Dileep Kumar. M Customer Appreciation of E-CRM based Website Services in Banks

Anand Reddy Holistic Stress: Conceptualization and Measurement

S. F. Chandrasekar

R. Saraswathy An Empirical Study of Most Attractive Employer in Indian IT Industry:

N. Thamaraiselvan Potential Employee Perspective

A. Sathish Kumar Listing Day Performance of Public Issues in India

Manohar Kapse Occupational Stress among Female Teaching Professionals:

Anuradha Pathak Effect on Home Environment at Indore city

Shilpa Sharma

Srinagesh Chatarajupalli Case Study: Leveraging Technology for

Gopu Venkatswamy Enhancing Employability of Students

A. R. Aryasri

Brinda Kalyani P. R The Personal and Infrastructural Problems of Small Scale Entrepreneurs

J. R. Raiyani A Multivariate Analysis of the Financial Characteristics of

Dr. R. B. Bhatasna Indian Textile Industries

R.M. Naidu Short Case: Who is the Boss?

Book Reviews:

Sameer Pingle India Inc.: How India’s Top Ten Entrepreneurs are Winning Globally

Shahaida P The Professional

ISSN - 0975-4032

Volume II

Issue I

Jan - June, 2010

Chief Patron : Mrs. Aarathy SampathyPresident and CEOSiva Sivani Group of Institutions, Secunderabad.

Patron : Mr. Sailesh SampathyVice President and Deputy CEOSiva Sivani Group of Institutions, Secunderabad.

Editor : Dr. V. G. ChariDirector - AcademicSiva Sivani Institute of Management.

Assistant Editor : Dr. Shahaida PAsst. Professor, Marketing AreaSiva Sivani Institute of Management.

Editorial Advisory and Review Panel

Dr. Ashish Sadh, Professor, Marketing area, IIM Indore

Dr. B. Brahmaiah, Vice President, Industrial Relations, Sujana Group of Industries. Hyderabad

Dr. Cullen Habel, Lecturer in Marketing, The University of Adelaide Business School, South Australia

Dr. D. Dhanapal, CEO, KPR Educational Institutions, Coimbatore

Dr. C. Gopalkrishnan, Director In charge and Professor of Strategic Management, Institute ofManagement, Nirma University of Science and Technology, AhmedabadDr. H.K. Jayavelu, Professor- HR, IIM K

Dr. S. Hanuman Kennedy, Professor - HR, PESIT, Bangalore

Dr. Prashanth N Bharadwaj, Dean’s Associate and Professor, Indiana University of Pennsylvania,USADr. B. S. R. Rao, International Institute of Insurance and Finance, Hyderabad

Dr. B. Rajashekar, Reader, School of Management Studies, University of Hyderabad,

Dr. Rajendra Nargundkar, Director, IMT Nagpur, Nagpur

Dr. Srinivas Murthy, Professor - Finance, IPE, Hyderabad

Dr. G.B. Reddy, Associate Professor, Department of law, Osmania University, Hyderabad

Dr. Nilanjan Sen Gupta, Professor, SDM-IMD, Mysore

Dr. S.M. Vijaykumar, Professor - OB and HRM, Chairperson - Research and Ph.D. IMT Nagpur

Dr. Yerram Raju. B, Regional Director, PRMIA, Hyderabad

Prof. V. Venkaiah, Professor and Head, Department of Business Management, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Open University

Prof. M. Kamalakar, Operations and IT Area, SSIM

Prof. K. S. Ramachandra Rao, Finance Area, SSIM

Dr. V. G. Chari, Director- Academics, SSIM

Dr. P.V. S. Sai, Director, Training and Consultancy, SSIM

Dr. S. F. Chandrashekar, Head-HR, SSIM

Dr. Anil Ramesh, Head- Marketing, SSIM

Contents

Customer Appreciation of E-CRM based Website Services in Banks 1Dileep Kumar. M

Holistic Stress: Conceptualization and Measurement 23Anand Reddy and S. F. Chandrasekar

An Empirical Study of Most Attractive Employer in Indian IT Industry: 34Potential Employee Perspective

R. Saraswathy and N. Thamaraiselvan

Listing Day Performance of Public Issues in India 51A. Sathish Kumar

Occupational Stress among Female Teaching Professionals: 59Effect on Home Environment at Indore city

Manohar Kapse, Anuradha Pathak and Shilpa Sharma

Case Study: Leveraging Technology for Enhancing Employability of Students 67Srinagesh Chatarajupalli, Gopu Venkatswamy and A. R. Aryasri

The Personal and Infrastructural Problems of Small Scale Entrepreneurs 83Brinda Kalyani P. R

A Multivariate Analysis of the Financial Characteristics of 99Indian Textile Industries

J. R. Raiyani and Dr. R. B. Bhatasna

Short Case: Who is the Boss? 112R.M. Naidu

Book Reviews:

India Inc.: How India’s Top Ten Entrepreneurs are Winning Globally 114Sameer Pingle

The Professional 117Shahaida P

Copyright: Siva Sivani Institute of Management, Secunderabad, India.SuGyaan is a bi-annual publication of the Siva Sivani Institute of Management,NH-7, Kompally, Secunderabad- 500 014.

All efforts are made to ensure correctness of the published information. However, SivaSivani Institute of management is not responsible for any errors caused due to oversightor otherwise. The views expressed in this publication are purely personal judgments ofthe authors and do not reflect the views of Siva Sivani Institute of Management. Allefforts are made to ensure that published information is free from copyright violations.However, authors are personally responsible for any copyright violation.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

4

Editorial...

It is with great satisfaction that we present to you the first issue of SuGyaan in 2010. In itssecond year of existence SuGyaan has received a tremendous response from India andabroad. Our sincere gratitude to the authors and reviewers for their support.

The first paper titled “Customer Appreciation of E-CRM based Website Services in Banks”by Dileep Kumar. M explores the relationship between technology and effective E-CRM inbanks of Sultanate of Oman.

The second paper, “Holistic Stress: Conceptualization and Measurement” by Anand Reddyand S. F. Chandrasekar suggests a new tool for measuring holistic stress.

The third paper, “An Empirical Study of Most Attractive Employer in Indian IT Industry: PotentialEmployee Perspective” by R. Saraswathy and N. Thamaraiselvan examines the elements ofemployer attractiveness in Information Technology (IT) industry from the perspective of potentialemployees and determines the most attractive employer in the Indian IT industry

The fourth research paper, “Listing Day Performance of Public Issues in India” by A. SathishKumar examines the short-run performance of Indian public offerings, initial day returns ofissuing firms using Wealth Relatives on the basis of issue price, industry category, issue sizeand year of issue.

The fifth paper “Occupational Stress among Female Teaching Professionals: Effect on HomeEnvironment at Indore city” by Manohar Kapse, Anuradha Pathak and Shilpa Sharma exploresthe impact of stress in the teaching profession.

Next we have a Case Study: Leveraging Technology for Enhancing Employability of Studentsby Srinagesh Chatarajupalli, Gopu Venkatswamy and A. R. Aryasri describes a five year realtime implementation of e-learning projects that developed problem solving abilities ofengineering students.

The seventh paper focuses on “Personal and Infrastructural Problems of Small ScaleEntrepreneurs” by Brinda Kalyani.

Next we have a paper on “A Multivariate Analysis of the Financial Characteristics of IndianTextile Industries by J. R. Raiyani and R. B. Bhatasna empirically tests the strength of therelationship between profitability and efficiency in Indian textile companies.

Lastly, a short case titled “Who is the Boss? By R. M. Naidu, followed by two book reviews,India Inc.: How India’s Top Ten Entrepreneurs are Winning Globally by Sameer Pingle andThe Professional by Shahaida P.

We hope you find this issue interesting and look forward to your feedback.

SuGyaan 5

Volume II, Issue I

Customer Appreciation of E-CRM basedWebsite Services in Banks

Dileep Kumar

Abstract

To succeed in today’s fast and competitive markets, organizations must find new and effective waysto open revenue streams, improve enterprise efficiency and foster profitable long-term growth. Manyof the world’s leading business organizations are achieving those core objectives by focusing intentlyon the quality and lifetime value of their customer relationships. By adopting an integrated, approachto sales and service interactions, these world-class organizations are relearning the traditional lessonof putting the “customer first.”

Customer relationship management is a business strategy that provides the enterprise with acomplete, dependable, and integrated view of its customer base. Although e-CRM research is prolific,there appears to be a lack of consistent understanding and agreement as to the operationalization ofthe term e-CRM. Some research refers to e-CRM as a philosophy (Crafton, 2002), some consider e-CRM a marketing strategy (Bai, Hu, and Jang, 2006), and others refer to specific software tools,methods, and systems as e-CRM (H. M. Chen, Chen, and Kazman, 2007; Scullin, Fjermestad, andRomano, 2004). E-CRM system brings together lots of pieces of information about customers, sales,market trends, marketing effectiveness and responsiveness. e-CRM system helps companies improvethe profitability of their interactions with customers while at the same time making those interactionsappear friendlier through individualization. e-CRM purpose is to enhance customer satisfactionand retention by alignment of customer business processes with technology integration. Thisparticular research tries to explore the relationship between technology and effective e-CRM inbusiness organizations, especially banks, which influence the sustainable service process.

Introduction

Customer relationship management(CRM), the idea of fine-tuning the waysin which firms interact with customers,has required energy, focus, andinvestment in new tools and software toaid in the development of CRM systems.With the advent of the internet, this ideahas been extended into a web-basedbusiness model and relies on e-businesstechnologies to interact with,communicate to, and collect informationfrom customers. This new evolved modelis aptly termed electronic customerrelationship management (e-CRM).While e-CRM is considered by many tohold even greater promise for businessdue to its digital foundation that enables

greater data mining potential, it has yetto consistently deliver on its promise offacilitating better understanding ofcustomer behavior (Adamson, Jones, andTapp, 2005; Bentum and Stone, 2005; Q.Chen and Chen, 2004; Fjermestad andRomano, 2003; Jang, Hu, and Bai, 2006;Li et al, 2007; Lin and Huang, 2007).

E-CRM simply indicates CRM-databaseaccess via the Web. It means intranetaccess for internal users, extranet accessfor business partners and customers andof course, Internet access for the marketat large. The term e-CRM was coined inthe mid-1990 when customers startedusing web browsers, the internet andother electronic touch points (e-mail, POSterminals,call centers, and direct sales).e-

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

6

CRM also include on line processapplications such as segmentation andpersonalization. The use of the internet,intranet, and extranet made customerservices, as well services to partnersthrough Internet technologies, datagenerated about customers can easily befed into marketing, sales, and customerservice data bases for analysis. E-CRMinvolves far more than automatingprocesses in sales, marketing, and serviceand then increasing the efficiency of theseprocesses. It involves conductinginteractions with customers on a moreinformed basis and individually tailoringthem to customers’ needs.

Apart from considering e-CRM as aphilosophy or strategy, in some instances,e-CRM is differentiated as eitheranalytical or operational (Fjermestad andRomano, 2003; Swift, 2002). Analyticale-CRM focuses on the collection andanalysis of customer data, whileoperational e-CRM focuses on allcustomer touch points throughout atransaction. In this research, we use adefinition of e-CRM adapted from Berryand Parasuraman’s (1991) definition ofrelationship marketing – e-CRM is asystem with the purpose of aligning thefirm’s planning, processes, and tools withthe strategic intent of maintaining andenhancing the relationship between thefirm and the customers it serves. Thisdefinition includes the additive e-Business construct of a “system,” andshifts the focus for e-CRM to“maintaining and enhancing” therelationship with a firm’s existingcustomers.

Literature Review

E-CRM is actually a combination ofhardware software, processes,applications and managementcommitment (Fjermestad, 2003). It hasthe power of mass-customization ofcustomers. It is seen more as a strategythan a software, because it includes thechange of organizational culture, businessprocesses, technological infrastructureand employee behaviors with customers(Chen 2004). E-CRM describes the broadrange of technologies used to support acompany’s CRM strategy. It can be seento arise from the consolidation oftraditional CRM with the e-businessapplications marketplace. Bradway andPurchia (2000) see e-CRM as theintersection between two importantindustry initiatives, the booming internetmarket and the shifting focus to customer-centric strategies. E-CRM is sometimesreferred to as web-enabled or web-basedCRM and emerging from this view e-CRMhas been defined by Forrester Research(2001) as ‘a web centric approach tosynchronizing customer relationshipsacross communication channels, businessfunctions and audiences’. LeeKelley et al.(2003) highlight the relative lack ofliterature in this domain and suggest as aworking definition that e-CRM refers to‘the marketing activities, tools andtechniques delivered via the Internetwhich includes email, world wide web,chat rooms, e-forums, etc., with a specificaim to locate, build and improve long termcustomer relationships to enhance theirindividual potential’.

Typically electronic and interactive mediasuch as the Internet and email are seenas playing the most significant role in

SuGyaan 7

Volume II, Issue I

operationalising CRM as they supporteffective customized informationbetween the organization and customers.However, e-CRM can also include othere-technologies and new e-channelsincluding mobile telephony, customer calland contact centres and voice responsesystems. The use of these technologiesand channels means that companies aremanaging customer interactions witheither no human contact at all, orinvolving reduced levels of humanintermediation on the supplier side(Anon, 2002).

Since the on-line world and e-technologies have become such anintegral part of day-to-day business andas they appeal to such a mass globaluniverse of consumers, businesses areconstantly searching for innovative yetcost-effective ways to reach remotecustomers, moving e-CRM from a ‘niceto have’ methodology to a ‘must have’methodology (Parekh, 2003). Industriesthat tend to be more e-CRM ready areaware of distinct contact with customers,are very competitive and are constantlyseeking differentiation (Ragins andGreco, 2003).

Benefits of e-CRM

According to Romano (2001), e-CRM isconcerned with attracting and keepingeconomically valuable customers andeliminating less profitable ones. Romanoand Fjermestad (2002) are convinced thate-CRM will continue to develop as animportant area of study in MIS and suchrelevant referent disciplines as ComputerScience, Marketing and Psychology.

A study by the Boston Consulting Groupfound that 65% of on-line customers who

purchase at a given web site will nevermake a second purchase. These factsshould be a wake-up call to web-enabledcompanies that there is a real service gapto address and that additional profitsawait those companies who quickly finda way to fill this gap. E-CRM can helpcompanies meet this challenge (Sims,2000). Anderson Consulting found thata typical $1 billion high-tech company cangain as much as $130 million in profitsby improving its ability to managecustomer relationships (Sims, 2000).Anderson Consulting also found that asmuch as 64% of the difference in returnon sales between average and highperforming companies is attributable toe-CRM performance. Such evidenceindicates that the well-plannedimplementation of an e-CRM systemproduces a winning situation forcustomers and companies alike.Improvements in the overall customerexperience lead to greater customersatisfaction, which in turn has a positiveeffect on the company’s profitability.

Blurtit, (2007-2009), indicates that today,with more and more companies opting forthe online approach to business, the valueof having a proper e-CRM solution isbecoming more and more apparent. E-CRM is not some vague concept, it is away of doing business where the focus isthe customer, and is a rewarding mix oftraditional business strategy and solutionswith present-day Internet marketingsolutions across the entire spectrum of acustomer’s business - payroll, inventory,etc. The benefits of having an e-CRMsolution implemented are many. First ofall, it allows you to radically enhance yourreturn on investment (ROI). Secondly, it

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

8

allows you to grow your customer baseand increase profitability. An effective e-CRM solution will help you retain currentcustomers and attract new business aswell. It also gives you the edge overcompetitors, all of which contribute togrowth and profits.

An important benefit allowed by theinternet is the overcoming of prominentgeographical boundaries (McGowan et al,2001). In peripheral and relatively smalleconomies it is vital that SMEs are ableto see that a market, other than in adomestic setting, exists for their productor service offering. Aside from enablinge-commerce, internet technologiesfacilitate the management of customersin other countries. Thus-CRM facilitatesnew market entry and internationa-lization (Berthon et al, 1993, Hamill andGregory, 1993B; McGowan et al, 2001).

An effective e-CRM system lets acompany communicate with itscustomers using a single and consistentvoice, regardless of the communicationchannel. This is because, with e-CRMsoftware, everyone in an organization hasaccess to the same transaction history andinformation about the customer.Information captured by an e-CRMsystem helps a company to identify theactual costs of winning and retainingindividual customers. Having this dataallows the firm to focus its time andresources on its most profitable customers(epiphany.com, 2001a).

Indeed, it would be fair to suggest thatthe use of e-CRM systems in informationcapture and management can assist firmsin achieving better levels of customerservice than traditional and non-internet

based CRM systems could. Thus, bydeploying an e-CRM strategy to maintainrelationships with customers, anorganization will be better equipped toserve their customers’ desires andimprove their loyalty, which will in turnimprove the organization’s efficiency andprofitability. Committed customers arecompany assets (Ragins and Greco, 2003)and it is less expensive to retain than tocreate a customer (Reichheld and Sasser,1990, Storbacka et al, 1994).

Having detailed customer informationfrom an e-CRM system allows a companyto predict the kind of products that acustomer is likely to buy as well as thetiming of purchases. In the short tomedium term, this information helps anorganization create more effective andfocused marketing/sales campaignsdesigned to attract the desired customeraudience (epiphany.com, 2001a). E-CRMallows for more targeted campaigns andtracking of campaign effectiveness.Customer data can be analyzed frommultiple perspectives to discover whichelements of a marketing campaign had thegreatest impact on sales and profitability(Greenberg, 2001).

In general, a key benefit of e-CRM isimproved efficiency, both internally andthroughout the supply chain (McGowanand Durkin, 2002; Chaston and Mangles,2003) and by gaining an intrinsic andalmost exact knowledge of whatcustomers want, fewer financial resourcesare wasted throughout the productionprocess. A positive impact on the ‘bottomline’ is therefore expected from anorganization dedicating resources to e-CRM. In general, the value of e-CRMcomes in lowering costs, enabling more

SuGyaan 9

Volume II, Issue I

efficient business practice and creatingcompetitive advantage (Smith, 7444).

Benefits to Banks

Singh et al (2002) indicate that theevolution of the e-banking industry canbe traced to the early 1970s. Banks beganto look at e-banking as a means to replacesome of their traditional branchfunctions, for two reasons. Firstly,branches were very expensive to set upand maintain due to the large overheadsassociated with them. Secondly, e-banking products/services like ATM andelectronic funds transfer were a sourceof differentiation for banks that utilizedthem. Being in a fiercely competitiveindustry, the ability of banks todifferentiate themselves on the basis ofprice is limited. Technology hasintroduced new ways of deliveringbanking to the customer, such as ATMsand internet banking. Hence, banks havefound themselves at the forefront oftechnology adoption for the past threedecades. It is imperative for banks to aligntheir strategies in response to changingcustomers’ needs and developments intechnology.

Two ways to improve customer serviceand support are through e-mail and directmail campaigns (Patton, 2001a). A robustbulk e-mail management tool can help getoffers to a wide range of prospectivecustomers and can customize how thatoffer is presented. However, highlytargeted e-mail and direct mail approacheshave much better results. The right toolsfacilitate sending the right offers to theright customers at the right time.

According to Harvey (1998) e-CRMprovide cost savings, opportunism and

threats drive action and innovation evenin conservative banks. They haveinfluenced how banks must re-positionthemselves to take advantage of newopportunities that include establishingnew service delivery channels and newmarket for existing services (loan, lettersof credit etc). Leveraging the power of theweb is a move from static pages todynamic applications that are connectedto banks data. A web service that givesreal time access to merchants for paymentinformation rather than waiting for ahardcopy from bank.

According to Elias M (2000), the mostpopular tool for customer service is e-mail. Inexpensive and fast, e-mail is usedto disseminate information (eg.catalogues), to send product informationand order confirmations, to conductcorrespondence regarding any topic withcustomers and business partners andresponding to enquiries from customers.To answer a large number of e-mailsquickly and cost efficiently automated e-mail reply systems are increasinglyimplemented. Automated e-mail replyresponses to customer enquiries aredeveloped using intelligent agents thatthat recognize the key words and quicklyrespond to common queries. However, thegreatest advantage of e-mail as acommunication tool is providing quickand accurate information to all customerqueries. E-mails can include forms,reviews, referrals and new contacts sentto customers as attached files and how e-CRM bringing bridge between bank andcustomer through e-mails and businesscommunication.

E-CRM provides the capability to capture,integrate, and distribute data/

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

10

information/knowledge gained from itsorganizational website throughout theentire institution. In addition, e-CRMenhances the integration of data/information/knowledge from e-commerce to support services inmarketing and sales over a single,customized Web interface. E-CRM canachieve better understanding by usingtechnology and web-based applications asimportant tools to link “front office”-sales, marketing, and customer servicewith “back office”- financial, operations,logistics and human resources. E-CRMexpands the traditional CRM approach oftechnology tools, such as Internet,website, and wireless, into the e-commerce applications of the overallinstitution. Some advantages exist whenthe institution considers using an e-CRMapproach to its service interactionmarketing, such as quick service/responsetime, two-way interactive servicerelationships, and the ability to provideservice for customers from anywhere atany time (Pan and Lee, 2003).

Research has suggested that relationshipquality is one effective way to reduce theuncertainty resulting from service failureand negative outcomes (Roloff and Miller1987; Zeithaml 1981), and enableinstitutions to continue reaching theircustomer’s expectations (satisfaction)and interests (trust). Also, some studieshave concluded that a successful buyer-seller interaction relationship raised levelsof customer satisfaction (e.g., Crosby andStephens 1987; Parasuraman, Zeithaml,and Berry 1985; Solomon et al. 1985).

E-CRM-enabling technologies includesearch engines, live help, e-mailmanagement, news feeds/content

management and multi-language support.With an ECRM system in place, acompany can: more accurately receive,update and close orders remotely, logmaterials, expenses and time associatedwith service orders, view customerservice agreements, search for provensolutions and best practices, subscribe toproduct-related information and softwarepatches and access knowledge tools usefulin completing service orders(peoplesoft.com, 2001).

E-CRM is not here to change marketingbut to enhance it by presentingopportunities to companies to improvetheir effectiveness and to delivercustomer value (Scullin et al, 2004). It canreduce die costs involved incommunicating to customers, optimizework flows as a result of integration withother enterprise systems, facilitate bettermarket segmentation and enableenhanced customer interactions,relationship and personalizationopportunities (Adebanjo, 2003). The goalof e-CRM systems is to improve customerservice, retain valuable customers and toaid in providing analytical capabilities(Fjermestad and Romano, 2003) withinan organization.

Research Methodology

Problem Formulation: Customerrelationship management (CRM)typically involves tracking individualcustomer behavior over time, and usingthis knowledge to configure solutionsprecisely tailored to the customers’ andvendors’ needs. A bank is a financialinstitution engaged in so many financialtransactions and activities through itswebsite, like monitory transactions,

SuGyaan 11

Volume II, Issue I

manage banking campaigns, helping anenterprise to identify and target their bestcustomers, formation of individualizedrelationships with customers, customersatisfaction and maximizing profits etc.The issue identified here is how far thewebsite of the banks is ensuring its qualityby supporting the customers in theirbanking transactions with which thecustomers feel better relationshipmanagement through the institutionalwebsite. Here the quality of the websiteand the different transactionopportunities provided by the websitesmatters a lot. The study aimed toestablish the relationship between e-CRMpractices and the website service qualityby examining the impact of e-CRMpractices on customers’ perceptions ofwebsite service quality.

Objectives of the study

1. To understand the e-CRM practicein banking service

2. To understand the web servicequality in banking sector

3. To analyze the relationship betweene-CRM practices and web servicesquality in banking services

4. To analyze the influence of e-CRMpractices on web services quality inbanking services

5. To analyze socio-demographicvariations in relation to e-CRMpractices and web services quality inbanking services

Hypothesis of the study

1. There may be significantrelationship between e-CRMpractices and web services quality in

banking services

2. e-CRM practices may significantlyinfluence the perception ofcustomers on web services quality inbanking services

3. There may have significant socio-demographic variations in relation toe-CRM practices and web servicesquality in banking services

Population: The study aimed to assessthe impact of e-CRM on customerperceptions of the website service quality.The study concentrates on private andpublic sector banks in the desert town ofIbri, Sultanate of Oman. The populationselected for the study consists of the malecustomers of selected banks.

Sampling:The investigators approachedcustomers who are the users of bankwebsite for financial transactions, in Ibri,Sultanate of Oman. Out of which thestudy observed four banks whichextended the determined homogeneity ofthe population required for the study.From four banks finally considered thustwo banks selected from private sectorand two banks selected from public sectorin order to ensure their equalrepresentation. From each bank, 25customers who are the users of the bankswebsites for financial and banktransaction are finally selected randomly.A total of 200 sample size is thusconsidered for the study. The details ofthe sample distribution are given below.

Tools selected for the study: The studyconsidered three tools for the datacollection. A questionnaire measuringcustomers perception of e-CRM practicesof the bank, a questionnaire measuring

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

12

customers perception on websites servicequality and a questionnaire on bio-socialvariables

Factor analysis of e-CRM features:The information about the customers hasbeen collected from the informal sourcesince the banks are not ready to sharetheir personal information about theircustomers. The customers of each bankwere contacted personally by theresearchers and their perceptionregarding the use of wide list of e-CRMfeatures categorized based on the e-servicestages. A principal component factoranalysis with varimax rotation was thenapplied for clustering the wide list intolesser number of e-CRM features. Theresults of the factor analysis (table 2)clustered the e-CRM factors into a fivefactor model explaining 71.6% of the totalvariance.

Factor 1: Website and online bankinformation, factor 2: Bankingtransaction, factor 3: Banking customerservice, support and relationship, factor4: Banking Product and Service \identification and selection and factor 5:Personalized services (Table 2)

All the 5 factors (F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5)

that included in factor analysis werefound most vital in e-CRM featuresexplaining 0.211, 0.209, 0.204, 0.202 and0.201 of the variance respectively. Thusall the factors then considered for furtheranalysis.

Measurement of Validity andReliability of Web Quality Service

The study did the content analysis bymaking use of extensive literature andpreviously validated constructs. Itestablishes further the incorporation ofthe representativeness of the items in thequestionnaire, for adequate datacollection. The questionnaire was pilottested with 48 customers from all the fourbanks (12 from each bank randomly) toarrive at the reliability of the construct.The Cronbach Standardized Alpha wasestimated to assess the reliability of theitems selected for the study. As therelationship varied from 0.60 to 0.92 thereliability test passed. All the 12 items inthe questionnaire items have secured areliability score above .60 and thus allthe12 items were considered for the study.

Analysis and Results

The data collected was analyzed by usingSPSS 14 version. The results of the study

Table 1Sector, Organisation and Management Level in sample

Sampling Banks

Age group PrivateBank PrivateBank PublicBank PublicBank TOTAL1 2 1 1

20-29 25 25 25 25 100

30-39 25 25 25 25 100

Total 200

SuGyaan 13

Volume II, Issue I

Table 2Measuring and Categorizing e-CRM Features

Factors Sub Factors: Items on the questionnaire Scores andValues

Website and online Information on Bank 0.811bank information Information for first time users 0.797

Banking services information 0.752Allowing fast service searchWebsite mapVirtual toursMultiple ways to search informationPersonalization of website informationStimulating sensory cuesWebsite advertisementWebsite maps Multimedia effects onexperiencing the servicesInformationof members online

% of variance explained 0.211% of cumulative variance explained 0.211Cronbach á 0.723

Banking transaction Easy log in as a member / customerInternet banking and purchase optionSecurityPrivacyMultiple payment optionsMultiple transaction optionSMS service on each banking transactionChecking and altering banking possibilitiesOnline tracking of service

% of variance explained 0.209% of cumulative variance explained 0.433Cronbach á 0.747

Banking customer Customer services and benefitsservice, support and Online registrationrelationship Customer contacts and follow-ups

Frequently asked questions

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

14

Automated E-mail customer supportChanges and cancellation optionsResponding enquiriesCall back optionsOnline problem solving

% of variance explained 0.204% of cumulative variance explained 0.501Cronbach á 0.743

Banking Product & Product informationService and Product highlightsidentification and Choice of productsselection Product customization

Shopping cartsEasy comparison of product services andfeaturesProduct registrationProduct purchase conditionsPurchase recommendationsOnline product sales and transactions

% of variance explained 0.202% of cumulative variance explained 0.592Cronbach á 0.788

Personalized services Identifying customer needsServing unique customer needsProviding best solutionsImproving customer conversationsProduct personalizationPersonalized e-mail alertsPersonalization of website interaction

% of variance explained 0.201% of cumulative variance explained 0.799Cronbach á 0.756

SuGyaan 15

Volume II, Issue I

Table 3Validity and Realibility of Web Quality Service

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

16

were analyzed on the basis of descriptivestatistics, multiple regression andcorrelations. The result of the study wasanalyzed on the basis of descriptivestatistics, regressions and correlations.(Table 4)

The first Hypothesis (H1) indicates that“there may be significant relationshipbetween e-CRM practices and webservices quality in banking services.’ Thetable (table no. 4) clearly indicates thatexcept for a few cases (insignificant) thereis positive correlation (significant at the0.01 level) exists between 5 of the subvariables of Independent Variable e-CRMwebsite and online banking information(F1) Banking transaction (F2), Bankingcustomer service, support andrelationship (F3), Banking Product andService and identification and selection(F4) and Personalized services (F5) with8 sub variables of dependent variable webservice quality and the sub variables ofDependent Variable Web Service Quality

viz., Information fit to task, Interactivity,Responsiveness, Intuitiveness, Flow –emotional appeal, Innovativeness,Business process, and Viable substitute (p= 0.01 level). Hence the study acceptsthe first hypothesis selected for the study.(Table No 5)

The major hypothesis stated in this paperwas “the e-CRM practices maysignificantly influence the perception ofcustomers on web services quality inbanking services.” Multiple regressionanalysis (table no. 5) was used forexamining whether each web qualitydimension is affected by each h of the 5e-CRM factors. 8 out of 12 regressionmodels are significant at the 0.01 level.The variables like trust, design appeal,visual appeal and integratedcommunication were not affected by thee-CRM practices. On the contrary,information fit to task, interactivity,responsiveness, intuitiveness, flow ofemotional appeal business process, and

SuGyaan 17

Volume II, Issue I

viable substitute that according tocustomer perceptions have been affectedby e-CRM practices. The finding is in linewith the second hypothesis stated in thepaper that the e-CRM practices maysignificantly influence the perception ofcustomers on web services quality inbanking services. Thus the secondhypothesis stated in the paper is wellaccepted.

Specifically, regarding the website servicequality dimensions affected by the e-CRMfactors the following are found. All thee-CRM variables selected for the studyenhance the features of the website viz.,website and online banking information(F1) Banking transaction (F2), Bankingcustomer service, support andrelationship (F3), Banking Product andService and identification and selection(F4) and Personalized services (F5).These factors were having significantlypositive effect on the web service qualitydimensions selected for the study.

Website and online bankinginformation (F1) of e-CRM feature issignificantly influence the Informationfit to task (â = 0.071, p < 0.01)Interactivity (â = 0.074, p < 0.01),Responsiveness (â = 0.072, p < 0.01),Intuitiveness (â = 0.072, p < 0.01), Flow– emotional appeal (â = 0.072, p < 0.01),Innovativeness (â = 0.066, p < 0.01),Business process (â = 0.071, p < 0.01)and Viable substitute (â = 0.069, p <0.01);

Business Transactions (F2) of e-CRMfeature is significantly influence theInformation fit to task (â = 0.072, p <0.01) Interactivity (â = 0.074, p < 0.01),Responsiveness (â = 0.072, p < 0.01),Intuitiveness (â = 0.071, p < 0.01), Flow– emotional appeal (â = 0.074, p < 0.01),Innovativeness (â = 0.068, p < 0.01),Business process (â = 0.062, p < 0.01)and Viable substitute (â = 0.070, p <0.01);

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

18

Banking customer service, supportand relationship (F3) of e-CRM featureis significantly influence the Informationfit to task (â = 0.071, p < 0.01)Interactivity (â = 0.076, p < 0.01),Responsiveness (â = 0.072, p < 0.01),Intuitiveness (â = 0.074, p < 0.01), Flow– emotional appeal (â = 0.075, p < 0.01),Innovativeness (â = 0.066, p < 0.01),Business process (â = 0.073, p < 0.01)and Viable substitute (â = 0.071, p <0.01);

Banking Product and Service andidentification and selection (F4 )of e-CRM feature is significantly influence theInformation fit to task (â = 0.040, p <0.01) Interactivity (â = 0.075, p < 0.01),Responsiveness (â = 0.071, p < 0.01),Intuitiveness (â = 0.071, p < 0.01), Flow– emotional appeal (â = 0.072, p < 0.01),Innovativeness (â = 0.070, p < 0.01),Business process (â = 0.062, p < 0.01)and Viable substitute (â = 0.074, p <0.01);

Personalized services (F5) of e-CRMfeature is significantly influence theInformation fit to task (â = 0.072, p <0.01) Interactivity (â = 0.072, p < 0.01),Responsiveness (â = 0.072, p < 0.01),Intuitiveness (â = 0.071, p < 0.01), Flow– emotional appeal (â = 0.071, p < 0.01),Innovativeness (â = 0.070, p < 0.01),Business process (â = 0.061, p < 0.01)and Viable substitute (â = 0.076, p <0.01).

The socio demographic variables likeyears of service, education, marital statusand hobbies found insignificant in thisresearch. Hence the study rejects thethird hypothesis (H3) formulated in thisresearch viz., Socio demographic variables

significantly influence on e-CRMpractices and the web service quality.

Discussion and Implications

The study clearly indicates that all the 5e-CRM sub variables are significantlyinfluencing the perception of customerson selected sub variables of web servicequality. It is surprising to see that the e-CRM features couldn’t influence trust onthe perception of customers’ on certainvariables of web quality services like trust,visual appeal, design appeal andintegrated communication. This indicatesthat the customers of business sectorhaving more of utilitarian needs thanemotional needs. Though the customersare making use of the web for thefinancial transactions they are bitconcerned about the trust worthiness ofthe website transactions. How far the webtransactions provide safety and securityin their financial transaction is a matterof concern. The customers are giving lessimportance to visual appeal of the websiteand the design. They give moreimportance to responsiveness and thebusiness process like web service qualityvariables which is having more pragmaticin their day to day professional purpose.The customers are having more interestin quick load of the website, easy use ofwebsite, happy with the use of the websiteby saving more time in businesstransactions. The study further points outthat the web services should concentratemore on the variables which closely knitwith the business transaction of thecustomers for development of businessoperations through customer relationshipmanagement. The e-CRM features havegot better acceptance from the customers.The website information and the

SuGyaan 19

Volume II, Issue I

interactivity enjoyed by the customersindicate that the web service is one of theviable substitute of business transactions.By enhancing the innovativeness and thequality service of the website the e-CRMpractices can improve the productivity ofthe banking operations.

Conclusion

The widespread use of the webtechnology presents an opportunity forbusiness to use the internet as a tool forelectronic customer relationshipmanagement (e-CRM). This study hasanalyzed the impact of e-CRM practiceson website service quality within thebanking sector. E-CRM practices havebeen widely recognized as crucialcompetitive tools in the moderninformation technology economy wherethe customers have become more businessand operational sensitive than emotionalsensitive. More than emotional quotientthe customers are sensitive towardsrational quotient. Findings provided theevidence that e-CRM practices arecritically important in enhancing theutilitarian dimensions of website servicequality. Banks should improve the webservice quality in ensuring the trust of thecustomers by making provision of bettersecurity to their transactions. Banksshould provide better visual and designappeal to the customers so that they canattract more customers in making use ofwebsites as a viable means to do financialtransactions. The study is limited to thecustomers of four banks in Ibri, Sultanateof Oman. Future studies shouldinvestigate whether similar findings can

be replicated in larger scale populationswith multiple profiles and culturalbackgrounds.

References

Adamson, G, Jones, W, and Tapp, A.(2005), From CRM to FRM: ApplyingCRM in the Football Industry. DatabaseMarketing and Customer StrategyManagement, 13, pp. 156-172.

Adebanjo, D. (2003), Classifying andSelecting e-CRM Applications: AnAnalysis-Based Proposal, ManagementDecision, Vol. 41, No. 6, pp. 570-7.

Anon (2001), A Short Guide to E-business; Getting Close to Customers:Leapfrogging with E-CRM, EnterpriseIreland access via http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/ebusiness.

Bai, B., Hu, C. and Jang, S. (2006),Examining E-relationship MarketingFeatures on Hotel Websites. Journal ofTravel and Tourism Marketing, 21, pp.33-48.

Bentum, R. V. and Stone, M. (2005),Customer Relationship Management andthe Impact of Corporate Culture – AEuropean Study. Database Marketing andCustomer Strategy Management, 13, pp.28-54.

Berry, L. L. and Parasuraman, A. (1991),Marketing services: Competing throughQuality. The Free Press.

Berthon Pierre, Morris B. Holbrook, andJames H. Hulbert (2000), Beyond MarketOrientation: A Conceptualization ofMarket Evolution, Journal of Interactive

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

20

Marketing, 14, 3 (summer), pp. 50-66.

Blurtit, (2007-2009), What Are TheBenefits Of Implementing ECRM?Online document, http://www.blurtit.com/q876388.html.

Bradway, B. and R. Purchia (2000), Top10 Strategic IT Initiatives in e-CRM forthe New Millennium, http://www.financial-insights.com.

Chaston, I. and Mangles, T. (2003),Relationship marketing in onlinebusiness-to-business markets: A pilotinvestigation of small UK manufacturingfirms, European Journal of Marketing,vol. 37 (5/6) pp. 753.

Chen, Q. and Chen, H. M. (2004),Exploring the Success Factors of e-CRMStrategies in Practice. Database Marketingand Customer Strategy Management, 11,pp. 333-343.

Chen, H. M., Chen, Q. and Kazman, R.(2007), The Affective and CognitiveImpacts of Perceived Touch on OnlineCustomers’ Intention to Return in theWeb-based E-CRM Environment. Journalof Electronic Commerce in Organizations,5, pp. 69-91.

Crafton, T. W. (2002), Do you ReallyKnow Your Customers? StrategicFinance, October, 55-57.

Crosby, L. A. and Stephens, N. (1987),Effects of Relationship Marketing onSatisfaction, Retention and Prices in theLife Insurance Industry. Journal ofMarketing Research, 24, pp. 404-411.

Cunningham Colleen, Song IYeol andChen Peter P. (2006). Data Warehouse

Design to Support Customer RelationshipManagement Analyses. Journal ofDatabase Management. 6284, April –June, p. 62.

Elias M. Awad (2000), The Structure ofE-Commerce in the Banking Industry: AnEmpirical Investigation, Special InterestGroup on Computer Personnel ResearchAnnual Conference, Proceedings of the2000 ACM SIGCPR conference onComputer personnel research.

Fatt J.P.T. (1998). The Effect of NonVerbal Cues on Bank Patrons,Management Research News, Vol, 21, No,10 pp. 14- 33.

Epiphany.com (2001), http://www.ephany.com/market/crm_ benefits.html2001; Last Viewed February - a.

Epiphany.com (2001), http://www.ephany.com/market/crm_tools. html;Last Viewed February- b.

Fjermestad, J, and Romano, N. (2003),Electronic Customer RelationshipManagement: Revisiting the GeneralPrinciples of Usability and Resistance –An Integrative ImplementationFramework. Business ProcessManagement Journal, 9, pp. 572 – 591.

Forrester Research (2001), Glossary,http://www.forrester.com

Greenberg, G, (2001) “As Good as Dead:New Yorker, pp. 36-41

Hamill J. and Gregory, K., (1993B),‘Internet Marketing in the Internationa-lization of UK SMEs’, Journal ofMarketing Management, 13, pp.9-28.

Harvey, Lynne, “Building Customer value

SuGyaan 21

Volume II, Issue I

Across the Enterprise”, Patricia SeyboldGroup, 2001.

Jang, S., Hu, C, and Bai, B. (2006), ACanonical Correlation Analysis of E-relationship Marketing and HotelFinancial Performance. Tourism andHospitality Research, 6, pp. 241-250.

Lee-Kelley, L, G. David and M. Robin(2003), How E-CRM can EnhanceCustomer Loyalty. Marketing Intelligenceand Planning, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 239-48.

Lin, C. and Huang, Y. (2007). AnIntegrated Framework for Managing E-CRM Evaluation Process. InternationalJournal of Electronic Business, 5, pp. 340-359.

Lin, C., and Huang, Y. (2007), AnIntegrated Framework for Managing E-CRM Evaluation Process. InternationalJournal of Electronic Business, 5, pp. 340-359.

McGowan, P and Durkin, M.G. (2002),Toward an Understanding of InternetAdoption at the Marketing /Entrepreneurship Interface, Journal ofMarketing Management, vol. 18, no. 3/4, pp. 361-377.

McGowan, P, Durkin, M.G., Allen, L.,Dougan, C. and Nixon, S. (2001),Developing Competencies in theEntrepreneurial Small Firm for use of theInternet in the Management of CustomerRelationships, Journal of EuropeanIndustrial Training, Vol. 25, No. 2-4, pp.126.

Pan, S. L. and Lee J. (2003) Using E-CRMfor a Unified View of the Customer.

Communications of the ACM, 46(4).

Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry(1985), A Conceptual Model of ServiceQuality and Implications for FutureResearch, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 48.pp. 41-50.

Parekh, S. (2003), Improving On-lineCustomer Relationships, access via http:// www . destinationcrm .com/ articles/default.asp ? article id = 3O47.

Parker, S.K. (2003). Longitudinal Effectsof Lean Production on EmployeeOutcomes and the Mediating Role ofWork Characteristics. Journal of AppliedPsychology, 88 (4) pp. 620-634.

Patton, Susannah (2001a.), The Truthabout CRM, CIO Magazine.

Peoplesoft.com, Viewed February (2001),http: // www. peoplesoft. Com / en / us /products / applications / crm / product _content.

Ragins, EJ. and AJ. Greco (2003),Customer Relationship Management andE-business: More than a SoftwareSolution, Review of Business, Winter, pp.15-30.

Reichheld, F.F. and Sasser, J.W.E. (1990),Zero Defections: Quality Comes toServices, Harvard Business Review, Vol.68, No. 5, pp. 105.

Romano N.C. (2000), Customer RelationsManagement in Information SystemsResearch, Proceedings of the SixthAmericas Conference on InformationSystems, Long Beach, California, USA,August 10-13, pp. 811-819.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

22

Romano, N.C, and Fjermestad, J. (2002),Electronic Customer RelationshipManagement: An Assessment ofResearch, International Journal ofElectronic Commerce, 6, 2, pp. 61-113.

Scullin, S. S, Fjermestad, J, and Romano,N. C., Jr. (2004), E-relationshipmarketing: Changes in TraditionalMarketing as an Outcome of ElectronicCustomer Relationship Management.The Journal of Enterprise InformationManagement, 17, 410-415.

Singh Shreyan, Sohrab S C., TahaMohammed Y and Yeo Chin H (2002),Dynamics of Innovation in E-banking,ECIS, June 6–8, Gdañsk, Poland.

Sigala, M. (2004), Designing experientialwebsites in tourism and hospitality: acustomer-centric value approach. In Frew,A. (2004) Information and Communi-cation Technologies in Tourism. Vienna:Springer Verlag, pg. 161.

Sims, David (2000), A New ROI for NewEconomy CRM And Just Why Doesn’tHigh-Tech Get It?” crmguru.com, April.

Smith, P. (2000), Hi Tail to e-tail, NewZealand Management, Vol. 47, No. 6.

Solomon, M, R. (2004), ConsumerBehaviour, Prentice Hall.

Storbacka, K, Strandvik, T. and Gronroos,C. (1994), Managing Customer

Relationships for Profit: the Dynamics ofRelationship Quality. InternationalJournal of Service Industry Management5(5), 21–38.

Swift (2002), Accelerating CustomerRelationship Management, NJ, PrinticeHall

White paper (2008), What is CRM?,Online document, Touchtone Corporation, http://wintouch.com/crm.htm.

Xu Mark, Walton John (2005), GainingCustomer Knowledge through AnalyticalCRM. Industrial Management and DataSystems. Vol. 105, Issue 7, pg. 955.

Zeithaml, Valarie A, (1981), HowConsumer Evaluation Processes Differbetween Goods and Services, inMarketing of Service, J. H. Donnelly andW. R. George, eds. Chicago: AmericanMarketing Association, pp.186-90.

Zeithaml, V. (2002), Service Quality inE-channels. Managing Service Quality,12(3), pp. 135-138.

Author:

Dr. Dileep Kumar. M is a Faculty, IbriCollege of Technology, Sultanate ofOman.

dr.dileepk@yahoo.co.in

#MJSSIM1(I)01, 2010

SuGyaan 23

Volume II, Issue I

Introduction

Stress as a subject of research has beenreceiving increasing importance in thesedays for significant reasons(Chandrasekhar, 2008). At least some ofthem are (1) it is probably the onlyconcept that has received attention fromboth the doctors and behavioral scientists(2) It is involved in the etiology ofphysiological, psychological andbehavioral illness (3) Its ramifyingconsequences are varied, adverse anddeleterious on the work lives of the staff(Verhaeghe, et.al, 2003). Besides,unknowingly, we are spending millionsof rupees on treatment of stress-relatedillness and other social consequences ofstress.

Generally speaking, "stress" refers to twosimultaneous events: an external stimuluscalled a stressor, and the emotional andphysical responses to that stimulus (fear,anxiety, surging heart rate and blood

pressure, fast breathing, muscle tension,and so on, Bruce Cryer, Rollin McCraty,and Doc Chiidre, 2003) "It is an uptightfeeling", "It is a feeling of tenseness." "Itis being in a pressure situation". "It isbeing anxious or frustrated" Raber MerillF (2005). Stress is something like asickness or ailment where most peoplesuffer from, in modern society. It is a factof life everybody faces every day. It is thebody's reaction to demands placed on it.Stress can be anyone or all of theseemotions. One expert described stress as,"wear and tear within the body".

Why stress means different things todifferent people like? Tackling a task forthe first time, or a meeting with the boss,giving a presentation, a delayed deliveryof important supplies, an irate customer,a tight deadline, a difference of opinion.Stress is a notoriously fickle concept:necessarily subjective, we use it here torefer to the constellation of cognitive,affective and motivational processes

Holistic Stress: Conceptualization and Measurement

Anand Reddy and S. F. Chandrasekar

Abstract

Over the years many sicknesses and diseases like HIV, Hepatitis B, Anthrax, Chicken Guinea,Dengue, Swine flu… etc., threatened human life by creating commotion among the people. Attentionon all of these has been like passing clouds. But there is sickness which is growing rapidly; missingthe media attention is “the stress”. ‘Stress’ as known is a pressure, tension, and strain, anxiety,helplessness, hopelessness, which has deleterious effects on the lives of the people is increasinglydemanding the scrupulous regard from all the professionals of different walks of life. Though it haswitnessed more than 60 years of conceptualization generating significant understanding of stress,there exist some gaps in the way it is conceptualized and consequently measured and interpreted. A37-item scale developed to measure holistic stress was subjected to factor analysis, which yieldedthree dimensions namely, Institutional/work Stress, Individual/personal stress and social/relationship stress. Further, when holistic stress was analyzed across experience levels anddesignations, there were no significant mean variations, indicating that stress is a global experienceof employees of a large insurance company. Implications were drawn for practice and researchconsiderations.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

24

activated by the demands of living, andin particular of the workplace (Gardneret al 2005). What is stressful to you todaymay not necessarily be stressful to youtomorrow or the day after. The chronicsituation appears to be similar to a normalsituation, usually characterized by dailyhassles (Elliot and Eisdrofer, 1982).

Problems of Conceptualization

During the last few years, psychologistshave witnessed an increase in the numberof trauma cases. This may be due toseveral reasons like, the increase ofvehicular population, (Chandrasekhar,2008), work place conditions, (ShifraSagy, 2001) from the interaction of theworkers and the conditions of work(Bhattacharya, 2006), individualsbehavior in ways that are in apparentcontradictions to their expressed ethicalconcerns (Andreas Chatzidakis, SallyHibbert, Andrew Smith, 2006), roleambiguity and role conflict, (Arthur Gbedeian et al1981) self-concept and socialrelationships (Andreas Chatzidakis, SallyHibbert, Andrew Smith, 2006) speed atwhich work flows, and the amount of thedemand made at the work place. All thesecaused stress among people in general.Most of the employees report that theyhave health-related problems which couldbe categorised as psychosomaticcomplaints as a consequence of intenseinvolvement in stressful workexperiences. Despite this fund ofevidence, the development of stress hassuffered because of the piecemealapproach that has characterized this areaof research. No attempt has been madeto verify more than a select few of thereported research findings in a singlestudy. It thus has been largely impossible

to determine whether or not a consistencybetween relationships exists, or whetheror not the results being reported are asingular aspect of the organization understudy and bear no relationship to otherphenomena. The present investigation isan attempt to fill this need.

Statement of the Problem

Earlier concept of stress is incompletesince it is conceptualized from the viewsof job itself or other sources likeorganizational antecedents. One of theconsequences of this continuedtheoretical elaboration of the stressprocess has been the development of asociological model of stress that embracesthe complexity of social life (Pearlin etal. 2005). There are also some otherfactors which needs to be addressedbefore conceptualizing the job stress asthese make the people to be under stress.Stress indicators can fall in threecategories of experiences namely,Institutional/work, self and relations.

Institutional/work stress comes not justbecause of the targets that are given tothe subordinates by their bosses orbecause of the bosses. Stress is known forits emanation from various institutionalframeworks including, family, work place,and other agencies like, guilds, clubs,associations etc (Hybels, et al, 2006).Thus, such stress exposure also includevarious aspects like seating comfort,lighting job security, working hours, etc.which make the people experience morestressed. Further, the structural andprocesses of an organization is known tobe the stress inducing aspects of worklives (Parker and DeCotiis, 1983).

Individual/personal stress depends on the

SuGyaan 25

Volume II, Issue I

mind sets of the individual. How theyperceive their work and how they handlethe situations. Because of the variationsin their approaches to job they alter thelife style which makes people to be undermore stress. Many a time, stress is acreation of mishandling of work lifesituations by an individual employee.Inability in handling the workplacedemands and lack of knowledge about thework will also induce stress feelingsamong the employees and also quite likelyin other facets of life besides workplace(Jaepil, 2008).

Social/relationship stress is the one whichcomes due to the relationships with thepeople around, may be the people whoare in the office, may be the people athome, or may be the strangers whom thepeople perceive as hindrance (Voydanoff,2007). Literature is replete withillustrations of relationship induced stress(Morrison, Rebecca; O'Connor, Rory C.,2008). Such views are proposed in theconceptualization of stress in this paper.Consequently such conceptualizationhelped in measuring and reporting resultsin this paper.

The Present Study

In this consumerist and fast moving worldwhere human being is giving importanceto getting more things done within theshort period of time, thus stress isindispensable and inseparable from thedaily life of man. There have been plentyof studies done on stress from variousdisciplines. Because man is being stressedfrom all angles of life at all the places; beit a social, psychological, personal/behavioral, or be it at home or work place.This study shows that stress and

experience are proportionally related.This conclusion is drawn after studyingthe employees from organizational,personal, and social angles. As the peoplebecome more experienced the demand orexpectations of the organizations from theparticular people also increases. As aconsequence these people start takingunnecessary tensions which are resultingin various sicknesses, either physical orpsychological or behavioral.

Consequently, a scale to measure holisticview of stress experienced by employeesfrom an insurance company has beendeveloped and results in this regard arereported in this study. Earlier research(Carsten K.W. De dreu,1998, Raber Merilland Dyck George, 2005, Ongori, Henry,Agolla, Joseph Evans, 2008) has grosslyignored such a comprehensive view ofstress, therefore, such comprehensiveview necessitates the understanding ofthe stress experiences in its complete formand helps further in evolvingcomprehensive coping strategies.

Thus, this study has two fold purpose.Firstly, it attempts to develop a scale tomeasure holistic stress experienced byemployees. Secondly, analyze levels ofsuch stress, dimension wise, inaccordance with designation and years ofexperience. Implications were drawn forcoping with stress from holisticperspective.

Objectives and Hypothesis of theStudy

In view of the aims of this study theobjectives are: 1. to assess extent ofperceived stress among employees usingholistic approach, and 2. to analyze extentof stress in relation to the type of function

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

26

and experience of the sales staff. Whilekeeping in view the objectives, it ishypothesized that "there is no significantvariation in holistic stress according tothe years of experience and designationof the respondents".

Research Method

This study is carried out in a large generalinsurance company in greater Hyderabadcity. Systematic random samplingtechnique was utilized for the selectionof participants of the study. There wereapproximately 1500 employees in total,of which 150 were selected randomlyusing the muster roll numbers of theemployees. This has resulted employeesfrom different departments like: agencyback office, customer sales officer,relationship manger, sales manager.

A structured interview schedule wasprepared which includes a 37-item scaledeveloped exclusively. The items weremeasured with a five-point likert scale(where 5=strongly agree and 1=stronglydisagree). The scale details atmosphereof the organization by covering variousaspects like discipline in the organization,work timings, seating arrangements,lighting facilities, technology, incentives,growth facilities, motivational factors,outings, etc. It is also structured to bringout how people feel and react to varioussituations and how the behaviors of thepeople alter. Besides the scale items alsodeal with the individuals associationswith various people like people at home,subordinates, bosses, customers and thestrangers, and their behavior with thevarious groups of people. The reliabilityof the scale is established with the helpof coefficient of alpha and the factor

structure of the scale. The validity of thescale is established with the help ofcontent validity (Carmines and Zeller,1979). Content validity is typicallyestimated by gathering a group of subjectmatter experts (SMEs) together to reviewthe test items. Here the subject matterexperts are the combination of threeprofessors of organizational behaviourand three practicing HRD managers.Specifically, these SMEs are given the listof content areas specified in the testblueprint, along with the test itemsintended to be based on each content area.The SMEs are then asked to indicatewhether or not they agree that each itemis appropriately matched to the contentarea indicated. Any items that the SMEsidentify as being inadequately matchedto the test blueprint, or flawed in anyother way, are either revised or droppedfrom the test. From such exercise, the finallist included 37-items. Further, the factorstructure and the reliability details of thescale are presented in table 1. In order totest the hypothesis Mean, S.D and F-Values were computed and theirconsequent results are presented in table2 and 3.

Results and Discussion

In view of the objectives and theHypothesis the stress level of theemployee have been analyzed accordingto certain personal characteristics. Resultsin this regard are presented in thefollowing sections.

Initially, the factor structuring of the scaleitems have been identifying usingprincipal components analysis for theextraction of the principal components.Further, using varimax rotation with

SuGyaan 27

Volume II, Issue I

Kaiser Normalization, three factors wereidentified with each of them having Eigenvalues more than 1.0. The totalpercentage of variance accounted for byall the three factors is 60%. Further, thefactor loadings suggested that all of thesub-scale items have exceeding more than.40 on their corresponding factors,indicating that the three factors arenamed as institutional/work stress,personal stress and life stress. Lastly, thecoefficients of alpha were computed foreach of the sub-scales of the holistic stressexperienced by the employees. The resultsof this are presented in table 1 shows thateach of the sub-scale of holistic stressyielded more than .70, indicating that allthe sub-scales of holistic stress areinternally consistent and highly reliable.(Table 1)

Stress and Experience

With regard to "Organization" therespondents who have experience forabout 15-22 months (mean=50.78)perceived that they have higher level ofstress followed by the respondents whohave experience of 12-15 months(mean=50.42). It is also found that therespondents who have experience of 4-11months (mean=49.00) have perceivedthat they have lower level of stress.However, such variation in the meanscores given in the table shows that it isinsignificant. (Table 2)

With respect to the dimension "self" therespondents who have experiencebetween 15-22 years (mean=41.57) and12-15years (mean=41.47) have shownthat they have higher level of stress whencompared to the respondents who haveexperience of 4-11years (mean=40.91).Statistics also shows that such variance

is insignificant.

"Relationships" with the same dimensionthe respondents who have less numberof years of experience that is from 4-11months (mean=41.08) perceived thatthey have greater level of stress followedby the respondents who have experienceof 12-15months (mean= 39.05) andfinally the respondents who haveexperience between 15-22months(mean=38.94) perceived that they havelesser level of stress. (Table 3)

From the table 3, it is evident that thecustomer sales officers (mean=51.60)perceived that they have higher level ofstress with the dimension of"Organization" followed by sales manager(mean=50.25) whereas relationshipmanagers (mean=49.16) and agencyback office managers (49.92) perceivedthat they have lower level of stress.However, P-value suggests that suchvariance in the mean scores isinsignificant.

With respect to the dimension "self"relationship managers (mean=43.66)perceived that they have higher level ofstress followed by the sales managers(mean=42.87). Whereas the agency backoffice managers (mean=41.30) perceivedthat they have slightly lower stress whencompared to relationship and salesmanagers but the customer sales officer(mean=39.00) perceived that they havelower level of stress. Statistics shows thatsuch variation in the mean scores in notsignificant.

As regards to the dimension"Relationships" relationship managers(mean=41.66) perceived that they have

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

28

SuGyaan 29

Volume II, Issue I

perceived that they have higher level ofstress followed by sales managers(mean= 40.75). Whereas the agencyback office managers (mean = 39.69)perceived that they have slightly lowerstress when compared to sales managersbut the customer sales officer(mean=36.70) perceived that they havelower stress level. However, such variancein the mean score is statistically notsignificant.

Discussion

1. in the dimension of "Institutional/work stress " the respondents who havemore number of months of experiencehave more stress when compared to therespondents who have less number ofmonths of experience. This is because ofthe expectations from them by the

organization having increased as theywere expected to be masters of the trade.Since they are with the organization fora long time they are expected to be morechallenging and become examples for thejuniors.

2. It is found that the people who havemore number of months of experiencehave perceived greater level of stress thanthat of the people who have less numberof months of experience with respect to"self". This is because people areassociated with the organization for alonger period of time they are bored ofmonotonous work and feel disgusted todiscuss with the bosses with respect totheir work. They worry about their self -esteem, at times of failure to do workproperly or to discuss some work relatedmatters with the bosses.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

30

3. But in the dimension "Relationships"it is a reverse trend the respondents whohave less number of months of experiencehave greater level of stress whencompared to their counter parts. This isbecause the new people are more worriedabout how they would be handling thecustomers, bosses and colleagues.

4. With regards to the dimension"Organization" It is found that customersales officers have greater level of stresswhen compared to their counterparts.This is because the officers are worried ifthey would create wrong impression in

the minds of the customers. They areworried how they are going to retain thecustomers and make the customers tobelieve that they are with the right peopleand right organization.

5. With respect to the dimension "Self" itis found that relationship managersperceived that they have higher level ofstress when compared to theircounterparts. It is because of the role ofthe relationship managers. They aresupposed to be making the people satisfiedand thus build the relationships with thepeople.

SuGyaan 31

Volume II, Issue I

6. With regards to the dimension"Relationships' it is found thatrelationship managers perceived higherlevel of stress when compared to theircounter parts. This is also because of theproper maintenance of the relationshipswith the people of all kinds.

Implications

Based on the above observations we cansay that more the experienced a personin the organization the more is expectedof the person and consequently suchpeople experience more stress. The studyalso proves the saying "The older you arewith the organization the greater thedemands from you".

The results of the study conveys animportant message to the HR managersthat is stress as most of the time most ofus think is not the outcome of a singlefactor or dimension but multipledimension. Therefore it needs to be seenfrom a holistic perspective.

While considering stress from a holisticperspective the managers need to botherabout various spheres of individual's lifeso as to strike the balance in individualslife between the work and life by givingright tips at the right time.

The managers also need to consider thevarious stress releasing techniques like:allocating enough time to eat food,providing some stress busting fun,providing facilities for exercise (Jim), softmusic during the intervals or in thecafeteria, giving some yoga techniques,finger magic, etc.

The HR managers need to understand thedemands made to experienced employeesof the organization and need to support

them by providing counseling if required,making available the needed technology,allocating some means of releasing thestress, etc. so that the experienced can bemore productive. There is also a need foremployee counseling programmes thatcould focus on addressing copingmechanisms from holistic perspectivethan otherwise. Similarly, the mentoringand coaching programmes in place couldalso address these issues systematically.

Further, future research could addressreplicating the ideas presented in thisstudy, besides, identifying the antecedentsand consequences of holistic stress usingthe scale presented in this study. Forinstance, a future research models asprocessed in the following figure could betested for the robustness of the samebesides validating the factor structuringand the reliability of scale presented. Anew model is proposed for testing infuture research using the holistic stresscues as presented in figure 1.

All the three: Institutional Stress,Individual Stress and Social Stress areassumed to have very strong and negativeeffects on job performance, though theirindividual and combined effects mightvary in nature and extent. Further, allthese three types of stress are alsoexpected to have negative and indirecteffects on job satisfaction andorganizational commitment. However,their effects are passed on through jobperformance to job satisfaction and fromjob satisfaction to the organizationalcommitment. Thus, future research couldaddress testing the model suggested usingthe holistic stress measures, if done,would contributed to a much holisticunderstanding of the effects of stress on

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

32

organizationally relevant variables.

Conclusion

This study addressed the issues of stressand different indicators like organization,self and the life. The scale developmentefforts yielded positive results suggestingthat there are three clear factors emergingfrom holistic stress scale. They areInstitutional/work stress scale, personalstress scale and life stress scale. All ofthem were found robust after statisticaltreatment. Further, means and standarddeviations were computed to test thevariables in holistic stress as experiencedby employees according to their levels ofexperience and designation. Veryinteresting to note from this study thatthe null hypotheses are accepted,indicating that holistic stress is a globalorientation of the employees in insurancecompanies. Lastly, implications weredeveloped for addressing holistic stress byHR managers for designing copingmechanisms more divergent and holisticthan the existing mechanisms, besides,future research implications were drawnwith the help of a proposed model ofholistic stress and its effects onorganizationally relevant outcomes.

References

Andreas Chatzidakis, Sally Hibbert,Andrew Smith (2006), EthicallyConcerned, Yet Unethically Behaved:Towards an Updated Understanding ofConsumer's (Un) Ethical Decision-Making, Advances In Consumer ResearchVolume 33, Issue 1, pp. 693-698.

Arthur G Bedeian et al ( 1981), TheRelationship Between the Job Stress andJob Related, Interpersonal andOrganizational Climate Factors, TheJournal of Social Psychology, pp. 113, pp.247- 260.

Bhattacharya Mandira, Jha SS (2006),Stress in Organizational Context, TheICFAI Journal of OrganizationalBehaviour, pp 32-40.

Brenda Gardner, John Rose, OliverMason, Patrick Tyler, and Delia CushwayWork and Stress (2005), CognitiveTherapy and Behavioural Coping in theManagement of Work-Related Stress: AnIntervention Study; 19(2), pp. 137-152.

Chandrasekhar, S.F. (2008), Stress andPsychosomatic Complaints amongEmergency Staff in Select Hospitals,

SuGyaan 33

Volume II, Issue I

IJMR, Vol. 7, issue 7, p. 7.

Choi, Jaepil. (2008), Work and FamilyDemands and Life Stress among ChineseEmployees: The Mediating Effect ofWork-Family Conflict, InternationalJournal of Human Resource Manage-ment, May, Vol. 19 Issue 5. pp. 878-895.

Cryer, Bruce; McCraty, Rollin; Childreand Doc (2003), Harvard BusinessReview, Vol. 81 Issue 7, pp.102-107.

De Dreu, Carsten K.W.; Giebels, Ellen;Van de Vliert, Evert (1998). Journal ofApplied Psychology, Vol. 83 Issue 3, pp.407-422.

Elliott, G.R., Eisdorfer, C. (1982). Stressand Human Health. New York: SpringerPublishing Company.

Hybels, Celia F.; Blazer, Dan G.; Pieper,Carl F.; Burchett, Bruce M.; Hays, JudithC.; Fillenbaum, Gerda G.; Kubzansky,Laura D.and Berkman, Lisa F. (2006).Socio Demographic Characteristics of theNeighborhood and DepressiveSymptoms in Older Adults: UsingMultilevel Modeling in GeriatricPsychiatry. American Journal of GeriatricPsychiatry, 14, pp. 498-506.

Morrison, Rebecca; O'Connor and RoryC. (2008). British Journal of Psychology,May, Vol. 99 Issue 2, pp. 191-209.

Ongori, Henry and Agolla, Joseph Evans.(2008). Occupational Stress inOrganizations and its Effects onOrganizational Performance, Journal ofManagement Research, Dec, Vol. 8 Issue3, pp.123-135.

Parker, Donald F. and DeCotiis, Thomas

A (1983). Organizational Behavior andHuman Performance, Vol. 32, Issue 2,pp.160-177.

Pearlin, L. I, Schieman, S, Fazio, E. M andMeersman, S. C. (2005). Stress, Health,and the Life Course: Some ConceptualPerspectives. Journal of Health and SocialBehavior, 46, pp. 205-219.

Raber Merill F and Dyck George (2005),Managing Stress for Mental Fitness, VivaBook Pvt.Ltd, New Delhi.

Shifra Sagy (2001). Moderating FactorsExplaining Stress Reactions: ComparingChronic Without-Acute-Stress andChronic-With-Acute-Stress Situations,The American Journal of CommunityPsychology, 24, pp. 657-676.

Verhaeghe, R., Mak, R. VanMaele, G.,Kornitzer, M. and De Backer, G. (2003).Job Stress among Middle-aged HealthCare Workers and its Relation to SicknessAbsence, Stress and Health, 19, 265 274.

Voydanoff, P. (2007). Work, Family, andCommunity: Exploring Interconnections.Mahwah, New Jersey: RoutledgePublishing.

Authors:

Anand Reddy is a faculty in HRdepartment at Siva Sivani Institute ofManagement, Secunderebad. anandreddy@ssim.ac.in.

S. F. Chandrasekar is Professor and HOD,Department of HR, Siva Sivani Instituteof Management, Secunderabad.sfchyd@gmail.com.

#MJSSIM1(I)02, 2010

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

34

Introduction

Indian Information Technology (IT) andInformation Technology EnabledServices (ITES) industry has recordedtremendous growth and is regarded bydeveloping countries the world over as amodel for how they can leapfrog stagesof industrial development. Beingknowledge based industry-the humancapital and intellectual assets make adifference to the competitive advantageof the firm. In the quest for manpowercompanies are cajoling talent around theworld. Global expansion in marketopportunities in the IT sector, theshortage in manpower in both numbersand skills has resulted in a seller's market.So HR teams are pressurized to devise,optimize compensation packages, andprovide opportunities for growth,learning and development. Thus,employer branding is likely to assumegreater substance in India in the years tocome as it is one of the available panacea.

An Empirical Study of Most Attractive Employer in IndianIT Industry: Potential Employee Perspective

R. Saraswathy and N. Thamaraiselvan

Abstract

Despite advances in technology and major shifts in economy people remain an organizations mostvaluable resource. Human capital and intellectual assets make a difference to the competitiveadvantage of the firm in a knowledge based industry. A reputable brand can entice top talent to anorganization hence companies devote their time, effort and money on honing their employer brands.An Employer Brand is an organization’s image as seen through the eyes of its employees and potentialhires. Relatively little is known about which specific factors determine employee’s attraction to anemployer. This study empirically examines the elements of employer attractiveness in InformationTechnology (IT) industry from the perspective of potential employees and determines the mostattractive employer in the Indian IT industry. As result of the analysis we came to know that potentialIndian IT employees valued economic factors, global opportunities, development factors andapplication factors. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was the most attractive employer, followedby Infosys, Wipro, Polaris Software Lab and Hexaware.

It helps build a brand recall and quickidentification of the company in theminds of its target audience. For anemployer brand to be successful it isessential to know the factors thatcontribute to employer attractiveness. Itcomprises an imperative idea ininformation intensive contexts whereattracting employees with superior skillsand knowledge tunes the competitiveedge of a company. In India, getting theright people to work has always been achallenge and employer branding andmarketing will play the keydifferentiating factor. Some apt exampleswould be Accenture, HCL. Accenture hadrelatively been an obscure brand in India;Accenture with Tiger Woods has been awinning combination portrayingAccenture as a great place to work. (BrianSommer, 2009, ZDnet).

This paper begins by giving an overviewof IT industry in India. The next sectionpresents the literature review;

SuGyaan 35

Volume II, Issue I

methodology used is elaborated.Implications of the approach are thenconsidered, limitations noted and futureresearch direction outlined and closeswith a conclusion.

Overview

Information Technology is the fastestgrowing sector of India, a sunriseindustry and the area of growth for themillennium. According to theNASSCOM-McKinsey report India'ssoftware and services exports were $17.2billion in the fiscal year ended March 31this year, up by 34.5 percent from theprevious year. The total addressablemarket for global offshoring isapproximately $300 billion, of which$110 billion will be offshored by 2010. ITsector is one of the highest paying sectorsand also provides room for development.It is currently facing a dearth of talent.Engineers are in high demand in thesector as most of the jobs requireextensive mathematical skills as well aslogical and analytical abilities. However,most technical people lack good softskills, and verbal and writtencommunication skills. An aspirant in theindustry who has a combination of boththese sets of skills can find himself orherself in an advantageous position evenat entry level. The skills and quality ofthe workforce needs to be improved asonly 25 percent of technical graduates aresuitable for employment in the offshoreIT industry in India, while only 10percent to 15 percent of general collegegraduates are suitable for employment bythe BPO industry, according to McKinseyand Co.

Literature Review

Kotler (1994) defines internal marketingas 'the task of successfully hiring, trainingand motivating able employees to servethe customer well'. Job products mustattract, develop and motivate employees,thereby satisfying the needs and wantsof these internal customers, whilstaddressing the overall objectives of theorganization (Berry and Parasuraman1991). The present study is concernedprincipally with the successful 'hiring ofemployees'. It observes how judiciousemployers can hold the principles andpractices related with external brandmanagement and marketingcommunication, internally. Simply put itextends beyond the HRM notion ofrecruitment advertising (Gatewood et al.1993) and considers how firms mightassess the degree to which they areconsidered to be 'employers of choice' andin the process, attract the highest-caliberemployees. It is generally understood thatintellectual and human capital is thefoundation of competitive advantage inthe contemporary economy. That is whywe touch upon the resource based view.Accordingly, the war among employersto attract and retain talented workerstakes place in a world wheretechnological progress and global contestare driving extensive change in theemployment blueprint. (Osborn-Jones,2001). Thus the literature review beginsby presenting the competitive job marketscenario, shortage of quality talent, itseffect on talent acquisition and retention.Next, we broaden the focus to employerbranding, the essence of employment -the employer value proposition link it

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

36

with goal of being an employer of choice.Finally we introduce and define theconcept of employer attractiveness, theelements that influence employerattractiveness like an organizationalimage and relate it to talent acquisition.We also look into the factors that makean employer attractive.

The War for Talent is a phrase coined bySteven Hankin of McKinsey andCompany in 1997, and is a book by EdMichaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, andBeth Axelrod, Harvard Business Press. Itrefers to an increasingly competitivesetting for recruiting and retainingtalented employees. In the book,Michaels, et al, portray it as a mindsetthat emphasizes the importance of talentto the success of organizations. It isdriven by demographic and technologicaladvancement impacts the availability oftalent significantly leading to the war fortalent. Warning bells of talent dearth areringing loud and clear. Forethoughtdemands that business leaders need toelevate management of talent to aburning corporate priority. In fact, qualitypeople are no longer available in plentyand cannot be easily replaced.Organization's to tackle with the ironicscarcity among the apparent plenty ofqualified jobseekers. HR needs to be atthe heart of business. In turn to keep theconduit full of talented people, companiesare resorting to unconventionalapproaches to recruiting and are keen oncomprehending the ingredients thatmakes an employer attractive. Theresource-based view (RBV) of the firmdefines a strategic asset as one that is rare,valuable, imperfectly imitable and non-substitutable. In these knowledge-

intensive organizations, processingknowledge is central to business success.(Prahalad and Hamel, 1990; Drucker,1998). Sustainable competitive advantageis no longer rooted in physical assets andfinancial capital, but in effectivechanneling of intellectual capital(Seubert, Balaji and Makhija, 2001).Within the resource-based view (RBV),researchers assumed that the firm is apool of hard-to-copy resources andcapabilities (Conner, 1991) and thosediscrepancies in size distribution andcompetitiveness of firms occur from theirdistinctive capabilities to build up,expand, and organize those resources andcapabilities to create and apply value-enhancing strategies (Amit andSchoemaker, 1993; Barney, 1991; Peteraf,1993). In the resource-based view(Wernerfelt, 1984; Barney, 1986, 1991;Prahalad and Hamel, 1990; Peteraf, 1993;Conner, 1991), knowledge is seen as astrategic asset with the potential to be asource of sustainable competitiveadvantage for an organization. Theknowledge-based view of the firm (Grant,1995, 1996) builds upon and extends theresource-based theory of the firm initiallypromoted by Penrose (1959) andexpanded by others (e.g., see Alavi andLeidner 2001).

Organizational Image: Tom (1971)defined organizational image as "a loosestructure of knowledge, beliefs, andfeelings about an organization".According to (High house et al, 1999) anorganization's employer image can bedefined as potential applicants'perceptions of overall corporate image asa place to work. Previous studies provethat an organization's image significantly

SuGyaan 37

Volume II, Issue I

influenced the attraction of applicants toan organization. Applicants were moreattracted to organizations with a morefavorable image (Belt and Paolillo, 1982;Gatewood, Gowan, and Lautenschlager,1993; Turban and Greening, 1997) andpreferred employers whose imagescorresponded to their own self-images(Tom, 1971). Other studies tried toidentify the determinants of anorganization's image as an employer(Cable and Graham, 2000; Highhouse etal, 1999; Turban, 2001). Familiarity withthe organization, organizational characte-ristics (e.g., type of industry), and jobcharacteristics (e.g., opportunities foradvancement) are importantdeterminants of an organization's imageas an employer. The name 'employerbrand' was coined by Ambler and Barrow(1996), who defined it as "the packageof functional, economic andpsychological benefits provided byemployment and identified with theemploying company". Employerbranding can be described as the "sum ofa company's efforts to communicate toexisting and prospective staff that it is adesirable place to work" (Lloyd 2002 inBerthon et al. 2005) Thus it has beendescribed as the company's image as seenthrough the eyes of its associates andpotential hires, closely coupled to the"employment experience" of what is itlike to work at a company, includingtangibles such as salary and intangiblessuch as company culture and values"(Ruch, 2002 in Martin et al. 2005).It is atargeted, long-term strategy to managethe awareness and perceptions ofemployees, potential employees, andrelated stakeholders with regards to a

particular firm. There are twoperspectives to an employer brand, theexternal - this is with regard to how theoutside world perceives the employerbrand and the internal outlook refers tothe employee's perception of theemployer brand. It covers all associationsthat both present and prospectiveemployees have with an organizationHow attractive a company's employmentexperience is to the outside worlddepends a lot on how attractive acompany's employment experience is toits own employees. It can be a uniquedifferentiator to project the uniquenessof the organization. An employer brandgives information about employmentexperience and what is expected out ofthem. An employer brand has bothpersonality and positioning in line witha traditional brand .It answers questionslike: Functional Benefits: What is the joblike? What will I be doing in this job? WillI enjoy the experience? How will Idevelop personally and professionally?Economic Benefits: How will I berewarded? What can I expect in returnfor my effort? And Psychological benefitslike: What will I be part of? What will Ibelong to? Simon Barrow, has describedfour elements that go together to makean employer brand. The first element isthe employment package which is theoffer that an employee gets including jobresponsibilities, financial compensation,work/life balance, the employee's role inorganization and professionaldevelopment. The second elementcomprises of culture and environmentwhich includes the physical workingenvironment, the size of the organization,and the organization's approach to work.Then there is integrity. Delivering what

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

38

has been initially committed alwayscounts. High attrition rates and dip inmanagement performance are theconsequence of lack of integrity. Buildinga brand is a dual process. One is forprospective employees and the other forthe current set of employees. Whilebuilding brand for prospective employees,initiatives are targeted at building reputein potential recruits about the companyas a preferred place to work. On the otherhand, while building brand internally, thecompany has to live up to its standardsand incorporate a culture of respect andtrust for employees. Hewitt Associates,human resource consultants have laiddown e five steps to developing a strongemployer brand: (i) understand yourorganization, (ii) create a 'compellingbrand promise' for employees thatmirrors the brand promise for customers,(iii) develop standards to measure thefulfillment of the brand promise, (iv)'ruthlessly align' all people practices tosupport and reinforce the brand promise,and (v) execute and measure. An effectiveEmployer Brand is genuine,differentiated and very much alignedwith the external brand. HR's role is toalign and nurture HR systems likestaffing, induction, performancemanagement, learning and development,rewards and recognition to be consistentwith the brand. The advantage is thatbranding gives a very clear statement toa potential employee as to a company'svision, market position, culture, and/orother qualities that basically equate to arecognizable, desirable commodity. Inshort, branding helps to make a candidatewant to come to work for a company byselling you on whom and what they are.

Employee Value Proposition (EVP): EVPis the value or benefit an employee theemployee perceives by serving anorganization. (Brian.K. Heger, 2007). Itis a statement of why the total workexperience at their organization issuperior to that of other companies. Thevalue proposition will identify the uniquepeople policies, processes and programsthat demonstrate the company'scommitment to employee growth andrecognition and managementdevelopment. The reasons people chooseto commit themselves to the organizationare contained within the valueproposition. To effectively attract,motivate, and retain talented employees,many firms try to become employers ofchoice defined as firms that are alwaysthe first choice of first-class candidatesdue to their status and reputation interms of corporate culture and HRpractices (Sutherland et al, 2002). Inother words, employers of choice arethose organizations that outperform theircompetition in attracting, developing, andretaining people with business-requiredtalent. They achieve this reputationthrough innovative and compelling HRpractices that benefit both employees andtheir organizations. External marketingof the employer brand establishes the firmas an employer of choice and therebyenables it to attract the best possibleworkers. The assumption is that thedistinctiveness of the brand allows thefirm to acquire distinctive human capital.Further, once recruits have been attractedby the brand, they develop a set ofassumptions about employment with thefirm that they will carry into the firm,thereby supporting the firm's values and

SuGyaan 39

Volume II, Issue I

enhancing their commitment to the firm(Backhaus, K.B., and Tikoo, S., 2004).

Employer Attractiveness (EA): EA isdefined as the envisioned benefits that apotential employee sees in working for aspecific organization (Berthon et al.2005).The image of an employingorganization and discernments formedbased on available information relatingto the organization influence initial jobchoice decisions . (Gatewood et al. 1993).EA is defined as the degree to which anapplicant has interest in pursuingemployment opportunities with anorganization (Cable and Judge 1994; Rauand Hyland, 2002; Schwoerer and Rosen,1989).Employer Attractiveness isinterrelated to the concept of 'employerbranding' It has also become the in thingin contemporary business press (Sherry2000; Lloyd 2002; Ritson 2002), and 'BestEmployer' status is something thatcompanies die to acquire, as attention isdrawn to this shroud in both thecontemporary electronic and print media(e.g. The Economist 2003). Initial jobchoice decisions are often related to theimage of the employing organization, andthese perceptions are based upon theinformation about the organizationwhich is available to job seekers(Gatewood et al. 1993). Age, values,gender, work experience, education level,job offers extended and organizationaleffectiveness are some of the factors thathave been used as control variables inexamining employer attractiveness(Judge and Bretz, 1992). Respondentselects organization that seems to sharesimilar values. (Schneider 1987; Tom,1971).An applicant's intent to apply,attend interview and accept job offers is

influenced by Business performance,relationship with environment andtreatment of minorities. (Greening andTurban, 2000) EA has been studied inthe context of recruiting and also a toolfor retention. Various studies have beenconducted wherein EA has beendiscussed as a dependant variable inrelation to Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR). (Koys, 2001). Astudy by Schmidt Albinger and Freeman(2004) indicates that Corporate SocialPerformance (CSP) is positively relatedto employer attractiveness for job seekerswith high level of job choice. Employerattractiveness can be classified as internaland external employer attractiveness.Internal employer attractiveness is thedegree of attractiveness among thecompany's current employees.Attractiveness in the eyes of prospectiveemployees is the external employerattractiveness. This branch can be furthersubdivided into two categories. First, wehave external employer attractivenessfrom the viewpoint of experts withexperience in the field. Second, we haveexternal employer attractiveness from theviewpoint of novices, predominantlystudents. Novices do not posses expertknowledge, but on the other hand, theybring certain other useful characteristics.The construct employer attractivenessmay be thought of as an antecedent ofthe more general concept of employerbrand equity. The stronger theorganizations employer brand equityrelatively strong is the perception ofattractiveness of the organization held bythe potential employees. Berthon et al.(2005) have identified five factors as thecomponents of employer attractiveness

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

40

from the perspective of potentialemployees. The five factors are: InterestValue, Social Value, Economic Value,Development Value, and ApplicationValue. Interest value refers to an excitingwork environment, novel work practicesthat makes use of its employee's creativityto produce high-quality, innovativeproducts and services. Social value talksabout a working environment that is fun,happy, provides good collegialrelationships and a team atmosphere. Anorganization's working environment isthe social value. Above-average salary,compensation package, job security andpromotional opportunities put togetherare the economic value. Developmentvalue appraises the extent to which anindividual is attracted to an employer thatprovides recognition, self-worth andconfidence, combined with a career-enhancing experience and a springboardto future employment. Application valuemeasures the extent to which anindividual is attracted to an employer thatprovides an opportunity for the employeeto apply what they have learned. Finallywe have proposed Factor 6, named asGlobal Opportunities which purports tomeasure world class training, right fromthe initial years as well as an opportunityto work across domains and geographies.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) -refers to a company's voluntary activitiesthat aids in giving back to the society.This study seeks to contribute byidentifying and operationalisingdimensions of employer attractiveness.We have suggested Global opportunitiesas another interesting factor whichenhances the attractiveness of anemployer taking into consideration themindset of Indian IT employees.

Methodology

The objective of this paper is to adjudgethe most attractive employer and tomeasure the importance of differentfactors that contribute to employerattractiveness of IT firms amongprospective employees. The survey wascarried out to demonstrate the need forstrong employer branding within the ITsector and to find out the factors thatcontributed to employer attractiveness.Prospective employee, were chosen assubrogates to find out the most attractiveIT employer. The primary sources wereacquired through AHP Questionnairesurvey which was conducted accordingto general questionnaire survey method.

Our seven-factor structure is essentiallya refinement and extension of the threedimensions proposed by Ambler andBarrow (1996) and 5 factors proposed byPierre Berthon, Michael Ewing, and LiLian Hah (2005) .Factors 1(Interestvalue) and 2 (Social value) capture their'psychological benefits'; our Factors 4(Development value) Factor 5(Application value) and factor 6 (Globalopportunities expand on their 'functionalbenefits'; and Factor 3 has an economicdimension. Factor 1,named as 'Interestvalue', gauges the degree to which anindividual is attracted to an organizationthat is interesting in terms of workenvironment and calls for the use ofemployee's ingenuity to produce ground-breaking products and services. Factor 2,named as 'Social value', measures theextent to which an individual is attractedto an employer who caters to thefulfillment of the sense of belongingness.Factor 3, named as 'Economic value',refers to an organization's capacity to

SuGyaan 41

Volume II, Issue I

take of the physiological and securityneeds by providing a competitiveemployment package. Factor 4, tagged as'Development value', refers to thefulfillment of higher order needs esteemand self worth need combined with acareer-enhancing experience. Factor 5,named as 'Application value', assesses theextent to which an organization providesan opportunity for the employee to applywhat they have learned for self andothers. Finally we have proposed Factor6, named as Global Opportunities whichpurports to measure world class training,right from the initial years as well as anopportunity to work across domains andgeographies. Factor 7 'Corporate SocialResponsibility's- refers to a company'svoluntary activities "demonstrating theinclusion of social and environmentalconcerns in business operations and theinteraction of stakeholders" (VanMarrewijk and Werre, 2003).

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)is a mathematically scrupulous, provenprocess for prioritization and decision-making. By reducing complex decisionsto a series of pair-wise comparisons, thensynthesizing the results, decision-makersarrive at the best decision with a clearrationale for that decision. The AHP wasdeveloped at the Wharton School ofBusiness by Thomas Saaty allowsdecision makers to model a complexproblem in a hierarchical structureshowing the relationships of the goal,objectives (criteria), sub-objectives, andalternatives (See Figure 1).Uncertaintiesand other influencing factors can also beincluded. It is a method to derive ratioscales from paired comparisons. Theinput can be obtained from actual

measurement or from subjective opinion.AHP allow some small inconsistency injudgment because human is not alwaysconsistent. The AHP technique isextensively used in modeling the humanjudgment process (Lee et al, 1995).

AHP has three main steps (Saaty, 1994)decomposition, comparative judgments,and hierarchic composition or synthesisof priorities

(i) Problem decomposition: A complexproblem is decomposed into levelsconsisting of a few manageable elements;each element is also, in turn, decomposedhierarchically in lower decision levels.The hierarchy model of the decisionproblem is developed in such a way thatthe goal is positioned at the top, withcriteria in the middle and alternatives atthe bottom of the model.

(ii) Comparative analysis: On eachhierarchy structure level the pair wisecomparisons should be done by allpossible pairs of the elements of this level.The decision maker's preferences areexpressed by verbally describedintensities and the correspondingnumeric values on 1-3-5-7-9 scale (Saaty,1980). The detailed scale is given in table1

(iii) Synthesis of priorities: On thebasis of the pair wise comparisons relativesignificance (weights) of elements of thehierarchy structure (criteria andalternatives) are calculated, which areeventually synthesized into an overallalternatives priority list. The priorityweights of each element will be calculatedbased on Eigen vector.

The computational process of the

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

42

priorities is detailed in this section. Letthere be n criteria and their actual relativepriorities are w1, w2,…, wn. Further, letA be an n × n matrix of pair wisecomparison, whose elements are assignedfrom Table 1. These elements, aij may beregarded as an estimate of the ratio wi /wj.

(1)

We suppose that aij > 0 and aij = aji-1.If

the relative significance ratios aij are usedto form the matrix A, and in the case ofconsistent evaluations where aij = aik akj

the equation Aw = ëmaxw is satisfied.

The analytical solution of Equation (2)then provides the relative weights foreach decision element. According to theeigenvalue method, the normalized righteigenvector (W = {w1, w2 ,…, wn}

T)associated with the largest eigenvalue(ëmax) of the square matrix A provides the

weighting

values for all decision elements. Thelargest eigenvalue (ëmax) can be computedby using Equation (3)

(2)

(3)

The weights are normalized by constraintÓwi=1.Due to this matrix features theëmax e”1is valid, whereas the differenceëmax – n is used for measuring theassessment consistency. By means ofconsistency indices given by equation (4)

(4)

the consistency ratio CR=CI/RI can becomputed, where RI is the random index(consistency index for matrices withrandom generated pair wisecomparisons). The table 2 with the RIvalues computed by simulation is used forthe calculation of the CR. Generally, a CRof 0.10 or less (for n 5); 0.09 or less (forn = 4); 0.05 or less (for n = 3), isconsidered acceptable. Otherwise the

SuGyaan 43

Volume II, Issue I

relative importance for each objective willbe revised to improve the judgmentalconsistency.

Then the priorities are pulled togetherthrough the hierarchic composition toprovide the overall assessment of theavailable alternatives.

Application of the AHP model

Basic rules for modeling and solving thehierarchical problem involved four stagessuch as Structuring: This phase involvedformulating an appropriate hierarchy ofthe AHP model consisting of the goal,criteria, sub criteria and the decisionalternatives.

Data collection: This involved forminga team of evaluators who assigned pairwise comparisons to the major criteriaand sub criteria used in the AHPhierarchy. The primary sources wereacquired through AHP Questionnairesurvey which was conducted accordingto general questionnaire survey method.

Population: We delimited our populationto consist of students within final yearengineering programs, management andcomputer science streams since those arethe students who are relevant asprospective future employees for ITcompanies. Calder et al. (1981) argue thatstudents are acceptable theory-testingresearch subjects when the multivariaterelationships among constructs ratherthan the univariate differences betweensamples are being examined. Moreover,the students were in fact the subjects ofmeasurement as they were hardly lessthan six months away from entering thejob market themselves; they are primetargets for employer advertising andrecruitment campaigns.

Sampling Frame: List and AttendanceRegister of final year students.

Sampling Unit: Students within finalyear engineering programs, managementand computer application streams.

Sampling method: Total strength of thestudent was 720. From the list of thestudents every alternative student wereselected using Simple random samplingmethod resulting in a sample size of 360.From them we got about 284 validresponses. All the 284 valid responseswere evaluated for consistency index. 184responses which met the consistencycriteria were considered for furtheranalysis.

Normalized weights in differenthierarchies: The pair wise comparisonjudgment matrices were combined usingthe geometric mean approach at eachhierarchy level to obtain thecorresponding consensus pair wisecomparison judgment matrices.

Synthesis: The final step for this studywas to synthesize the solution for judgingthe most attractive employer.

Goal

The goal is a statement of the overallobjective. In our case, to find out the mostattractive employer.

Objectives

What are the factors that are consideredin selecting the best employer? Factorscontributing to employer Attractivenesscriteria) were determined based on theexisting literature (Ewing and Berthon.,2005,) (CSP and CSR, Albinger andSchmidt, 2000) and global opportunitieswere suggested by the author.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

44

Alternatives

Here we consider the 5 Indian ITcompanies in the finance vertical (BFSI,Banking, Financial Services andInsurance.) were taken intoconsideration. TCS, Infosys, Wipro 3topmost Indian based IT companies andPolaris Software lab and Hexawaremediocre companies were chosen torepresent a slice of Indian IT reality.

Calculation of the Weights of theCriteria

First the degree of preference betweenand within the criteria at each level ofthe hierarchy in a pair wise form usingSaaty’s scales ranging from 1 – equallypreferred to 9 – extremely preferred wasobtained from prospective employees. Wedelimited our population to consist ofstudents within final year engineeringprograms, management and computerscience streams since those are thestudents who are relevant as prospectivefuture employees for IT companies.Calder et al. (1981) argue that studentsare acceptable theory-testing researchsubjects when the multivariaterelationships among constructs ratherthan the univariate differences betweensamples are being examined. Moreover,the students were in fact the subjects ofmeasurement as they were hardly lessthan six months away from entering thejob market themselves; they are primetargets for employer advertising andrecruitment campaigns. Next stepinvolved the weight calculation of eachlevel to obtain the overall score of eachemployer with respect to the 7 pair wisecomparisons of the main selectioncriteria. Consistency ratio calculation wasdone.

Table 2Random Consistency Index (RI)

n RI

1 02 03 0.584 0.95 1.126 1.247 1.328 1.419 1.4510 1.49

Consistency Index calculation for thefactors CI = (7.55716-7)/6 =.09286

CR = .09286/1.32=.0703484

Consistency Index (CI) calculationfor the companies

CI = (5.3739-5)/ (5-1) CI = 0.093486

CR = 0.0934864/1.12 = 0.08347

If the value of Consistency Ratio issmaller or equal to 10%, theinconsistency is acceptable. If theConsistency Ratio is greater than 10%,we need to revise the subjectivejudgment. As 0.08347 and .0703484 isless is less than 0.1 the judgment isconsistent.

Based on the vector values for factorsdetermining the employer attractiveness(Table 3) the prospective Indian ITemployees valued economic factors,global opportunities, development factorsand application factors relatively morethan interesting job environment , socialfactors or corporate social responsibility.

SuGyaan 45

Volume II, Issue I

Figure 2Heirarchy of Decision Criteria

Table 3

Priority Vector for the Factors Determining Employer Attractiveness

Table 4

Company and Priority Vector

Company Priority Vector

TCS .350234

Infosys .301342

Wipro .230143

Polaris .114621

Hexaware .101123

Factors Priority Vector

Economic 0.360540677

Social 0.096999731

Interest 0.032002774

Application 0.119045579

Development 0.161984752

Global 0.181983323

CSR 0.047443164

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

46

Economic, Application, development andglobal opportunities factors have beengiven top priorities by prospectiveemployees as they are final year studentsand they would be keen to apply theknowledge gained, they would like to trypositions that would allow them tochallenge the tried and true, and tocollaborate across technologies andcontinents and be globe trotters in orderto acquire skills to be employable,deployable and portable anywhere in theworld. Hence it is believed that higher thelevel of mix of application, global factors,economic factors and development factorin the Indian IT employee experience thegreater will be the attractiveness. So inorder to be an attractive employercompanies need to take care and makesure that they have right mix of economicfactors, development factors, applicationfactors and should also provide room forglobal opportunities to make theemployee experience the greater will bethe attractiveness. Based on the vectorvalues in Table 4 we came to know thatTata Consultancy Services (TCS) was the

most attractive employer, followed byInfosys, Wipro, Polaris Software Lab andHexaware. In table 5 we are taking intoconsideration the factors enhancingattractiveness in conjunction with thecompanies. This helps us to judge howeach company is faring with respect tothe factors. TCS has scored high oneconomic factors, social factor,application, development and globalopportunities factor and CSR. Infosys hasan interesting work environment. Basedon the values in Table 4 we came to knowthat Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)was the most attractive employer,followed by Infosys, Wipro, PolarisSoftware Lab and Hexaware.

Implications

This study has various implications forHR professionals. HR professionals mustpay attention to various needs ofemployees. Some of them want to seeclear picture of the company. Thereshould be a consistency between thebrand image of the company and thereality. If not, the turnover will increase,

Table 5:Priority Vectors for Companies and Factors Factors

Factors TCS Infosys Wipro Polaris Hexaware

Economic 0.402819496 0.360231588 0.134350441 0.067777667 0.034820809

Social 0.302819496 0.30231588 0.134350441 0.167777667 0.134820809

Interest 0.302819496 0.360231588 0.234350441 0.067777667 0.034820809

Application 0.402819496 0.260231588 0.234350441 0.077777667 0.054820809

Development 0.3402819496 0.296023158 0.2434350441 0.1067777667 0.12034561

Global 0.402819496 0.260231588 0.134350441 0.067777667 0.034820809

CSR 0.292819496 0.280231588 0.134350441 0.22776712 0.08124312

SuGyaan 47

Volume II, Issue I

the job satisfaction will decrease. The oldsocial contract of the employee being loyalto the company and the company takingcare of the employee until retirement nolonger holds. Employees are moreresponsible for managing their owncareers. According to this study, potentialemployees still want to see theadvancement opportunities in thecompanies (Daft R. and Marcic D., 2007).Though, companies in order to beattracted by the employees or to eliminatethe negative perceptions of this newemployment reality they should focus onadvertising the internal culture. Anotherimplication for HR practitioners isassessing periodically their brandstrength in labour market. Employerbranding an integral activity will be toestablish an image of the organizationand communicate this in a number ofdifferent ways to either current orpotential employees. So the corporationswho want to attract integrators shouldidentify organizational values, byclarifying the advantages and the benefitsof work place. As well as conversationswith the employees to clarify what theorganization needs in terms of values,attributes and characteristics is needed.Once the corporate branding image oremployer profile has been established anorganization will then consistently usethis in its communication to both currentemployees and in its advertising orrecruitment material (Edwards M. R.,2010).

Suggestions for Future Research

For further research we have somesuggestions to the academicians andpractitioners who are interested in theemployer branding concept. In this study

final year students expectations regardingemployer attractiveness are examined. Inanother research the longitudinal studyof the perceptions of final-year studentsbefore and after entering the workforcewould help in determining theirperceptions of employer attractiveness.As it is mentioned in the paper, thisresearch has been conducted with thepotential employees who are not part ofthe labour market yet. So this study wasfocused on the first step of employerbranding. The third step of employerbranding involves carrying the brand"promise" made to recruits into the firm.In other words, this last step consists ofinternally marketing the employer brand(Lievens, F., 2007). Further studiesconcentrate on the current employees inthe context of internal marketing.Another related study could be the linkbetween corporate social responsibilityand branding activities. The studies showthat new graduates are becomingincreasingly concerned about acompany's values and how sociallyresponsible they are when consideringwhere to work. Finally, several authorshighlight the importance employerbranding in the context of humanresource management and marketing.The aim of the scholars and practitionersshould be finding the integration pointsof these two disciplines in companies.

Conclusion

To succeed in the war for talent manyorganisations need to brand themselvesas employers of choice. This researchrecognized the factors potentialknowledge workers regard as important.attributes of best employer. We haveattempted to study the elements that

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

48

constitute employer attractiveness andtried to pronounce the best employerfrom the perspective of potentialemployee. It is expected that the resultsof this research, will both add to andkindle discussion around the 'employerattractiveness' and 'employer of choice'concepts.

References

Ambler, T. (2000), Marketing and theBottom Line. Pearson Education Ltd, UK.

Ambler, T. and Barrow, S. (1996), TheEmployer Brand. Journal of BrandManagement, 4(3), 185-206.

Albinger, H. S. and Freeman, S. J. (2000),Corporate Social Performance andAttractiveness as an Employer toDifferent Job Seeking Populations",Journal of Business Ethics, 28, pp. 243-254.

Amit, Raphael and Paul J.Schoemaker(1993), Strategic assets andorganisational rent. StrategicManagement Journal 14 (January) pp.33-46.

Backhaus, K. B. and Tikoo, S. (2004):Conceptualizing and ResearchingEmployer Branding, Career DevelopmentInternational, 9(5),pp. 501-517.

Barney, Jay B. 1991.Firm Resources andSustained Competitive Advantage.Journal of Management 17(3), pp. 99-120.

Bergstrom, A, Blumenthal, D. andCrothers, S. (2002), Why InternalBranding Matters: The Case of Saab.Journal of Communication Management(2/3), pp. 133-142.

Berthon Pierre, Ewing Michael, Hah Li

Lian (2005) Captivating Company:Dimensions of Attractiveness inEmployer Branding, InternationalJournal of Advertising, 21(1), pp. 151-168.Berry, L.L. (1981) Perspectives on theRetailing of Services, Theory in Retailing,Ronald Stampfl and Elizabeth Hirschman(eds.), American Marketing Association,1981, pp. 9-20.Berry, L.L. and Parasuraman, A. (1991),Marketing Services. Competing ThroughQuality. New York: The Free Press.Biel, A.L. (1999) Exploring Brand Magic,in Jones, J.P. (ed.), How to UseAdvertising to Build Strong Brands.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications,pp. 157-176.Bolles, R.N. (1997), What Color is yourParachute? Berkley, CA: Ten Speed Press.Cable and Judge (1994), Pay Preferencesand Job Search Decisions: A Person-Organization Fit Perspective. PersonnelPsychology, 47, pp. 317-348.Calder, B.J, Philips, L.W. and Tybout,A.M. (1981), Designing Research forApplication. Journal of ConsumerResearch, 8 (9), pp. 197-207.Carman, J.M. (1990), ConsumerPerceptions of Service Quality: AnAssessment of the SERVQUALDimensions. Journal of Retailing, 66(1),pp. 33-55.Churchill, G.A. Jr (1979), A Paradigm forDeveloping Better Measures of MarketingConstructs. Journal of MarketingResearch, XVI, pp. 64-73.Conner, K. R. (1991), A HistoricalComparison of Resource-Based Theoryand Five Schools of Thought within

SuGyaan 49

Volume II, Issue I

Industrial Organizational Economics,Journal of Management, 17, pp. 121 - 154.Daft, R.L, Marcic, D (2007), Manage-ment: The New Workplace, ThomsonSouth-Western.Edwards, M. R, (2010), An IntegrativeReview of Employer Branding and OBtheory, Personnel Review, 39 (1), pp. 5-23.Ewing, M.T. and Caruana, A (1999), AnInternal Marketing Approach to PublicSector Management: The Marketing andHuman Resources Interface. Interna-tional Journal of Public SectorManagement, 12(1), pp. 17-26.Ewing, M.T, Pitt, L.F, de Bussy, N.M. andBerthon, P. (2002), EmploymentBranding in the Knowledge Economy,International Journal of Advertising,21(1), pp. 3-22.Faust, B. and Faust, M. (2003) PitchYourself: Stand Out from the CV Crowdwith a Personal Elevator Pitch. PearsonEducation.Gatewood, R.D, Gowan, M.A. andLautenschlager, G.J. (1993) CorporateImage, Recruitment, Image and Initial JobChoice Decisions. Academy ofManagement Journal, 36 (2), pp. 414-427.George, W.R. (1990) Internal Marketingand Organizational Behavior: APartnership in Developing Customer-Conscious Employees at Every Level.Journal of Business Research, 20, 63-70.Greening, D. W. and Turban, D. B.(2000), Corporate Social Performance asa Competitive Advantage in Attracting aQuality Workforce. Business and Society,39, pp. 254-280.Harari, O. (1998), Attracting the best

minds. Management Review, 87(4), pp.23-26.Harris, F. and de Chernatony, L. (2001)Corporate branding and corporate brandperformance. European Journal ofMarketing, 35(3/4), pp. 441-451.Handfield R., Walton S.V., Sroufe R. andMelnyk S.A. (2002), ApplyingEnvironmental Criteria to SupplierAssessment: A Study in the Applicationof the Analytical Hierarchy Process,European Journal of OperationalResearch, 141(1), pp. 70-87.Kotler, P. (1994), Marketing Manage-ment: Analysis, Planning, Implemen-tation and Control (8th edn). EnglewoodCliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.Lievens, F. (2007), Employer Branding inthe Belgian Army: The Importance ofInstrumental and Symbolic Beliefs forPotential Applicants, Actual Applicants,and Military Employees. HumanResource Management, 46, pp. 51-69.Lloyd, S. (2002), Branding from theInside Out. BRW, 24(10), pp. 64-66.Osborn-Jones, T. (2001), ManagingTalent: Exploring the New PsychologicalContract. UK: Henley ManagementCollege. Aspirations. AccountingEducation, 3(4), pp. 283-297.Judge, T. A., and Bretz, R. D. (1992),Effect of Work Values on Job ChoiceDecisions. Journal of Applied Psychology,77, pp. 261-271.Koys, D.J. (2001), The effects ofEmployee Satisfaction, OrganizationalCitizenship Behavior, and Turnover onOrganizational Effectiveness: A Unit-Level, Longitudinal Study. PersonnelPsychology, 54, pp. 101- 114.Marrewijk, M. Van and Hardjono,

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

50

T.W.(2002), European CorporateSustainability Framework for ManagingComplexity and Corporate Change,Journal of Business Ethics, 44(2/3), pp.121-132.Martin G, Beaumont P, Doig R, and PateJ, (2005), Branding: New PerformanceDiscourse for HR?, European Manage-ment Journal, 23(1),pp. 76-88.Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990) TheCore Competence of the Corporation,Harvard Business Review 68(3),pp. 79-91.Peteraf, Margaret A. (1993), TheCornerstones of Competitive Advantage:A Resource-Based View, StrategicManagement Journal. 14 (3), pp. 179-191.Rau, B. L, and Hyland, M. M. (2002),Role Conflict and Flexible WorkArrangements: The Effects on ApplicantAttraction. Personnel Psychology, 55, pp.111-136.Ritson, M. (2002) Marketing and HECollaborate to Harness Employer BrandPower. Marketing, 24 (8), p. 24.Ruch W. (2002), Employer BrandEvolution: A Guide To Building Loyaltyin Your Organization, http:/www.versantsolutions.com.Rynes, S. L., Bretz, R. D., and Gerhart B.(1993). Recruiter Perceptions ofApplicant Fit: Implications for IndividualCareer Preparation and Job SearchBehavior, Journal of Vocational Behavior,43, pp. 310-327.Saaty, Thomas L. (1980), The AnalyticHierarchy Process: Planning, Priority

Setting, Resource Allocation, McGraw-Hill International Book Co. (New Yorkand London).Schneider, B. (1987), The People Makethe Place. Personnel Psychology, 40, pp.437-453.Seubert, E., Balaji, Y. and Makhija, M.(2001), The Knowledge Imperative, CIOSpecial Advertising Supplement, March15.Sherry, A. (2000), Put Some BrandingIron into Your Image. Business ReviewWeekly, 22(28), pp.66.Sutherland, M. M., Torricelli, D. G., andKarg, R. F. (2002). Employer-of-ChoiceBranding for Knowledge Workers. SouthAfrican Journal of BusinessManagement, 33(4), pp.13-20.Tom, V.R. (1971). The Role of Personalityand Organizational Images in theRecruiting Process. OrganizationalBehavior and Human Performance, 6, pp.573-592.http://www.zdnet.com/blog/sommer/accenture-branded-by-the-tiger-woods-mess/717Authors:R. Saraswathy is a fulltime researchscholar in the Department ofManagement Studies, National Instituteof Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India.sara_ar97@yahoo.com.N.Thamaraiselvan is an AssistantProfessor in the Department ofManagement Studies, National Instituteof Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India.selvan@nitt.edu.#MJSSIM1(I)03, 2010

SuGyaan 51

Volume II, Issue I

Introduction

Investment would imply the employmentof funds with the objective of realizingadditional income or growth in value ofinvestment at a future date. Investmentchoices are found to be the outcome ofthree different but related classes offactors like factual, expectation andvaluation. Financial investment is anexchange of financial claims like stocksand bonds.

Most popular financial investment isequity shares. Equity is the ownershipcapital of a company. To invest insecurities in a firm investors have twomarkets through which they can invest.The two markets are primary market andsecondary market. Primary market alsoknown as New Issue Market which dealswith new securities i.e., securities offeredto the investing public for the first timeby the corporate or government. The

Listing Day Performance of Public Issues in India

A. Sathish Kumar

Abstract

The primary market for securities is the new issue market which brings together the supply anddemand for new capital funds. The highly developed capital market by far the largest proportion ofindividuals’ savings reaches the new issue market. Companies’ willing to tap the new issue marketcoming out with a public issue, whose price fixation of the instrument is the key issue. The presentsystem prevailing in the market is Book Building Mechanism (BBM) – is a method through whichoffer price of a public issue is discovered on investors’ demand. The BBM has been devised in such away that small investors are also able to subscribe to securities at a price arrived through atransparent process. After arriving at the offer price, companies will go for listing.

The performance of public issue instrument in the post-listing period is a puzzle during both long-run and short-run. The present study covered the listing-day performance of hundred public issuesby using Wealth Relative technique. The results are positive and consistent across many industrysegments, issue sizes, issue periods and few issue prices on the day of listing at stock exchange. Theunder pricing is evident on listing day amongst majority of public issues in India as per the outcomeof the study.

most important method to market thesecurity by the issuer in the new issuemarket is public issue. When the issueris new and has to raise huge funds it hasto go in for public issue.

The primary market for securities is thenew issue market which brings togetherthe “supply and demand” or “sources anduses” for new capital funds. The demandside can be corporate or governmentbody. In this market the principal supplysource of funds is the domestic savingsof individuals and businesses, othersuppliers include foreign investors andgovernments. The highly developedcapital market is by far the largestproportion of individuals’ savings reachesthe new issuers market indirectly via afinancial intermediary.

New Capital Issues

Raising capital from the securities marketbefore 1992 was regulated. Under the

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

52

Capital Issues (Control) Act, 1947 firmswere required to obtain approval from thecontroller of Capital Issues (CCI) forraising resources in the market. In 1992,the Capital Issues (Control) Act, 1947was repealed and with this ended allcontrols relating to raising of resourcesfrom the market, fixation of issue price,capital issues with premium etc. Sincethen the issuers of securities could raisethe capital from the market required tomeet the guidelines of SEBI on disclosureand investor protection. Today, new aswell as established companies are nowable to price their issues according to theirassessment of market conditions.

Companies initially followed fixed pricemechanism regarding offer price. As themethod of offering shares at a fixed priceby the issuer has proved to be notefficient, an alternative mechanism ofbook building has become popular inmany countries. Book BuildingMechanism is a method through whichan offer price of a public issue is basedon investors’ demand. The new methodhas been devised in such a way that smallinvestors are also able to subscribe tosecurities at price arrived at through atransparent process.

Listing

A security is said to be listed when itsname is added to the list of securities inwhich trading on a particular exchangeis permitted. The principal objectives oflisting are:

a) To provide ready marketability,liquidity and free negotiability tostocks and shares.

b) To ensure proper supervision and

control of dealing therein; and

c) To protect the interests ofshareholders and of generalinvesting public.

The advantage derived by themanagement as a result of listing aredistinct advertising value and broadenand diversifying shareholding. Theimportant benefits to the investors as aresult of listing are liquidity to theirholding and afford them to obtain the bestprices for the securities they want to selloff.

Importance of the Study

Over the past ten years almost 300companies have collectively gatheredmore than Rs.1,32,000 crores in thecapital market through new public issues.However, the long term track record ofpublic issues in the Indian marketsuggests that a large proportion of themdo not deliver on the initial promise.According to an analysis one out of everytwo public issue stocks still trades belowits issue price, even after the marketrecovered strongly.

An investor can neither decide the timingof public issue nor it’s pricing. Thequestion therefore, is whether at all heshould invest in it. If so, fundamentalsdid matter in how public issue stocksfared after listing. Therefore, public issueto deliver in the post listing in terms ofincrease in price of the share. Afundamentally weaker company may notbe able to perform well, as evidenced bythe numbers posted by public issues thathave seen substantial price erosion.Investors often select public issues basedon the market fancy at a particular point

SuGyaan 53

Volume II, Issue I

of time. IT sector public issues were allthe rage in the late 1990s and realty sectorpublic issues in 2007. With the initialpublic offering season back in force now,what are the lessons investors shouldkeep in mind? To study the performanceof public issues on the listing day thepresent effort has been made to check therole of different factors like issue size,issue period, issue price and industry.

Literature Review

Public issues have been an importantsource of corporate financing for a longterm. The empirical evidence on priceperformance of public issues provides apuzzle to both in the short and long-runs.The public issue anomalies that botherthe researchers are the positive meaninitial return also known as underpricing.Numerous studies have examined theperformance of public issues where thefocus has been on the initial behavioursof stock prices. The results of thesestudies, which have been placed in thefollowing paragraphs, in general reportthe existence of positive initial returns.

The past studies in China, US, Canada,Australia and Germany reporting positiveinitial public offering returns on thelisting day. Shah (1995) revealed that2056 IPOs listed in India during 1991-95produced 105% excess return over theoffer price. Madhusoodanan and Raju(1997) documented underpricing washigher than the international experiencein the short-run based on the IPOs listedat Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) during1992-95 period. Singh and Govil (2008)opined based on the IPO for the years2006 and 2007, 28% positive returns onthe listing day. Kumar (2008) study

results the price performance of IPOs onthe listing day on an average with a 26%premium over the offer price.

Objectives of the Study

The presence of outperformance i.e.,under pricing is well established fact forthe stocks especially equities that havetapped the market through public issues.It has been found that an average firmgoes public with an offer price of thepublic issue that is lower than the pricethat prevails in the immediateaftermarket. As a result equity publicissues in India register significant excessreturn on the first day of listing. Thecurrent paper’s objective is to study thelisting day returns of equity public issueslist at National Stock Exchange (NSE) ofIndia between the years 1998-2006. Thelisting day performance of the randomsample of public issues in India are testedwith the tool Wealth Relative on the basisof year wise, issue price wise, issue sizewise and industry wise.

Rationale and Methodology

The sample of the study consists ofcompanies which raised capital throughpublic offerings between the years 1998and 2006. The database has thefollowing other important points likefirms common stock listed at NationalStock Exchange and all the offerings areunder free pricing era only studied. Thefifty companies National Stock Exchangemarket index NIFTY (National Index ofFifty) is taken as bench mark. The priceand index data with regard to publicissues listed at NSE of India and NIFTYhas been collected from historical data setof National Stock Exchange of Indiawebsite. The listing day closing price at

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

54

NSE has been taken into account for thepresent study. To measure the underpricing of public issues various methodsare in practice such as Marked AdjustedAbnormal Return (MAAR), Return ofthe Stock and Wealth Relative (WR) etc.The first two methods are used inmeasuring the performance of individualpublic issues. The present study uses theWealth Relative which measures theperformance of public issues in bunch.Therefore, to examine the short-runperformance of Indian public offeringsinitial day returns of issuing firms iscalculated with the help of WealthRelatives on the basis of issue price,industry category, issue size and year ofissue. The practicality of usage andinterpreting the results of the study isapplicable only when the public issuesperformance studied by taking them in abunch on one or the other basis, else thetool mentioned and adopted in thepresent study may not produce the resultsas per the requirement of the studyobjective.

Wealth Relative

Wealth Relatives (WRit) are calculatedusing the procedure employed by Ritteras seen in the equation below. When WRit

in the equation is Wealth Relative “Rmt”is the market return during the studyperiod. “Rit” is the return of stock ‘i’, onday ‘t’. N represents the total number ofPublic issues in the sample. A WealthRelative less than one (1) indicate underperformance and more then one (1)indicates out performance and equal one(1) indicates that the Public issues aremoving in tune with the marketperformance. When WRit shows anegative value it indicates that the initial

public offering is over priced as againstpositive values represents under pricing.

“Rit” the total return for stock ‘i’ in period‘t’ is calculated in the following equation,“Pit” is the price of stock ‘i’, at time ‘t’,and “Pio” is the listed price.

“Rmt” the total return market index(nifty) during the same period and iscalculated in the following equation. Themarket index value at time ‘t’ is “Pmt” andthe market index value on the offer dayis “Pmo”.

Price Range – Public Issue ListingDay Performance

Issue price of a public offering is the priceat which shares are first offered toinvestors when a company floats on thestock market. This can be at par or at adiscount or premium. The sample of 100public offerings are tapped the marketwith premium only. For the convenienceof analysis all the sample public offeringsare arranged into ten issue price rangesfrom below Rs.100 as first range to aboveRs.900 as last range in the studyconducted. (Table 1)

Table 1 report that underpricing has beenwidely documented in all price rangesexcept in the range of Rs.400-Rs.500.When the price range is below Rs.300 and

SuGyaan 55

Volume II, Issue I

above Rs.800 public offerings returns arehigher than the other issue price rangesstudied. It is understood from the abovethat when the issue price of public issueis low underpricing is high.

Industry – Public Issue Listing DayPerformance

Public offering from different companiesrepresents different industries in India.All the public offerings of the study arecategorized into nine special industriesand one being as diversified and otherscategory. The nine categories areTextiles, Automobiles, Cement and allied,Chemical, Media and Entertainment,

Table 1Price Range – Public Issue Listing Day Performance

ISSUE PRICE(in rupees) NO. OF ISSUES WEALTH RELATIVE

Below 100 39 35.48100-200 28 32.69200-300 14 35.32300-400 7 115.22400-500 2 -10.00500-600 5 26.04600-700 2 36.10700-800 1 14.75800-900 1 36.80Above 900 1 31.75TOTAL 100 -

Table 2Industry – Public Issue Listing Day Performance

INDUSTRY NO. OF ISSUES WEALTH RELATIVE

Textiles 10 -70.73Automobiles 2 21.45Cement and Allied 5 31.78Chemical 6 80.92Media and Entertainment 16 25.69Information Technology 18 39.59Banking And Finance 17 17.35Power And Energy 10 19.14Hotels 2 33.69Diversified and Others 14 43.85Total 100 -

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

56

Information Technology, Banking andFinance, Power and Energy and Hotelindustries. Among ten industrycategories nine of them outperformedwhen compared to the market return onlisting day

Table 2 summarizes that all the publicissues of different industries are underpriced expect textile industry offerings.During the study period Indian textileindustry facing the changing scenariofrom the textile importing countries. Thebooming chemical industry in India

shown highest listing day return whicheducates us to understand theunderpricing of public issues is high inthe sector. Though the wealth relative issignificantly different from superior inalmost all the industry groups, yet thesevaried widely across all the industries.The listing day returns of public issuesin different industry is thus in line withthe earlier evidence in India

Period Wise – Public Issue ListingDay Performance

Initial public offerings raised capital fromthe market and listed in National Stock

Exchange of the sample are spread in nineyears starting from year 1998-99 to year2005-06. Table 3 exhibits that aroundseventy per cent of the issues coveredduring 2004-2006 period. The reasonbeing robust secondary market, on anaverage NIFTY moved 300 points perquarter respectively during this period.

Table 3Period Wise – Public Issue Listing Day Performance

YEAR NO. OF ISSUES WEALTH RELATIVE

1998-99 02 43.371999-00 07 36.032000-01 02 37.392001-02 01 -2.152002-03 03 231.902003-04 16 38.522004-05 49 46.522005-06 20 12.29TOTAL 100 -

The Table 3 displays first day return ofpublic issues with respect to period ofstudy. In 2002-03 the public issues thathave come up performed outstanding.This abnormal initial day return duringthis year is due to bull-run in thesecondary market in India. Almost in allthe years of the study public issues listingday return is positive.

SuGyaan 57

Volume II, Issue I

Size Wise – Public Issue Listing DayPerformance

Initial public offerings size is about theamount raised through a particular issuefrom the market. The size of the issue isequal to the amount of issue price

multiplied by number of shares that arebeing issued through an initial publicoffering. Based on the amount raised bythe sample initial public offerings of thesample the issue sizes are kept elevenforms ranging from below Rs.100 croreas the first and above Rs.1000 crore as

the last one. Public issues size is aboutthe amount of public issue offered to thepublic for investment. The above tablepermits examination as to whether listingpublic issue performance is dependent onthe offer size. All the public issues withdifferent issue sizes wealth relative issignificantly above zero.

The highest returns are given by very fewissues with the issue size less than Rs.200crores. As the size increases, the returnsthough remain significant, startdeclining. Logically issues with small sizehave high underpricing and most of thesesmall size public issues offered by small

Table 4Size Wise – Public Issue Listing Day Performance

ISSUE SIZE(Rs. in crore) NO. OF ISSUES WEALTH RELATIVE

BELOW 100 39 46.56100-200 26 35.83200-300 09 19.55300-400 06 13.22400-500 01 3.86500-600 01 4.17600-700 01 35.14700-800 02 0.41800-900 01 1.43900-1000 00 -ABOVE 1000 14 38.07TOTAL 100

or new companies. These companiespossess higher information asymmetry.Moreover, smaller issue size means theavailable number of shares is less incomparison to bigger issues. So it maycreate a demand-supply gap assumingfixed number of players in the marketplace. So it can be inferred that thesmaller the offer size, the higher are theinitial returns. Issue size does play animportant role in deciding the listing dayperformance of public issues in the Indianmarket.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

58

Conclusion

It is additional evidence on the pricing ofpublic issues in India during the periodof study. The results indicate that thepublic issues in the other countries,public issues listed in National StockExchange in India are characterized bysignificant listing day positive returns(initial underpricing). These results areconsistent across many industrysegments, issue sizes, issue periods andfew issue prices. Large issues which arelikely to be managed more professionallyare underpriced less. The results alsoshow that public issue under pricing ofIndian companies was much stronger in2002-03. This may be caused the fact thatpublic sector undertakings invaded theprimary market in the process ofdisinvestment and experience theinvestors’ faith and trust. It is understoodthat underpricing exists in Indian publicissues during the study period which arelisted at National Stock Exchange of Indiaand also that on average investorpurchasing public issues at the launchprice earn abnormal returns at the endof the first trading day after listing.

References

Allen, F. and G. Faulhaber (1989),Signaling by Underpricing in the PublicIssue Market, Journal of FinancialEconomics, Vol.23, pp. 303-323.

Bhalla, V.K (2007), InvestmentManagement (13/e), S. Chand andCompany Limited, New Delhi.

Kumar S.S.S (2006), Short and Long RunPerformance of IPOs in Indian Capital

Market, International Journal ofManagement Practices andContemporary Thoughts.

Loughran, T., Ritter, J.R. and Rydqvist,K. (1994, updated 2000), ‘Initial PublicOfferings: International Insights’, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Vol. 2, pp. 165-99.

Madhusoonan and Thiripal Raju (1997),Underpricing of IPOs: The IndianEvidence, Vikalpa, Vol.22, pp. 17-30.

Ritter, J. (1984), The Hot Issue Marketof 1980, The Journal of Business, Vol. 57,No. 2, pp. 215-40.

Ritter, J.R. (1991), The Long-RunPerformance of Initial Public Offerings’,Journal of Finance, Vol. 46, pp. 3-27.

Shah (1995), The Indian IPO Market:Empirical Facts, Technical Report, CentreFor Monitoring Indian Economy,Mumbai.

Satyendra K. Singh and Mani Govil(2009), Trends and Returns of InitialPublic Offerings in India with specialreference to the period of 2006-08,Abhigyan, Vol.XXVII, No.3, 1-10.

Shikha Sehgal and Balwinder Singh(2007), The Initial and AftermarketPerformance of Indian Public issues,Journal of Applied Finance Vol.12, No.11.

Author:

A. Sathish Kumar is an AssociateProfessor at Sree Chaitanya PG Collegeat Karimnagar.

ananthulasathish@gmail.com.

#MJSSIM1(I) 04, 2010

SuGyaan 59

Volume II, Issue I

Introduction

The corporate world is working harderthan ever to reduce employee stress onthe job. However, the pressure at theoffice is increasing because there is a lotdemanded a few hours to do it. Stress is aterm that almost everybody from allwalks of life knows and uses. Stress is the“wear and tear” which bodies experienceas employees adjust to the continuallychanging environment. It has physicaland emotional effects on employees andcan create positive or negative feelings.As a positive influence, stress can helpinduce employees to action; it can resultin a new awareness and an exciting newperspective. As a negative influence, itcan result in feelings of distrust, rejection,anger, and depression, which in turn canlead to health problems such asheadaches, upset stomach, rashes,insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure,

Occupational Stress among Female Teaching Professionalsand its Effect on Home Environment at Indore city

Manohar Kapse, Anuradha Pathak and Shilpa Sharma

Abstract

Stress is the reaction of people to excessive pressure. The rapid pace of life today and increasedexpectations means that people have to tolerate more pressure now than ever before. This stress istaken to home from work place, and therefore occupational stress is a major area of concern.Occupational stress may have an impact on home and family environment. The number of urbanmarried women entering formal workforce is increasing and so is the amount of work stresses bothat home and at workplace which greatly affect their family and the home environment. The presentstudy was undertaken to study how occupational stress affect home environment as perceived byselected respondents. The study was conducted in Indore city and included female teachingprofessionals. Results showed that impact of stress on home concern and maintenance as “mydependency on servants has increased” scored maximum and “my house keeping standards hasbeen deteriorated” scored minimum. Impact of stress on social and leisure life revealed that “outingand traveling has reduced” scored maximum and “shopping is no longer a pleasure” scoredminimum. Impact of stress on miscellaneous work showed that plants and pets are neglected mostwhereas on cooking there is no impact.

heart disease, and stroke. Occupationalstress is an extremely difficult constructto define. It is stress on the job, but stresson the job occurs in a person.

Over the years women in India havestruggled to establish an identity andcreate a mark in the social as well as inthe organizational platforms. Witheducational institutions training moreand more women to enter professionalcareers, the scenario has been changed.Times have changed from the time thehusband earned, and the wife stayed athome to the time now when the husbandearns and the wife earns too. But the wifestill cooks and washes and runs the house.And to strike the right balance betweenhome concerns and work life is gettingtough due to stresses both at home andat work place. Today’s career women arecontinually challenged by the demandsof full-time work and when the day is

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

60

done at the office, they carry more of theresponsibilities and commitments tohome.

Teaching as a career option attractswomen. The reason may be that with thisprofession lies an opportunity to combineemployment and family responsibilities.Teaching is considered as a nobleprofession. This offers better pay rates,holidays, stability and security,enjoyment and satisfaction, intellectualdevelopment and thought as suitable forwomen, drawing on socially valuedstrengths and somewhat more potentialfor career advancement as compared toother professions.

Teaching, however, may be perceived asthe primary source of distress for many,as it involves regular public speaking,which is appraised by most people as astressful life event (Fish, 1986). Gardnerand Leak (1994) suggest that thedemands associated with teaching areeven more taxing than the demands ofpublic speaking. Less formalized trainingand preparation for teaching may alsomake teachers more vulnerable than theirother (Gardner and Leak, 1994).

Within the general area of occupationalstress, teaching has been identified as oneof the most stressful occupations in manycountries (Cooper, Sloan, and Williams,1988). In many countries teacher’s job isoften considered as one of the moststressful profession. Studies in the fieldof teacher’s stress show that the greaterpart of stress is associated with the rapidpace of changes in education, lots ofexpectations from the parents towardstheir children’s education and thedevelopment of their personalities. Withthe increasing number of roles and

requirements from the institute, Boardsof Education, universities etc., teachers’stress are on a steady increase.

A number of surveys have pointed to thecomparatively stressful nature ofteaching. T. Cox, Mackay, S. Cox, Watts,and Brockley (1978) revealed that 78 percent of teachers, but only 38 per cent ofother professionals, considered work asthe main source of stress in their lives.Kyriacou (1980) reported that teachers,when compared to people in otherprofessions, had the highest levels ofoccupational stress. It seems from thesestudies that teachers do experience ahigher level of stress than many otherprofessionals.

Literature Review

Educators are expected to execute variousand diverse activities while facingenormous volumes of individual, socialand professional responsibilities intoday’s fast-paced world, which couldlead to their experience of stress. (Adams,2001). Sulleret (1971) found out thatworking women were haunted by thefeeling of guilt for not performinghousehold activities in an organized wayand poor performance of children inschool which in turn created tension andprevented many women from feeling offulfillment.

McLean (1974), Brief, Schular andVansell (1981), Survey of the literatureon occupational stress reveals that thereare a number of factors related to jobwhich affects the behaviour of theemployees and as a result of it, normallife is disturbed. University professorstend to experience higher than normallevels of stress, and these high levels of

SuGyaan 61

Volume II, Issue I

stress have increased over the last 6 years(Canadian Association of UniversityTeachers, 2007; Kinman, Jones, andKinman, 2006). The day-to-day demandsfor excellent balancing act in teaching,research, and service are, at times,perceived as unattainable. Sundaram(1984) found that the domestic problemidentified by working women were lackof time to care for children, guests andno leisure which led women to mentaland physical strain. Paruthi andBhardwaj (1985) concluded that familyenvironment leads to emergence oftension at job. The job stress increaseswith increase or decrease in familyconflict. This also indicated that thepressure in job tension may aggravateconflict in the family which is a clearevidence of a kind of carry over effectfrom work to home and back. Thesefindings points clearly to the complexitieswhich often arise in home due to stressof work having been brought home.Repetti, Matthews and Waldron (1989)suggested that working women are proneto the same stressors experienced byworking men. Yet, women are alsoconfronted with potentially uniquestressors such as discrimination,stereotyping, social isolation, and work/home conflicts. In addition, taking careof children and aging parents continuesto be a source of stress for women whowork outside the home. Lily J and GeethaS (2009) showed that the respondentscould not look after the children andfamily members and, moreover,irrespective occupational status theyhold, everyone faces a medium level ofstress in their respective work.

Objective of the Study

To study how occupational stress amongfemale teaching professionals affect theirhome environment.

Research Methodology

The universe of the study is the femaleteaching professionals of Indore city.Over all 120 questionnaire weredistributed by convenient samplingmethod out of which 64 were selected forthe study with a response rate of 52%.The data collected with the help ofquestionnaire were coded , tabulated andsuitable statistical tools percentages meanscore, were calculated using SAPWsoftware for analysis.

Analysis and Discussions

It can be seen from Table 1 that age of allthe respondents varied from 15 to 60years. A large number (78.12%) ofrespondents were in the category of 26to 45 years of age. 15.62% of respondentsbelonged to the category of 15 to 25 yearsand 6.25% belonged to 46 to 60 years.Maximum number i.e. 78.12% ofrespondents was married at the time ofstudy whereas21.87% were unmarried.Regarding education, all the respondentswere having education at least up to postgraduation level. A maximum number i.e.81.25 % of the respondents were postgraduates while 10 % and 2 % havinggraduation and doctorate and aboverespectively. 78.125 % of respondentswere having income between Rs. 10000-20000 per month. While 15.625% of therespondents were having income upto Rs.10000. Another 6.25% of therespondents had income of more than Rs30,000. Whereas none of the respondentshave income in the category of Rs 20,000

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

62

to Rs 30,000. It is also observed from theTable 1 that 53.125% of the families werenuclear and 46.875% of the families wereof joint type. Regarding family size, in thetotal sample 46.9 % was from small

family (up to 4 members) and 43.8 %from medium (5 to 8 members) and 9.4% from large (more than 8 members).

Effect of Occupational Stress onHome Environment

Table 1Socio Personal Characteristics of Demographic Profile of the Respondents

Category Count %

Age group of working women 15-25 year 10 15.625

26-45 year 50 78.125

46 and above 4 6.25

Marital Status Married 50 78.125

Unmarried 14 21.875

Other 0 0

Educational Qualification Graduate 10 15.625

Post Graduate 52 81.25

Doctorate and above 2 3.125

Monthly Income upto Rs 10000 10 15.625

Rs 10,000-Rs 20,0000 50 78.125

Rs 20,000 –Rs 30,000 0 0

Rs 30,000 and above 4 6.25

Type of family Nuclear family 34 53.125

Joint family 30 46.875

As seen clearly from the table 2 thathigher mean scores are given to“dependency on servants has increased”and “unable to take full care of homefurnishings and fittings” i.e. 3.50 and3.18. It clearly shows that due to stress,respondents’ dependency on servants hasbeen increased. “I am unable to take fullinterest in home decoration” received a

mean score of 3.06. Occupational stressresults in “untidiness and clutter” in myhouse obtained a mean score of 2.90 andoccupational stress has “deterioratedhouse-keeping standards” obtained amean score of 2.7. These scores show thatthe respondents were not in agreementwith these aspects.

SuGyaan 63

Volume II, Issue I

Effect of Stress on Social and Leisurelife of respondents

Highest score 3.00 in the category socialand leisure life was obtained by statement“outing and traveling has reduced”.“Unable to keep hobbies alive” was nextto this with a mean score of 2.90. Meanscore for the statement “could not attendsocial gatherings and activities” was 2.60.Lowest Mean score of 2.50 was given forstatement “shopping is no longer apleasure”. Thorough perusal of the tableshows that the respondents were neutralin their response towards variousstatements which show that they wereneither participating in social activities,nor were they outing or traveling orkeeping their hobbies alive. Yes but manyrespondents disagreed to the statementthat “shopping is no longer a pleasure”that is occupational stress have no impacton shopping habits of working women.

Effect of Stress on MiscellaneousHousehold Work

Maximum score i.e. 3.30 stress onmiscellaneous household work wasobtained by the statement “could not takefull care of pets and plants”, followed by“could not get broken equipmentsrepaired in time” (3.20). Mean score for“could not pay full attention towards billpayments, cheques and deposits etc” and“could not keep an eye over kitchenneeds” were same (2.60). Lowest meanscore was obtained by the statement“unable to cook good food” (2.50). Thismeans that respondents disagreed tothese statements which show thatoccupational stress have no impact onthese activities.

Family Support in Up-keeping Homeand Upbringing Children

From the mean scores in the familysupport and up keeping home andupbringing children Maximum score is4.40 was obtained for the statement “Iget full support from my husband” whichis also same for the statement “I get fullsupport from my In-Laws” which meansthat husbands and In-Laws comfortworking women against the stress bysupporting her in up keeping home andupbringing children. (Table 2)

Effect of Occupational Stress onChildren

From table 2 it is observed that maximumscore i.e. 4.00 in the category relationshipwith children was obtained by thestatement “closeness with children hasnot changed”, followed by “schoolperformance of children has notchanged” (3.70). Mean score for “timespent with children has not changed” was3.50. This means that respondentsagreed to this statement which shows thatoccupational stress have no impact onrelation with children.

Effect of Occupational Stress onHealth and Family Conflict

“Occupational stress results in healthproblem” obtained mean score of 3.30and “Occupational stress results in familyconflict” obtained a mean score of 2.40.This means that occupational stress havedoes not result in family conflicts whichis shown in Table 2

Conclusion

It can thus be concluded from the studythat majority of women were in the age

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

64

groups of 26-45 years ; married and werepost graduates. Their monthly incomewas in the range of Rs. 10,000 to 20,000per month. They belonged almost equallyto nuclear family as well as joint family.Impact of stress on home concern and

Table 2Impact of Occupational Stress on Home Environment

Descriptive Statistics N Mean Std. Dev

1. Home Concern and Maintenance Untidiness and clutter 64 2.90625 1.136952Housekeeping standards 64 2.71875 1.015261Fittings and furnishings 64 3.1875 1.139131Home decoration 64 3.0625 1.067187Dependency on servants 64 3.5 1.181874

2. Social and Leisure Life Outing and travelling 64 3 1.28432Shopping 64 2.5 1.007905Hobbies 64 2.96875 0.925284Social gathering and activities 64 2.65625 0.995526

3. Miscellaneous Household Work Bill payments 64 2.65625 1.143911Pets and plants 64 3.3125 0.923675Broken equipment 62** 3.258065 1.023262Kitchen needs 64 2.625 1.119807Cook good food 64 2.53125 1.332961

4. Family Support in Upkeeping Homeand Upbringing Children Support from Husband 56* 4.428571 0.828079Support from In-laws 54* 4.444444 0.634441

5. Relationship with Children Time spent with children 50* 3.56 1.072095Closeness with children 48* 4 1.051847School Performance of children 46* 3.782609 1.263382

* Unmarried respondents ** Missing observation

maintenance was evident as resultsshowed that housekeeping standardshave remain same despite moderate workstress. But their dependency on servantshas increased. Impact of stress on social

SuGyaan 65

Volume II, Issue I

and leisure life of respondents was alsoindicative of the fact that they preferoutings and travel. Despite of moderatework stress, they enjoy shopping, keeptheir hobbies alive and attend socialgatherings to relieve their work stress.Impact of stress on miscellaneoushousehold work showed that they couldnot cook good food due to their workstress but the other important householdwork such as bill payments, chequedeposits, fulfilling kitchen needs andgetting broken equipments repaired areperformed on time. They get full supportfrom their husband and in-laws in theirhousehold work occupational stress donot affect their relationship withchildren.

References

Adams (2001), A Proposed Causal Modelof Vocational Teacher Stress. Journal ofVocational Education and Training.

Canadian Association of UniversityTeachers (2007), Occupational Stressamong CanadianUniversity AcademicStaff. 1-38. Retrieved from http://caut.ca/en/publications/healthandsafety/CAUTStressStudy-EN.pdf

Cooper, C.L, Sloan, S. and Williams, S.(1988), Occupational Stress Indicator.Slough, UK: NFER-Nelson.

Cox, T, Mackay, C. J, Cox, S, Watts, C,and Brockley, T (1978), Stress and Wellbeing in School Teachers. PsychologicalResponse to Occupational Stress.Conference conducted at the meeting ofthe Ergonomics Society, University of

Nottingham, Nottingham.

Fish, T.A. (1986), Semantic DifferentialAssessment of Benign, Threat andChalleng Appraisals of life events.Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science,18, pp. 1 - 14.

Gardner, L.E, and Leak, G.K. (1994),Characteristics and Correlates ofTeaching Anxiety among CollegePsychology Teachers. Teaching ofPsychology, 21(1), pp. 28 - 32.

Kyriacou, C. (1980), Coping Actions andOccupational Stress among SchoolTeachers. Research in Education, 24, pp.57-61.

Kinman, G., Jones, F., and Kinman, R(2006), The Well-being of the UKAcademy, 1998-2004.

Quality in Higher Education, 12(1), pp.15-27.

Lily J and Geetha S (2009), HomeEnvironment: Stress and Mess SCMSJournal of Indian Management, April-June.

Long, B. C., and Kahn, S. E. (Eds.).(1993), Women, Work, and Coping: AMultidisciplinary Approach toWorkplace Stress. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Mathew, Raval and Vora (2005), Stressat the Work Place, National Conferenceon Stress Organized by Department ofPsychology, Saurashtra University onFebruary 19-20.

McLean, A (1974), Occupational stressand strain. Springfield, Illinois. Thomas.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

66

Paruthi, M. and Bhardwaj, G (1985),Family Environment and Job RelatedTension across Five Levels in a foodprocessing industry. Indian J. Ind.Relations, 20(3) pp. 310-317.

Repetti, R. L, Matthews, K. A, andWaldron, I. (1989), Employment andWomen’s Health: Effects of PaidEmployment on Women’s Mental andPhysical Health, American Psychologist,44, pp. 1394-1401.

Sulleret, E. (1971), Women, Society andChange, World University Library,London.

Sundaram (1984), How do Women Copeup with Home and Job. Social Welfare.31(1), pp. 22-23.

Surti, K (1982), Some PsychologicalCorrelates of Role Stress and CopingStyles in Working Women. Unpublished

Ph.D. thesis, Gujarat University,Ahmedabad.

Van Sell, M., Brief, A.P., and Schuler, R.S(1981), Managing Job Stress, LittleBrown and Company, Boston, MA

Authors:

Manohar Kapse is a Lecturer in the MBAdepartmentat Shri Vaishnav Institute ofManagement, Indore, M.P.mk10oct@gmail.com

Anuradha Pathak is a Lecturer in theMBA department at Shri VaishnavInstitute of Management, Indore, M.P.gokhale.anu@gmail.com

Shilpa Sharma is a Lecturer in the MBAdepartment at Shri Vaishnav Institute ofManagement, Indore, M.P.sharma.svim@gmail.com

#MJSSIM1(I) 05, 2010

SuGyaan 67

Volume II, Issue I

Introduction

Global workplace is changing faster thanever before. Industries readily employtalent with versatility and problemsolving abilities. Problem solving skill isa basic skill needed by today’s learnersin any workplace. Problem solving skillincludes, amongst others, the followingattributes: drawing on the subjectknowledge used; applying a variety oftactics and heuristics; monitoring andreflecting on the process used; having anoverall approach that appliesfundamentals rather than trying tocombine various known solutions; beingorganized and systematic, and yet beingflexible.

Here are some quick reasons to note fordeveloping awareness for problem-solving abilities in engineering students.The employability factor of on-campusengineering students is about 20-25%.

This is due to the student’s low exposureto problem solving abilities. Very fewteams are proactively coming forward toequip the college students in problemsolving abilities without expectinganything in return. These events areeither isolated or lack sustainabilitybarring a very few of them.

Effectively we have implemented anddemonstrated innovation through- 1)Webinars, 2) E-learning managementsystems, 3) Online contests and onlineassessments for creating awareness ofproblem-solving skills and enhancingindustry readiness of engineeringstudents.

We have seen tremendous response fromstudents in number of webinar onlineregistrations and online contestsincluding non IT and non circuitbranches. Open educational resources,online contests and online assessments

Case StudyLeveraging Technology for Enhancing

Employability of Students

Srinagesh Chatarajupalli, Gopu Venkatswamy and A. R. Aryasri

Abstract

This case study describes a five year real time implementation of e-learning projects that promoteddeveloping problem solving abilities to engineering students with the help of webinars, sharing openeducational resources, online contests and assessment. This was demonstrated through innovativeservice delivery by effectively leveraging technology and collaboration. To solve problems successfully,the faculty and students used algorithmic thinking and logical reasoning, and demonstrated thesolution in the context of technical, life skills, English language proficiency, quality, process, anddomain skills through team work. Our focus was on skill set, tool set, and mind set. We found thatthe effective use of technology, people, and process can create the desired impact and resulted inenhancing employability skills. While there are collaborating platforms available to share best-practices and lessons learnt between industry and academia, this case study describes a successfulframework for effectively designing and conducting industry-relevant training programs to thefaculty and students in engineering colleges. The impact and results were measured and analyzedfrom June 2004 to April 2010.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

68

were extended to 94 Engineering collegesacross the state of Andhra Pradesh,resulted in improving the awareness ofproblem solving skills.

Through our project we have designed ascalable and sustainable service deliverymodel. We have demonstrated a completepaper less, online digital content,leveraging technology and collaborationand we have made an impact anddemonstrated enhancements in industryreadiness and employability rate.

The Design: The design had followingkey elements: (i) People, (ii) Process and(iii) Technology

The people were a set of passionate andcommitted core team members who werefocused on deployment assurance. Someof the aspects in the process were-different types of problem statementswhich connect to the real-worldsituations, college wise approach toexecution as mentioned below. We havealso used all new technology centricplatforms for scalability and highavailability.

Based on our research study andreference of previous case studies in thearea of architecting the educationexperience, we found that not many realtime projects and relevant data analysiswas done for the benefit of students andfaculty members for such a time durationof five years in the state of AndhraPradesh.

Research Methodology

Secondary data is collected from books,journals, magazines, news papers, Actsand articles, research publications etc.Primary data was obtained through

questionnaire. Apart from hard copies,data was collected through emails, onlineweb portal, telephonic interviews/requests. Interviews were conductedthrough structured schedules by seekingprior appointments from themanagements, faculty, and students.Relevant statistical tools were used for thestudy.

Population and Sample Size

When we started collecting data pointsfor our project work in 2006, there wereabout 315 Engineering Colleges in thestate of Andhra Pradesh. Sample size ofabout 30% colleges was taken. Samplingmethod was clustered random samplingfrom the known source list. Collegeslocated in urban and rural areas of equalnumbers were studied. For this purposecolleges located within 30 kilometersradius from central bus station ofHyderabad was treated as urban andbeyond that will be as rural and similarlycolleges located within 10 kilometersradius of district head quarters wereconsidered as urban. It was alsoconsidered that only those colleges whichhave established prior to 2006 (at leastone batch should have passed out of finaldegree examination) were taken up forthe study. For the purpose of obtainingfairly uniform information, thepopulation was divided into four regions,engineering colleges in RangareddyDistrict, Andhra region, Telenganaregion and Rayalaseema regions.Rangareddy district has been taken as aseparate region since this district haslargest number of engineering collegesthan in any single district of A.P. Samplewill be chosen in proportion of theuniverse.

SuGyaan 69

Volume II, Issue I

Data was collected by way of personalinterviews and questionnaires. Thesewere structured. Data was also obtainedfrom the institutions’ websites, journalsand authorities such as AICTE, JNTU,offices of the Commissioner HigherEducation, A.P. State Council of HigherEducation and Commissioner TechnicalEducation. The data thus collected wassecondary data and used for effectivepresentation of the study. Discussionswere also held with experts in the areaand officials of different agenciesconcerned with the study.

Webinars: Deployment Metrics:Service System Description

Webinar – web based seminar or aseminar over the internet. The words‘Webinar’ is a combination of ‘web +seminar’ which simply means a seminarover the internet. This software is amarvel of technological innovation andhelps people to come together andcollaborate effectively over the internet.This helps the sessions to be live andinteractive e-learning experiences.Contrasting with a webcast, where therethe communication flow is one-way, thisoffers a two-way communication leadingto greater efficiency and participation bythe audience.

Given below are some first levelconsolidated metrics on the webinars inthe subject areas of technical and lifeskills conducted so far across 94 collegesacross Andhra Pradesh state. Table 1shows the number of webinars conductedso far and the impact of these webinarsin terms of the number of colleges/facultyand students who attended thesewebinars.

Table 1Webinar Coverage Data: Feb 2005-

May 2010

No. Item Number

1 Total number ofWebinars conducted 79

2 Number of Collegesimpacted acrossAndhra Pradesh 94

3 Number of Facultyimpacted 1949

4 Number of Studentsimpacted 23597

A. Stakeholder Feedback

Faculty feedback – A total of 521 facultymembers from 94 colleges across the statehave responded to the question on theusefulness and effectiveness of webinars.The average rating turned out to be 3.69on a scale of 1 to 4.

Student feedback – Table 2 shows overallwebinar effectiveness feedback as 4.29out of 5 (above ‘Very Good’)

Table 2Consolidated Webinar Feedback

Area of Average RatingFeedback (on a scale of 1-5)

Webinar Content 3.94

Webinar Design 3.91

Presenter Effectiveness 4.06

Planning and Delivery 3.97

Overall WebinarEffectiveness 4.29

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

70

Capability improvement – Scalabilityand Reach

Prior to Webinars, SMEs (subject matterexpert) were travelling to the colleges.This put a limitation on the number ofcolleges that can be covered. The reachto the colleges before and after

introducing webinars gives a clear pictureof the extent of change brought about.Table 3 shows the number of colleges wewere able to reach before and afterintroducing webinars across the state ofAndhra Pradesh.

Table 3Improvement in College Coverage

No. Period # Partner # Colleges %Colleges Covered Coverage

1 Nov 2005 - Oct 2006 (Without Webinars) 65 21 32.3

2 Nov 2006 - Oct 2007 (Without Webinars) 110 34 30

3 Nov 2006 - Oct 2007 (With Webinars) 105 75 74

4 Nov 2007-2008 (With Webinars) 115 95 82

5 Nov 2009-Till Date (With Webinars) 120 105 87

With the help of webinars, the collegesreach or coverage was increased to 87%.

Cost and Productivity Benefits

Total cost of one hour webinar sessioncovering 10 partner colleges isapproximately Rs. 12,000/-(TwelveThousand)including the cost of platformand audio support. Similar seminarsession in one partner college by SMEthrough physical travel cost Rs. 6500 (SixThousand Five Hundred) including thetravelling, accommodation, food andmiscellaneous expenses. Apart from thatthere is productivity loss also. Table 4shows the cost savings of Rs. 20500/-(Twenty Thousand Five Hundred).

Table 4 Cost Saving Per Webinar Session

No. Cost Saving Per Rs.Webinar Session

1 Cost of Webinar covering10 colleges 12000

2 Cost of Seminar covering10 colleges( Assuming2 colleges are coveredper day) (6500 * 5)= 32500

Total Savings perwebinar session 20500

A significant savings in terms of the SMEtravel time is another major benefit.Taking a conservative estimate of onebusiness days the SME would have spent

SuGyaan 71

Volume II, Issue I

in travelling to the college and deliveringthe seminar, a saving of 509 business dayshas resulted because of using webinars.

Authors are thankful to Anuradha andAnoop for their work on “LeveragingWebinar for Student Learning”(Anuradha and Anoop, 2005). Some ofthe learning’s, data points, inputs, andsuggestions were obtained from theirstudy.

Key challenges and Limitations whileimplementing webinars in colleges

Lack of quality speakerphone, projectors,screens etc, lack of good quality audiosystem poor internet connectivity, lackof power backup or ups or dieselgenerator, faculty and students are unableto join on time, students and facultyhaving poor articulation skills, feeling shyto ask questions to the webinar presenter,students and faculty not able to askrelevant and appropriate questionsduring webinar sessions, slow responsein pre-work communication orcompletion, slow response in giving eventcompletion status and feedback, not ableto suggest relevant and updated webinartopics on time, not able to provideparticipants list in advance, and poorinternal communication and not able tomotivate students and faculty formaximum participation.

Lessons learnt and best Practiceswhile rolling out webinars in colleges

At least two weeks prior information isrequired to communicate about thewebinar, to invite relevant facultymembers and appropriate students basedon the webinar topic, to conductcontinuous webinar session for not morethan 45 minutes, regular intervention of

qanda during the webinar, presenterasking questions proactively by saying “iam sharing and teaching, however areyou getting?, summarizing orparaphrasing by both presenter andparticipants in regular intervals duringthe session and active learning.

Conclusion and Recommendations –Webinars

Webinar helps student overcome thedigital divide and offer a great platformfor SMEs across the globe to share theirknowledge with students of variousinstitutes scattered over vast geographicalboundaries. With just honing thestudents’ skill a little, they can avail theadvantage of a technology which willpave the knowledge sharing direction forthe future.

Some steps that can take us on theroad ahead for webinars include:

1) Exploring development of ameasurement system for webinar.Analyzing the success and havingan evaluation framework for thesame will be helpful.

2) Inclusion of webinars for moreevents and surveys within thecolleges, Universities and withother stake holders.

3) Extending the advantage of thisplatform in events addressing adiverse audience. A step in thisdirection was webinar usage incontest series launched by our teamfor engineering and MCA studentstargeting 150 colleges across thestate for briefing, awareness and forskills enhancements programs.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

72

E-Learning Management Systems(ELMS) MOODLE –Service SystemDescription

This project case study on E-learningManagement System (ELMS) Moodleenables you to create powerful, flexibleand engaging online e-learningexperience to support traditional classroom teaching or lecturing, or to providecomplete online and distance e-learningcourse. This case study describing theimpact of Moodle on identifying e-learning gaps, standardization of theassessment process in 94 partner collegesand enhanced productivity of manpowerresources is discussed here. The casehighlights how it has helped in scaling,decentralization of assessment processand bringing down the cost of theassessment as there is no specialinfrastructure requirement for large scaledeployment.

Introduction

Technological innovation has broughtforward many new tools for enhancingthe teaching learning process. Theeducation system is witnessing atransition from its traditional teachingmethods to the latest ones. The chalk andtalk method has been replaced byscientific classrooms, and variousmultimedia tools. The advent of suchadvanced technology has broughtforward the concept of a ELMS.

According to Ellis (2009), a e-learningmanagement system (ELMS) is asoftware application for theadministration, documentation, tracking,and reporting of training programs,classroom and online events, e-learningprograms, and training content. ELMS is

software for planning, delivering, andmanaging e-learning events within anorganization, including online, virtualclassroom, and instructor-led courses

A popular open source ELMS is Moodle– Modular Object Oriented DynamicLearning Environment. Though ELMScan be used for a variety of applicationsfrom academic, administrative, corporate,etc, the scope of this case study restrictsthe discussion only on the academic useof the same and focusing on features likeOnline Assessments, Reports etc.

This case study demonstrates the impactof Moodle on identifying e-learning gapsof students and

characterizes its impact. Some of thesignificant features are,

Generate Reports – can be for managingusers, instructors, marks, etc.

Create calendars– to streamlineschedules.

Assign instructors–allocation andmanagement of resources

Online assessment – students can appearin examinations based online on theinternet or intranet.

Web based or online e-learning – coursescan be offered online.

Alerts and notifications – update thestakeholders.

Background

E-learning Management system (ELMS)is playing a critical role in today’spedagogy by providing students andinstructors an opportunity to interact andcollaborate electronically through onlinee-learning environment. Over the recent

SuGyaan 73

Volume II, Issue I

years, with its stability, security and freeavailability, open source ELMS has seena growing popularity over itscounterparts especially in the educationalspace. Some of the popular ELMS are,Moodle, ATutor, Claroline, Dokeos

Moodle: Moodle is a web based e-learningplatform that provides coursemanagement system features helpingeducators to create effective online e-learning communities. It has emerged tobe the most preferred one in bothcorporate and educational space throughits user friendly, secure and extensiblefeatures. As of January 2010, Moodle hasa wide user base of 46,624 registered andverified sites, serving 32 million users in3 million courses across 209 countries.

The E-learning Guild Research surveythat measures the use of over 100professionally – developed ELMSproducts has ranked Moodle as thenumber 1 ELMS product for 2008-2009.In the next section, we describe thefeatures of Moodle.

Features of Moodle

Moodle is designed to support a style ofe-learning called Social Constructionism.This means interactive e-learning aspeople learn best when they can interactwith the e-learning material, constructnew material for others and interact withother students about the material. Itemphasizes more on discussion based e-learning rather than lecture based e-learning.

Some features of Moodle are,

1) Easily Available Freeware –Moodle can be easily downloadedand used from its website without

any cost.

2) Open source – Users are allowed tocopy, use and modify Moodle as perthe GNU license. This feature helpsin customization of various testreports.

3) Security – Various security featureslike launching quiz in anotherwindow, allowing only a singlebrowser window at one time, etccan be used specially duringassessment.

4) Batch Upload – It can handle largevolumes and supports variousbatch commands like bulk usercreation and question bank upload.

5) Online Chat – It offers an option forchatting online between thestudents.

6) Discussion Forum – Various onlinebulletin boards for each course canbe put up.

Authors are thankful to Anuradha,Rithesh and Anoop for their work on“Moodle - An optimum solution fordeployment and standardization ofInstitutional Assessment”. Some of thelearning’s, data points, inputs, andsuggestions were obtained from theirstudy.

Approach by our Team

Initially in the first phase ofimplementation, the idea of automatingBFP assessment was piloted using thecommercial software provided by theleading assessment solution provider ofthe country. Table 7 shows comparisonof various options by our team.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

74

For successful and effective launch of theopen source ELMS initiatives thefollowing tasks were actionized at ourend.

1) Creation of Assessment Frameworkfor Online Assessment

2) Central repository of questions forOnline Assessment – creation of4000 multiple choice questions asper Bloom’s Taxonomy.

3) Format of various analysis reportsfor each stakeholder – student,college management and our team.

4) Artifacts and Guidelines for Moodlesoftware installation

Impact Analysis

1) Online Assessment DeploymentMatrix: In the year 2009-10(Apr2009-Feb2010) 88.41% ofstudents undergoing BFP wereassessed online using freewareELMS software like Moodle asagainst 32.83% of students in 2008(May – Oct 2008) withoutincurring financial cost to anystakeholder. In the last elevenmonths, Moodle has helped inconducting 18524 students’assessment online without anysignificant investment by partnercolleges (Fig. 1)

SuGyaan 75

Volume II, Issue I

2) Capability Improvement –Scalability and Reach: In Year2009-10(Apr09-Feb10) 84.65%colleges have implemented OnlineAssessment as against 27.27%colleges in 2008 (May – Oct 2008).Till date 89 partner colleges haveused this tool to conduct OnlineAssessment of 301 BFP batches andhost various e-learning resources.The improvement matrix is asshown in Fig. 2.

3) Standardization: Centre ofExcellence – Digital Infrastructureteam formulated the Assessmentprocess to ensure consistencyacross colleges.

4) Cost Benefits: Moodle has helpedin decentralization of theassessment process and in bringingdown the cost of assessment asthere is no significant investmentin infrastructure by partner

colleges. In the commercial model,cost of assessment per student wasRs. 350/- or annual payment of Rs15000/- per college for 1000assessments of unlimited studentsper annum. Table 8 showssignificant savings of Rs. 64 Lakhs.

Productivity Enhancement

It has also resulted in enhancedproductivity because of reduced effortsin designing, review of question papersand generation of test reports andanalysis reports for all the stakeholders.Total manhour effort to scheduleassessment for 7 courses of one BasicFoundation Program batch havingapproximate 65 students is estimated tobe 49.5 Hrs. After automation ofassessment process, total effort has comedown to 22.5 hrs resulting in a saving of27 hrs of effort per batch. This led tohigher productivity as shown in Table 9.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

76

Collaboration and Reusability:Central repository of Basic FoundationProgram test papers is created bycollaborating with faculty members ofpartner colleges.

Benefits to Environment: Thisinitiative has also helped in reducing thecarbon footprint and contributing to theglobally acclaimed REDD initiative -Reducing Emissions from Deforestationand Forest Degradation in DevelopingCountries. Assuming in the pen papermode of exam – a test paper having 100multiple choice questions will take theprint space of 10 pages. So, this initiativehas resulted in saving of 185240 (18524

student * 10 pages of printout) copies ofprintout and printer cartridge.

Problem solving abilities throughonline contests

In order to encourage the spirit ofcompetitiveness and accelerate e-learningthrough open educational resources, acontest series like quiz, paperpresentations, and programming contestswere launched for students ofEngineering and MCA colleges all overstate. Conducting such online educationalcontests for thousands of students poseda huge challenge not only in terms ofcoordinating with the participatinginstitutions but also in terms of

SuGyaan 77

Volume II, Issue I

infrastructure requirements as well.Below Table 10 shows improvement in

productivity and effective use oftechnology for minimizing investment.

Benefits of Moodle

Moodle offered various advantages forthe team to deploy efficient and costeffective training platform. Some of thebenefits achieved are:

1) Standardization: Standardizedautomation of the studentassessment process was readilyachieved using Moodle with zerosoftware cost across all partneringcolleges.

2) Cost: Online assessment feature ofMoodle is helping in drasticallyreducing the high cost involved inthe manual student assessmentprocess in terms of paper usage andman-hours for evaluation andgeneration of different reports.

3) Collaboration: Collaboration toolsof Moodle are supporting thecommunity at partnering collegewith the conducive e-learningenvironment to interact and learnbetter.

4) Security: Ease-to-use Moodlefeatures is helping partneringcolleges to deploy a robust and acost effective online infrastructurefor administration BFP rollout andsecure content sharing at college.

Key Challenges and Limitations-Implementation and Deployment

1) Number of Assessments: For BFPBatches, 10000 plus students’assessments are done each year bypartner colleges.

2) Security: Constant feedback frompartner college faculty to seek thehelp of some sort of tools orapplication software to host BFPcourse material and assignmentsin secured environment by setting-intranet website.

3) Human Resource Productivity

4) Infrastructure: Partner collegeshave serious infrastructure issuesspecially tier 2, tier 3 rural colleges.

5) Cost: High cost of assessment due

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

78

to commercial implication andman-hour utilization in design andreview of question papers andgeneration of various test reports.

6) Standardization and Re-usability:Ensuring uniform quality of testpapers across colleges and re-usability of central repository ofquestions.

7) Competency: Technicalcompetency to implement any opensource solution especially in tiertwo, tier three rural colleges wasquite a daunting task.

8) Moodle Familiarization: Many ofthe partnering colleges would beexposed to the ELMS softwareproduct for the first time and itwould take some considerableamount of time for colleges to getfamiliarized and use all features ofMoodle for deploying conducive e-learning environment.

9) Limited Reporting Features:Moodle online assessment featurecomes with a limited support forgenerating customised reports.Hence partnering college may haveto generate some specific reportsmanually leading to some man-hours of efforts.

10) Limited support for Formatconversion.

11) Some of the faculty are not willingto implement online assessment asthey would like to use their ownassessment process. Requiressophisticated network setup

12) Lack of Database of questionsbased on BLOOMS taxonomy.

Challenges in preparing high-quality question bank. Unable toshare the feedback with studentson-time

Road Ahead, Lessons learnt and bestpractices while implementing ELMS,Online assessments in colleges

1) To provide sample referencequestion bank at least three weeksbefore

2) To involve relevant experiencedfaculty and students from thebeginning

3) To make feedback mechanism amandatory process

4) Availability of higher end server,clients and network infrastructure.

5) Question bank preparationincluding the combination ofSimple, Medium and Complex type.

6) Neutral and unbiased onlineassessment system encourages toenhance the quality of teaching-e-learning methodology

7) Colleges associated with thisprogram have achievedconsiderable success in onlineassessment using Moodle.Management support is veryimportant in implementing suchstrategic initiatives. Collegemanagement played a key role inthis project implementation asdescribed below,

• Expectations fromManagement are, Policymaking, Strategic planningand Deployment, EducationGovernance, Training

SuGyaan 79

Volume II, Issue I

Effectiveness, Quality andProductivity

• Challenges faced byManagements were, CaptureMeaningful Metrics, EffectiveData Management andKnowledge Management

Results have shown appreciable increasein efficiency and effectiveness in thesame. A few have started using it for theassessment in their regular curriculum aswell.

Conclusions and Recommen-dations:ELMS-Moodle

ELMS offer a great platform for variousactivities like documentation,administration, training, etc. One ofpopular open source software in thiscategory is Moodle. Moodle has beenextensively used as an online training andassessment software by teams in thecolleges associated with them. It hasoffered the team great advantage in termsof interactive e-learning platform,standardization, scalability, costreduction, consistency and accuracyleading to higher productivity.

I. Technology Opportunities forProcess Improvement

(1) High quality interactive portals/websites, (2) Free open source packagesor software’s, (3) Digital Infrastructure– Portal content upload, projects, Englishon line , other course content (4) Webex- 24x7 online interactions, support, (5)24x7 online chatting for problem solving,(6) Online contests with technologycentric approach to avoid humanintervention and immediate results, (7)Some common vendors for webinars are

WebEx, Microsoft Office Live Meeting,Adobe Acrobat Connect, Inter-wiseConnect, etc, (8) Sending reminders/content thorough mobile phones, SMSand (9) Moodle open source software foronline assessment.

II. Barriers to Technology Adoption

(1) High speed Internet connectivity.Higher end servers for high availability,(2) Rural colleges facing challenges intechnology/adoption. Availability ofskilled people to use latest technology incolleges, (3) Lack of properdocumentation and backup proceduresfor continuous improvement , (4) Highquality, interactive and user friendly websites or portal development, (5)Technology savvy team members with abackup plan and Proper technicaldocumentation for sharing andknowledge transfer.

III. Overall Results and Discussion

From July 2004 to April 2010, 25offerings of the technical and life skillsfaculty development programs, webinars,and online contests were happenedcovering a total of 1949 faculty membersfrom 94 engineering colleges across theAndhra Pradesh. The educators andsubject matter experts who participatedin the 25 programs were different. Theevent management was done by adifferent person each time.

The faculty members enabled throughthis program have rolled out the 110 Hourtraining program, spread typically over 2or 3 semesters, to the students in theircolleges. 16,111 students have completedthe training in 93 colleges across the stateso far. The success of the program ismeasured in terms of several Key

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

80

Performance Indicators (KPI). Thedescription, unit of measurement, and

frequency of measurement for these KPIsare given in Table 11 as below.

IV. Statistical Data, FeedbackAnalysis, Metrics and Measurement

Initial problem sets or content with thehelp of webinars, online contents weregiven to faculty and students to practicefor about three months prior to thewebinars and contests. In the practice ore-learning phase the faculty and studentsgot a lot of feedback as they developcontent or programs. In the test phasethey participated in the contest and gotefficiency feedback on their programevaluation. The focus was more onalgorithm development and problemsolving skills.

Extensive feedback was collected fromabout 4600 students, 910 facultymembers and about 20 other industryexperts. Below feedback wasincorporated, developing problem solvingskills, algorithmic thinking/approach wasintroduced in course content or problemsets with the help of webinars, online

contests, 24X7 online systems on internetso that faculty and students can download or freely or take up test any timeanywhere, introduced combinations ofsimple, medium, complex problem sets sothat IT and non IT students could ableto participate in large numbers. (Table12) (Table 13)(Table 14)

Skills enhancement programs as perTable X were conducted from June2004to April2010 in 94 colleges of AndhraPradesh and the results were analyzed asper Table XI. Based on results from abovetables employability enhancement resultswere analyzed from 81 colleges as perTable 14

V. Conclusions and Recommendations

1) These projects are being deliveredto undergraduates of engineeringcolleges as one of the levers toenhance industry readiness andemployability of students bycreating awareness of problem-

SuGyaan 81

Volume II, Issue I

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

82

solving skills to engineeringstudents.

2) These projects have demonstratedthat if the student is motivated andwilling to work hard, and isprovided opportunities for e-learning, he / she can excel.

3) This program has set newbenchmarks in raising theaspirations of faculty, students byleveraging technology for creatingawareness of problem solving skills.

4) The project has enhanced thevolume of activity for variousofferings in industry-academiaprograms. Alternative channelssuch as online contests enrichstudent e-learning (awarded 4.24on a scale of 5)

5) This project case study introduceda framework for effective e-learning from a learner’s point ofview by using webinars, openeducational resources, onlinecontests and online assessment.

6) The study asserts that adopting thisframework for faculty and studentdevelopment programs. Keyperformance indicators such asaverage roll-out rate, average leadtime for roll-out and average ratingof the feedback have shownsignificant improvements thusraising the education and trainingstandards.

Acknowledgement: We would like toextend our sincere thanks to collegemanagements, faculty members, studentsand other industry experts for theiruntiring efforts, valuable inputs,suggestions and feedback provided duringthe work.

ReferencesAnuradha, Anoop and Ritesh McKinsey(2005), Global Institute’s Report on TheEmerging Global Labor Market, Moodle- An Optimum Solution for Deploymentand Standardization of Institutional.Bloom Benjamin S (1984), Taxonomy ofEducational Objectives, Allyn and Bacon,Boston, MA, by Pearson EducationDaggett Willard R. (2005), AchievingAcademic Excellence through Rigor andRelevance, September, http://w w w . l e a d e r e d . c o m / p d f /Academic_Excellence.pdfHome Page, http://www.webex.co.in/Home Page, https://www1.gotomeeting.com/en/webinar/entry/entry.tmplHome Page, http://www.wsuccess.com/index.htmlWebinar Definition, http://www.weboped ia . com/TERM/W/Webinar.htmlAuthors:Srinagesh Chatarajupalli is a ResearchScholar, School of Mgmt. Studies (SMS),JNTUH, Hyderabad, India.chsrinagesh@yahoo.comGopu Venkatswamy is a Professor,Business Mgmt. and Sr. Mgmt.Consultant, Hyderabad , India.gopu_v@hotmail.com.A. R. Aryasri is the Director andProfessor, School of Mgmt.Studies,(SMS), JNTUH, Hyderabad, India.aryasri@yahoo.com.

#MJSSIM1(I) 06, 2010

Teaching notes can be obtained from thefirst author.

SuGyaan 83

Volume II, Issue I

Introduction

In a country like India where diversifiedclasses of people dwell and many remainunemployed and underemployed, thesmall scale sector has emerged as a majorsource of employment, by creating moreand more employment opportunities perunit of Capital employed. SSI Sectorprovides employment opportunities to 71lakhs persons in the 1980-81. It increasedto 240.9 lakhs persons in the year 2000-2001. Further it increased to 287.6 lakhspersons and 299.91 lakhs persons in theyear 2004-2005 and 2005-06 respectively.During the year 2006-2007 the SSIprovided employment to 312.5 lakhpersons (Ministry of Micro Small andMedium Enterprises, 2006-07).

Tamil Nadu a southern state in India hascontributed much to the growth of SmallScale Industries. There were 420 SmallScale Units in Tamil Nadu in the year2001-02 which further increased to 449in 2002-03 and to 490 in 2004-05. Thereis always an increasing trend in theproduction also (Tamil Nadu: AnEconomic Appraisal – 2002-2003).

The Number of units Registered underSSI /MSME (Small Scale Industry / MicroSmall and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs)were 1272 units in Madurai District ofTamil Nadu State in India and they havegenerated employment to 6166 personsin the Year 2006-07 and further it isincreased to 1384 SSI/MSME unitswhich generated employment to 10,237

The Personal and Infrastructural Problems of Small ScaleEntrepreneurs

Brinda Kalyani

persons in the Year 2007-08 (DICMadurai Directory of Industries). Thesector which produces a wide range ofmore than 7500 products has grownphenomenally over the past five decades(Prasad and Seethamma, 2003).

Review of Literature

N. Thanuligom (1984), in his study titled,“Small Scale Engineering Industry inCoimbatore Region – A study of Inter-Relationship with Large Scale Industry”,pointed out that the factors thatinfluenced the entrepreneurialdevelopment were previous experience inIndustry, favorable demand for productand location near the residence of theentrepreneur. Y. S. Yoosuf Khan (1988)concluded that SSIs must be compulsorilyregistered and entrepreneurs shouldfollow the Government rules andregulations.”

K. Nirmala (1990), has examined sampleof 100 small-scale industrial units inSattur Taluk. The study revealed that thedevelopment of entrepreneurs must beincreased and the successfulentrepreneurs should form an associationto assist the budding entrepreneurs tosolve their problems.

Mithesh Kumar Mishra andAnup.K.Karan (1990) in their researchpaper entitled “Sickness in SmallIndustries: A case study” stated that thetwo major factors for the sickness of theSmall Scale Industries were lack of

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

84

adequate and timely working capital andlack of marketing facilities. They foundthat lack of technical know- how,shortage of improved machinery, laborproblems, irregular power supply anderratic power cuts, fluctuation in pricesof raw materials and inadequatearrangements of consultancy acted aschecks on the growth of the units

P. D. Malgawakar (1993), in his studyregarding the problems of small industryin Andhra Pradesh, has found the lackof infrastructure as a general problem.The scarcity of raw materials has been aserious bottleneck. This study has foundthat the incentives provided by the Stateand the Centre were not within the reachof all the entrepreneurs in Rural areas.

C. Thilaka (1996) in her study “A Studyof Financing of select Small ScaleIndustries by Commercial Banks in TamilNadu,” stated that one of the mostimportant problems of Small ScaleIndustries was bank finance. Restrictionon term loan facilities to Small ScaleIndustries was a great stumbling block inthe promotion of these industries. Shealso found that commercial banks metonly 75 Percent of the requirements ofthe sample Small Scale Industries. Morethan 60 Percent of the respondentsexpressed their grievance that they hadto visit the bank more than ten times forgetting the loan sanctioned.

R. Ponmurugan (1996) found thereimbursement of electrical charges andindustrial background of the family ofentrepreneurs do not influence thegrowth of Small Scale Industrial Unitslocated in the Industrial Estates ofTirunelveli Region.

Radha Dhandapani (1997 observed thatout of 17 successful entrepreneurs58.82% have stated that shortage ofworking capital as their No.1 Problem.17.66% said high interest rate is theirprime problem.11.76% pointed out thatshortage of fixed capital as their No.1Problem. Among the 21 unsuccessfulentrepreneurs 42.86 have stated thatshortage of working capital as their No.1Problem. 23.81% said high interest rateis their prime problem.14.29% pointedout that shortage of fixed capital as theirNo.1 Problem.

Savitha Sethi (1998) has examinedsample of 100 small scale units inMadurai. The study revealed that theeffort should be made to analyze theproblems regarding production,marketing and finance in small- scaleindustries held by the small-scaleentrepreneurs in and around Madurai.

K. Kamalakannan (1999) in his study“Financing of Small Scale Industries inKamarajar District” stated that the sharesof the Nationalised banks, privateCommercial Banks, Pandian GraminaBanks, TIIC, and Co-operative Banks, inproviding assistance to the Small ScaleIndustries were 70.31 Percent, 8.49Percent, 1.09 Percent, 5.41 Percent, and14.70 Percent respectively.

R. M. Nagammai (2001) studiedinstitutional finance to small scaleindustries in Madurai district and foundthat the compound growth rate ofinvestment in Small Scale IndustrialUnits from 1994-1999 was only 5.25Percent per annum. An industry wiseanalysis of investment in SSI unitsrevealed that textiles, hosiery and

SuGyaan 85

Volume II, Issue I

readymade garments and non metallicmineral products showed a negativegrowth of investments in theseindustries.

Chiramani Naik (2001) in his pilot study“Problems of women entrepreneurs” hasstressed the fact that womanentrepreneurs risk is greater as she hasthe additional problems of being in a maledominated area. His study also highlightsthe profit of the woman entrepreneurs,reasons for the venture and marketingpractice. Finally he concludes that mostof the women entrepreneurs faceproblems like establishment ofshowrooms, exposure of the product,management of demand and non-availability of skilled labour.

Scope of the Study

The study covers the small entrepreneurswho run small scale industries in theIndustrial estates of Madurai Region ofTamil Nadu India. Their personalproblems are studied in this article.

Objectives of the Study

1. To analyze the profile of the sampleentrepreneurs in SIDCO industrialestates of Madurai Region.

2. To analyze the personal problemsfaced by the small scaleentrepreneurs.

3. To analyse the infrastructuralproblems faced by the small scaleentrepreneurs

The field work has been conducted fromthe month of May 2009 to October 2009in order to collect primary data relatingto the problems of small scaleentrepreneurs in SIDCO Industrial Estate

of Madurai Region.

Methodology

In this study, descriptive research designwas adopted. Primary data was collecteddirectly from the small scaleentrepreneurs with the help of astructured questionnaire. Personalinterviewing method was adopted. Thesecondary data were collected from themembership directory of Kappalur,Pudur, Andipatti, Urnaganpatti, andTheni Industrialists Association, theManual of Tamil Nadu Small IndustriesDevelopment Corporation Limited, theWebsite of Tamil Nadu Small IndustriesDevelopment Corporation limited, etc.

Sampling Design

The universe of the Study is based on thelists of Units developed by the NationalInformatics Centre, TNSU, Chennai andthe Membership Directories of theKappalur, Pudur, Andipatti,Urnaganpatti, and Theni IndustrialAssociation. 144 small scaleentrepreneurs have been taken as sampleby the application of stratified randomsampling technique. (Table 1)

The respondents were the entrepreneurswho run small-scale industrial units inSIDCO Industrial Estate, in MaduraiRegion. The author used StratifiedRandom sampling technique to collectinformation from the small-scaleentrepreneurs in Madurai Region. TheSIDCO Industrial Estates wereconsidered as strata. The sample unitswere 144 and the sample size was33.33%. Percentage analysis and Garret’sRanking Table were used as tools for dataanalysis.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

86

Personal Problems

An entrepreneur has to spend more timein his business. Due to this, he may notbe able to spend more time in his family.This situation creates family problems toan entrepreneur. So an attempt has beenmade by the Author to know the familyproblems faced by the entrepreneurs dueto the business. This has been studied interms of four variables. They are:

1. Family problems due to thebusiness.

2. Lack of awareness of latesttechnology.

3. Deficient managerial skills.4. Lack of awareness about financial

assistance schemes.

Analysis using Garrett Ranking

An attempt has been made to analyze thevarious ‘problems of small scaleentrepreneurs of SIDCO IndustrialEstates of Madurai Region’ by usingGarrett Ranking method.

Formula 100 (Rij – 0.5)

Per cent Position = ———————— Nj

Rij = Rank given for the ith variable bythe jth respondent

Nj = Number of variables ranked bythe jth respondent.

For this purpose the problems have beendivided into managerial, Personal,Infrastructural and miscellaneousproblems. The problems have beenanalyzed based on their intensity andranked according to their scores usingGarrett’s Ranking method.

Family Problems Due to the Business

An entrepreneur who is part of a familymay face problem from that dimensionalso. So the Author has made an attemptto find out the problems and it ispresented in Table 2.

SuGyaan 87

Volume II, Issue I

Table 2 indicates that

• In Kappalur the major problemwith regard to family faced by mostof the Respondents i.e. 42.9% isspending less time with the family.

• In Andipatti the major problem for50% of them is less child care andfor another 50% it is spending lesstime with the family.

• In Theni the major problem withregard to family faced by most ofthe Respondents i.e. 66.7% isspending less time with the family.

• In Pudur the major problem withregard to family faced by most ofthe Respondents i.e. 80% is lesschild care.

• In Uranganpatti the major problemwith regard to family faced by mostof the Respondents i.e. 44.9% isspending less time with the family.

• So in Madurai Region the majorfamily problem faced by 41.7% ofthe sample entrepreneurs isspending less time with family and38.9% of the respondents have saidthat the major problem is less childcare. 19.4% of the respondentshave said that poor attention onfamily matters is the major problemfaced by them. So it is concludedthat major family Problem faced bythe entrepreneurs is spending lesstime with family and less child care.

Family Problems due to business

Various family Problems due to businesshave been ranked based on the intensityand analyzed using Garrett’s rankingtable. The calculations are as under. Table2(a) shows the ranks given for the factorsthat contribute to the problems in familydue to business.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

88

It is observed from the Table 2(b) that“Spending less time with family” hasbeen ranked as the first problem in familyproblems followed by less child care andpoor attention to family matters. In thepresent study it is found that all thebusiness men invariably sacrificed familyget together and functions for the sakeof business.

Lack of Awareness of LatestTechnology

Latest technology can ensure quality andhigh rate of productivity. The smallindustrialist, therefore, should keephimself abreast of his products, lower thecost of production and pass on thebenefits to the consumer.

In the present study, the researcher hasmade an attempt to know how manyrespondents have lack of awareness oflatest technology. The data relating to thisvariable i.e. lack of awareness of latesttechnology, have been collected from theRespondents and presented in Table 3.

Table 3 indicates that

• In Kappalur most of theRespondents i.e. 87.5% have saidthat there is no lack of awarenessof latest technology.

• In Andipatti all the respondentshave said that there is lack ofawareness of latest technology.

• In Theni most of the Respondents

SuGyaan 89

Volume II, Issue I

i.e. 83.3% have said that there isno lack of awareness of latesttechnology.

• In Pudur most of the Respondentsi.e. 60% have said that there is nolack of awareness of latesttechnology.

• In Uranganpatti most of theRespondents i.e. 83.7% have saidthat there is no lack of awarenessof latest technology.

• So in Madurai Region 79.9% ofRespondents are aware of the latesttechnology. 20.1% of therespondents have said that there islack of it. So it is concluded that ithas not become a major personalproblem of sample entrepreneurs.

Deficient Managerial Skills

Management is a skill which, like anyother skill, can be acquired. The successof an industry is largely determined by asatisfactory management of finance,inventory, budgeting, marketing,accounting, and manpower. So anentrepreneur should possess goodmanagerial skills.

In the present study, the author has madean attempt to know how manyRespondents have deficiency inmanagerial skills. The data relating tothese variable i.e. deficient managerialskills have been collected fromRespondents and presented in Table 4

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

90

Table 4 reveals that

• In Kappalur most of theRespondents i.e. 96.4% said thereis no deficiency in managerialskills.

• In Andipatti all the respondentshave said there is deficiency inmanagerial skills.

• In Theni most of the Respondentsi.e. 83.3% have said there is nodeficiency in managerial skills.

• In Pudur most of the Respondentsi.e. 96% have said there is nodeficiency in managerial skills.

• In Uranganpatti most of theRespondents i.e. 79.6% have saidthere is no deficiency in managerialskills.

• So in Madurai Region 88.2% of therespondents has possessedmanagerial skills and only 11.8%

of the respondents have feltdeficiency in managerial skills. Soit is concluded that this is not amajor problem for theentrepreneurs in the SIDCOIndustrial Estates of MaduraiRegion.

Lack of awareness about FinancialAssistance Schemes

Financial Institutions are playing a keyrole in providing finance and counselingto the entrepreneurs to start newventures, modernize, diversify and evenrehabilitate sick enterprise. So an attempthas been made by the Author to knowhow many Respondents have lack ofawareness about financial assistanceschemes.

The data relating to this variable i.e. lackof awareness about financial assistanceschemes have been collected andpresented in Table 5.

Table 5 discloses that

• In Kappalur most of theRespondents i.e. 89.3% are awareof the financial assistance schemes.

• In Andipatti all the respondents are

aware of the financial assistanceschemes.

• In Theni most of the Respondentsi.e. 83.3% are aware of thefinancial assistance schemes.

SuGyaan 91

Volume II, Issue I

Ø In Pudur most of the Respondentsi.e. 80% are aware of the financialassistance schemes.

Ø In Uranganpatti most of theRespondents i.e. 81.6% are awareof the financial assistance schemes.

Ø So in Madurai Region 84.7% ofRespondents are aware of financialassistance schemes. 15.3% areunaware of financial assistanceschemes.

Infrastructural Problems

The main objective of the establishmentof industrial estates is to provideinfrastructure and accommodation

facilities to the entrepreneurs. In thepresent study, the Author has made anattempt to know the infrastructuralproblems relating to SIDCO IndustrialEstates of Madurai Region.

Infrastructural Problems Relating toMadurai Region

The infrastructural problems relating toeach Industrial Estate has been studiedand in total the problems of IndustrialEstates of Madurai Region have beenlooked into by the Author. Infrastructuralproblems include lack of essentialinfrastructure facilities like water,transport, electricity, etc.

Table 6 shows

• In Kappalur the majorinfrastructural problem faced bymost of the Respondents i.e. 46.4%is power shortage.

• In Andipatti the majorinfrastructural problem faced by allthe Respondents is scarcity ofdrinking water.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

92

• In Theni the major infrastructuralproblem faced by most of theRespondents i.e. 33.3% is powershortage.

• In Pudur the major infrastructuralproblem faced by most of theRespondents i.e. 60% is powershortage.

• In Uranganpatti the majorinfrastructural problem faced bymost of the Respondents i.e. 40.8%is power shortage.

• So in Madurai Region the majorinfrastructural problem identifiedby majority of the respondents i.e.45.1% is power shortage. Next tothis is the scarcity of drinking waterwhich has been said by 11.1% ofthe Respondents. Lack of moderncommunication facilities has been

felt as a major infrastructuralproblem by 10.4% of theRespondents. Improper roads arethe toughest problem felt by 7.6%of the respondents. It is thereforeconcluded that power shortage isthe major problem inInfrastructure.

Infrastructural problems relating toMadurai Industrial Estates

Various infrastructural problems in theMadurai Industrial Estates have beenranked based on the intensity andanalyzed using Garrett’s ranking table.The calculations are as under. Table 6(a)shows the ranks given for the factors thatcontribute to the problems ininfrastructure of Madurai IndustrialEstates.

It is observed from the Table 6 (b) that“Power Shortage” has been ranked as thefirst problem relating to infrastructure

followed by Transportation problem,Scarcity of water. The sample small scaleentrepreneurs have responded that lack

SuGyaan 93

Volume II, Issue I

of security doesn’t pose as a seriousproblem and so it has been ranked thelast.

Miscellaneous Problems

Miscellaneous problems of Small ScaleEntrepreneurs have been studied in termsof two variables. They are: Problem inavailing Government subsidies andopinion towards government assistanceto SSI.

Problems in Availing GovernmentSubsidies

Government provides subsidies to the SSIentrepreneurs. In the present study, theAuthor has made an attempt to know theProblems faced by the Small ScaleEntrepreneurs in availing governmentsubsidies. (Table 7)

Table 7 reveals that

• In Kappalur the major problem inavailing govt. subsidies faced bymost of the Respondents i.e. 41.1%is lack of proper information.

• In Andipatti the major problem inavailing govt. subsidies faced by allthe Respondents is lack of properinformation.

• In Theni the major problem inavailing govt. subsidies faced bymost of the Respondents i.e. 58.3%is lack of proper information.

• In Pudur the major problem inavailing govt. subsidies faced bymost of the Respondents i.e. 36%is lack of proper information.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

94

• In Uranganpatti the major problemin availing govt. subsidies faced bymost of the Respondents i.e. 51%is lack of proper information.

• So in Madurai Region the majorproblem faced by most of theRespondents i.e. 45.8% in availinggovernment subsidies is lack ofproper information. Next to this,22.9% of the respondents have saidthat delay in activities is feltintensely as a problem for theentrepreneurs.

Problems in Availing GovernmentSubsidy

Various Problems in availing GovernmentSubsidy have been ranked based on theintensity and analyzed using Garrett’sranking table. The calculations are asunder. Table 7(a) shows the ranks givenfor the factors that contribute to theProblems in availing GovernmentSubsidy

SuGyaan 95

Volume II, Issue I

It is observed from the Table 7(b) that“Lack of proper information” has beenranked as the first Problems in availingGovernment Subsidy followed by lack ofawareness, delay in activities etc.,

Opinion towards GovernmentAssistance to SSI

Government provides various assistance

schemes to SSI such as technicalassistance, financial assistance, marketingassistance and others through itsinstitutions. So the Author has made anattempt to know the opinion of smallscale entrepreneurs towards Governmentassistance to SSI.

Table 8 reveals that

• In Kappalur most of theRespondents i.e. 46.4% have saidthat Government assistance to SSIis motivating but requiresimprovement.

• In Andipatti all the respondentshave said that the Governmentattitude towards SSI isdisappointing.

• In Theni most of the Respondentsi.e. 66.7% have said thatGovernment assistance to SSI is

satisfactory.

• In Pudur most of the Respondentsi.e. 60% have said thatGovernment assistance to SSI issatisfactory.

• In Uranganpatti most of theRespondents i.e. 34.7% have saidthat Government assistance to SSIis satisfactory.

• So in Madurai Region 43.8% of theRespondents have said thatGovernment assistance to SSI issatisfactory. 31.9% of the

Table 8

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

96

respondents have said thatGovernment Assistance to SSI ismotivating but requiresimprovement regarding the qualityof assistance. 11.8% of therespondents have said that it isdisappointing.

Discussion and Implication

This article looks into the personal andinfrastructural problems of the small scaleentrepreneurs of the SIDCO IndustrialEstates of Madurai Region of Tamil NaduState India. The study clearly indicatesthat out of the family problems analysedonly spending less time with family hasfound to be affecting the entrepreneur.Variables like awareness of latesttechnology, awareness of financialservices and possessing managerial skillshave not posed a problem of high degreeof intensity. It is surprising to see thatthe majority of the small scaleentrepreneurs are aware of the latesttechnologies, financial schemes offered tothem and they possess managerial skills.

While ranking infrastructural problems,power shortage has occupied the firstplace. In spite of various problems facedwith regard to infrastructure likedrinking water, transportation etc., thispower shortage occupies prime positionin Infrastructural problems.P.D.Malgawakar, in his study of“Problems of Small Industry, A Study inAndhra Pradesh”, has found the lack ofinfrastructure as a general problem. Butin this study all angles of infrastructureare studied and the intensity is rankedusing Garrett’s ranking Table.

Many researchers have earlier identifiedthe problems in general with the small

scale industry. Mithesh Kumar Mishraand Anup.K.Karan in their researchpaper entitled “Sickness in SmallIndustries: A case study” stated that thetwo major factors for the sickness of theSmall Scale Industries were lack ofadequate and timely working capital andlack of marketing facilities. They foundthat lack of technical know- how,shortage of improved machinery, labourproblems, irregular power supply anderratic power cuts, fluctuation in pricesof raw materials and inadequatearrangements of consultancy acted aschecks on the growth of the units. Thisresearch article takes a detailed insightinto the different infrastructural andproblems that entrepreneurs face.Further research can be done on the topicof the influence of personal orinfrastructural problems as a cause of SSIsickness.

Radha Dhandapani (1997) in herresearch study entitled “EntrepreneurialSuccess- A study conducted in SmallScale Industries in Madurai District”observed that out of 17 successfulentrepreneurs 58.82% have stated thatshortage of working capital as their No.1Problem. 17.66% said high interest rateis their prime problem.11.76% pointedout that shortage of fixed capital as theirNo.1 Problem. Among the 21unsuccessful entrepreneurs 42.86 havestated that shortage of working capital astheir No.1 Problem. 23.81% said highinterest rate is their primeproblem.14.29% pointed out thatshortage of fixed capital as their No.1Problem. The comparison of this studywith that research shows thatinfrastructural problems have not posed

SuGyaan 97

Volume II, Issue I

a problem to the entrepreneurs at allwhen compared with other problems.

One of the important findings in thisresearch article is that the small scaleentrepreneurs are very much aware of thelatest technology, financial schemes andpossess managerial skills. It is indeedwelcoming finding that small scaleentrepreneur is updated with the latesttechnologies available in the market.

The Government of Tamil Nadu provideslot of subsidies to the entrepreneurs ofSIDCO Industrial Estate. But majority ofthe respondents have said that the majorproblem faced in this regard is lack ofproper information. Therefore awarenessprogrammes and propaganda should beconducted for Small Scale Entrepreneursto bring awareness.

The study is limited to Industrial Estatesof Madurai Region only and thereforegeneralized conclusion cannot be drawn.

Conclusion

This article looks into the personal andinfrastructural problems of the small scaleentrepreneurs of the SIDCO IndustrialEstates of Madurai Region of Tamil NaduState India. The major family problemfaced by 41.7% of the sampleentrepreneurs is spending less time withfamily. 79.9% of Respondents are awareof the latest technology. Therefore this isnot a major problem for theentrepreneurs in the SIDCO IndustrialEstates of Madurai Region. 88.2% of therespondents has possessed managerialskills and only 11.8% of the respondentshave felt deficiency in managerial skills.So it is concluded that this is not a majorproblem for the entrepreneurs in theSIDCO Industrial Estates of Madurai

Region.

Since 84.7% of Respondents are awareof financial assistance schemes and only15.3% are unaware of financialassistance schemes it is concluded thatthis is not a major problem for theentrepreneurs. The major infrastructuralproblem identified by majority of therespondents i.e. 45.1% is power shortage.The major problem faced by majority ofthe Respondents i.e. 45.8% in availinggovernment subsidies is lack of properinformation. This article thereforeconcentrates on the problems faced byentrepreneurs in the areas of family andinfrastructure.

References

K. Nirmala (1990), Problems of Small-Scale Industries – A Study with specialreference to Sattur Taluk – DissertationMaster of Philosophy in Commerce –Madurai Kamaraj University.

Mithesh Kumar Mishra and Anup. K.Karan (1990), Sickness in SmallIndustries: A Case Study, Yojana Vol.34,No.5, March 16-31 1990, p 9-11.

P.D.Malgawakar (1993), Problems ofSmall Industry, A study in AndhraPradesh – Hyderabad, SIET.

Sharma.V.N (1993), SpatiotemporalAnalysis of Industrial Clusters – A CaseStudy in Madhya Pradesh, UnpublishedThesis, Gorakhpur University – M.P. p146-176.

DIC, Madurai Directory of Industries.Registered and Temporarily registeredDirectory

Ministry of Micro Small and MediumEnterprises, Government of

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

98

India.www.msme.gov.in annual report2006-07.

N. Thanuligom (1984), Small ScaleEngineering Industry in CoimbatoreRegion – A Study of Inter-Relationshipwith Large Scale Industry, Ph.D.,Unpublished thesis, University ofMadras.

Tamil Nadu: An Economic Appraisal –2002-2003.

T. Rajendraprasad and K. K. Seethamma(2003), Perspective of SSI andEmployment Generation in KarnatakaSouthern Economist, Vol.41. No.18, Jan15, P.14.

Y. S. Yoosuf Khan (1988), Problems ofSmall Scale Industry – A Study withSpecial reference to SSI units inTirunelveli Region – Dissertation, Masterof Philosophy in Commerce, MaduraiKamaraj University.

C. Thilaka (1996), A Study of Financingof select Small Scale Industries byCommercial Banks in Tamil Nadu,Ph.D.Thesis submitted to MadrasUniversity.

R. Ponmurugan (1996), IndustrialEstates in Tirunelveli Region – anEmpirical Study of their Impact on theGrowth of Small Scale Industrial units.Madurai Kamaraj University. September,

p.251.

Radha Dhandapani (1997)Entrepreneurial Success- A StudyConducted in Small Scale Industries inMadurai District, Ph.D Thesis MaduraiKamaraj University, p151.

Savitha Sethi (1998), Marketingproblems faced by Small- Scale Industrialunits in and around Madurai”-Dissertation, Master of Philosophy inCommerce – Madurai KamarajUniversity.

K. Kamalakannan (1999), Financing ofSmall Scale Industries in KamarajarDistrict” Ph.D Thesis submitted toMadurai Kamaraj University.

R. M. Nagammai (2001), InstitutionalFinance to Small Scale Industries inMadurai district, Department ofCommerce, Madurai Kamaraj University,April 2001 p-15.

Chiramani Naik (2001), Problems ofWomen Entrepreneurs, SouthernEconomist Vol. 43, No.8, Aug 15, 2001 p17-18.

Author:

Dr Brinda Kalyani P. R is a Lecturer, IbriCollege of Technology, Ibri, Sultanate ofOman. sradhaarjun@gmail.com.

#MJSSIM1(I) 07, 2010.

SuGyaan 99

Volume II, Issue I

Introduction

The financial manager has to takerational decisions from time to timekeeping in view the objective of hiscompany. Always the decisions must bebased on analytical tools. Financialanalysis relies on the comparisons orrelationships of the data that enhancesthe utility or the practical value of theaccounting information. The word‘profitability’ is composed of two words‘profit’ and ‘ability’. Profitability is thepower of the enterprise to earn profits.Profitability acts as a yardstick to measurethe operating efficiency of the enterprise,the greater profitability more efficiency.Profitability also indicates publicacceptances of products produced byenterprise and show the combined effectsof liquidity, asset management and debtmanagement on operating results. In thispaper an attempt has been made toanalyze the profitability, liquidity andsolvency position of three Indian textile(cotton) companies.

A Multivariate Analysis of the Financial Characteristics ofIndian Textile Industries

J. R. Raiyani and R. B. Bhatasna

Abstract

This study empirically tests the strength of the relationship between Profitability and Efficiency inIndian Textile Companies. The study is based on secondary data collected from annual reports ofthe companies for the study period 2002-03 to 2007-08. For the purpose of analysis of data variousratios relating to profitability, liquidity, solvency and assets management is calculated. Moreover,the simple statistical technique such as Standard Deviation, Co-efficient of Variation, average andANOVA test were also applied to analyze the consistency, otherwise the stability and overall trendsin the different financial aspect of the companies. In present study data has been converted intorelative measures such as ratios, percentages rather than the absolute data. The time series analysisreveals that impact of sales and assets efficiency on the ROI shows that sales efficiency was majorcontributing factor more than assets efficiency for the variation in the rates of ROI of the companies.

Textile Industry

The initiation and development ofglobalization and Indian textile industrytook place simultaneously in the1990s.The Indian textile industry, untilthe economic liberalization of Indianeconomy was predominantly andunorganized industry. The economicliberalization of Indian economy in theearly 1990s led to stupendous growth ofthis Indian industry. The Indian textileindustry is one of the largest textileindustries in the world and India earnsaround 27% of the foreign exchange fromexports of textiles and its relatedproducts. Further, globalization of Indiantextile industry has been a paradigmincrease in the ‘total industrialproduction’ factor of this industry, whichpresently stands at 14%. Furthermore,the contribution of the Indian textileindustry towards the gross domesticproduct (GDP) of the India is around 3%and, the number is steadily increasing.Today, the Indian textile industry

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

100

employs around 35 million personneldirectly and it accounts for 21% of thetotal employment generated in theeconomy. ‘The national textile policy2000’ was introduced by the Ministry ofTextile under the Government of India.This policy aims at increasing the foreignexchange earning to the tune of US $ 50billion by the end of the year 2010.Thetextile sector has a prominent place in thenational economy.

Some of the important benefits offeredby the Indian textile industry are asfollows:

• India covers 61 percent of theinternational textile market

• India covers 22 percent of theglobal market

• India is known to be the thirdlargest manufacturer of cottonacross the globe

• India claims to be the second largestmanufacturer as well as provider ofcotton yarn and textiles in theworld

• India holds around 25 percentshare in the cotton yarn industryacross the globe

• India contributes to around 12percent of the world’s productionof cotton yarn and textiles

Following are the statistics calculated asper the contribution of the sectors inTextile industry in India’s GDP:

• India holds 22 percent share in thetextile market in Europe and 43percent share in the apparel marketof the country. USA holds 10percent and 32.6 percent shares in

Indian textiles and apparel.

• Few other global countries apartfrom USA and Europe, where Indiahas a marked presence includeUAE, Saudi Arabia, Canada,Bangladesh, China, Turkey andJapan

• Readymade garments accounts for45 percent share holding in thetotal textile exports and 8.2 percentin export production of India

• Export production of carpets haswitnessed a major growth of 42.23percent, which apparently stands atUSD 654.32 million during 2004-05 to USD 930.69 million in theyear 2006-07. India holds 36percent share in the global textilemarket as has been estimatedduring April-October 2007

• The technical textiles market inIndia is assumed to touch USD10.63 billion by 2007-08 from USD5.09 billion during 2005-06, whichis approximately double. It is alsoassumed to touch USD 19.76billion by the year 2014-15

• By 2010, India is expected to doubleits share in the internationaltechnical textile market

• The entire sector of technicaltextiles is estimated to reach USD29 billion during 2005-2010 .

The investment range in the Indiantextile industry has increased from USD2.94 billion to USD 7.85 billion withinthree years, from 2004 to 2007. It hasbeen assumed that by the year 2012, theinvestment ratio in textile industry is

SuGyaan 101

Volume II, Issue I

most likely to touch USD 38.14 billion.The textile industry has been animportant source of foreign exchangeresources over a period of time in thecountry.

Review of Literature

Chakravarty and Reddy conducted astudy using ratio analysis as major toolfor financial performance by studying 22ratios of productivity, profitabilityproprietary, liquidity and turnovergroups of the industries for the periodfrom 1961 to 1971, Dr. Sugan C. Jain(2002) in “Performance Appraisal:Automobile Industry” analyses theperformance of the automobile industryand presented a comparative study ofsome national and international units.Dutts S. K (1992) in his paper titled“Indian Tea Industry: An Appraisal”which appeared in ManagementAccountant, analyzes the profitability,liquidity and financial efficiency by usingvarious ratios. Pandey (1995) showedhow these financial statements and ratioswere necessary in accounting forplanning and control and decision-making system. Gupta (2005) focused onhow these ratios were the predictor of thefailure and how these ratios are helpfulin fulfilling the fact of financialstatements with better interpretationthrough these. Khan and Jain (2005)expressed uses of the financialstatements, profit planning and costcontrol, corporate decision-makingwhether they were strategic, analytical orsimple routine decision managers.

Debasish Sur, Joydeep Biswas andPrasenjit Ganguly (2001) attempted tostudy the association between liquidity

and profitability of Indian private sectorenterprises as a case study of Aluminumproducing industry. HINDALCO andINDAL were selected as major aluminumproducing units. They observed that thereis a very high degree of positivecorrelation between liquidity andprofitability of these companies. Theyalso observed that liquidity variablesjointly influences on profitability of theselected two companies. These variablesare working capital ratio, acid test ratio,working capital to sales, debtor-turnoverratio, inventory turnover ratio, currentassets to total assets.

R. L. Hyderabad (1999) found that longterm funds were used for working capitaland observed that flexibility andadjustment in the requirement ofworking capital depends on theavailability and the cost of workingcapital.

Y.V. Reddy and S. B. Patkar (2004)attempted to study the associationbetween liquidity and profitability ofIndian public sector enterprises as a casestudy of Factoring companies. SBI factorsand Commercial Services Ltd. and CanBank Factors Ltd. were selected as majorfactoring companies. They observed thatLiquidity and Profitability are inverselyrelated to each other in both factoringcompanies.

Objectives of the study

• To analyze profitability of theselected units of the industry.

• To examine the liquidity positionof the companies.

• To study long term solvencyposition of the companies.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

102

• To examine relation betweenliquidity and profitability in theselected units of the industry.

Methodology of the study

Source of the Data: “Profitability andEfficiency Relationship” A Study ofIndian Textile Industries has beenundrtaken by using data from financialstatements of top three textile companiesof Indian Textile Industries and from thewebsites of three companies viz..SiyaramSilk Mills Ltd.(SSML). Shree DineshMills Ltd. (SDML) and Wellspun IndiaLtd.(WIL). This study is based mainly onsecondary data, the data which arepublished in annual reports of the textileunits. The annual reports were collectedfrom the head offices of the respectivecompanies and the websites of therespective units. The present study periodis from 2002-03 to 2007-08.

Hypothesis for the Study

1. The profitability of all three unitsis uniform.

2. The liquidity position of all threeunits is satisfactory.

3. The capital structure of all threeunits is uniform.

Techniques of Analysis

For the purpose of analysis of data variousratios relating to profitability, liquidity,solvency and assets management arecalculated. Statistical techniques such asStandard Deviation, Co-efficient ofVariation, average and ANOVA test werealso applied to analyze the consistency.We have converted absolute data intorelative measures such as ratios andpercentages.

Limitations of the study

There are different methods to measurethe profitability of an industry in thisconnection views of experts differ fromone-another. This research based ontextile related commercial activity. Theresearcher for this study has not coveredother aspects of textile industry. Thepresent study is largely based on RatioAnalysis Technique; such analysis has itsown limitation, which also applies to thestudy.

Analysis of Profitability

Profitability is the overall measure of thecompanies with regard to efficient andeffective utilization of the resources attheir command. It indicates in a nutshellthe effectiveness of the decisions takenby the management from time to time.The measurements of profitability of thecompanies are as under.

Return on Investment (ROI)

The profitability is also known as the“Return on the Total Assets” (ROI). Itcan be calculated by using the followingformula:

ROI = Profit after Tax / Average CapitalEmployed

It is evident from table-1 that the highestROI among all units was 13.99 percentin 2006-07, 20.83 percent in 2005-06 and17.84 percent in 2003-04 for SSML,SDML and WIL respectively. In SSMLand SDML the ROI in 2003-04 was 8.61percent and 10.15 percent respectively,which was lowest ROI among all unitsunder study.

The average rate of return was at 10.88percent in SSML, 15.17 percent in SDML

SuGyaan 103

Volume II, Issue I

and 13.35 percent in WIL. The StandardDeviation (1.85) and C.V. (17) of SSML

shows consistency in the ratio ascompared to SDML and WIL.

It can be calculated by using the followingformula:

RONW = Profit after Tax / Average NetWorth

The return on net worth in SDML washighest in 2005-06 at 17.21 percent andits average return was 11.84 percent,where as the average return on net worthof SSML and WIL was 10.62 percent and10 percent respectively. In the year 2007-

Table 1

Profitability Ratios (%)

Ratio/ Year 2003 2004 2005- 2006 2007 Average S.D. C.V.-04 -05 -06 -07 -08

Return onInvestment Ratio

SSM Ltd. 8.61 8.87 12.7 13.99 9.96 10.826 1.85 17

SDM Ltd. 10.15 12.19 20.83 19.79 12.9 15.172 4.31 28.41

WI Ltd. 17.84 13.44 11.79 13.06 10.63 13.352 2.46 18.43

Net Profit Ratio

SSM Ltd. 2.22 1.99 2.32 3.04 1.25 2.164 0.59 27.31

SDM Ltd. 3.79 6.68 12.41 12.51 8.63 8.804 3.37 38.28

WI Ltd. 8.36 7.43 5.31 3.92 1.51 5.306 2.45 46.09

Total AssetsTurnover Ratio

SSM Ltd. 3.22 3 3.61 3.45 3.07 3.27 0.24 7.49

SDM Ltd. 3.29 2.28 2.02 1.98 1.86 2.286 0.51 22.27

WI Ltd. 1.75 0.93 0.74 0.91 0.94 1.054 0.37 35.46

Return onNet worth Ratio

SSM Ltd. 7.52 8.21 14.47 16 6.92 10.624 3.83 36.05

SDM Ltd. 6.95 9.26 17.21 15.83 9.95 11.84 3.97 33.55

WI Ltd. 13.68 12.87 9.1 9.57 4.77 9.998 3.16 31.62

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

104

08 the return of both these companieswas lower during the study. The reasonbehind on this was lower ROI in theseyears. The ratio of WIL shows a steadyreturn on net worth entire period underthe study because it’s S.D.(3.16) and

C.V.(31.62) are lowest among thecompanies.

Return on Investment and ANOVATest

Null Hypothesis 1: “The profitabilityof all three units is uniform.”

It is evident from the table-2 that thedifference between in Return onInvestment of companies wasinsignificant because the calculated valueof ‘F’ (1.96) was lower than that of tablevalue (3.88) at 5% level of significance.Hence the null hypothesis is accepted. Sowe can say that the profitability of allthree units is uniform.

Analysis of Sales and AssetsEfficiency

Sales and Assets Efficiency ratio arecomponents of the ROI. Sales efficiencycan be measured with the help of netprofit margin; whereas the Assetsefficiency is presented by assets turnoverratio.

Efficiency of Sales: This ratio explainsper rupee profit generating capacity of thesales. If the cost of goods sold is lower,then the profit will be higher and thenwe divide it with the net sales the resultis the high sales efficiency. If lower is the

net profit per rupee of sales, lower willbe the sales efficiency. The companiesmust try for achieving greater salesefficiency for maximizing the ROI.

Sales Efficiency Ratio = Net Profit /Net Sales.

Efficiency of Assets: This ratiomeasures the efficiency of the assets use.The efficient use of assets will generategreater sales per rupee invested in all theassets of the company. The inefficient useof the assets will result in low salesvolume coupled with higher overheadcharges and under utilization of theavailable capacity. Hence, themanagement must strive for using of totalresources at optimum level, to achievehigher ROI.

Assets Efficiency Ratio = Net Sales /Average Net Fixed Assets

Analysis of Sales Efficiency

Profit margin ratio of SSML shows

SuGyaan 105

Volume II, Issue I

fluctuation trend, the average ratio ofSDML was 8.80 percent, which washighest among all the units of study. Thenet profit margin of SSML and WIL was1.25 percent and 1.51 percent in 2007-08, which was lowest in entire study. Itshows the sales efficiency of these unitswere poor. The S.D. of SSML was 0.59,which indicates consistency in net profitmargin. The sales efficiency ratios havebeen showing a significant feature ofhigher rates with greater reliability anduniformity in SSML than the SDML andWIL during the entire period under thestudy.

Analysis of Assets Efficiency

The analysis of the assets efficiency ratiosindicates that in 2007-08 these were at3.07, 1.86 and 0.94 times in SSML, SDMLand WIL respectively. The average ratioof SSML was 3.27 times, which washighest among all the units of study. TheS.D. (0.24) and C.V. (7.49) of SSMLindicate consistency in total assetsturnover than the SDML and WIL duringthe entire period under the study.

Impact of sales and assets efficiencyon ROI

The analysis revealed that the salesefficiency was significantly higher inSDML followed by WIL. The assetsefficiency was more consistent in SSMLand SDML as compared to WIL. Thus,this indicates that the sales efficiency washighest in SDML, while assets efficiencywas highest in SSML. However topinpoint the possible influencing factor,contributing for the fluctuations in ROI,we analyze the highest/lowest year ofROI with reference to sales and assetsefficiency ratio we observe the following:

• The highest ROI in 2006-07 at13.99 percent in SSML wasinfluenced by the increase in thesales efficiency, while low rate ofROI in 2003-04 at 8.61 percent inSSML was also attributed to lowrate of sales efficiency rather thanthe assets efficiency.

• In SDML the highest ROI in 2005-06 at 12.41 percent was the reasonof higher sales efficiency and inWIL ROI was highest in 2003-04at 17.84 percent was also the reasonof higher sales efficiency.

• The reason for lower ROI in SDMLand WIL was the lower efficiencyof sales.

Table and analysis indicates that the salesefficiency was the major contributionfactor for the fluctuation in the rates ofROI in all the companies.

Analysis of Liquidity

Next, it is decided to make an attempt tostudy the liquidity position of thecompanies, in order to highlight therelative strength of the companies inmeeting their current obligations tomaintain sound liquidity and to pinpointthe difficulties if any in it. Using thefollowing two liquidity ratios makes theanalysis of the liquidity position:

1. Current Ratio = Current Assets/Current Liabilities

2. Quick Ratio = Quick Assets/Current Liabilities

Current Ratio

A close examination of the datapertaining to the current ratios revealsthat these ratios are significantly lower

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

106

in all the companies as compared to thestandard norms of 2:1. The average ratiosare at 1.92 in SSML, 2.23 in SDML and1.35 in WIL. This ratio indicates that theLiquidity position of SDML was soundas compared to SSML and WIL. In 2004-

05 the ratio of WIL was 1.15 indicatingthe scarcity of liquidity. Where the ratioof WIL shows consistency in liquidityposition of the company because of itsS.D. (0.18) and C.V. (13.33) are lowestamong all companies. (Table-3)

Quick Ratio

The quick ratio was of SSML, SDML andWIL were at 0.81, 1.4 and 0.44 times in2007-08 respectively as compare tostandard norms of 1:1. It signals thatSSML and WIL have been suffering fromthe problem of liquidity. During the studyperiod average ratio of SDML was higheras compared to SSML and WIL, but theconsistency was maintained by WILbecause its S.D. (0.13) was lower ascompare to SSML and SDML. (Table-3)

The analysis of both current and quick

ratio revels that SSML and WIL werenot able to maintain sound liquidityposition. Hence, it is advice that thecompanies maintain the sound liquidityposition by reducing the burden ofexcessive current liquidities or byincreasing the investing in componentsof current assets depending upon therequirement of the companies.

Current Ratio and ANOVA Test

Null Hypothesis 2: “The liquidityposition of all three units issatisfactory.”

SuGyaan 107

Volume II, Issue I

It is clear from table 4 that the differencein between companies was significantbecause the calculated value of ‘F’ (4.70)was higher than the table value (3.88) at5% level of significance. So, nullhypothesis is rejected and alternativehypothesis is accepted. The difference isdue to working policy of companies.

Analysis of Leverage Position

The leverage ratios explain the extent towhich, the debt is employed in capitalstructure of the companies. Alwayscompanies use debt fund along withequity funds, in order to maximize theafter tax profits, thereby optimizingearning available to equity shareholders.The basic facility of debt funds is thatafter tax cost of them will be significantlylower, and which can be paid backdepending upon their terms of issue.Further, debt funds will not dilute theequity holders control positions.However, the debt funds are used verycarefully by considering the liquidity andrisk factors. The debt will increase therisk of the company. Now, let us analyzethe leverage position of the companies.For this purpose we have made using thefollowing ratios:

Debt Equity Ratio = Long term Debt/Equity

Time Interest Earned = EBIT

Debt-Equity Ratio

It measures the extent of equity coveringthe debt. It is computed by dividing debtby equity. Normally 2:1 debt equity ratiois considered to be standard. The rangeof debt equity ratio in SDML was 0.13 to0.40 times in 2003-04 and 2004-05respectively. Whereas the average ratio ofSSML and WIL were 1.29 and 1.90 timesrespectively. The ratio indicates that WILis highly dependent on debt. WhileSDML’s debt is less that its equityindicated conservatives approach offinancial management. The SSML ratioshows moderate approach of financing oforganization need. (Table-5)

Interest Coverage Ratio

It really measures the ability of thecompanies to service the debt. The ratioof SDML was highest among all thecompanies under study. The average ratioof SSML, SDML and WIL were 3.65percent, 7.56 percent and 2.26 percentrespectively. In 2007-08 the ratio ofSDML was highest between all the yearand all the companies. It indicates soundposition of companies to pay the interestto its creditors. The SDML showsconsistency in the ratio under the entirethe study. (Table-5)

Debt Equity Ratio and ANOVA Test

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

108

Null Hypothesis 3: “The capital structure of all three units is uniform”

From the table-6 it is clear that calculatedvalue of ‘F’ (13.24) is higher than thetable value (3.89) so, null hypothesis isrejected and alternative hypothesis isrejected. The difference is due to uniformdebt equity proportion of companies.(Table-6)

Analysis of Activity Ratio

These ratios are also called as turnoverratios. These will indicate position of theassets usage. In order to compute theseratios sales are divided by various typesof assets such as inventory, debtors and

SuGyaan 109

Volume II, Issue I

net fixed assets. The ratios are expressedin number of times. The greater the ratiomore will be efficiency of assets usage.The lower ratio will reflect the underutilization of the resources available atthe command of the companies. Alwaysthe companies must plan for efficient useof the assets to increase the overallefficiency. In this analysis we will becovering the following ratios:

Inventory Turnover Ratio

Table 7 indicates that inventory turnoverwas 6.42, 3.17 and 4.98 times in SSML,SDML and WIL respectively in 2007-08.This went to explain that rupee investedin inventory was able to generate 3 to 6times of sales in the companies. The ratioindicates there was much distinctivedifference in the inventory turnover, butwith regards to the stability of the ratio,it was more uniform in SDML.

Debtors Turnover Ratio

In WIL highest debtor’s turnover was of17.53 times in 2005-06, while it waslowest 9.61 times in 2003-04. The trendof ratio shows fluctuating with an averageratio of 14.55 times. AS compared to WILthe ratio of SSML and SDML was lower

in 2004-05 to 2007-08. The average ratioof SSML and SDML was 4.63 times and10.87 times respectively. The SSML ratiowas more stable as compared to SDMLand WIL. The ratio of WIL indicateseffective management of debtors. (Table-7)

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

110

Net Fixed Assets Turnover Ratio

It is evident from the Table-7 that thefixed assets turnover ratio of SSML washigher among all companies. The averageturnover was at 3.04, 2.19 and 0.93 timesin SSML, SDML and WIL respectively.The S.D.(0.29) and C.V. (9.42) of SSMLshows consistency in the ratio ascompared to SDML and WIL.

Major Findings

Highest ROI among all units was 13.99percent in 2006-07, 20.83 percent in2005-06 and 17.84 percent in 2003-04 forSSML, SDML and WIL respectively. InSSML and SDML the ROI in 2003-04 was8.61 percent and 10.15 percentrespectively, which was lowest ROIamong all units under study. In year2007-08 the return on net worth of boththese companies was lower during thestudy. The reason behind on this waslower ROI in these years. The ratio ofWIL shows a steady return on net worthentire period under the study because it’sS.D. (3.16) and C.V.(31.62) are lowestamong the companies. F test suggest thatthere is uniformity in return oninvestment of all companies. The salesefficiency ratio has been showing asignificant feature of higher rates withgreater reliability and uniformity inSSML than the SDML and WIL duringthe entire period under the study. TheS.D. of SSML was 0.59, which indicatesconsistency in net profit margin. Theaverage ratio of SSML was 3.27 times,which was highest among all the units ofstudy. The S.D. (0.24) and C.V. (7.49) ofSSML indicates consistency in total assetsturnover than the SDML and WIL duringthe entire period under the study. The

study of impact of sales and assetsefficiency on the ROI shows that salesefficiency was major contributing factormore than assets efficiency for thevariation in the rates of ROI of thecompanies. It is suggested that themanagement of SSML has to pursue thepolicy of maximizing assets efficiency,while SDML and WIL has to strive forthe maximizing the sales efficiency bygenerating maximum profit byintroducing cost minimization and costefficiency techniques. The liquidityposition of WIL was quite alarming sincethey are facing chronic liquidityproblems. While SSML liquidity positionalso not quite good. Therefore, it issuggested that the companies improve theliquidity position wither by reducingexcessive burden of current liabilities orincreasing the level of current assetsdepending upon the requirements. Theleverage position of the companies revealsthat SDML has no any gearing whilegearing in WIL is higher. In WIL debtequity ratio is higher and in SDML it islower. The SDML are not using high debteven though its ROI is higher. While WILis not succeed in taking the benefits oftrading on equity. The result of F testindicates that there is no uniformproportion of debt and equity in thecompanies under study. In activityanalysis inventory turnover of SSML andSDML are satisfactory while in WIL it ispoor. The debtor’s turnover of WIL isvery high but its fixed assets turnover islow. The debtors and fixed assetsturnover of SSML and WIL shouldimprove for generating higher profits.

Conclusion

Financial health of a company is a matter

SuGyaan 111

Volume II, Issue I

of concern for every stakeholder of thebusiness. It is in fact the financial positionof the company that drives the decisionmaking process of any stakeholder. In thiscontext Ratio Analysis plays animportant role in judging the financialsoundness of the company. The presentwas conducted to study, analyze andcompare the financial condition ofsample companies. The study, on anoverall basis, revealed that the salesefficiency was the major contributionfactor for the fluctuation in the rates ofROI in all the companies. The result of Ftest indicates that there is uniformity inreturn on investment of all companies butthere is no uniform proportion of debtand equity in the companies under study.

References

Clay, M. J. and Walley, B. H. (1965),Performance and Profitability,Longmans, London, pp. 184.

Pandey I.M. (1991), FinancialManagement, Vikas publishing House,New Delhi.

Bhalla, V.K. (2002), FinancialManagement and policy, Anmolpublication, New Delhi.

Hiram, S. Davis (1955). ProductivityAccounting. op. cit. p.13

Fraenkel, J.R. and Wallen, N.E. (1990),How to Design and Evaluate Research inEducation, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Gangudhar V. (1998), Financial Analystsof Companies in Erita: A profitabilityand Efficiency Focus” The managementaccountant, Volume 33, No. 11/November.

Kothari C.R. (2004), ResearchMethodology Methods and Techniques,New Age International publishers, NewDelhi. pp. 256-264.

Bhayani, S.J. (2004), Practical FinancialStatements, Raj Book Enterprise, Jaipur.

Khan and Jain, (1987), ManagementAccounting, Tata McGraw Hill, NewDelhi.

Bhayani S. J. (2004), Working Capital andProfitability Relationship (A Case Studyof Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd.), SCMSIndian Management, April-June, pp. 98-111.

Blinder A. S. and L. J. Maccini (1991),The Resurgence of Inventory Research:What Have We Learned? Journal ofEconomic Survey, Vol. 5, 291-328.

Debasis Sur and Debdas R. (2005).Linkage between Asset Management andProfitability, ICFAI Reader, Hyderabad,November, pp. 47-52.

Malik A.K. and Sur D. (1999), WorkingCapital and Profitability: A Case Studyof Hindustan Lever Ltd, Finance India,Delhi, September, pp. 857-871.

Authors:

J. R. Raiyani Asst. Prof. is Faculty ofManagement, at Shree MaharshiDayanand Saraswati MBA College,TANKARA , Dist: Rajkot(Gujarat).jrraiyani@gmail.com

R. B. Bhatasna Associate Prof. is Facultyof Commerce, at Smt. M. T. DhamsaniaCollege, Rajkot-360 001 (Gujarat).rameshbhatasna@gmail.com.

#MJSSIM1(I)08, 2010

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

112

Pyramid Educational Society has beenactive in the field of education for the last60 years. Its genesis was the vision of thefounder, who believed that onlyeducation could make India a progressivenation. The man behind this noblethought was Sri Gautam Singh, anindustrialist, a philanthropist and, aboveall, a visionary. Starting off modestly, heset up an undergraduate college. Over theyears, under the leadership of ableeducationists and administrators fromthe family, Pyramid Educational Societywas established. The Society added on anumber of institutions in the faculties ofIT, management, professional studies andmusic and dance, thereby enhancing itsstature and reputation.

Each of the Society’s institutions is runby a director who enjoys quasi-autonomous status in the administrationof his or her institution. Overall controlis exercised by the Hon. Secretary, whois a member of the founding family andwho is directly involved in mattersrelating to financial issues. Over a periodof time, it was felt that a coordinator wasrequired to oversee commonadministrative issues relating to all theinstitutions. Consequently, one of thedirectors was appointed CEO. Guidelinesfor making this appointment were notissued in writing. Even the charter ofduties was not clearly defined. It wasgenerally presumed that the dutiesexercised by the CEO would specifically

Short Case

Who is the boss?

R.M. Naidu

relate to the Society’s civil constructionprojects. However, in due course, theother institutions’ administrative andpersonnel issues also came to be referredto the CEO. The system seemed to workwell for some time.

The affairs of the Society were beingmanaged by a lone clerk. The Hon.Secretary used to assign tasks pertainingto the Society per se to the office staff ofthe institutions randomly, withoutreference to the director of thatinstitution. This may have resulted incertain individuals doing work beyondtheir charter of duties. No additionalbenefits were given to these individuals.

The activities of the Society, particularlythose relating to revenue andinvestments, grew manifold. To managethem efficiently, it was decided to appointa director. Accordingly, Mr. ShankerSingh was chosen to fill the vacancy. Hehad recently retired from thegovernment’s finance department, wherehe had held the position of DeputyDirector. He had no experience workingin any other organization post retirement.The factor that clinched his appointmentwas the fact that he was personallyknown to the Hon. Secretary. He wasasked to operate from a makeshift officewith no dedicated staff.

(The case has been designed to bring outlessons in Organizational Behaviour. Itis based on the experience in an

SuGyaan 113

Volume II, Issue I

educational institution but the name ofthe organization has been changed toprotect its identity. It is not meant todepict either effective or ineffectivehandling of an administrative situation).

In the days immediately following hisappointment, he started throwing hisweight around, playing on his personalconnection with the Hon. Secretary.After a period of time, it was found thathe was attending to administrative andpersonnel issues relating to theinstitutions without any expressauthority. Following a heated exchangewith Mr. Shanker Singh, a personalsecretary resigned after three days afterbeing appointed. Presently, he ismanaging with the lone clerk.

One of the Society’s constituentinstitutions has a certain Mr. Rahul asits Administrative Officer. About 65 yearsof age and with several years of industryexperience, he has held the presentappointment for the past 10 years. Duringthis period, he has efficiently handledSociety’s business under the direction ofthe Hon. Secretary. Due to his proficiencyin shorthand, he is summoned fordictations by the Hon. Secretary veryfrequently. In reality, he has works undertwo bosses – the Hon. Secretary and the

head of his institution.

On June 27, 2008, Mr. Shanker Singhdirected Mr. Rahul to report to him totake a dictation on an official issue. Mr.Rahul refused to comply with theseinstructions and said so in very clearterms. The matter was brought to thenotice of the Hon. Secretary, who felt thatMr. Rahul’s behaviour was incorrect. Theperception was that since Mr. Rahul hasbeen called on to perform a job pertainingto the Society, Mr. Shanker Singh’sapproach was correct. In the absence ofany actual or moral support from hisother boss, Mr. Rahul submitted hisresignation. The resignation wasaccepted without any furtherinvestigation.

The abrupt acceptance of this resignationcreated a climate of insecurity amongstthe other employees.

Author:

Lt. Col. Dr. R. M. Naidu is an Asst. Profat Siva Sivani Institute of Management,Secunderabad, India.naidurm@yahoo.com.

Teaching notes can be obtained from theauthor.

#MJSSIM1(I)09, 2010

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

114

How to manage business in criticalsituations? How one should address theissues of globalization and competition?How to go global by cherishing Indianethos? How to get maximum out ofminimum? How to retain star employeesin organization? How to becomeprofessional in business? How to addressgovernance and ethical issues? How totake calculated risk in business? How tobalance quality of work life? How to goabout succession planning? These are theimportant questions that the bookaddresses.

The book under review is divided in tenstories of outstanding entrepreneurs thatare shaping the India of tomorrow. Itdeeply studies the key factors behindthese business leaders who have madeincredible mark globally. According to theauthor, these are the people that will leadthe country into a new future. The bookcovers the rising importance of “Made inIndia” brand in sectors like IT,Entertainment, Pharmaceuticals,Banking, Biotechnology, Energy, andManufacturing and emphasis oncontribution of these business leaders inmaking the brand. These leaders are fromdifferent backgrounds (family businesses,first generation entrepreneurs,professional managers). The excerpts

Book Review

India Inc.: How India’s Top Ten Entrepreneurs areWinning Globally

Reviewer: Sameer Pingle

Author: Vikas Pota

Publisher: Nicholas Brealy Publishing, London.

from the interviews conducted by authorof the ten key players have also portrayedthe critical business issues of climatechange, threat from China, women inbusiness, the future of family ownedbusinesses, strategies during economiccrisis.

The book narrates hard issues like thechallenges faced by these entrepreneurs,business transformations, diversificationdecisions and the sacrifices made by themfor achieving top position. The soft issueslike personality traits, upbringing, ethicsand moral values, as well as role of familyare discussed in a jargon free language.The Indian heritage, bonded culture andhuman behavior are beautifully paintedin all these ten cases by the author. Theauthor demonstrates that the way tomanage successfully is to focussimultaneously on hard as well as softissues. Insights are provided for theIndian way of doing business. If anentrepreneur or a professional managerhas to perform various roles effectively,he/she would require the knowledge ofdifferent functional areas. Various areasof management like production andquality management, supply chainmanagement, marketing management,strategic management, human resourcemanagement, business ethics and

SuGyaan 115

Volume II, Issue I

information management are highlightedthroughout the book.

The first story is about Narayan Murthy:father of Information Technology inIndia. The issues of governance,integrity, organizational culture, andleadership from front are discussed. VikasPota has described Mr. Murthy as simpleman with commitment to transparency,fairness and ethics. The role of parentsin upbringing of Narayan Murthy andmaking his strong character is paintedvery well in this story. The smooth andprofessional way of succession planningat Infosys is highlighted as a lesson forall entrepreneurs.

The second story is about fearlessSubhash Chandra of Zee TV. His passion,struggle and the ability to createsomething out of nothing is nicelydepicted by author. The case of creationof Indian Cricket League (ICL) and thepervasiveness of Chandra in creating thisleague is also highlighted in this story.

The third story stands apart from othersand sets a new example for entrepreneursfor bringing professionalism in familybusinesses. The way Malvinder Singh,Chairman Religare sold his family’s stakeof Ranbaxy to a Japanese firm is describedbeautifully by author. This story talksabout the significance of objectivedecision making in business.

The story of Padma Bhushan honouredK V Kamath from ICICI Bank converseabout his potential of leveragingtechnology to provide global marketadvantage. Vikas Pota has described Mr.Kamath as a loyal person. His ability tocreate teams and meritocraticorganization, gender equality are

highlighted with examples.

All women aspiring to be entrepreneursmust read the story of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson of Biocon. All maleentrepreneurs should read the story forunderstanding the value of persistence inbusiness. The way she overcame theobstacles in business makes her standapart from others. According to theauthor she is role model, ammunition andinspiration for all women who havesought to shatter the glass ceiling in thecorporate world.

The next story is about SubramaniamRamadorai, Ex CEO of TCS. The way heused the human and intellectual capitalto create cash cow for the Tata group ispresented nicely in the book. The issuesof leveraging technology, strategyimplementation, global vision, diversityas competitive advantage are nicelyexplained. The amusing moments facedin late seventies by TCS Indian employeesat US and the way they were guided byRamadorai are nicely elucidated.

The story of Kishor Lulla, CEO of ErosInternational is about three decades ofmarket leadership in creating a platformfor Indian cinema. The author hashighlighted the role of Mr. Lulla inconsolidating the Indian film industryand paving the way for it to becomeentertainment superpower. The bookfocus on belief of Kishor Lulla that India’stime has come to showcase high-tech,talent-rich technical expertise to theworld. According to author belief canonly anchor us to a sure path of success.

The next story is about Tulsi Tanti,Chairman of Suzlon Energy. Pota callshim “A serial entrepreneur” for the

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

116

number of businesses he was in for years.The book describes him as a simple,family oriented Gujarati man with globalvision and zeal to do better all the time.This story is about applying commonsense to business decisions and gettingmost out of it. The passion, energy, abilityto foresee future, and providing practicalsolutions to problems are explainednicely. The book also emphasis oncontribution by Tanti on issues likeclimate change, global warming, and nonconventional energy sources like windenergy for development of India.

The story of ‘big picture man’ Shiv Nadar,founder of HCL is about foreseeing andgrabbing the opportunities in business.The ability to spot trends and interpretsituations in hugely competitive IT sectorhas made him special entrepreneur towatch. Author has credited Nadar forcreating job opportunities not only inIndia but also in western countries. Thishelped create good relation between Indiaand US.

The last story is about Baba Kalyani,Chairman of Bharat Forge. It is about riskprofile and character of Kalyani. Thestory is about struggle, firm decisionmaking, believing in oneself and

diversifying at large. According to thebook, Baba is responsible for establishingthe “Made in India” manufacturingbrand in the world. Use of updatedtechnology, skilled manpower, effectiveformulation and execution of strategiesare explained throughout the story.

The book uncovers the human side of theIndian success story. The background ofauthor as a Director of PR consultancyin UK is reflected throughout the book.The human side of the business ishighlighted nicely in all the successstories. The global dimension is also verywell covered by the author. The Indianethos and family values are also touchedupon at places. All buddingentrepreneurs, business leaders,management consultant, managementteachers and students must read this bookfor getting ideas and inspiration fromthese business leaders.

Reviewer:

Sameer Pingle is Asst. Professor inInstitute of Management, NirmaUniversity, Ahmedabad

sameer@imnu.ac.in

#MJSSIM1(I) 10, 2010

SuGyaan 117

Volume II, Issue I

Managers in the corporate world oftenspeak about Professionalism or the lackof it while discussing subordinates,superiors, peers, channel partners etc.The word is used by everybody but eachperson has a different opinion about whatconstitutes professionalism. SubrotoBagchi’s third book after the two verysuccessful ‘Go Kiss the World’ and ‘TheHigh Performance Entrepreneur’addresses this very important part ofevery working person’s life.

The book delves into the various facetsof a professional, not in a superficialmanner but in an in-depth, almostspiritual approach. It is divided into sevenparts, beginning with integrity, selfawareness, professional qualities,managing volume, managing complexity,new world imperatives and theprofessional’s professional.

The first section titled ‘Burial of the dead’is a touching portrayal of a professional(Mahadeva) who has an unenviable jobof burying unclaimed corpses fromBengaluru’s hospitals. Mahadeva, a childbrought up in the streets happens to makethe government run Victoria hospital hishome, as a result of his mother’s illness.Even after the death of his mother hecontinues to run errands for the patientsadmitted in the hospital. A chancerequest by a policeman asking him to

Book Review

The ProfessionalReviewer: Dr. Shahaida P

Author: Subroto Bagchi

Publisher: Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd.

bury an unclaimed body leads him to hislife’s vocation, that of a ‘Unclaimed BodyBurier’. Mahadeva has buried more than42,000 corpses with utmost care,dedication, dignity that he stands out asa true professional.

According to Bagchi a true professionalis one who has the ability to workunsupervised and to certify thecompletion of one’s work.

In the chapter Integrity, he narrates theexample set by his father who had a highmoral code. His father, a governmentservant refused to utilize governmentresources (car, land etc) for personal use.Whereas the stark reality in India is thatevery-day public servants are caughtabusing their power, position andresources allocated for Government tasks.Doctors are selling precious humanorgans, holy men are being caught formurder, businessmen are siphoningfunds unethically, job seekers fakeresumes, star salespersons submit faketravel vouchers etc. The journey towardsbecoming a true professional begins withINTEGRITY.

The section on Self-Awareness beginswith the importance of knowing whateach one of us can accomplish truly withour skills rather than resorting to namedropping. The importance of having anappropriate mentor is essential to be able

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

118

to consider career growth decisions.Every professional is likely to face asituation where in the choice betweenmoney and work satisfaction becomesdifficult, Bagchi advises that wheneveryou feel empty shift the attention toothers: new colleagues, explore writingor any other activity to get back oncourse.

A very interesting chapter on ‘TakingCharge’ narrates how extreme pressureand uncertainty affects managers andtheir decision making ability. A bus loadof engineers, MBA’s working forMindtree were travelling for an annualmeeting. While passing through a ruralpatch, a mob of villagers surrounded thebus and demanded that all the passengersalight and stay there till they werecompensated for the death of a goat a fewminutes ago, killed by a car (thedescription matched that of SubrotoBagchi’s car). The occupants in the busrefused to get down and tried to negotiatewith the villagers from the bus itself. Themob had sickles with them and lookedvery menacing. After sometime, two menalighted and began discussions with thevillagers, these two men bravely decidedto reason with the villagers. Thediscussions continued for some time withthe two men being surrounded by thesickle wielding villagers. At this instantBagchi revealed himself with a goat intow! The two men who had takenCHARGE were not the senior most orthe highest qualified but they had theconfidence, a power within to tackle avery dangerous situation.

Part III of the book deals withprofessional qualities, such as managingtime (for personal, family and work

lives), having a to-do list, saying no (toadditional chores outside of work), quitwhining and have a long time perspectiveof who you are and what you can dobesides work.

Mavens, Connectors and Evangelists:This chapter deals with the importanceof good networking, which has to be builtwisely and used well. If you are wellnetworked you can get valuableinformation, which cannot be got evenwith hours of research.

Managing Volume is the fourth part ofthe book, which focuses on superiorvision, proactive thinking, adhering tovalues, intent listening and humanitarianoutlook. The story of Dr. GovindappaVenkataswamy is very inspiring. He wasa qualified gynecologist but due torheumatoid arthritis, his hand becametwisted and permanently damaged as aresult he could not continue his practice.Instead of giving up, he re-educatedhimself in ophthalmology, designed andbuilt tailor made equipment to suit hishands and now performs hundred eyesurgeries in a day! This hospital is theworld famous Aravind hospital whichcaters to the middle and poor sections ofthe society. Seventy percent operationsare performed for free and 1,80,000operations are performed in a year. Thepower of vision and externalizing thevision is demonstrated by Dr.Govindappa.

Commitment to commitment is a chapterdealing with the lack of commitmentshown by people who call themselvesprofessionals. Bagchi narrates twoinstances of the same. One of a journalistwho wanted an interview with him and

SuGyaan 119

Volume II, Issue I

as he had a flight to catch immediately,he asked her to send the questions in ane-mail. After 2 days of waiting for her e-mail and not receiving it, He called herand found that she had completelyforgotten about the commitment.

At an event in Delhi, Bagchi met a socialentrepreneur, who wanted a face to facediscussion with him. As Bagchi washeaded to her city the next day, hesuggested that she call him and fix anappointment with him. After he reachedthe city, he did not receive any call fromher and decided to call her. To hissurprise, a sleepy voice answered hisphone and he realized that theentrepreneur had not taken his offerseriously.

In a chapter titled ‘The Responsibility ofDissent’ the Satyam fiasco is discussed.Despite having distinguished board ofdirectors, the $ 1.6 billion deal of buying2 companies was approved. Bagchi callsthe decision making as ‘The AbileneParadox’ is a concept developed by JerryHarvey. The Abilene Paradox showspowerfully how people agree to dostrange things when they suppress theirown voice and simply go along with whateveryone else is saying.

The story goes like this: On a hotafternoon in Coleman, Texas, a family iscomfortably playing dominoes on aporch, until the father-in-law suggeststhat they take a trip to Abilene [53 milesnorth] for dinner. The wife agrees andthe husband, despite having reservationsbecause the drive is long and hot, thinksthat his preferences must be out-of-stepwith the group and accepts provided thewife’s mother is willing to go. The

mother-in-law then says, “Of course Iwant to go. I haven’t been to Abilene ina long time.” The drive is hot, dusty, andlong. When they arrive at the cafeteria,the food is as bad as the drive. They arriveback home four hours later, exhausted.One of them dishonestly says, “It was agreat trip, wasn’t it?” The mother-in-lawsays that, actually, she would rather havestayed home, but went along since theother three were so enthusiastic. Thenthe blame game begins with everyonesaying that they accepted for the sake ofothers. The group sits back, perplexedthat they together decided to take a tripwhich none of them wanted. They eachwould have preferred to sit comfortably,but did not admit to it when they still hadtime to enjoy the afternoon.

Part V deals with Managing Complexitywhich is such an inherent part of worklife today. This section describes threedisasters and three great responses fromreal professionals. In 1999, Californiasuffered worst power outages whichadversely impacted the functioning ofeBay. The CEO Meg Whitman spentthirteen consecutive days in the office todeal with the crisis, ensure cooperationfrom all partnering companies andresolved the crisis.

In a section on New World ImperativesBagchi addresses various issues whichhighlight the biases that exist in thesociety and how one needs to deal withgender issues, sexual harassment, crosscultural sensitivity, intellectual property,governance, sustainability etc.

The country Bagchi deeply admires isJapan for its professionalism. He cites oneexample of this when a taxi driver did

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

120

not know the shortest route from theairport to the hotel. As a result of oneway systems, the taxi driver had to goaround a couple of blocks before reachingthe hotel. When Bagchi paid the meteredfare, the driver returned some money,saying that it was his mistake he wasunaware of the shortest route and hewould only charge for the shortest route.Further the porter who carried Bagchi’sluggage refused to accept a tip!

The top ten attributes of a professionalare: Integrity, commitment andownership, action orientation and goalseeking, continuous learning,professional knowledge, communication,planning, organizing and punctuality,quality of work, a positive attitude,approachability, responsiveness and

being an inspiring reference to others;thought leadership.

The Unprofessional is described assomeone who: misses a deadline, does notescalate issues on time, non-disclosure ofconflicting interests, does not respectprivacy of information, revealsconfidential information to spouses,friends etc, plagiarizes, blames others forhis lapses, overstates qualifications andexperience, does mindless job hoppingand dresses unsuitably.

Reviewer:

Dr. Shahaida P, Asst. Professor and Asst.Editor, SuGyaan at Siva Sivani Instituteof Management, Secunderabad.shahida_74@yahoo.co.in

#MJSSIM1(I)11, 2010.

SuGyaan 121

Volume II, Issue I

Call for PapersDear Author/s,

SuGyaan is a medium for keen researchers to publish their unpublished researchfindings that are of interest to academic community and industry. It is also a mediumfor industry professionals to share their best practices. The journal encouragespublication of application of theory to real life management activities

Editorial Advisory and Review Panel: Eminent persons from the academiccommunity and industry are guiding the journal in its Endeavour. Professors fromreputed institutions from India and abroad are members of the review panel.

Frequency: The Journal is published bi-annually in the months of July and December.

Content Mix: The journal prefers to publish conceptually sound andmethodologically rigorous papers that advance the body of knowledge. The journalwould publish Empirical Research Findings, Conceptual Papers, Literature Reviews,Case Studies, Synopsis of Doctoral Theses and Book Reviews, summaries of Ph.D.thesis, roundtable of academicians, policymakers, industry experts on any topicrelevant to present business scenario and articles on contemporary business issues.

Review Process: SuGyaan is a referred journal. All manuscripts submitted forpublication would be screened by the editor for relevance to our journal. Appropriatemanuscripts would be put through ‘double blind review process’ that may normallytake four to eight weeks. Accepted manuscripts may be edited to suit the journal’sformat. Wherever possible reviewer’s feedback will be provided. However the journalhas no binding to provide detailed feedback in every case including the contributionsrejected.

Remuneration: A sum of Rs. 3000/- will be paid to authors whose contributions arepublished in SuGyaan.

Copyright: Published manuscripts are exclusive copyright of SuGyaan, Management,Journal of Siva Sivani Institute of Management. The copyright includes electronicdistribution as well.

Format and Style:

• Articles should not exceed 10000 words (20-40 A-4 size pages, typed in doublespace) including charts, tables and other annexure.

• An abstract not exceeding 200 words should be included in the beginning ofthe paper.

• Manuscripts should be submitted in duplicate.

• Author’s name, designation, official address etc., should be mentioned only onthe cover page. Author’s identity should not be mentioned anywhere else inthe paper.

SuGyaan

Volume II, Issue I

122

• Only those sources that are cited in the text should be mentioned. Referencesshould be listed as per the standard publication norms for journals.

• Tables and Figures: Their location in the text should be indicated as follows:Table-I about here

• Endnotes: All notes should be indicated by serial numbers in the text andliterature cited should be detailed under reference in alphabetical order of thesurnames followed by year of publications at the end of the author’s name.(Footnotes should be avoided)

• References: The list should mention only those sources actually cited in thetext or notes. Author’s name should be the same as in the original source.

• In the text, the references should appear as follows: Hofstede (1983) haselucidated .. or recent studies (Frank 1993; Berry, 2001) indicate...

• Journal references should be listed as follows: Yagil, D (2002), Ingratiationand Assertiveness in the Service Provider-Customer Dyad. Journal of ServiceResearch, Vol 3, Issue 2, pp 345-353.

• Books should be referred to as follows: Pfeffer, J. (1981). Power in Organizations,Boston, MA: Pittman.

• Along with the manuscript, authors should provide a declaration that article isoriginal, not published anywhere else and not under review with any otherpublication.

• Authors will receive a complimentary copy of the journal in which their articleis published.

• Authors have to submit a declaration stating that the paper is original and isnot currently under review with any other Journal.

We look forward to your contributions for the next issue in December 2010. The lastdate for receipt of manuscripts is October 30, 2010.

Correspondence:Manuscript and all correspondence has to be addressed to

Dr. Shahaida, Asst. EditorSiva Sivani Institute of Management

NH-7, Kompally, Via-Hakimpet,Secunderabad-500014

Phones: 040-65457236, 65457237, 040-27165450-54Fax No.040-27165452

www.ssim.ac.inManuscript can also be submitted by electronic format via e mail to

shahaida@ssim.ac.in and shahida_74@yahoo.co.in

SuGyaan 123

Volume II, Issue I

ISSN - 0975-4032