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This paper examines the early transfer of management knowledge to India, with particular attention to the relationship between the institutional context and the content of management knowledge. It identifies a shift in the relationship with foreign management knowledge, from mimicry to revival, from adopting U.S. models to identifying uniquely Indian equivalents. The initial transfer process encouraged researchers to eventually identify a body of management knowledge recognizably "Indian." The argument is that rather than treating Indian management knowledge as a fixed essence, it should be seen as an active construction, the effect of the initial transfer process and the consequent creation of elite institutions and an academic class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex organizations may have a particularly high propensity to malfunction, and the consequences can be socially quite painful. Complex organizations are those characterized by multiple objectives and domains, extensive internal differentiation due to functional and role specialization, a tall hierarchy, and multiplicity of rules, procedures, and operating modes and cultures, among other attributes (Etzioni, 1961; Hall, 1963; Katz and Kahn, 1966; Lawrence and Lorsch, 1967; Pugh, Hickson, and Hinings, 1969). Their internal complexity may make it difficult for them to perform in a coordinated manner and to respond appropriately to uncertainties and shifts in their external operating environments (Khandwalla, 1972; Lawrence and Lorsch, 1967). Since, generally speaking, complex organizations tend to be large, and/or are set up to pursue socially significant objectives, their malfunctioning may jeopardize employment, the proper use of scarce resources, and the achievement of important social goals. In this paper I shall attempt to develop a model of effectively turning around malfunctioning complex organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to relate and integrate the nature of managerial perceptions and attitudes toward change with the existence of a theory of formal organization. It suggests that in situations in which no systematic theory of formal organizations is available, managerial perceptions and attitudes toward change will coherence and will not lead to significant development of alternative organizational paradigms. The views will be illustrated with reference to the Indian management scene. The paper is intended to provide a basis for a critical discussion of an important dimension of management of human organizations.

This article presents a study on the management of Indian engineering public enterprises (PE) attached to the Department of Heavy Industry in India's Ministry of Industry in 1978. The explanations for the performance of the PE studied were sought primarily in the nature of the interface with their regulatory environments, the character of their business environments, their modes of management, and the strategic and structural responses of their management to the problems, constraints, and opportunities confronting the PE. Broadly speaking, it was expected that a supportive yet demanding regulatory environment and a competitive market environment would aid PE performance. It was also expected that a dynamic and professional management response to the complexity of the operating environment of equipment-manufacturing enterprises would positively aid performance.