climate and job satisfaction and job satisfaction has direct relationship with

organizational performance.

Proper HRD Climate requires keen interest of top management and they should ensure

that employees take training seriously and transfer it to practice. They should also ensure

high team spirit and Organizational belongingness. Some researchers have shown that

perception of employees differ on the basis of age and therefore policies and strategies

for improving HRD climate should be designed to take care of the parameters.

Benjamin Akinyemi (2011), conduct a study on “An Assessment of Human Resource

Development Climate in Rwanda Private Sector Organizations”. This study assesses the

nature of developmental environment in two leading Rwanda based telecommunication

and insurance companies. It also attempts to understand the differences between the

Telecommunication industry and the Insurance industry with respect to their prevailing

Developmental Climate along the three dimensions of HRDC. Primary data was collected


from 87 respondents through a structured, self-administered 38-item Human Resource

Development Climate (HRDC) questionnaire developed by Rao and Abraham (1986).

The questionnaire measured the General Climate, HRD Mechanisms and OCTAPAC

(Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Autonomy, Pro action, Authenticity and Collaboration)

Culture within the two private Organizations. According to the findings, the prevailing

HRDC within both Organizations was congenial. However, results showed that the

developmental climate in the telecommunications organization was more favorable than

that of the insurance company.

Dr. S.Saraswathi (2010), conducted a study and the outcome of the study stated that

success of an organization was determined by the skills and motivation of the employees.

Competent employees are the greatest assets of any organization. Given the opportunities

and by providing the right type of climate in an organization, individuals can be helped to

give full contribution to their potentials, to achieve the goals of the organization, and

thereby ensuring optimization of human resources. For this purpose a congenial HRD

climate is extremely important. Thus an optimal level of HRD climate is essential for

facilitating HRD.

The study was aimed at assessing the extent of Development climate prevailing in

manufacturing and software organizations in India and also their comparative analysis.

For the purpose of the study, primary data was collected from 100 employees of various

software and manufacturing organizations through a structured questionnaire. The study

revealed that the three variables: General Climate, HRD mechanism, and OCTAPACE

Culture were better in Software organizations as compared to Manufacturing

Organizations. The findings indicated significant difference in the development climate

prevailing in software and manufacturing organizations.

Prof. Karunesh Saxena and Prof. Pankaj Tiwari (2009), conducted a study on “HRD

Climate in Selected Public Sector Banks: An Empirical Study”, which was an attempt to

find out the type of HRD Climate that prevailed in Public Sector Banks in Ahmadabad.


The researchers also tried to find out the differences in the perception of employees

regarding HRD Climate on the basis of age, gender, designation, qualification etc.

The researchers collected the data from the employees of selected public sector banks

using structured HRD Climate questionnaire. The data was analyzed using several

statistical tools such as mean, standard deviation, percentiles, Z test, etc. The results

showed that the HRD climate in public sector banks was average and the perception of

employees regarding the HRD climate does not differ significantly on the basis of gender,

qualification and designation but it differs significantly on the basis of age.

The research concluded by offering useful suggestions to the management involved in the

operations of the banks. They concluded that HRD climate plays a very important role in

the success of any organization, because directly or indirectly it affects the performance

of the employees. If the HRD climate is good, than the employees will contribute their

maximum for the achievement of the organizational objectives.

The results of the present study showed that the HRD climate in the public sector banks

was average and there is lot of scope for improvement in the HRD climate. The results

also show that there is no difference in the perception of the employees on the basis of

gender, qualification, designation but the perception of the employees differs on the basis

of age. The management can improve the HRD climate by making changes in HR

policies and practices.

Saxena and Tiwari (2009) did an empirical study of HRDC in selected public sector

banks. Their study showed that the HRDC in the public sector banks was average. They

also found no difference in the perception of the employees on the basis of gender,

qualification, designation but the perception of the employees differed on the basis of age

change. A survey of HRDC in Nigerian commercial banks (Akinyemi and Iornem, 2009)

revealed a congenial HRDC. In another study of HRDC with a focus on Commercial

Banks (Rainayee, 2002) found that the overall level of OCTAPAC values in the banks

was perceived to be moderate.


R. N. Anantharaman, Alexander Chacko (2008) conducted a study titled

“Organizational Climate: A Predictor of Organizational Effectiveness”. The present

study investigated the relationship between the perception of Organizational Climate and

certain factors of Organizational Effectiveness (OE). The relevant factors of effectiveness

were identified using a deductive and an inductive approach.

The Litwin and Stringer improved climate questionnaire was used to measure perceptions

of the organizational climate dimensions of structure, responsibility, reward, risk,

warmth, support, standards, conflict, and identity. The sample was selected to test the

relationship between organizational climate and organizational effectiveness consisted of

148 managers across 49 industrial organizations in India.

Factor analysis of the 47 indicators of OE showed 12 factors to account for 72.5 per cent

of the measured variance. Forty indicators were found to load high on these factors. The

factor loading of the various indicators and the variance was explained by the 12 factors.

The results showed the dimensions of organizational climate to be predictive of some of

the factors of organizational effectiveness.

The results here indicated the two climate dimensions of identity and rewards to be the

most significant predictors of employee participation. This result showed that employees

in organizations did expect some form of returns from their participation in the decision-

making process. Based on the results of the regression models, organizational climate

may be used to predict the effectiveness of organizations.

Khagendra, Purshottam and Srijana (2008), conducted a study on HRD Climate in

Buddha Air, which is connecting all important cities of Nepal like Kathmandu,

Bhadrapur, Bhairahawa, Bharatpur, Biratnagar, Dhangadhi, Janakpur, Nepalganj, Simara

and Pokhara. Their objective behind the study was to understand the general HRD

climate, HRD mechanism of the organization, and to see the OCTAPACE culture of the

organization. Their opinion about the overall HRD climate of Buddha Air was


encouraging since there was a keen interest of top management in HRD and there was a

high team spirit and employees took training seriously. Also training transfer was in

practice and organizational belonging was very high.

Despite of such positive base for HRD to take up in a highly professional manner, HRD

Mechanism needs improvisation in a systematic way. Buddha Air was also required to

focus on upper staff for motivation, since OCTAPACE perceived by this level was

comparatively low. Various HRD system were needed to be introduced such as training

plan for regular staff career development, incentive schemes, training effectiveness

evaluation, fair promotional system, so that HRD climate of Buddha Air will be more

supportive on the middle level and top level staff.

Pillai Prakash R. (2008), in his article titled “Influence of HRD Climate on the Learning

Orientation of Bank Employees” has attempted to analyze the influence of the HRD

climate existing in banks on the learning orientation of the employees. The overall

analysis indicated that the level of learning orientation of the employees working in the

banks was highly influenced by the learning and development climate fostered by their

organizations.

2.2 ORGANIZATIONAL CULTUREAn organization is a small society with its own particular culture that affects the

behaviour of the members. This inherent value system, known as the organizational

culture, can be designed for a certain purpose or it may have arisen unconsciously. The

visible signs of an organizational culture include organizational design, dress codes,

graphic layouts, or status symbols.

The invisible side of organizational culture consists of values and beliefs to which the

members of an organization conform, often unconscious of the impacts of this

commitment. This invisible part of culture gives a form to the visible (or audible)

manifestations of organizational culture. The organizational culture of companies is often


called business culture. Some of the different studies were conducted to approach the

impact of differences in business cultures between customer and supplier.

Mu.Subrahmanian, P.Renganathan, (2013), conducted a study on “Employee’s

Perspective towards organization culture in Automobile Industries in Chennai”. The main

aim of this study was to analyze the employee’s perspective towards existing

organization culture and practices in automobile industry.

The research design used in this study was descriptive in nature. 206 employees

comprising from five major departments were selected from Human Resource, Finance,

Sales, Operations, and Outsourcing. The sampling procedure adopted in this study was

disproportionate stratified random sampling. A well-structured questionnaire comprising

of both open ended and closed ended questions was used based on OCTAPACE culture

designed by Udai Pareek.

Analysis and interpretations were drawn from the collected data. Statistical tools and

software such as Statistical Package for Social Sciences were used to analyze the research

data like correlation analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, item analysis, chi square

analysis, to name a few.

The findings of the study were - 57% of the respondents stated that almost always for free

interaction took place among employees. 46% of the respondents stated almost always

for confidentiality of information maintained and shared. From the correlation analysis, it

was inferred that there was a positive correlation (r = 0.849) between encouraging

employees to take a fresh look at how things were done by facing and not shying from

problems. From the factor analysis, 24 variables were extracted to four factors and

substantially loaded as follows: Factor 1: Warmth and Support, Factor 2: Proactive and

Innovative, Factor 3: Openness and Trust and Factor 4: Authenticity and Teamwork.


Dr. Hanuman Prasad, Ms. Vasrsha Maheshwari (2012), conducted a study “A Study of

Organization Culture as a Critical success factor in Banking Sector”. This study concluded

that “Culture matters if the organizations begin to fail, this implies that elements of the

culture have become dysfunctional and must change. Failure to understand culture can

have disastrous consequences for an organization.” (Edgar H. Schein, The Corporate

Culture Survival Guide, 1999, p. 3).

Culture sets the boundaries and supports an organization’s ability to function. The

literature reviewed along with the previous studies suggest that organizational culture is

an important variable that influences organizational performance. Organizational culture

is the most critical factor determining the organizational effectiveness and success. It

infuses the positive energy in employees to work and the energy will permeate the

organization and create a new momentum for success and contributes for an

organization’s capacity, effectiveness, and longevity. In this competitive arena, it is

crucial for Indian banks to enrich their human capital by way of providing the promising

culture to work and leverage organizational culture to retain their competitiveness in the

present scenario of global pressure.

Kari K. Lilja (Jan. 2012), completed Ph.D on “Differences in Organizational Culture –

A Challenge for IT Projects”, from Tampere University of Technology. In this research

five different studies were conducted to study the impact of differences in business

cultures between customer and supplier on the success of an IT project. Literature

review, case study, complementary study to the case study, Delphi-based study for

experienced experts, and an open survey for grass root users was carried out.

The results of each study were consistent with each other and proved that different

organizational cultures must be taken into account when setting, planning and managing

an IT project. The impacts of differences can be both positive and negative. Special

attention should be paid to those differences and organizational characteristics that have

been experienced as having mostly negative effects.


The success of the IT projects where the respondents were involved was evaluated

through six factors. The worst average success was evaluated to be in “staying on

schedule” and “improving job satisfaction.” The best success was achieved in the factors

regarding “supporting the business” and “achieving operational goals.” Factors regarding

“improving work efficiency” and “reaching economic targets” remained on an average

level.

However, the average success experienced was 2.7, which was less than satisfactory.

Those who were involved with projects randomly had experienced worse success than

those who were involved regularly. Differences in size, sector (public vs. private), and

ownership also seemed to have an impact on success.

Abdul Alim Khan and Dr. D.T.Manwani (2012), conducted a study on “Impact of

Organization Culture on Innovativeness”. According to this study - Innovativeness is to

regenerate or change an existing object/ thought. It is a successive creation of better or

more effective products or product lines, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that

could be welcomed by markets, governments, and society, evolving and meeting up the

demand of community.

Cultural environment is one of the most significant factors, and is of utmost importance

for organizations to be more innovative. This study understands the effects that, “cultural

dimensions have on innovativeness”. Innovativeness is essence of life and a significant

topic related to each and every discipline inclusive of Science and Technology, Artistry

and skills, dynamism of economies, field of design, business and entrepreneurial

activities.

In today’s era, innovativeness is the root factor to achieve comfort and convenience. It

leads to greater efficiency and effectiveness, and a responsible measure towards safety

and maintenance. Economist Joseph Schumpeter, said, industries must incessantly

revolutionize the economic structure from within, that is “innovate” with better or more

effective processes and products, as per the “cultural” demands. He asserted that


“innovative destruction is the essential fact about capitalism”. Innovativeness is a master

key for success in today’s global economy.

Thus, entrepreneurs continuously look for better ways to satisfy and generate their

consumer base with improved quality and durability generating through innovative ideas,

stemming out of “cultural demand” on basis of which advanced technologies and

organizational strategies could be made. This study also concluded that Innovativeness is

a process continuously shaped and stimulated (or constrained) by human, social, cultural

and institutional factors.

The study proposes a number of concrete measures to implement five actions: Raise

awareness on culture as an important resource of innovativeness, mainstream culture-

based creativity in policies to foster innovativeness, re-direct existing financial resources

or create new programme to stimulate the cultured innovativeness, brand organizations as

the place to create innovate, inquiry and adapt the regulatory and institutional

frameworks to support innovative and cultural collaboration.

It is proposed to establish an Innovative Index (II) aiming to assess the creative

environment and to enable the development of a creative ecology among the

organizations, through art and culture as: “Culture lies on the fringe of the

organizations as a subsidiary competence while it is at the heart”.

Muna Kalyani (2011), researched on “Innovative Culture: An Intervention Strategy for

Sustainable Growth in Changing Scenario”, To-day’s era is very hyper competitive, a key

feature of the new economy in the changing business scenario. The pace of change is

increasing at an exponential rate. Continuous change and maintenance of high standards

of quality products, services and processes have become prerequisites for the

organization’s success in to-day’s competitive world.

Organizations can rarely stand still for long. In highly competitive environment, where

competition is global and innovation is continuous, change has become a core


competency of organizations. Change refers to making things different. Innovation is a

more specialized kind of change. All innovations involve change, but not all changes

necessarily involve new ideas or lead to significant improvement or radical

breakthroughs. Competitive climate requires organizations to institutionalize the process

of innovation –to plant the seeds of innovations can utterly transform a scenario, involves

the unfreezing-change-refreezing process. Innovation is not a thing that can be purchased

or installed like a computer system. Rather it is a culture that must be adopted and

nurtured which extracts values from old and new assests, and rejuvenates and

revolutionizes industry, society and business.

Innovation is an act of changing the established way of doing things, the ability to turn

knowledge into value and link emerging technologies with emerging markets and is about

bringing creative new ideas to life. The process involves the ways in which norms and

values are set and practiced, holds innovative driven culture.

This innovative culture can give competitive advantage; provided it is deeply rooted in

the functional aspects of the organizations’ culture, where the productive potential of

people’s knowledge and actions are guided and governed by the spirit and principles of

OCTAPACE and innovative cultures. These cultures get into hyper drive mode to keep

growth engine humming. The article examines this context and argues that organizations

can use innovative culture as a strategic intervention for managing change for survival

and growth.

Anu Singh Lather, Janos Puskas, Ajay Kumar Singh, Nisha Gupta (2010),

Conducted a study on “Organizational Culture: A study of selected Organizations in the

manufacturing sector in the NCR”, The main objective of the study was to compare the

Organizational culture of the selected companies in the manufacturing sector and to

identify and measure the perceived Organizational culture and its various dimensions. 70

responses to a 4 point scale questionnaire based on the OCTAPACE profile developed by

Udai Pareek were obtained from 2 Organizations in the NCR.


The results show that the executives and non- executives perceive the culture differently.

The study helps in identifying the weaker aspects of culture in terms of values and beliefs

that prevail in the Organization. Once the diagnosis of the culture is done to identify how

much each item is valued, the management gets an opportunity to work upon the

identified weaker aspects, on the basis of the degree of correlation between the various

elements of the OCTAPACE profile for developing and maintaining a better

organizational culture to achieve the desired performance and to sustain competition in

the long run.

Srimannarayana M (2008), in an article “HRD Climate in India” has attempted to

assess the extent of HRD climate prevailing in Indian organizations. He has collected

information from 1905 employees working in 42 organizations covering manufacturing,

services and IT sectors in India. He found that the HRD climate prevailing in Indian

organizations in India is only moderate. In comparison, the HRD climate in

manufacturing sector was better than in the service sector.

M.Srimannarayana (2005), has carried out study to assess the extent of HRD climate

prevailing in small trading units in Dubai. HRD climate consists of general HRD climate,

OCTAPAC culture and HRD mechanisms. Category-wise analysis led to the conclusion

that OCTAPAC culture was more prevalent than HRD mechanisms and general HRD

climate. Training and performance Appraisal appeared to be more mature practices rather

than career planning, rewards and employee welfare. He concluded that average HRD

climate was prevalent in the small trading units.

The author suggested the units to introduce fair employee welfare programmes and

reward systems to improve employee satisfaction levels and subsequently to gain

advantage from the satisfied workers to increase sales.

Ramanathan Gayartri (2004), in her article “The Culture of Change” revealed that,

catalyzing change in corporate culture by managing people and talent is the new mantra

for the Indian Corporate. Management should develop inclusive and participative culture


by better people management, using 360-degree feedback system to create a feeling of

trust in organization and change from directive based top-down approach to a

participative approach.

Rod Erakovich, Sherman Wyman, Raymon Bruce (2002), analyzed “The Relationship

of Ethical Work Climate and Organizational Culture in Public Organizations.”

Organizational culture is hypothesized as playing a critical role in the development of

multiple ethical climates.

The question examined in this paper is what are the critical organizational cultural factors

found in public organizations that account for differences in ethical climates. Researchers

have developed a typology of ethical climates in organizations. This study provided

preliminary results of public organization surveys that probe relationships between

organizational culture and ethical climate. Organizational managers were surveyed to

collect both quantitative and qualitative perceptions. Over 400 managers and employees

in eight different organizations completed this survey.

This research establishes that ethical climate exists in public. Furthermore these climates

are distinctive and separate constructs. There is further preliminary evidence to support

that culture variables examined have a positive relationship with these climates. As the

climates move toward a more principled level of ethical criteria, the relationship from

culture variables is stronger.

Denison, Haaland and Goelzer (2002); Fey and Denison (2003), have examined the

link between corporate culture and effectiveness in a variety of national settings. The

results suggest that it is quite possible to measure and compare the cultural traits of

organizations and their impact on business performance across nations and to find

empirical support for a general framework. The research shows that the model can be a

useful foundation for understanding differences in the culture-effectiveness relationship

across cultures.


BT Hewitt Associates (2001), study on “India's Best Employers to work for” tried to

identify top ten organizations indicate that many of the most successful organizations

(Infosys, Proctor and Gamble, HP, IClCI, Hughes Software System, LG Electronics,

HLL, Compaq, Asian Paints, and BPCL) today are thriving and growing because, in large

part, of their unique and strong values and styles - their "organizational culture" exists.

Almost every organization has been concerned with maintaining or changing its culture,

because the culture is an important asset of an organization and regarded as a key to

creating the kind of environment the organizations desire to have.

A positive organizational culture is essential for an organization to be successful. It also

provides personal work satisfaction, supports emotional and physical well-being and

generates high morale as well as positive perceptions by others

Sreevastava (2001), in his report mentioned that culture must be central component of

development (organization employee and employer) strategies in a double sense; on one

hand the strategies must be sensitive to the roots of the organization, its values, attitudes,

and on the other hand the organizations must include as a goal to the development of the

employees, their creative expansion and change within the HRD activities.

He further pointed out that a culture sensitive process of development will be able to

draw on the large reserves of creativity knowledge and skills that are found within the

organization. Such sensitivity will give organizations strength and make it easier to

introduce and sustain HRD activities in the organization for the growth and development

of the employees.

Sastri, (2001) in his study stated that developing service oriented corporate ideologies

enables firms to grow from small companies into larger, more successful entities. It takes

thoughtful planning and carefully conceived corporate culture that grows as the business

grows. He further noted that for any company to succeed, the following are essential;

building a sound company culture, over all development of its employees, effective

knowledge management, adopting marketing approach.


Garavan Thomas N. Heraty, Noreen, Morley, Michale (1998) under took an

exploratory study on “Actors in the HRD process”. The paper challenges the dominant

theoretical approaches adopted to study Human Resource Development (HRD) and

argues for a network/actor perspective. It reported the results of an exploratory,

qualitative study of HRD actor’s perceptions of HRD values, role expectations, and

evaluation criteria. Using the data from the exploratory study, the paper examines:

1. How organizational actors understand the meaning, values and purposes of HRD and

evaluation criteria used to assess the contribution of HRD, and

2. The issues involved in utilizing a network/actor perspective to understand and manage

HRD within organizations.

The study was an exploratory study because of the lack of previous research. The

research aimed to provide well-grounded and rich descriptions and explanations of HRD

actor’s value, role expectations and evaluation criteria. A qualitative approach was

therefore adopted that allowed the researcher to explore how values were related to role

expectations and HRD evaluation criteria.

Neelu Rohmetra (1996) conducted a research on the impact of prevailing entrepreneurial

culture in four Indian Commercial Banks viz. State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National

Bank (PNB), Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), and Dena Bank (DB). Entrepreneurial

culture is the function of (i) general climate (ii) the development mechanisms (iii) the

value base.

The overall entrepreneurial climate for SBI was worked out at 3.49 indicating a good

degree of scope for improvement along this dimension. The entrepreneurial climate for

PNB (3.41) is also estimated at a moderate level implying a lot of scope for improvement

and in DB entrepreneurial climate is at below average level. The study establishes

intimate relationship between entrepreneurial climates and level of satisfaction.


Becker (1992) suggested that climate survey resulted due to need for a systematic

method of collecting information on human motivation, as this is essential for effective

management. National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), Pune conducted HRD

climate survey for bank and revealed that HRD climate is satisfactorily perceived and

Cooperation, team spirit, trust and top management’s beliefs in human resources have

been favorably perceived.

The survey suggested, re-orienting mind-set of entire bank family members towards

facing the challenges posed by the turbulent environment. The top and senior

management executives including Chairman and Managing Director and Executive

Director were exposed to a weeklong workshop at IIM, Ahmadabad in three batches,

covering about senior Executives, which prepared them to meet the challenges of the

future.

Gorden, (1975) in her study indicates that a healthy organizational culture provides a

supportive environment conducive to open, honest, and trusting communication;

collaboration and cooperation; the application of common sense, experience, knowledge,

wisdom, ingenuity, and creativity; and the realization of individual and organizational

potentials. Meta motivational, “power with" and "high synergy" approaches to leadership

and management can be instrumental in unleashing creative energies and can play an

essential role in cultivating and sustaining a common sense of mission. "Power over"

approaches to leadership and management, coercive tactics, and cut throat

competitiveness can have just the opposite results.

Building healthy organizational cultures, transforming unhealthy organizational cultures

into healthy ones, melding dissimilar organizational cultures into healthy organizational

cultures, and maintaining the health of healthy organizational cultures are all essential for

maximizing the potential of organizations and to unleash the creative energies of

individuals and organizations alike.


2.3 OCTAPACE Culture

Gaurav Vats (2013), Conducted a research on “Relationship between Organization

Culture and Employees’ Satisfaction: An Empirical Study”. This study focused on the

concept of organization culture and made a significant appearance in the business

literature in the early 1980’s. Organization culture reflects the underlying belief and value

structure of an organization. Organization culture is apparently unifying and strongly

appeals to management concern with projecting an image of the organization as a

community of interests.

Organizational culture is one of many situational variables that have emerged as pivotal

in determining the success of leaders' efforts to implement change initiatives. The

organizational culture plays a very significant role in making organizations get the best

out of themselves.

Therefore, OCTAPACE Profile (Pareek 1989), was adapted to measure the

organization’s culture. A total of 100 valid questionnaires were obtained from the

employees of Banks. The study determined the relationship between organizational

culture and satisfaction among employees towards organizational culture. Pearson

Correlation analysis was undertaken. The hypotheses were tested at the level of

significance 0.05. Findings have implications for the effective and efficient management

of the organization, under taken. The hypotheses were tested at the level of significance

0.05. Findings have implications for the effective and efficient management of the

organization.

Agarwal, B. (2013) in her study ‘A Study of OCTAPACE Culture of Banking Sector’

focused on the OCTAPACE Cultural values that determine the managerial effectiveness

in banking sector. As the Indian banks position themselves as financial service providers,

banking business is getting redefined. Technology is unsettling the earlier business

processes and customer behaviour is undergoing change. These have enhanced the forces

of competition. Competitive advantage can be achieved by harnessing the potential


available in the employees, by creating a positive work culture and existing the support of

all the employees to the organizational goals.

Indian banks have adopted better operational strategies and upgraded their skills. They

have withstood the initial challenges and have become more adaptive to the changing

environment. Management's new challenge is to create a work environment that attracts,

keeps, and motivates its workforce. The responsibility lies with managers and supervisors

at all levels of the organization. Businesses must step outside their traditional roles and

comfort zones to look at new ways of working. They have to create a work environment

where people enjoy what they do, feel like they have a purpose, have pride in what they

do, and can reach their potential.

Today's workplace is different, diverse, and constantly changing. The typical

employer/employee relationship of old has been turned upside down. Workers are living

in a growing economy and have almost limitless job opportunities. This combination of

factors has created an environment where the business needs its employees more than the

employees need the business. The study discusses the quality of employee’s workplace

environment that impacts most on the level of managerial effectiveness. The main

objective of this study was to find out the relationship between OCTAPACE culture and

managerial effectiveness.

Substantial research work has been dedicated to explain the importance of organizational

culture in relation to managerial effectiveness. Empirical data was collected from the

Private and Public Banks in Indore District. This research showed that such an objective

model is capable of focusing on eight cultural values is contributing towards managerial

effectiveness. In this study the researcher has tried to analyze the dimensions of

OCTAPACE culture that has greatest impact on the level of managerial effectiveness in

private and public banks.


Baek-Kyoo Joo (2012), Carried out a research titled, “Career Satisfaction: The

Influences of Proactive Personality, Performance Goal Orientation, Organizational

Learning Culture, and Leader-Member Exchange Quality”, The purpose of this study was

to investigate the impact of personal characteristics (proactive personality and

performance goal orientation) and contextual characteristics (organizational learning

culture and leader-member exchange quality) on employees career satisfaction.

Accounting for 22% of the variance in career satisfaction, all the constructs were found to

be significant predictors of career satisfaction. Employees exhibited the highest career

satisfaction, when they had higher proactive personality and higher performance goal

orientation, and when they perceived higher learning culture and better relationship with

supervisor.

Vaneet Kashyap, Prince Vohra and Tejbir Kaur (2012), Carried out a study aimed at

assessing the extent of culture prevailing in Indian IT organizations. The information was

collected from 100 employees working in 4 organizations covering IT sector in Mohali

formed the basis for the study. The study emphasized on comparative analysis of the

organizational culture in IT industry.

It was found that the extent of culture varied from organization to organization. The study

was conducted in four IT organizations (C1, C2, C3, C4*) of Mohali region. Primary data

was collected with the help of a survey using OCTAPACE profile (appendix-1), a

standardized tool for cultural assessment. To collect the primary data, in the first stage 25

employees from each of the organization under study were selected using random

sampling.

In second stage the data was analyzed by calculating the mean scores of the dimensions

of the culture and the variation in four organizations with one way ANNOVA was done.

The findings suggest that human resource manager considers employees as important

stakeholder as far as organization culture is concerned.


Ms. Sapna Premchandani, (2012), conducted “A study of OCTAPACE Culture as a

facilitator of Conflict Management in selected Service Organizations”. This study

proposes a broad perspective for studying the influence of eight values of OCTAPACE

culture in managing conflict. OCTAPACE measures eight values: openness,

confrontation, trust, authenticity, pro-action, autonomy, collaboration and

experimentation.

The instrument was administered on a sample of 94 employees working in service sector.

Results showed moderate level of correlation between OCTAPACE culture and conflict

management. Further, the Mean Score analysis showed that confrontation to be the

highest. Openness and collaboration had higher mean scores. The values which scored

moderate were trust, pro-action and experimentation and those scored low were

authenticity and autonomy.

Furthermore, results of regression analysis showed that there was significant effect of

openness on conflict management. This study also concluded that OCTAPACE system is

a motivational factor to manage conflict effectively for the betterment and advancement

of the service sector. The main objective of this paper was to study the effect of

OCTAPACE culture on conflict management. The conclusion has been drawn in the light

of objectives.

The study has revealed that employees face and discuss the various issues and problems

rather than putting them under the rug. Openness contributed a lot for managing conflict.

It may mean that employees speak the truth fearlessly by showing a great congruence

between their feelings, intentions and behaviors. This helps them to resolve conflict

constructively and maintain healthier relationship among employees working in service

sector.

OCTAPACE culture requires total commitment by the Top Management as it has to be

top driven to succeed. Total involvement and participation of all the employees as well as


attitudinal changes and paradigm shift towards job responsibilities need to be cultivated

and nurtured continually.

Dr. MU. Subrahmanian (2012), conducted a study “Achieving High Involvement and

satisfaction through OCTAPACE Culture in IT Company”. The study is descriptive

research. A total of 200 software employees were selected for the study. The study

revealed that some of the OCTAPACE culture dimensions show values lower than the

norms specified and there is variation in dimensions in the organization. Collaboration

and trust should be cultivated among employees which is essential for every organization

for its effectiveness.

Thus, the management should work towards developing the organizational culture that

requires the culture of OCTAPACE. The findings of this study are - it is evident that the

Authenticity, Autonomy and Experimentation are at the lower level. Hence the

management must provide adequate opportunities for the employees to enhance the

creativity of the employees for the development.

The top management must give employees adequate freedom to make subordinates down

in the hierarchy to participate in decision making as this will improve the participation of

the employees and belongingness towards the job. Management must imbibe culture

within the employees by encouraging the quality of work life and organization

effectiveness and to encourage free interaction among employees. The organization

should empower employees and encourage them to make decisions for themselves

without the fear of negative repercussions along with gradual enlargement of duties.

To promote the experimentation among the employees, the management should conduct

brain storming sessions which will generate new and innovative ideas and also

collaboration among employees. Employee satisfaction survey must be done at regular

intervals to get the actual picture of work culture and also to find out the changing

attitude among the employees. The top management should delegate and empower people

lower in the hierarchy. The maximum possible autonomy should be provided so that the


problems are solved at their source at the grass root level. The management should

involve employees to analyze the problems and likely arrangements for their resolutions

well in advance so that the necessary systemic and process changes are made without

compromising quality and quantity.

Ajay Sonawane, Ravi Gupta, Dr. A.K.Chitale (2011), in their study on “Human

Resource Development: Meaning, Structure and Environment” observed that HRD is a

key strategy to raise the level of organizational performance. It highlights unlimited

human potential. HRD must be compatible with overall business goals. Thus HRD

strategy is intertwined with the business strategy. The Study explains the Concept of

HRD, Framework of HRM: Role analysis, Recruitment and Induction, Performance

Appraisal, Counseling, Potential Appraisal, Career Planning, Training, Succession

planning, HR Information system, Quality of Work Life and Organization Development.

In this study authors have also explained HRD Environment and Culture. And finally the

study concluded that, A practical implementation at action of OCTAPACE should

consider the following strategies – Make management commitment “Visible” (Openness

and Transparency), Follow clear and consistent policy (Build Trust), Demonstrate ‘ What

is said is meant’ (Authenticity and Consistency), Uphold Human Dignity (Trust),

Communicate: Clearly, Honestly, and Effectively (Communication), Break

communications Barriers, Take Decisions on the spot (Confront and Proactive),

Constantly Innovate (Experimentation), Crete sense of Identify (Proactive team building),

Involve people and be proactive, Train, Retrain, Consider Appraisals, Career Progression,

Recognize realistic expectations and aspirations, Do not divide the ‘Total Human’

according to convenience.

Ajay Salokhe and Dr. Nirmala Choudhary (2011), in their study “HRD climate and

Job satisfaction: An empirical investigation”, focused on single measure i.e. Job

Satisfaction because of dearth in amount of studies exploring this relationship. The study

attempts to analyze and determine the relationship, further the impact of HRD climate.


OCTAPACE Culture on Job Satisfaction as an organizational performance measure in

the selected public sector enterprise. The study was based on the responses sought from

71 executives from various departments and different hierarchical levels of a public

sector undertaking located in North India. In light of the domain for research, the study

was undertaken to examine the nature of the HRD Climate and OCTAPACE Culture

existing in the organization, the level of Job satisfaction of the managers of the

organization and to critically review the relationship of HRD climate on Job satisfaction

of the individuals.

This study suggested that the early identification of human resource potential and

development of their skill represent two major tasks of HRD. This can only be achieved

when Conducive HRD climate prevails. Thus on the whole, the researcher found the

existence of good HRD climate in the organization.

Prakash K. Chathoth, Brenda Mak, Janet Sim, Vinnie Jauhari, Kamal Manaktola

(2011), Carried out a study titled “Assessing dimensions of organizational trust across

cultures: A comparative analysis of U.S. and Indian full service hotels”, This study delves

into the organizational trust based similarities and differences across “individualist” and

“collectivist” service employees in hotels. Specifically, the three dimensions of

organizational trust, i.e., integrity, commitment and dependability were compared across

the two samples from the U.S. and India to highlight how employees perceive the level of

each of the three dimensions across cultures.

Findings suggest that the three dimensions represent the trust construct across different

national cultures. However, in comparing the individual dimension of the trust construct,

a significant difference existed between the perceptions of employees in the two cultures,

suggesting that perception-based differences exist across cultures.

Rakesh Kumar Agrawal, Archana Tyagi (2010), Conducted a study titled

“Organizational culture in Indian Organizations: An Empirical Study”. This paper

explored the nature of organizational ethos prevalent in different sectors of Indian


economy using the OCTAPACE profile. Analysis of data collected from employees of 16

different organizations belonging to consulting, manufacturing, services and IT/ITES

sectors indicated that significant differences exist in the cultures of organizations in the

different sectors.

Authenticity and autonomy were more valued in consulting as compared to the

manufacturing and services industries. Openness and confrontation were higher in the

IT/ITES sectors, while collaboration was higher in the manufacturing sector. Private

sectors had an open and a trusting culture as compared to the public sector.

Results also reveal that employees who were professionally qualified rated confrontation,

authenticity and autonomy higher than those who were not professionally qualified.

However, no significant difference existed between males and females in their evaluation

of organizational culture.

Kavita Singh (2010), Carried out research on “An Analysis of Relationship between the

Learning Organization and Organization Culture in Indian Business Organization”. To

keep pace with the rapid changes in the environment, organizations must keep pace;

otherwise they are likely to perish. They have to remain flexible and continually improve

to gain competitive advantage and must be able to adapt and strive to take the lead;

otherwise their survival will be at stake. To meet the challenges posed by this rapidly

changing environment, an organization must create and assimilate new knowledge at an

increasing pace, encourage innovation and learn to compete in new ways.

The culture of the organization plays a very significant role in keeping the process of

learning vibrant in the organization leading it to become a learning organization. This

study identified the relationship between the organization culture and the learning

organization in Indian business organizations and concluded that the organization culture

played a vital role in the development of a learning organization. It further contends that

three major constructs of organization culture, i.e., openness, pro-action and

experimentation tend to provide the members of an organization with a sense of direction


and creative thinking which in turn enhance organizational learning in turbulent

environment.

Reihaneh Shagholi, Sufean Hussin, Saedah Siraj, Zahra Naimie, Fereshteh

Assadzadeh, Farzaneh Moayed (2010), Carried a research titled “Value creation

through trust, decision making and teamwork in educational environment”. The purpose

of this study was to explore the extent of trust element in organization and its relationship

with decision making and teamwork. Trust element is an employee’s confidence in an

organization through the existence of high level of trust among employee and delegate

responsibility and expresses confidence in employee by manager.

This research measured trust in a sample of 903 employees who worked in educational

organizations in seven districts of Mashhad in Iran. Findings from this study include-

(a) Employees believed that trust existed in organization in seven districts in Mashhad.

(b) There was a significant relationship between trust and decision making.

(c) There was a significant relationship between trust and teamwork.

Findings of the study can be used to make some changes to the management process and

applicability of trust, decision making and teamwork in enhancing performance of

organization.

M. Srimannarayana (2008), Conducted a study on “HRD climate in India” with 1905

respondents from manufacturing, services and IT sector, concluded that the overall

OCTAPACE culture in the organizations under study seems to be above average with

60.06%. As far as dimensions of OCTAPACE are concerned, collaboration with mean

score 62.45 ranked first amongst the ethos of organization culture, following authenticity,

autonomy, trust, pro-activity, openness and confrontation.

In comparison to the dimensions of OCTAPACE confrontation ranked lowest. It had also

been observed by M. Srimannarayana that manufacturing sector ranked higher than

service and IT sectors in OCTAPACE culture. Service sector is at first place with respect


to pro-activity. Instead of getting third rank in OCTAPACE culture, IT sector was found

to be better with respect to confrontation in the comparative analysis with service sector.

Feza Tabassum Azmi and Richa Sharma (2007), conducted a study on comparing the

organizational culture of companies in the IT and Banking sectors in India using

OCTAPACE profile. The results suggest that the mean score of IT companies on

openness, pro-action, and experimentation have higher values; whereas the banking

sectors have high on rest of them .It is also stated that organization within an industry has

similar cultural values.

Ellen Martins, Nico Martins, Fransie Terblanche (2004), Conducted a study on “An

organizational culture model to stimulate creativity and innovation in a university

library”. In some organizations action is taken to stimulate creativity and innovation. The

right steps may have been taken, such as involving employees in decision making,

recruiting and appointing employees who evidence characteristics of creativity, setting

standards for work performance and giving regular feedback, yet creativity and

innovation are hampered in some way. The culture of an organization may be a factor

contributing to the extent to which creativity and innovation occur in an organization.

The current organizational culture and the demands of creativity and innovation may lead

to a conflict situation.

Dr. Sonal Saxena (2003), conducted a study on “OCTAPACE Culture for marketing

Personnel in selected IT companies of India”. This paper goes on to present the major

findings based on descriptive research design undertaken with the help of structured

questionnaires to study the OCTAPACE Culture for marketing professionals in IT

Industry. Data is based on the responses from five top management personnel and 25

marketing personnel from the sample of five IT organizations in the year 2003.

This paper employs certain statistical tools for assessing whether the hypotheses that had

been formed are valid or not. The results show that the sample organizations differ

significantly in their OCTAPACE Culture and are having varying level of OCTAPACE


culture. Words used in the context of organizational culture include ethics, values,

beliefs, attitudes, norms, ethos, climate, environment, and culture. Ethics refers to

normative aspects–what is socially desirable. Values, beliefs, attitudes, and norms are

interrelated. Interactions between beliefs and values result in attitude formation

(beliefs*values= attitudes) and then produce norms.

An empirical study based on descriptive research design was taken. Sample

Organizations were Infosys Technologies Ltd, Wipro Enterprises Ltd, Lanco Global

Systems Ltd., InfoTech Enterprises Ltd, and Inner Space Info Research Pvt. Ltd. Four of

the organizations are located in Hyderabad (AP) and one (Inner Space Info Research Pvt.

Ltd) is in Udaipur (Raj.).

The OCTAPACE Profile has been developed to measure organizational ethos in terms of

the eight values which deals with the extent to which Openness, Confrontation, Trust,

Autonomy, Pro-activity, Authenticity, and Collaboration and Experimentation are

valued and promoted in the organizations. The instrument contains three items that

measure values and two items that measure beliefs on each of the above eight

dimensions, with total of forty items. Respondents rate their organizations on eight

aspects, using a five-point scale. The scores range from 5to20 on each aspect.

Organizational culture should be such where exemplary followers’ flourish. HRD

Culture and climate in Wipro and Infosys was found to be good. To make it better, top

management may plan an integrated HRD system for the growth of the organization

along with the employee development. In Infosys more emphasis should be laid on

employee welfare so that they can save their mental energy for work. A mechanism for

rewarding good work is the major area of concern in Wipro.

There should be proper reward system in this organization. In Lanco Global Systems,

there is a lack of openness. It is the major area of concern. It has been described that

‘HRD is like a flower in bloom to be experienced’. Subordinates are like blooming buds.

Managers should nurture and nourish the blooming buds to take their full shape into


flowers and spread the fragrance cross the organization. In Infotech, top management

should take active interest in the development of marketing personnel and should devote

more time and resources for the same. In Inner Space Info Research, HRD culture and

climate is not very much conducive for the employees.

Top Management should take necessary steps for making the climate conducive for the

employees, especially for marketing personnel. Marketing Personnel should be motivated

enough to get involved in the business development matters. Communication and

involvement are the two factors, critical for the success of any organization.

Hagberg, (2003), completed a study of organizational culture that sheds lights upon

problems related to openness in decision making. According to the research finding,

executives believe that they actively solicit employee input in decision- making, and they

highly value employee input. According to the data, they see themselves as highly

participative in their management style, believe they actively seek out feedback and

consider themselves open to alternative views. Employees on the other hand, don’t

confirm this perspective. Rather, they remain skeptical of management openness to

feedback and feel their views do not receive fair consideration in decision- making.

Hagberg (2003), in his study indicates that executives also assume that they have created

an environment where risk taking is encouraged, where employees feel free to disagree

and build off each other’s ideas, where conflict is openly addressed and where

nonconformity is accepted. In short, they see openness and the minimum of threat. In

addition management sees it has been trusted by employees. Employees on the other hand

are less far less certain that management will always do what it says it will do and

whether management really wants to hear bad news.

Employees are capable but reluctant to be the messenger of bad news and more skeptical

about whether management can actually be trusted. Employees do not feel that risk taking

is supported and believe that conformity is accepted. They also see management as


allowing conflicts and disagreement to fester. This finding indicates that management and

employees do not feel the same level of trust, openness and freedom of expression.

Ruin, (2001), in his studies notes that transparent and sincere communication is an

important ingredient of positive work culture. For an organizational success, open and

honest communication among employees and to outsiders is paramount. Transparent and

sincere communication promotes peaceful and amicable working environment, breeds

creativity and expands productivity.

Transparent or clear communication develops a learning company and its people are

prepared to speak, willing to listen and assimilate instructions, express frank opinions or

speak without fear or fervor, and everyone is prepared to give chances to each other’s

opinions or ideas, and in the end grow and move forward together in harmony. Credible

organizational work culture ensures that policy in the company propagates honest,

integral and transparent communication both internally (among employees and

management) and externally (with customers, outsiders and the public).

Fisher, (2001), in his studies indicates that openness requires the elements of both

participation, the freedom to speak one’s mind and reflectiveness, willingness to

challenge our own thinking as well as realize all ideas are hypotheses open to study and

constant development. Without openness and sharing in a common vision, individuals

within the organization are absorbed of any responsibility for the future of the

organization and they come to rely on management to make all decisions.

Bansal, (2001), in his studies indicate that the security and trust make people free to

express views and ideas and stimulate them to problem solving activities and aims for

improving the competitive stimulation of the organization. An exchange process

characterizes the relationship between an employee and his or her supervisor. In this

process, the supervisor provides advice, praise or perhaps punishment in exchange for the

employee’s effort and performance. Therefore, to an employee, the supervisor is clearly

an exchange partner who may or may not be trusted.


Interpersonal trust then is based on the way supervisors and employees interact orally,

nonverbally and in writing. One important assumption is supervisors will support

legitimate actions of employees and not take advantage of employees by withholding

knowledge or manipulating their actions to accomplish organizational objectives.

According to Snowden (2000), trust is the most critical prerequisite for knowledge

exchange. This is supported by Davenport and Prusak (1998) who posit that without

trust, knowledge initiates will fail, regardless of how thoroughly they are supported by

technology or rhetoric. For a knowledge market to operate in an organization, trust must

be established in the following three ways:

1. Trust must be visible. The members of the organization must see people get credit

for knowledge sharing. There is a direct evidence of trust.

2. Trust must be ubiquitous. The internal knowledge market must be trustworthy or

else the market will be less efficient.

3. Trustworthiness must start at the top. Trust tends to flow downward through

organizations. Trust value in the organization is identified through signals, signs

and symbols. (Davenport and Prusak, 1998).

Kune (1999), in his research indicates that a culture that stimulates creativity and

encourages innovation is essential for structurally enhancing innovative capacity of

organizations. Diverse aspects such as freedom/autonomy, work pressure, challenge and

trust plays a role in this organization. By far the most important is the encouragement

provided by the organization, by management/boss and by colleagues.

The Oslo Manual is based on Josef Schumpeter’s definition (Schumpeter, 1949) of

innovation, which has five elements (OECD, 1997).

1. The introduction of a new product or a qualitative change to an existing product;

2. The introduction of a process new to an industry;

3. The opening of a new market;

4. The development of new sources of supply for raw materials or other inputs;

5. Changes in industrial organization.


Innovation comprises the magnitude and speed and this categorization facilitates a good

way of investigating the link between innovation and firm performance. Meyer argues

that organizations increase the pace of innovation to enhance business value.

OPENNESS

Employees feel free to express their ideas and the organization is willing to take risks and

to experiment with new ideas and new ways of doing things. Krishna and Rao (1997)

surveyed the organizational climate of BHEL which shows that the environment of

openness works well among the middle and senior managers in the company.

Hagberg, (2003) has completed a study of organizational culture that sheds lights upon

problems related to openness in decision making. According to the research finding

executives believe that they actively solicit employee input in decision-making, and they

highly value employee input. According to the data, they see themselves as highly

participative in their management style, believe they actively sought feedback and

consider themselves open to alternative views. Employees on the other hand, don't

confirm this perspective. Rather, they remain sceptical of management openness to

feedback and feel their views do not receive fair consideration in decision-making.

Fisher, (2001) in his studies indicates that openness requires the participation of both the

elements. The "freedom to speak one's mind and reflectiveness, willingness to challenge

our own thinking" as well as realizes all ideas are hypotheses open to study and constant

development. Without openness and sharing in a common vision, individuals within the

organization are absolved of any responsibility for the future of the organization and they

come to rely on management to make all decisions.

Rohmetra (1998) conducted a study on banking sector of Jammu and Kashmir

(J & K) for determining the HRD climate showed that the environment is less open for

employees. Mangaraj (1999) in her study of the HRD system in the Rourkela steel plant

found that the employee’s opportunities to express their view points are quite successful.


Alphonsa (2000) found a good level of openness in the private hospitals of Hyderabad.

Rainayee (2002) in his empirical study of the climate in commercial banks found the

‘SBI’ successful in facilitating open communication. An OCTAPACE study conducted

by Mufeed and Gurkoo (2007) in the universities of J and K found a satisfactory level of

openness present in all three universities.

Bennett, (1996) in his studies found that an organization's culture is critically important

to relationship management practice because it significantly influences the attitudes and

commitment of all members towards relationship establishment and ongoing practice.

Organizational openness and integrity, transparency, regard and caring for the client and

confidence in the stated focus of the organization are necessary prerequisites for

successful relationships. The presence, development and/or management of such

supportive values, ideas, beliefs and practices can contribute to the realization of

relationship satisfaction and performance (Mohr, Fisher and Nevin, 1996 and Morgan

and Hunt, 1994).

CONFRONTATION

Employees face the problems and work jointly with others concerned to find its solution.

They face the issues squarely without hiding them or avoiding them for fear of hurting

each other.

Kumar and Patnaik (2002) conducted a study on postgraduate teachers of the

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) New Delhi and reported that the value of

confrontation responded well among teachers. Alphonsa (2000) in his study on the HRD

climate in the private hospital of Hyderabad found that there existed a reasonably good

value of confrontation. Mufeed (2006) has conducted study in one of the leading hospital

SKIMS about the perception of the medical staff towards the HRD climate. The results

indicated that there exists a reasonably good climate for the value of confrontation. Also,

Mufeed and Gurkoo (2007) in their study in the universities of J and K found a

satisfactory level of confrontation present in all three universities. However, in some


organizations, the value of ‘confrontation’ is yet to take roots. Krishna and Rao (1997),

Rohmetra (1998) and Shakeel (1999) in their studies on culture found that the value of

‘confrontation’ was perceived at a low degree.

Collins, (2001) in his studies observed that the organizational ability to hear the 'truth'

distinguishes well to great companies. All good to great companies began the process of

finding a path to greatness by confronting the brutal facts of the current reality. It is

impossible to make good decisions without infusing the entire process with an honest

confrontation of the brutal facts.

Xenikou, Athena and Furnham, (1996) in their studies indicates those confrontations as

organizational cultures which group the following concepts together: oppositional

orientation, power, competition, and perfectionism. The authors describe this culture as

one where perfection is the goal, and where individuals might tend to react negatively

towards the ideas of others and/or resist new ideas. An organization scoring high on this

factor might be considered a perfectionist organization.

TRUST

The employees department and groups trust each other and can be relied upon to ‘do’

whatever they say they will do. Rohmetra (1998) found that an intimate degree of trust

enjoyed in the bank. Sharma and Purang (2000) showed that there exists a good degree of

trust among the middle level managers in an organization in engineering sector.

Reina and Reina, (1999) in their studies indicate that trust is an essential aspect of

healthy human relationships (Handy, 1999). In particular, sharing information and

involving employees in running a business increases trust while affecting productivity

and profitability.

Mishra, (1996) in his studies on organizational trust model showed that employees

perceive trust within organizations that created work environments which encouraged


open and honest communication among their members and a "sense of community. The

notion of "Community" serves to satisfy the basic human need to develop human

connections and relationships with others.

Many researchers' studies have agreed that trust is a necessary element for healthy

relationships (Bigley and Pearce, 1998). While debate continues in the literature about the

specific meaning of trust (and distrust), the vast majority of trust scholars have viewed

trust as the basic ingredient of social interactions (Bigley and Pearce, 1998). Flores and

Solomon (1998) described trust as “a dynamic aspect of human relationships" (p. 206).

Trust--both trusting and being trustworthy - is related to the character of individuals and

relationships. As a dynamic emotion, trust finds its significance in the bonds it creates -

trust is not something that simply happens, it is created through interaction and in the

making of relationships (Flores and Solomon, 1998).

Gibb, (1991) in his studies indicates that within an organizational environment, higher

degrees of trust enhance the discovering processes and, ultimately, the ability of groups

and organizations to fully function. Simply, as trust increases, defensive and

unproductive behaviours decrease.

AUTHENTICITY

Authenticity is the value underlying trust. It is the willingness of a person to acknowledge

the feelings he/she has, and to accept him/her as well as others who relate to him/her as

persons. Mufeed (2006) in his empirical study on the culture of hospitals found that the

value of authenticity had been well developed. Alphonsa (2000) indicated that there

existed a reasonably good climate of the value of authenticity in private hospitals.

Rainayee (2002) found that the value of authenticity had been well developed in

commercial banks. However, Shakeel (1999) in has empirical studies found it at a low

level.


PRO ACTION

Employees are action – oriented, willing to take initiative and to show a high degree of

pro-activity. They anticipate the issues and act or respond to the needs of the future.

Mufeed and Gurkoo (2007) in their comparative study in the universities of Jammu and

Kashmir found the value of pro-activity as unfavourable.

Research Undertaken by Amabile, (1997) research has identified three broad

determinants of creative and proactive behaviors:

High-level expertise

Creative thinking

Motivation

Expertise is the foundation for all creative work. An individual is unlikely to come up

with a creative idea in a domain that they do not have considerable expertise in studies,

such as being able to take on new perspective's and suspending judgment of novel ideas,

is also important, providing the 'something extra' of creative performance.

Together, expertise and creative thinking largely determine what a person is capable of

doing in a given domain, or what they can do. However, it is motivation that actually

determines what a person will do. Without motivation, an individual is not likely to put

forward, or try to implement, any creative ideas or suggestions for improvement they

might have as a result of their expertise and creative thinking.

Studies done by Schein, (1992) highlights several requisites for organizational success

that organizational culture must now take into account: The organization must be

proactive, not just reactive, the organization must influence and manage the environment,

not just adapt, the organization must be pragmatic, not idealistic, the organization must be

future-oriented, not predominantly present/past oriented, the organization must embrace

diversity, not uniformity, the organization must be relationship-oriented, not just task-


oriented, the organization must embrace external connectivity, as well as promote

internal integration.

Amabile, (1988) further indicates all the research evidence which suggests that intrinsic

motivation is more important than extrinsic motivation for stimulating proactivity and

creativity. In other words, proactive and creative behaviour cannot be coerced or closely

controlled, such as through constant evaluation, surveillance, competition with peers,

dictates from supervisors, or the promise of rewards. There is even evidence that some

forms of extrinsic reward can stifle and diminish creativity and innovation. Rather,

creativity and proactivity are most likely to occur when individuals are intrinsically

motivated. One therefore needs to understand how to enhance employee's intrinsic

motivation at work.

AUTONOMY

Autonomy is the willingness to use power without fear, and helping others to do the

same. Employees have some freedom to act independently within the boundaries imposed

by their role/job. Krishna and Rao (1997) surveyed the organizational and HRD climate

in the BHEL and reported that the value of autonomy responded poorly by employees.

Rainayee (2000) in his empirical study found that value of autonomy is missing factor in

the banks.

Laiken, (2001) in his study found that interviewees had a shared desire for freedom and

autonomy. Workers were clear that the more room they felt to give rein to their individual

creativity, the more likely they were to be satisfied and productive in their jobs. However,

at the same time as they desired freedom, they expected leadership. They searched for the

boundaries of organizational expectations within which to exercise their creative

potential, and felt lost and chaotic when such structure was not in place.

Kune, (1999) in his research indicates that a culture which stimulates creativity and

encourages innovation is essential for structurally enhancing innovative capacity of


organizations. Diverse aspects such as freedom/autonomy, work pressure, challenge and

trust plays a role in this. By far the most important is the encouragement provided by the

organization, by management, boss, and by colleagues.

Skinner, (1971) saw the culture as a constantly adaptive mechanism enabling its

inhabitants to survive and yet forcing them to develop in a way that enabled the culture

itself to service. Skinner pointed following three ways in which culture may be designed-

To reduce disturbance and increase autonomy,

To increase well- being and reduce power.

To increase efficiency and survival.

Autonomy is the degree to which the task provides substantial freedom, independence,

and discretion in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in

carrying it out (Hackman and Oldham, 1980). The more autonomy an individual or team

possesses, the greater is the degree to which the individual or team will feel responsible

for the outcomes of their work. Heightened responsibility should result in increased

performance.

COLLABORATION

Collaboration involves working together and using one another’s strength for a common

cause. Individuals, instead of solving their problems by themselves, share their concerns

with one another and prepare strategies, work out plans of action, and implement them

together. Bhardwaj and Mishra (2002) in their empirical study found that the private

sector managers perceived collaboration in their organization at an above average level.

Rainayee (2002) in his empirical study in commercial banks found that the team spirit

and collaboration in both the banks were satisfactory.

Crow, (2002) states that collaboration is the basis for bringing together the knowledge,

experience and skills of multiple team members to contribute to the development of a

new product more effectively than individual team members performing their narrow

tasks in support of product development. Effective collaboration requires actions on

multiple fronts as detailed below -


Early involvement and the availability of resources to effectively collaborate,

A culture that encourages teamwork, cooperation and collaboration,

Effective teamwork and team member cooperation,

Defined team member responsibilities based on collaboration,

A defined product development process based on early sharing of information and

Collaboration,

Collocation or virtual collocation and

Collaboration technology.

Crow, (2002) in his study further indicated that collaboration requires effective

teamwork. Team members must trust and respect one another. There must be open

communication and a willingness to accept input from others.

Rajendran, (2001) in his research further indicates that no organization can be effective

unless its members are motivated to work together. Building a team with subordinates

and to make an effective organization is not a one-time task. Maintain a healthy team and

developing its demands continuous attention. Considerable efforts have to be put into

ensuring that differing personalities are able to relate to communicate with and value the

contribution of their colleagues.

Mariappan, (1999) in his study indicates that, no business venture is one man's

endeavor. It requires guidance from the top level, co-ordination among the middle level

and support from the lower order to get things done well. Teamwork is the best way of

getting things done.

Bayer and Chapel, (1999) in their study further indicates that Culture may range from

the type where the assumptions, beliefs, and values of the members support authoritarian

and submissive behaviors across all levels of the organization to one where there is

mutual trust and respect and a strong sense of equality. The latter characterizes the

collaborative work system. A collaborative culture includes:

Trust and respect in everyday interactions;


Egalitarian attitudes among members at all ranks;

Power based on expertise and accountability;

Shared leadership where all members take initiative;

Valuing of diverse perspectives;

Commitment to the success of other members, rather than just one's own;

Valuing of truth and truth telling;

Commitment to continuous improvement of the whole organization;

Active learning; and

Personal responsibility.

The impact of these cultural facets depends on a strong and consistent consensus about

the values and on their practice by leaders.

EXPERIMENTATION

Experimentation as a value emphasizes the importance given to innovation and trying out

new ways of dealing with the problems in the organization. Alphonsa (2000) in his

empirical study found that the employees were not encouraged when they suggested new

things or new ideas. Krishna and Rao (1997) found that the value of experimentation was

responded favorably among the middle and senior managers. Mufeed (2006) having

conducted a study in a hospital as stated earlier found that the value of experimentation

has been discouraging. They never encouraged the potential employees by sharing their

new ideas and suggestions.

Hagberg (2003), in his study indicates that executives also assume that they have created

an environment where risk taking is encouraged, where employees feel free to disagree

and build off each other’s ideas, where conflict is openly addressed and where

nonconformity is accepted. In short, they see openness and a minimum of threat. In

addition management sees itself as being trusted by employees. Employees on the other

hand are far less certain that management will always do what it says, it will do and

whether management really wants to hear bad news. Employees are therefore reluctant to

be the messenger of bad news and are more skeptical about whether management can


actually be trusted. Employees don't feel that risk taking is supported and believe that

conformity is expected. They also see management as allowing conflicts and

disagreement to fester. This finding indicates that management and employees don't feel

the same level of trust, openness and freedom of expression.

Gravin (1993), in his study for an organization to become a true Learning Organization

mentions the following to be added in the organization-

Systematic problem solving: thinking with systems theory; insisting on data rather

than assumptions; using statistical tools.

Experimentation with new approaches: ensure steady flow of new ideas;

incentives for risk taking; demonstrating projects.

Learning from the experiences and best practices of others; enthusiastic

borrowing.

Learning from their own experiences and past history; recognition of the value of

productive failure instead of unproductive success.

Transferring knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout the organization;

reports, tours, personnel rotation programs, training programs, etc.

2.4 AN OVERVIEW ON CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

The introduction, review of literature and research studies has explored various

dimensions related to management, HRD, Organization Culture, and OCTAPACE

Culture at work. Many studies reported that Indian organizations are varied in their

managerial approaches, leadership, work morale, work motivation power, delegation of

authority, quality of working life, Conflict management etc. (Dr. Subrahmanian, 2012;

Dr. Ajay Salokhe and Dr. Nirmala Choudhary, 2011; Sharma and Bhaskar, 1991; Mishra,

1996; Ravi Gupta and Dr. A.k.Chitale, 2011; Rao Mohan, 1983; Pareek, 1989; Sinha,

1983; Archana Tyagi, 2010; Feza Tabassum Azmi and Richa Sharma, 2007; Dr. Sonal

Saxena, 2003;). These are some studies conducted in different region with different

sample size and unit, but no study was conducted to study the Efficacy of OCTAPACE

Culture on IT based Services.


Such studies are organizational specific and not specific to OCTAPACE Culture on IT

based Services. Previous studies have not highlighted linkage of OCTAPACE Culture

with IT services. There were no evidences of studies conducted exclusively on such

topic.

There is a research conducted by Ajay Salokhe and Dr. Nirmala Choudhary (2011), titled

“HRD Climate and Job satisfaction: An Empirical Investigation”, which focused on a

single measure i.e. Job Satisfaction.

Another research by Anu Singh Lather, Janos Puskas, Ajay Kumar Singh, Nisha Gupta

(2010), titled “Organizational Culture: A Study of Selected Organizations in the

manufacturing sector in the NCR”, where the main objective of the study was to compare

the Organizational culture of the selected companies in the manufacturing sector and to

identify and measure the perceived Organizational culture and its various dimensions.

A research conducted by Zhu (2002) used the SERVQUAL instrument to measure

service quality and identified several attributes associated with IT based services and

proposed a service quality model to investigate the causal relationship between customer

evaluation of IT based services and overall service quality. This research indicated that

older customers and customers with greater needs for personal attention were likely to

rebate higher on traditional services.

Although numerous studies have emphasized instrumental value of culture, there is still

absence of any comprehensive theory of how OCTAPACE Culture may influence

employee attrition rate, employee satisfaction and employee morale in IT Companies

while providing IT based services. Research on the link between OCTAPACE Culture

and IT companies is also limited. The available researches on Culture, HRD have not

explored IT based services, Employee attrition, and employee satisfaction and employee

morale as an objective. And in fact a very little attention has been also made on IT

industry.


Thus it is argued that in IT industry, employee’s attrition rate is very high; so to study

how OCTAPACE Culture is helpful in reducing the attrition rate in IT Company further.

This research will also focus light on how OCTAPACE Culture is helpful to know the

employee satisfaction and employee morale.

The relationship between OCTAPACE Culture, IT based services and employee

attrition, employee satisfaction and employee morale has also not been found all

together in any of the research.

Bangalore is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. The Silicon Valley of India is a

nickname to the Indian city of Bangalore. The name signifies Bangalore's status as a hub

for Information Technology (IT) companies in India. There are many companies in

Bangalore that provide IT based services. Some of them are Indian companies and some

are Multinational. IT Based services involve a wide range of services delivered over

electronic networks. Banking, Insurance, Travel, Manufacturing, Telecommunication,

Pharmaceutical, Education and many more sectors are there where IT based services are

utilized.

But directly or indirectly these services are provided by Software Engineers or IT

Technicians. There are many companies in Bangalore that provide IT based Services like

Infosys Technologies, Wipro Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant Mind

tree Ltd, Capgemini, Accenture, IBM, HP, Dell Inc, HCL Technologies, Patni Computer,

Tech Mahindra, L & T InfoTech, Polaris Software, Hexaware Technologies, Oracle,

Siemens Information System Ltd, Genpact, Mphasis, Yahoo, Google, etc. to name a

few.

There are many researches which were conducted in Banking sector, IT sector,

Manufacturing sector or even Educational Institute but there are very few researches

which have been conducted in these companies mentioned above and basically to analyze


their Culture and to explore how Culture impacts their employee attrition rate, employee

satisfaction level and employee morale.

If the culture is strong and supports high ethical standards, it will have a very powerful

and positive influence on employee morale. The strong culture develops a strong

psychological contract between members and management, by developing mental

sterna’s. A strong work culture utilizes human potential effectively, reinforces individual

behavior and facilitates a series of success. It creates involvement, integrity, satisfaction

and commitment on part of organizational members and thereby develops a dedicated

work force. Strong work behaviour is the keenness to work hard, strong desire and

willingness to contribute their best.

The work importance members attached with the organization are related to the impact of

work culture on the behaviour of members. With specific reference to the findings of

Sinha, (1990) the work culture of the Indian industrial organizations indicates that the

culture of the private sector organization has synergetic work culture and the public

sector organizations have soft work culture. In synergetic work culture, work is primary

to members and in soft work culture, work is secondary to members. If we wish to

understand the significance of human behaviour at work, particularly collective human

behaviour, we can only do so against the background of culture in which the behaviour

takes place.

It is obvious in the concluding remarks that time and material resources are needed for

being invested into research studies. These researches were made round the world

revealing to find the efficacy of OCTAPACE Culture on IT based services and uprising

threats to build the capacity of Software engineers of IT companies for the uplift of

national development to pace with global requirements. Researcher could not find any

study in accordance with the dependent variables of the research for the Bangalore IT

companies. Current interest in organizational culture arises from these literatures that

posed several research questions, with specific reference to Bangalore IT Industries

which gives IT based services to their Customers


2.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The above literature and the discussion on Organizational culture indicate that the

OCTAPACE Culture can be an asset or a liability. Organizational culture is an asset

when shared beliefs and values facilitate better cooperation and communication between

members and Organizations. It is a liability when important shared beliefs and values

interfere with the needs of the business.

The studies related to Organizational factors indicate that the work perception of Indian

employees varied considerably in different sectors. It is necessary to understand the work

perception of employees in IT sector. To what extent the work culture of the

Organization induces Openness, Trust and Confidence to the members in their work,

which motivate them to attach more work importance to the organization, is to be

ascertained. Organizations with strong cultures that fit the needs and challenges of the

situations survive and grow, while Organizations with weak cultures are phased out.

Contemporarily, this research topic has high relevance as the result of this research

provides answer to many questions. Hence:

1. The study of the Efficacy of OCTAPACE culture in IT sector is important as it

gives proper understanding of the impact of culture on employee morale,

employee retention and employee satisfaction that facilitate either to development

or constraints to Organizational development.

2. Organizations are social systems that must be inevitably operating to survive.

3. Study of organizational culture is important as it explores the IT culture and its

impact on employee satisfaction and morale and leads to retaining them for a long

time, which would go a long way in developing positive attitudes, which in turn

are likely to excel their performance.

This study will help to see how OCTAPACE culture, if implemented successfully,

addresses many of the concerns of Indian firms. It leverages on their assets and efficiency

and effectiveness in their operations. Thus, the management has to nurture a flexible and


responsive corporate culture. Without an appropriate culture, Organization cannot last

long. Culture provides the sustaining force and spirit for the organization to live. It

provides Oxygen needed for them to survive. The OCTAPACE items deal with the extent

to which Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Autonomy, Pro-activity, Authenticity and

Collaboration are values and are to be promoted in the organization.

Organizational culture is hypothesized to play a decisive role in the development of a

unique corporate identity. Keeping in view the vital role that culture plays in the success

of any Organization, the present study would be undertaken. As the Competition changes

and pressure intensifies for organizations, therefore organizational culture is given more

prominence and emphasis. This is because, Paradoxically, Organizational culture creates

both stability and adaptability for organizations. It creates Stability by being the glue that

holds the organization through adherence to a clear set of consensual values.

Culture also fosters adaptability by providing a clear set of principles to follow when

designing strategies to cope with new circumstances. The proposed study attempts to

uncover the culture of the organizations under study. Thus, the management should work

for developing harmonious and conducive organizational culture that requires the culture

of Openness, Collaboration, Trust, Pro-activity, Autonomy, Authenticity, Confrontation

and Experimentation.

Employees believe that top management gives importance to the human resource and all

employees are treated humanely. The climate is also favorable in terms of employee

being handled with care by senior as they understand the mistake and do not take any

strict disciplinary action such as punishing or discouraging. There is also fair share of

management involvement in making work enjoyable as employees have high expectation

from management/seniors regarding development of employees.

If we need to find a way to develop employees in order to become effective contributors

to the goals of an organization, we need to have a clear view of what an effective

contribution would look like. The efficacy of culture can be very helpful in describing the


way in which an effective employee should operate and behave, but there can be no

general prescription of an effective employee. Effectiveness will differ with

organizational context, and on whose perspective we are adopting. The matter of what,

finally, makes an effective employee is a combination of personality, natural capabilities,

developed skills, experience and learning. The process of enhancing and employees

present and future effectiveness depends on the efficacy of OCTAPACE culture.

An organization becomes dynamic and growth oriented, if its people are dynamic and

proactive. Through proper selection of people and by nurturing their dynamism and other

competencies an organization can make their people dynamic and pro-active. To survive

it is very essential for an organization to adopt the change in the environment and also

continuously prepare their employees to meet the challenges; this will have positive

impact on the organization.

“High attrition rate hits IT companies' bottom lines” Time of India, Aug 26, 2010.

CHENNAI: Bad things happen in good times too. Indian IT companies are finding it hard

to recruit and retain employees as the recovery takes a definite shape. And their bottom

lines are getting hit due to rising wages and high attrition. Earnings before interest, tax,

depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margins or operating margins have been

dipping for most of the IT biggies in the recent quarters largely because of the spurt in

wage inflation.

Operating margins of Infosys Technologies declined by 2.36% in June quarter compared

with the March quarter. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HCL Technologies saw

their operating margins falling by 0.7% and 1.1%, respectively. This slide is not an

aberration. The companies' EBITDA has been on a decline for the past four quarters.

On the attrition front, a report by Motilal Oswal, a financial services firm, said that Wipro

leads the pack with 23% attrition, followed by Infosys (15.8%), HCL Tech (15.7%), and


TCS (13.1%) in the June quarter. The figures have been increasing for all these

companies for the past few quarters.

"Attrition at all levels is impacting bottom lines — be it senior, mid or junior level.

Companies invest significantly in training entry-level employees. That cost must also be

factored in," said E Balaji, CEO of MaFoi Randstad India. "As for middle of the year

hikes, I don't think it is a sustainable option and so it is understandable for companies not

to opt for that route. It is unlikely to stem attrition."

None of the companies mentioned responded to this report. The report also states that

attrition is likely to stay elevated in the near term after earlier-than-expected turnaround

in demand evoked a knee-jerk hiring from IT companies. The challenge of churn is

higher at mid and senior-level positions.

AGAIN IN 2012 –

“India Inc may see attrition rates as high as 31%”

The author has posted comments on this article PTI | May 1, 2012, 07.01 PM IST

NEW DELHI: India Inc is likely to see attrition rates as high as 31 per cent during the

three months ending June, as employees unsatisfied with annual salary hikes would look

out for better prospects, say experts. According to human resource experts, the average

attrition rate is projected to grow at 31 per cent in Indian firms in the April-June quarter,

a rise of 9-10 per cent from the preceding quarter (January-March).

In the April-June quarter of 2011-12, the average attrition rate was 27 per cent.

Generally, employees would have received their annual appraisals during the April-June

period and those not happy with their performance review or salary hikes seek better

opportunities. Consequently, attrition rates are seen going up in these three months,

experts opined.

"In the current quarter, we are expecting an average attrition rate of 30 per cent. In Q4


employees were not keen to switch jobs due to appraisal season. Now in April they

reached on higher salary compared to previous one and have a chance to negotiate for

better salary with new employer along with new appraised designation,

"MyHiringClub.com” CEO Rajesh Kumar said.

"Salary and designation are the major factors for higher attrition outlook in Q1, FY'13.

One more concern is having in employees mind if they'll change their job in this quarter

they are entitled to enter into appraisal cycle with their new employer also. So they are

not going to lose anything with job change," he added.

Another HR consultant Ripples Consultancy Services CEO and MD Rishi Raman said.

"We would see a high attrition rate of 30-31 per cent in the first quarter of the current

fiscal. The reason behind such attrition is many employees are not satisfied with their

appraisals.

"A good performer did not expect 10-15 per cent of hike, their expectation is not less than

20 per cent," he added. Experts said that attrition would be in double digits in the entire

sector. It would be highest in the IT / ITeS sector at 31 per cent, followed by telecom (26

per cent), banking and financial services (23 per cent), aviation and hospitality (22 per

cent ), real estate (15 per cent), FMCG (21 per cent), automobile and manufacturing (19

per cent).

HR consultants are of the view that employers need to take various steps in order to retain

talent like providing career opportunities and suitable work environment as high attrition

impacts the company's resources negatively. "One of the most effective ways to ensure

good working conditions for your employees is to provide them with advancement

opportunities," Raman said.

Head Hunter Solution Director Priyanka Pawar said," the high attrition costs increases the

costs to the organization considerably. "The more the people leave an organization, the

more it is a drain on the company's resources like recruitment expenses, training and


orientation resources and the time. The high attrition rate also affects the productivity of

the organization," she added.

2.6 SUMMARY

From the above previous studies revealed that efficacy of OCTAPACE culture on IT

based services affect the employee satisfaction, employee morale and reducing employee

attrition. The main focus is on dealing with customers, efficiently and effectively. The

efficacy of culture asserts that benefiting high morale in a culture lead to the formation of

this idea that employees can have a sense of effectiveness through examining the results

of their performance.

Positive feelings will generate the employees’ positive expectation with regard to the

satisfaction. A cooperative and favorable climate is established in the cultures that

delegate the power and authority to the employees and encourage the worthwhile and

constructive idea by granting their employees more independence and freedom. Results

of the current investigation need to be viewed in light of this study's limitations.

Efficacy of OCTAPACE culture can exert multiple effects on employee satisfaction,

morale and employee retention. Employees can experience a sense of trust and

harmonious working relationship in a culture-based organization and espouse the belief

that they are able to carry out various pieces of research in their field of interest and get

assured that won’t be punished for displaying such exploratory behaviors.

Documents

CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEWshodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/97242/4... · 2020-06-23 · “A Study of the Efficacy of OCTAPACE Culture on IT based Services” By: Soniya