Holistic indigenous and atomistic modernity: Analyzing performance management in two Indian emerging market multinational corporations

Abstract

Analyzing qualitative case-study data from two emerging market multinational corporations (MNCs) from the Indian pharmaceutical industry, we develop two theoretical frameworks based on goal-setting and cognitive evaluation theories along with indigenous Indian management theories, including the principles of Ayurveda for analyzing performance management systems in an indigenous and modern pharmaceutical MNC. Data were analyzed from multiple data sources, such as interviews, nonparticipant observation, multiple site visits, organizational documents, policies, client testimonials, and publically available information through the website and annual reports. The indigenous firm offered a holistic approach to managing multiple stakeholders. Its overarching performance goal focused on all stakeholders collectively contributing to the patient' and others' holistic well-being. All employees' and stakeholders' unified and singular efforts dovetailed to achieve physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental well-being as a proxy for performance. Organizational values, culture, and contextual influences of informal learning, empowerment, and task variability helped achieve its overarching goals. The Western pharmaceutical firm focused on atomistic, granulated, and an objective way of assessing and evaluating performance, wherein cost-effectiveness, innovation, and high-performance were vital performance outcomes. Performance coaching and task invariability adversely affected individual outcomes. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Multilevel relational influences on HRM practices: a cross-country comparative reflective review of HRM practices in Asia

“…The SME sector does not typically have a formal HRM infrastructure or policies. SMEs generally rely on hiring locals and employing largely informal, unstructured, and indigenous approaches to managing their staff, with major regional differences (e.g., Budhwar & Varma, 2011a ; Malik et al, 2021a , 2021b ; Saini & Budhwar, 2008 ).…”

“…Furthermore, in the Indian context, the presence of strong trade unions and industrial democracy in a number of industries, along with other forms of political activism, creates barriers to exercising managerial prerogatives concerning efficiency-focused transitions (Nankervis et al, 2013 ; Saini & Budhwar, 2014 ). Recently, with an increasing focus on digitization and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for HRM, and India as a major global IT hub, there has been a proliferation of AI-assisted applications for HRM (Budhwar et al, 2022 ; Malik et al, 2021a , 2021b , 2022a , 2022b , 2022c ) designed to improve a range of business- and employee-level outcomes, such as those concerning the employee experience and degree of engagement.…”

“…As such, there are calls for context-specific scholarship and research, especially within the domain of HRM-related research (see, e.g., Budhwar & Sparrow, 2002 ; Morishima, 1995 ; Schuler et al, 2002 ; Sekiguchi et al, 2016 ), as well as explorations that focus on indigenous management constructs suited to specific geographic settings (Cappelli et al, 2010 ; Chung et al, 2014 ; Froese et al, 2020 ). Some studies have even portrayed differences within a single country (Pereira et al, 2017 ) or the same sector of a country (Malik et al, 2021a , 2021b ). Large countries, such as China (Sheldon et al, 2014a , 2014b ; Zhu & Warner, 2019 ) and India (Mishra & Sohani, 2020 ; Panda et al, 2022 ; Pereira & Malik, 2013 , 2015 ), can have substantial heterogeneity within their borders.…”

A qualitative analysis on implementing the sewer system for an indigenous village in the influence area of Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant (Brazil)

“…The non-participant observation technique was chosen because it is considered very useful in obtaining information on aspects of social reality, presenting as one of the main advantages in the perception of facts without any intermediation as reported in the literature (Marconi & Lakatos 2008;Creswell 2014;Ma et al 2020;Malik et al 2021;Nyam & Stella-maris 2021). The moment of observation followed the guidance proposed by Denzin (2009) and Liu & Maitlis (2010) and was divided into three phases: descriptive observation, focused observation and selective observation, until reaching theoretical saturation, when new observations would not provide any additional knowledge.…”

Estudos sobre gestão em comunidades indígenas: uma revisão da literatura

“…Depois que os não índios invadiram, subjugaram, colonizaram e até mesmo aniquilaram populações indígenas inteiras (PINTO, 1917;LÉVI-STRAUSS, 1996;SILVA, 2010;OLIVEIRA, 2020), tema que não cabe aqui se aprofundar, elas passaram a depender dos diversos sistemas desse mundo antes desconhecido. Para sobreviver como seres humanos e manter viva sua identidade, os indígenas não tiveram outras opções além de conviver, adaptar e organizar seus modos de vida a um sistema dominante, inclusive, em alguns países, criando suas próprias empresas (MALIK et al, 2021).…”