India

Leadership and Culture in India : The GLOBE Research Project1
Jagdeep S. Chhokar2
India is a country of great diversity. There are substantial regional, linguistic, cultural, and
religious variations across the country. Given the wide range of variation, it should be impossible
to generalize about the society, organizations, and leaders in India, as also about organizational
and leadership practices in Indian organizations. There is however hope because
in spite of the fact that the languages of India are many, and there are well marked
differences between one regional culture and another, yet there is an over-all unity of
design which makes them all members of one family. This stems primarily from the
economic and social organization of the country and extends to commonness of
intellectual and emotional attachments and obligations. The details might vary from place
to place, and from one caste to another, yet the sameness of the traditions on which all of
them have been reared cannot be overlooked (Bose, 1967, p.9).
It is in this spirit that this chapter reports the India-specific findings of the GLOBE Research
Project.
The following section attempts to describe the evolution of India's society and culture, concluding
with a description of the current situation. It is followed by a brief description of leadership in
India. The methodology of GLOBE research in India is described next, followed by presentation
of the results of the qualitative and quantitative analyses. A brief note containing some basic
information on India is at Appendix 1.
SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN INDIA
Any attempt at describing society and culture in India must begin with three assertions. One,
though the political entity which is today known as India, formally came into being only fifty years
ago, the broader region which has been the cradle for what is called Indian culture, society, and
civilization, has long been a loose, informal confederation joined by an undefinable similarity of
social and cultural customs and practices. It is therefore more accurate to refer to it as a cultural
unit rather than a political entity. Two, the physical boundaries of this cultural unit have differed
during various periods of history. The boundaries were almost never identical to what the
boundaries of today's India are. The cultural unit in terms of geographical area, was almost
always larger than what India is today. And lastly, India as it exists today, is a composite of
multiple influences in a civilization which has continued to evolve for more than 5000 years.
What may be termed as the culture of India today is the outcome of, or merely the current stage
in, a process of evolution of a continually living and changing culture. What follows is a brief,
somewhat inadequate description of the origins and evolution of Indian culture, because any
1
Leena Bhandari was involved in several aspects of the GLOBE Project in India. Her contributions to the
collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data for Phase 2 of the project, and the literature review
are especially acknowledged.
2
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India
1
GLOBE Anthology/INDIA/Chhokar
attempt at capturing the mosaic of Indian culture in a few pages is bound to be inadequate.
The social and cultural roots of India are shrouded in antiquity. Archaeological excavations of
the Indus Valley civilization at several locations of which Harappa and Mohenjo Daro are the best
known, attest to a highly developed civilization in the 3rd millennium BC (Basham, 1967).
I shall not now speak of the knowledge of the Hindus,... of their subtle discoveries in the
science of astronomy--discoveries even more ingenious than those of the Greeks and
Babylonians--of their rational system of mathematics, or of their method of calculation
which no words can praise strongly enough--I mean the system using nine symbols. If
these things were known by people who think that they alone have mastered the science
because they speak Greek they would perhaps be convinced, though a little late in the day,
that other folk, not only Greeks but also men of a different tongue, know something as
well as they (Sebokht, 662).
The study of ancient Indian civilization in the western scientific mode began in the mid 1700s
during the British period. However India had a long tradition of oral history. Indian folklore is
full of kings and noblemen of all shades--good, brave, wise to bad, cowardly, foolish. A constant
refrain in folklore is the presence of sages, seers, and saints who renounced the material world,
and practiced and propagated spiritualism. While agriculture was the predominant occupation,
other activities such as trade and commerce; art (e.g. Ajanta cave paintings); architecture
(temples); performing arts (classical dance forms); music; poetry; education (e.g.. Taxsila and
Nalanda universities3); science (particularly astronomy); urban planning and design (Indus Valley
cities); religion; also thrived.
Basham (1967) claims that Indian history emerged from “legend and dubious tradition" in the 6th
century BC, and what emerged was a society highly developed materially, intellectually, and
spiritually. It was also characterised by a great sense of fairness in social and civic relations.
In no other early civilization were slaves so few in number, and in no other ancient
lawbook are their rights so well protected as in the Arthasastra. No other ancient
lawgiver proclaimed such noble ideals of fair play in battle as did Manu....The most
striking feature of ancient India's civilization is its humanity. (Basham, 1967, p.8).
Basham stresses the “secular literature, sculpture, and painting” of the time and points out that
the people “people enjoyed life, passionately delighting both in the things of the senses and the
things of the spirit”. He describes ancient India as “a cheerful land, whose people, each finding
a niche in a complex and slowly evolving social system, reached a higher level of kindliness and
3
Taxsila flourished as a large centre of learning around 550-500 BC in the north-western part of India and
attracted scholars and students from far and wide. Nalanda was set up in the 3rd century AD as a Buddhist
monastery in Bihar. It "did not confine itself to training Buddhist novices, but also taught the Vedas, Hindu
philosophy, logic, grammar and medicine....The student population was not confined to the Buddhist order,
but...candidates of other faiths who succeeded in passing a strict oral examination were (also) admitted....It
provided free training for no less than 10,000 students" (Basham, 1967, p.166).
2
gentleness in their mutual relationship than any other nation in antiquity” (1967, p.9). The
collectivist and humane nature of Indian society can thus possibly be traced back to these ancient
roots.
The predominant political system was of kings ruling their individual territories. While kings were
originally elected, the system soon became one of succession based on heredity with the king
being succeeded by the eldest son. Women were excluded from succession though there were
a few exceptions. The equivalent of modern day council of ministers and state assemblies often
existed, but the authority and responsibility for governance rested almost exclusively with the
king. Nehru (1985) describes the king in ancient India as an “autocratic monarch” who most of
the time functioned within established conventions. This possibly contributes to the fairly
widespread preference for “strong” leadership in India even today.
The culture of ancient India was continuously modified by a series of invasions, the last one being
the British which ended in 1947. These began about 2000 BC with what has come to be called
the Aryan invasion. "The Aryan invasion of India was not a single concerted action, but one
covering centuries and involving many tribes, perhaps not all of the same race and language"
(Basham, 1967, p.30). The native people of India were peace-loving agriculturalist, and did not
offer much resistance to the invading tribes. All these tribes got assimilated and absorbed in the
native population in a thorough mix. The system of a king being the head of a tribe which
occupied a demarcated geographical area continued. This was also the period when the well
known spiritual texts, the Vedas and the Upanishads, were composed, and to which the popular
epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, are attributed. The 6th century BC saw the advent
of Buddhism and Jainism as separate religions. Buddha himself was a prince who renounced the
material world for the spiritual. India was invaded by the famous Greek general, Alexander of
Macedon (also called Alexander the Great) in 326 B.C., who left behind garrisons, and appointed
satraps to govern the conquered territories. However revolts in Indian provinces and the death
of Alexander in 323 B.C. lessened the Greek control and the last of Alexander's generals,
Eudamus, left the Indian north-west in 317 B.C.
The first major Muslim invasion of India was by the Turkish chieftain Mahmud who had
established a powerful kingdom at Gazni in Afghanistan. Mahmud of Gazni conducted seventeen
raids on north-western India between 1001 and 1027 A.D. These were essentially pillaging raids
and Mahmud did not stay to reign. Mahmud died in 1030 AD, and the next important invasion
was of Shahab-ud-din Ghuri, another Afghan, who conquered Delhi in 1192 AD. Such periodic
incursions continued till the beginning of the Mughal Empire of India when Babar, a Turco-
Mongol and a Prince of Timurid line in central Asia, occupied Delhi in 1526. The Mughal Empire
lasted for about 200 years and its decline started with the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. After a
period of strife and struggle, the British Empire began in 1757 when Robert Clive won the battle
of Plassey in Bengal4. There were other smaller invasions in between. Following a visit by Vasco
4
Unlike the earlier invasions, the British empire had its roots in traditional Indian hospitality. A local
ruler in one of the eastern provinces, allowed a British trading post to be set up in his kingdom. This trading post
grew into the East India Company. Over time, the protection of commercial interests evolved into the British
taking complete control of governance over the area.
3
de Gama to Calicut on the western coast of south India, the Portuguese set up a colony in Goa
in the early 1500s. British rule ended with independence of India in 1947 and the present
Republic of India was proclaimed in 1950 with the adoption of a new constitution.
Throughout these long periods of domination, by the Mughals and the British, the political
structure in the region remained more or less similar. There were territories directly administered
by the conquerors, along with a large number of local "princely" states which had individual and
varying relationships with the major ruling administration. Some were semi-autonomous and
were formal protectorates of the ruling administration, some were quite independent and had a
friendly relationship, whereas some others maintained an independent and antagonistic
relationship. Most of the invaders except the Greeks and the British, stayed on in India, and in
some ways got absorbed and assimilated in the local indigenous social and cultural milieu, also
influencing and changing it in the process. The British period, for example, resulted in a new
group referred to as Anglo-Indians consisting of the offspring of the marriages between the
British and native Indians, which continues to exist as an integral part of Indian society even
today. Inter-marriages among the invaders-turned-local-rulers and the indigenous nobility, though
not frequent, did take place from time to time. There were long, almost continuous periods of
ferment when India reacted to these new situations subconsciously, absorbing the new foreign
elements into itself, and herself changing in the process. These influences percolated all aspects
of culture including language, religion, and traditions, and resulted in a situation where the
different groups co-existed in mutual harmony despite the differences of language and religion.
Caste System
One of the most widely known and commented upon features of Indian society is the caste
system. The origin of this particular usage of the term “caste” is traced by Basham (1967) to the
16th century when the Portuguese came to India and "found the Hindu community divided into
many separate groups which they (the Portuguese) called castas, meaning tribes, clans or families"
(p.149). The well known four-fold classification--Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras--in
descending order of social status, is believed to have been first enunciated by the ancient law-giver
Manu some time in the Vedic period (1500-1000 B.C.). These four are the varnas, aggregated
macro groupings, which were further divided into a myriad castes and subcastes. Each varna,
caste, and subcaste had an internal hierarchical social order. The distinctions between adjacent
hierarchical levels both between and within a varna, caste, and subcaste were somewhat blurred,
particularly at the boundaries.
Caste is often “defined as a system of groups within the class which are normally endogamous
(marriage being legitimate only within the group), commensal (food to be received from and eaten
only in the presence of members of the same or a higher group), and craft-exclusive (each man
to live by the trade or profession of his own group, and not take up that of another)”(Basham,
1967, p.149). While the origins and rationale of the caste system are obscure, it gradually evolved
into a social as well as economic structuring of society. Originally a feature of Hindu society, the
influence of caste often transcended religion, and most non-Hindu religions in India developed
their own versions of something like a caste system. Though it is the maladies of the caste system
which attract the most comment today, there is also a view which maintains that the caste system
4
served a useful purpose in society. It is claimed that the system provided “economic security in
spite of obvious inequalities; and this security was guaranteed both by law and by custom” (Bose,
1967, p.221).
The complementary non-competitiveness was not confined to occupations, it also extended to the
use of natural resources. Some recent analyses and interpretations of the working of traditional
Indian villages maintain that these were sustainable societies consisting of various castes. Each
caste was dependent on a different component of the natural resource base for their primary
economic activity.
Caste groups tended to pursue a relatively specialized and hereditary mode of subsistence.
With their overlapping distributions and occupational specializations, the different caste
groups were linked together in a web of mutually supportive relationships. This is not to
say that caste society was at all egalitarian. It was in fact a sharply stratified
society...(Gadgil and Guha, 1992, p.93).
Though most descriptions portray the caste system as a rigid hierarchy, its actual practice
appeared to have had at least some scope for changes. Basham (1967) maintains that "castes rise
and fall in the social scale, and old castes die out and new ones are formed (p.149)." Srinivas
(1966) referred to the concept of "sanskritisation" to denote attempts of lower castes to raise their
status in society. The continued, though dynamic, existence of the caste system is one of the
major sources of the high power distance index for India found in Hofstede’s (1980) studies.
The caste system, being the basis of social and economic structuring of society has obviously
influenced the practice of leadership in India over centuries. The ability to lead in wars with other
states being a major requirement to defend a state, warrior-kings belonging to the martial group,
Kshatriya, were very common. The kings were however often guided by the high priest, who
belonged to the highest group, Brahmin, and had an exalted position in the king’s court.
Business, trading, and commerce, not being considered very noble activities, were left to the third
level, Vaisya. These patterns of leadership continued till very recently, and can be seen in
operation even today. A lot of social and political leaders have been from the so-called higher
castes, whereas a number of business leaders continue to be from the lower castes. There has
however has been a distinct though gradual shift in political leadership with more leaders from the
lower castes emerging, possibly as a result of the universal franchise system introduced since
independence.
The Current Situation
The evolution of Indian society and culture has continued its course along with the march of time.
The current situation is captured well by the "People of India", a large-scale ethnographic project
undertaken by the Anthropological Survey of India from 1985 to 1992 (Singh 1992). It was
found that “caste has weakened to some extent in recent years in terms of its adherence to
hereditary occupation and norms of purity and pollution. It has also acquired new strength in a
political sense as a constituency and as a vote bank” (p.24).
The survey found that about 75 percent of the 4635 communities studied followed Hinduism, 12
5
percent followed Islam, 7 percent Christianity, 2.5 percent Sikhism; 2 percent each, Jainism and
Buddhism; and about 0.2 percent each, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. An interesting finding was
that as many as 393 communities comprised followers of two religions, and 16 had followers of
as many as three religions. Linguistically, the survey identified a total of 325 languages belonging
to 12 different language families. Apart from the languages, 24 different scripts were found to be
in use. The incidence of bilingualism was found to be as high as 65.51 percent in terms of the
number of communities.
The change in the rigidity and influence of the caste system also continues. The emerging national
identity seems to co-exist with the castes and communities acquiring clearly identifiable political
identities.
Social progress since independence has served to heighten the awareness of cultural
pluralism....There is an all pervasive sense of Ìndianness' often elusive and indefinable but
ever present as noted by colonial ethnographers. Risely, for example, in 1891 spoke of
an èqually mysterious thing called national character' and that `beneath the manifold
diversity of physical and social type, language, custom and religion there is an Indian
character, a general Indian personality which we cannot resolve into its component
elements' (Singh, 1990, pp.102,104).
The ferment in Indian society continues. With universal adult suffrage adopted as part of the
constitution of the republic in 1950, the general populace has gradually come to realise the power
of their franchise. This has led to a political awareness which is different from the political
movement to end colonial rule. The constitution also put in place a programme for the upliftment
of the depressed sections of society by way of quotas and reservations for certain groups in
employment, education, etc. This affirmative action programme, according to the constitution,
was originally meant for certain especially disadvantaged groups and was to be in place for ten
years which was considered adequate time to bring them into the mainstream. It has subsequently
been expanded to cover more groups, and has also been extended from time to time--almost
indefinitely. There have been attempts by several communities to get into these special categories
which get preferential treatment, prompting some social commentators to refer to the
phenomenon as "de-sanskritisation". These developments have led to a much more acute desire
for equality, social as well as economic, on the part of large sections of society. It has also
resulted in the emergence of several political formations whose ideology is essentially based on
what is referred to as "social justice". The entire system is thus embroiled in an intense and broad-
based struggle with multiple stakeholders and contestants which are forever increasing in numbers
and resulting in the formation of new groups.
Yet another struggle is at the religious and cultural levels. Broadly coinciding with the resurgence
of strong religious beliefs elsewhere in the world (e.g. Islam, Christianity, etc.) there has also been
a resurgence of some strong beliefs in Hinduism in India. Hinduism has been described as a very
broad-based, tolerant, and resilient faith (Basham, 1967, p.347). In Nehru's words,
Hinduism as a faith, is vague, amorphous, many sided, all things to all men. It is hardly
possible to define it, or indeed to say definitely whether it is a religion or not, in the usual
sense of the word. In its present form, and even in the past, it embraces many beliefs and
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practices, from the highest to the lowest, often opposed to or contradicting each other.
Its essential spirit seems to be to live and let live (1985, p.75).
Being so amorphous, Hinduism allows itself to varying and differing interpretations. Some
political groupings have chosen Hinduism as a platform which they feel would help them attain
political power. Coinciding with religious resurgence elsewhere in the world, as suggested by
changes in Iran, Bosnia-Herzogovina, and the U.S., it has also become an important and
potentially contentious social and political issue in recent times.
Liberalisation and restructuring of the economy has also been a major influence in recent years
particularly on business and industry in India. India had been more or less a centrally planned
economic system for almost four decades since independence in 1947. Though there was a fairly
well-developed and strong private sector, the overall economy was controlled and regulated by
the government. While some initial and tentative steps towards easing of controls were taken in
the mid 1980s, a major exercise in restructuring and liberalisation of the economy was undertaken
from 1991 onwards. Far-reaching changes in the economic environment have taken place in the
last few years. Globalisation is becoming an often-used expression. It is significant that broad
economic policies have continued without any serious disturbance despite frequent changes in the
government with political parties of different ideologies being in power.
Another feature of Indian society in the recent past has been the growth of materialism. In some
ways it is also linked with economic liberalisation and restructuring, and the information explosion
resulting from the increasing spread of electronic mass media, particularly television. The rise of
materialism coupled with a desire to get rich quickly has blurred the distinction between ends and
means, resulting in fairly large-scale and deep-seated corruption. It has not been confined only to
the lower levels of government officials but has also spread to almost the entire political system
(Walsh, 1996).
The disillusionment with corruption in high places is somewhat counter-balanced by the judiciary
which has, over the last few years, become quite proactive. India has the fairly standard system
of the three organs of the state--the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary--being
independent of one another as a system of checks and balances. The judiciary for most of the
time, had been a conservative, reactive, and sedate upholder of the law and interpreter of the
statutes and the constitution. Over the last few years, with the general populace losing confidence
in the executive particularly the bureaucracy, and becoming clearly disenchanted with the political
class, the judiciary seems to have taken on its role much more actively. "Public interest litigation"
in which concerned citizens file suits in court on matters of public and social interest although they
may not be affected by it individually, has become quite common. In some major and sensitive
cases, the courts monitor the progress of investigations by decreeing that the investigating
agencies report to them periodically, at specified intervals.
A major change is also underway in the political governance in the country. For almost thirty-five
years since independence, the ruling party at the central government and in most state
governments was the Indian National Congress, which had also been in the forefront of the
independence movement. Some of the states had been governed by non-Congress parties for
varying durations, and there were two short-lived attempts at a non-Congress government at the
centre. In the last five to seven years however, a majority of states have voted non-Congress
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parties to power, and there is coalition of thirteen non-Congress parties in power at the centre.
Another distinguishing feature is that a number of parties in power in the states are regional in
character, several confined solely to their respective states. Some of these regional parties also
play significant roles in the coalition government at the centre. The era of strong national parties
and single-party governments at the centre and in the states seems to be giving way to a system
of strong regional parties which work together for mutual benefit at the national level. The
political governance system thus seems to be moving from a unitary to a truly federal one.
All the above developments are taking place against the general backdrop of increasing
urbanisation, gradual breakdown of the traditional rigidities of the caste system particularly in
urban areas, increasing spread of literacy and education5, and above all rising levels of awareness
and expectations. The situation in India therefore appears to be one of “sharing of environment
and ethos by communities and of their vibrant participation in political and economic processes
and ritual roles (and) a sense of harmony...in spite of conflicts and contradictions” (Singh, 1992,
pp.100-101). This situation suggests that India is likely to score high on the GLOBE societal
collectivism dimension.
One of the leading social commentators, reviewing the developments in India as it approached the
completion of fifty years of independence, described India to be a “major socio-historical entity
representing one idea of one civil society that is composed of a small set of closely interrelated
attributes. One large unity composed of diverse yet coterminating pluralities” (Kothari, 1997,
p.7). He identified the following three major forces which have strongly influenced India over
time and whose interactions have got “deeper and sharper (as) the Indian cultural landscape took
on a more political thrust”:
(i) a hierarchical social order through which infinite ambiguities have been at once
tolerated and regulated, (ii) a multi-cultural framework of governance which has
restrained hegemonical and "majoritarian" tendencies, and (iii) a highly flexible ethical
code through which constant and continuing contradictions, clash of personalities, major
paradoxes in elite behaviour as well as instances of humiliation, acrimony and hypocritical
behaviour in the conduct of public affairs are managed (Kothari, 1997, p.7).
GLOBE Dimensions of Societal Culture
Given this kind of a background of society and culture, how may India be expected to show up
on the core GLOBE dimensions of societal culture? This is a tricky question given the diversity
and complexity of Indian culture and the transition it seems to be going through. Nonetheless
some assessments follow. Collectivism, humane orientation, and power distance can be expected
to be relatively high. Gender differentiation too, is likely to be high since India continues to be
a male-dominated society like many others in spite of all sorts of laws and reforms which have
been initiated from time to time. A high tolerance for uncertainty can be expected, hence low
values of uncertainty avoidance. On similar lines, one may expect high future orientation. Both
5
"Nationwide, literacy is 52%, compared with 24% three decades ago. More than a third of the country's lower-
caste people were literate in 1991, up from 10% in 1961" (Spaeth, 1996, p.44).
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these are based on the general long-term and even "hereafter" approach which is not too
uncommon. Performance orientation is more difficult to comment on and perhaps an expectation
of moderate performance orientation is the most reasonable. This is in some way influenced by
the teachings of what has been called "the most famous ethical text of ancient India, the Bhagvad
Gita". The essence of the teachings "is summed up in the maxim `your business is with the deed,
and not the result'". The general philosophy being that
in every circumstance there are actions which are intrinsically right (and) the right course
must be chosen according to the circumstances, without any considerations of personal
interest or sentiment....The inspiration of the Bhagvad Gita has been widely felt in India
from the time of the Guptas to the present day, and it has been commended by Christians
and Muslims, as well as by Hindus, whose most influential scripture it is (Basham. 1967,
pp.344-345).
It enjoins people to do their duty without thinking about or expecting the outcome or results.
LEADERSHIP IN INDIA
Leadership is a very popular issue in India. It is, or at least leaders are, a very common topic of
discussion amongst people from all sections of Indian society. Whereas discussions of political
leadership are possibly the most common often with a certain amount of disdain, cynicism, and
even disgust; leaders in other areas such as the captain of the Indian cricket team, and owners,
founders, chief executives of leading business houses, are also discussed often. The importance
of leadership is also attested to by the fact that statues of leaders of all sorts--political, social,
religious--are erected all over, from big cities to small towns. A large number of public service
institutions such as hospitals, schools, colleges, airports, are named after leaders. Portraits of
historical and religious leaders are often voluntarily displayed in public places such as shops, cafes,
and offices.
India has obviously produced a large number and wide variety of leaders over centuries, and
several of them have been very popular. The range of effective leadership can be illustrated by
four examples, those of Chandragupta Maurya, Asoka, Akbar, and Gandhi. Chandragupta
Maurya ruled for 24 years around 320 B.C. and has been described as the chief architect of the
greatest of India’s ancient empires (Basham, 1967). He was a warrior-king who consolidated
several smaller states into one large kingdom. He was the beneficiary of the advice of Chanakya
(also known as Kautilya) who is believed to be the author of Arthasastra, a treatise on statecraft
and governance. Chandragupta was therefore was also very skillful at political manipulation.
Asoka, whose reign began around 269 B.C., ruled as a tyrant for the first eight years which
culminated in the conquest of Kalinga in which more than 100,000 people were believed to have
been killed and over 150,000 captured. Asoka then had a change of heart and became a pacifist.
This is found in many of his “own inscriptions which are the oldest surviving Indian written
documents of any historical significance ... (consisting) of a series of edicts engraved in very
similar form on rocks and pillars at widely scattered points all over India” (Basham, 1967, p.53).
These show Asoka to be a benevolent king who introduced humanity in his internal administration
and abandoned aggressive warfare in his dealings with other states. He also strongly supported
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the doctrine of ahimsa, meaning non-violence and non-injury to humans as well as animals, which
was used very effectively centuries later by Gandhi in the Indian struggle for independence from
the British rule. After his first eight years, Asoka became a prime example of a philosopher-king,
an example which in a way was later repeated in modern India when Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, a
scholar and professor of philosophy, was elected as the President of India in 1962.
The third example of historically effective leadership is of Akbar (1555-1606) who was one of the
Mughal emperors. He seemed to have understood the complexity of Indian society and polity,
and realised that tolerance of differences in religion, language, social customs, etc. was essential
for the empire to survive. He abolished all preferences and discriminations based on religion,
appointed people to high state offices without regard to their religious beliefs, and encouraged
inter-communal marriages by setting an example himself. He even tried to propagate a new
integrative religion, Din-e-Ilahi, which attempted to combine the best of all existing religions in
India at that time. Akbar could thus be considered an enlightened pragmatic ruler.
The last example is that of Gandhi who symbolised a unique style of leadership which converted
materialistic weaknesses into spiritual and political strengths. Starting his professional life as a
barrister trained in Britain and evolving into something like a self-sacrificing saint, Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi6 is without doubt the most important leader of the 20th century who has
shaped the destiny of modern India. He is referred to as the "Father of the Nation" due to his
signal contribution to the Indian freedom movement against the British rule. His approach
consisting of non-violent struggle and civil disobedience, which had its beginnings during his stay
in South Africa, had a profound impact on the course of the Indian freedom struggle. His concept
of Satyagraha (literal translation meaning “insistence on truth”) has found a permanent place in
the industrial relations scenario in India as a common method of protest by unions and dissatisfied
employees. It often takes the form of the employees sitting down and refusing to move unless
their demands are met or satisfactory negotiations are concluded. Gandhi’s statues are found in
almost all cities and towns, roads and public buildings are often named after him, his birthday is
observed as a national holiday, and his philosophy and teachings are invoked on numerous public
occasions, though very little of it is followed in practice. It is not easy to label Gandhi’s
leadership style but charismatic, inspirational, visionary, and value based come closest to
capturing the essence of his impact on the multitude of his followers.
Other important leaders of this century are all those who contributed to the freedom struggle.
While there is almost a pantheon of these, two stand out: Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel.
Nehru was the Prime Minister of the country for the first seventeen years of its independent
existence, till his death in 1963. He is credited with creating the industrial and technical
infrastructure which India today has in terms of basic industries, though his economic policies of
a planned economy have become a matter of debate over the last few years. Vallabhbhai Patel,
often referred to as the Iron Man of India, was the minister for home affairs in the government
of independent India. He was reputed to be a very able and strong administrator. He is credited
with bringing about the merger of all the "princely" states with the Union of India thus making the
geographic expanse of India into a single political entity. Though both Nehru and Patel were
6
Popularly almost universally called Mahatma Gandhi, Mahatma meaning the great soul.
10
extremely close to Gandhi, it is believed that Gandhi chose Nehru as his successor. It is widely
speculated that independent India may have evolved into a very different kind of country had the
practical and action-oriented administrator, Patel, been chosen by Gandhi instead of the romantic
intellectual and visionary, Nehru, with his belief in Fabian socialism7.
It is interesting as well as curious that in spite of such widespread interest in leaders, rigorous
academic research studies have been lacking. A recent review of research by Sinha (1994)
identified two broad streams of leadership studies. One of the streams dealt with personal
characteristics and traits distinguishing leaders from non-leaders, and did not yield any theoretical
formulation. The other dealt directly with effective leadership styles which reflected a mixture
of concern for task, for turbulent environment, and for the cultural needs and values. Culturally
specific phenomena such as personalised and dependency relationship, power distance, care,
consideration, and familial attachment, were found to affect leadership practices.
While there is a dearth of rigorous research-based writing, there is a plethora of writing on

leadership in the popular press. Political leadership is of course the most common topic for such
writings. The writings cover a wide spectrum--from profiles and lives of political leaders to
serious conceptual issues such as the implications of the waning of charisma for democratic
politics (Beteille, 1996). There is also a lot written on and about business, religious, and social
leaders. Most of the writing on religious and social leaders is done by their followers, sects, or
cults, but business leaders are written about by a wide cross-section of people (e.g., Piramal,
1996; Karkaria, 1992; Lomax, 1986). The business press also often writes about various aspects
of leadership such as leadership training (Jayakar and Parthasarathy, 1996), and requirement of
leadership for the emerging business environment (Jayakar, 1996).
Political leadership in India in 1997 stands highly discredited. Expedience, self-serving actions,
use of caste, community, and religion for political and vote-gathering purposes; and corruption
are commonplace. It has been described as “a brazen-faced game of power, competitive in all its
pejorative connotations....(with) commercialisation and criminalisation of politics and its caste and
class based in-breeding (leading to) manipulation of mass psyche, blatant communalisation and
misdirection on the basis of narrow, partisan identities...” (Kabra, 1994, p.285). There is a
general disenchantment with political leaders and a hankering for what it was like in the past. "We
had wonderful leaders, people who had sacrificed everything for their country" recalls PN
Bhagwati who was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in mid 1980s (Time, 1996, p.36).
Leadership of business organisations is however somewhat different. There are big business
houses whose founders, and even some of their successors, are often looked up to with
admiration, adulation, and respect. The house of Tatas is one such example whose founder
Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata and later his successor JRD Tata have both been admired (Harris,
1958; Fyzee, 1991). The business press writes about leaders, leadership, and related issues quite
frequently. A recent feature titled "How to use the new leadership to run your company" in one
of the business magazines, based on interviews with leaders of some prominent business
organizations, proposed five "leadership qualities and behaviours that the CEO of the futurcorp
7
A tremendous amount of writing is available on and by Gandhi, and also about Nehru albeit to a somewhat
smaller extent. Two representative references about Patel are Shankar (1974) and Gandhi (1990).
11
must demonstrate". These were leading by vision, by inspiration, by influence, by empowerment,

and by expertise. The feature concluded that in the current situation in India a business leader
needed to "inspire highly-empowered employees to greater heights....Set organizational goals
more audacious than ever thought possible....Lead his people to fulfilling those ambitions by
convincing them of the need for doing so. Greatness, not efficiency, is his guiding passion"
(Jayakar, 1996, p.82). Extracts from some of the interviews are given in Appendix 2.
METHODOLOGY OF GLOBE RESEARCH IN INDIA
The GLOBE research in India consisted of focus groups, interviews, media analysis, literature
review, participant and unobtrusive observation, and questionnaire-based data collection. Three
focus groups were conducted, two in India and one in the US. Of the two in India, one was
conducted with nine managers of the Indian subsidiary of an American company. This company
was very close to the private sector, free market end of the continuum of Indian economy. All
the nine participants worked at a manufacturing plant located in western India. The second focus
group in India had eight participants, all managers of a very large bank owned and operated by
the government. This bank came very close to the public sector, controlled economy end of Indian
economy. While the bank operated all over the country and its managers could be located
anywhere in the country, participants in the focus group were at a level up to which they had been
located in only one state in the western part of India. The work experience of the participants in
the two focus groups in India ranged from 8 to 32 years with a mean of 18.26 years, and they
belonged to different levels of middle management. Participants in both the focus groups in India
were given a preparatory assignment prior to the focus group. The assignment is shown in
Appendix 3.
The focus group conducted in the US had nine participants all of whom had work experience in
India ranging from 1 to 8 years with a mean of 3.2 years. All the participants were engaged in
graduate studies in the US at the time of the focus group. Four participants had worked in public
sector organizations, four in the government, and one in a private sector firm8.
Two types of interviews were conducted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen
managers (eight in the manufacturing plant and seven in the bank) who had participated in the two
focus groups in India. These interviewees though belonging to different states, had spent a major
portion, if not all, of their working lives in the same state in western India. The duration of these
interviews ranged from 45 minutes to one and a half hours. These interviews were semi-
structured in the sense that though the interviewer did have a list of questions to be asked, these
were only possible and guiding questions. All these guiding questions were open ended. The
interviews were thus essentially free-flowing in which the interviewees were actually encouraged
to express themselves freely. Some of the guiding questions used in the interviews are given in
Appendix 4.
Interviews in the second set were almost completely unstructured and free-form. These were
conducted with three middle managers of a financial services firm. This firm had a network of
8
The focus group in the US was conducted by Rabi Bhagat.
12
offices and branches all over the country. All the three interviewees worked at the corporate office
and their work experience ranged from 3 to 8 years. One of the three was a woman. The
interviewees belonged to different parts of the country, one was from a western state, one from
a state in north west India, and one from the south. The duration of these interviews varied from
one and a half to two and a half hours. The interviews were begun by a brief description of the
project and the interviewees were asked to describe their perception and understanding of
leadership. Some of the opening comments by the interviewer were as follows:
What, in your opinion, is leadership? What is a leader? What makes a good leader?
What do you think are different types of leaders? Why are some good, why are some not
so good? ... It is a free flowing thing--trying to capture your concept and understanding
of leadership in all its essence, in all its diversions, in all its components....Please give me
your spontaneous views--but in as much detail as possible.
After the opening remarks, the interviewees expressed themselves unhindered and the interviewer
did not interfere except to either request a clarification, or elaboration, or to ask a question when
the interviewee seemed to come to the end of the description of an idea, an incident, or a concept.
The three interviews were audio-taped and were subsequently transcribed. The transcriptions
were content analyzed and the conclusions were shared with the interviewees in a follow up
discussion. The interviewees were asked for their reactions to the results of the content analysis
of the transcripts. These discussions lasted for about half an hour with each interviewee. The
interviewees agreed with most of the findings and did not suggest any significant changes in what
had been inferred from the analysis as their view of leadership.
Media analysis was done by reviewing the contents of two daily newspapers, one general (The
Times of India) and one business (The Economic
Times) for two periods of two weeks each, with a
gap of one month in between; and two news
magazines, one general (India Today) and one The Times of India 1074000
business (Business India), two issues of each, with
The Economic Times 372000
a gap of one month in between. The circulation
figures for these four publications are given in the India Today 407000
accompanying table. The Times of India had the
highest circulation among all the daily newspapers, Business India 97572
and The Economic Times had the highest circulation Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations,
New Delhi (July to December, 1996).
among all the business, economic, and financial
newspapers.
All reports which had anything to do with or referred even parenthetically to leadership were
marked and extracted for analysis. These were then content analysed with the objective of
developing an understanding of leadership as it is viewed by society. Obviously this emergent
view of leadership in society was to some extent influenced by the editorial slant of these four
publications.
Content analyses of the interviews and media reports were done by a research associate following
13
guidelines contained in GLOBE documents authored by Agar (Undated), and Thomas (Undated).
Findings of the analyses by the research associate were reviewed and cross-checked by the author.
Participant and unobtrusive observations were made by some of the researchers involved in the
project and three other individuals who were considered informed and knowledgeable. These
participants responded to a pool of items which could be observed by people who were part of
the society.
The quantitative data were collected from a total of 214 middle managerial respondents belonging
to ten organizations in two industries, financial services and food processing, with 113 and 101
respondents respectively. (Brief notes on these two industries are in Appendices 5 and 6). There
were five organizations in each industry. Six of the organizations were in the private sector and
four were in the public sector. Seven were located in the western part of the country, two in the
north, and one in the south. The number of respondents per organization varied from 10 to 44.
Thirty of the 214 respondents were women. The average age of the respondents was 38.36 years,
ranging from 21 to 63 years. Details of questionnaire development and overall quantitative
analyses are in the first chapter of this volume.
RESULTS
The results of qualitative analyses are presented first, followed by those of quantitative data.
Qualitative Analysis
Focus Groups and Semi-structured Interviews
All participants in the focus groups and all the interviewees almost unanimously saw leadership
and management to be different. A large majority felt that leadership was a broader and
somewhat of a "higher level" function than management.
The most common descriptions of leadership included having a vision, and a clear and broad
direction and goal or objective. Leaders were expected to carry people with them, inspire people,
and get them to do near impossible things. Effective communications and risk taking were
considered important components of leadership. Leaders were also described as "knowing the
pulse of the people", "finding out how peoples' minds tick and making it happen that way", having
an intuitive understanding of people, caring--almost like a parent or "a king in the old days", being
"natural", courageous, and innovative. They were also expected to develop the trust and loyalty
of the followers and command their respect without having to ask for it, to set an example
through their behaviours and actions, and to practice what they preached. Demonstrated
capability to solve problems, being high on integrity, ability to get an active consensus from a core
group, maintaining a network of contacts and connections, were some of the other characteristics
of outstanding leaders.
Most participants considered political leaders to be different from business leaders. Political
leaders were considered to be more self-serving, clever, and exploitative, whereas business
leaders, were normally considered to be visionaries and charismatic, particularly within the context
of their business organizations. Some truly exceptional business leaders were felt to have
14
transcended the boundaries of their organizations and become leaders in society at large.
The following definitions of leadership emerged:
"Steering a group of people to contribute willingly towards a vision".
"Ability to get people to work willingly and enthusiastically towards one's own and
organizational goals and priorities".
A minority definition was "getting the job done through people". This rather small proportion of
respondents felt that leadership was one of the components of management and this component
was confined to people or the human element of management. They, unlike the majority, thought
leadership to be a narrower function than management.
Outstanding Leadership
When asked to cite critical incidents to illustrate outstanding leadership, participants referred to
unusual and almost dramatic behaviours such as Gandhi going on a fast to stop communal riots
during India's partition and independence in 1947, and the Chief Executive of an organisation
making a decision, which he was apparently not authorised to make, publicly and on the spur of
the moment, and sticking to it later. Outstanding leaders were thus expected to do things which
were unusual, path breaking, and considered worthy, noble, innovative; and having done such
things, were expected to stand by them and carry them through. Inspiring people, and being (a)
a change agent and challenging the status quo, and (b) a visionary, were considered integral to
being an outstanding leader. Perseverance, dedication, charisma, empathy, valuing people as
individuals and as human beings and not only as followers or employees, capacity to spot the right
people, high personal output, and going beyond the normal, were other characteristics of
outstanding leaders. Courage, integrity, and self confidence were considered to be basic
requirements for outstanding leadership.
Actions of leaders which significantly increased the motivation and commitment of the participants
and made them "go above and beyond the call of duty" included (I) giving recognition for a job
well done and for doing something which was not in the normal range of their responsibilities,
(ii) providing a sense of achievement to followers, (iii) encouraging new, unusual initiatives, (iv)
reposing faith and confidence in followers, and giving them freedom, (v) involving followers in
areas of work not directly related to them, and (vi) taking personal care of the well being of
followers.
Leadership Style
There were two broad conclusions. One, outstanding leaders have to be flexible in their
behaviours and have to display a complex mixture of leadership styles depending on the situations
they face. Two, there appeared to be general support and preference for pro-active, morally
principled and ideological, and bold and assertive styles of leadership as compared to reactive,
pragmatic and instrumental, and quiet and nurturing styles respectively. Some participants felt
that while expediency was acceptable, it had to be confined within certain limits saying "though
achieving the end is what a leader is judged on, means are also important". An overwhelming
15
majority however, maintained that ideological and moral commitment were essential for
outstanding leadership. The greatest flexibility appeared to be expected and accepted on the
bold/assertive and quiet/nurturing dimensions.
Obstacles and Constraints faced by outstanding leaders
Two broad obstacles mentioned by respondents related to people (followers) not wanting to take
responsibility, and communication problems and barriers. Leaders dealt with these by setting a
personal example, and by clarifying the message and objective. Most respondents however felt
that obstacles and constraints though ubiquitous, do not really affect an outstanding leader. A
common refrain was that obstacles and constraints can always be overcome if the leader is on
high moral ground. One of the respondents said, "It is the mind set which is more important".
Another way to deal with obstacles and constraints was to "change peoples' perceptions of the
constraints and obstacles, and to modify peoples' limits of compromise."
Role models and status
Leaders are expected to be role models of values such as righteousness, dynamism, innovation.
Leadership is considered as not only desirable but necessary and even admirable. Leaders usually
have high status and are generally looked up to and respected.
However, not all individuals in positions of authority are considered to be leaders in the real or
strict sense. Current political leaders are an interesting example. They are specifically referred
to as "political" leaders because of their present positions or because they have made political
activity or politics as their profession. They also have a somewhat high status and are given
importance because they happen to be part of the political establishment and can be instrumental
in getting things done in a society such as India where there is considerable political meddling in
almost all walks of life. However, they are generally not considered to be good role models and
do not evoke real respect and admiration. Interestingly, out of the 19 people mentioned as
examples of outstanding leadership during the focus groups and interviews, only four were
political leaders. Three of these four belonged to an earlier generation which was involved in
India's freedom struggle in the 1940s, and one was India's Prime Minister from the early 1970s
to mid 1980s. The latter died in 1984 and, therefore, may not really qualify as a contemporary
political leader. Contemporary political leadership, thus, occupies a somewhat enigmatic position
in Indian society--more like a necessary evil.
The remaining individuals mentioned as examples of outstanding leaders included 10 business and
industry leaders, 3 social workers (including two environmentalists), one army general, and one
spiritual-cum-religious leader. The complete list of these nineteen individuals is in Appendix 7.
Most of these 19 are very well known. The list does contain a couple of names which may not
be well known. These were senior managers in the organizations for which some of the
participants worked.
The attributes of a normally effective manager, an above average manager, and an outstanding
leader, as listed by the participants in the two focus groups conducted in India, are given in Table
1.
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16
Table 1 about here

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In addition to what is mentioned in Appendix 3, participants in both the focus groups in India
were asked to choose a country other than India, and compare the characteristics of managers in
that country with those of managers in India. Participants in both the focus group chose the US
for this comparison. The result of this are contained in Table 2.
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Table 2 about here
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Media Analysis
The summarised findings of media analysis are in Table 3.

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Table 3 about here
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The characteristic most frequently mentioned in the context of leadership and leaders is "change",
followed by a somewhat distant second "action". The rankings of these two are identical in both
time periods, indicating consistency across time periods. Characteristics other than change and
action, which appeared consistently among the top ten in both periods were control, direction,
communication, culture, and charisma. Some statements illustrative of these characteristics which
appeared in media reports are given in Appendix 8.
Leaders, according to media analysis, therefore are above all expected to be harbingers of change,
and action oriented. They should be able to exercise control and provide direction. The ability
to communicate effectively is also an important requirement. An interest in and a concern for
cultural values is also useful for effective leadership. While charisma was among the top ten in
both time periods, its relatively low ranking is worth noting. A possible and part explanation may
be that a large majority of media reports pertained to political leadership and the low ranking of
charisma may be a reflection of the low esteem of the current political leadership in society. The
even lower ranking of "vision", which overall ranked 15, is also worth noting. It was ranked 17
and 11 in the two time periods. The explanation for this also could be similar to that for charisma.
Unstructured Interviews
The results of the content analysis of unstructured interviews are in Table 4.

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Table 4 about here
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In this case the top two characteristics of leaders are communication skills and vision, followed
by direction, action, change orientation, and charisma. Some illustrative statements made by the
interviewees about these characteristics are given in Appendix 9.
While the rankings of media analysis and unstructured interviews do exhibit a general and overall
17
similarity, the differences in the ranking of specific characteristics may indicate a subtle yet
important difference. Unstructured interviews were conducted with middle managers of a
business organization and the importance given by them to communications, vision, and direction
possibly reflects a view about business leadership, whereas the media reports may reflect a general
view somewhat more focused on political and social leadership.
Summary of Qualitative Results
Combining the results of all the qualitative data, six characteristics seem to be most strongly
associated with effective leadership in India. Communication and direction are the most important
followed by vision, action-orientation, charisma, and change.
Participant and Unobtrusive Observation
A summary of participant and unobtrusive observations pertaining to the seven core GLOBE
dimensions of societal culture, is given below.
Performance Orientation
Most organizations of medium to large size have formal performance appraisal systems in place.
It is however not uncommon for evaluators to avoid giving poor performance ratings.
Promotions are often based on a combination of performance rating, seniority, and suitability.
Society as a whole does recognize and respect individual achievement. Several schools recognize
scholastic performance through rewards. Universities usually award medals to top performing
graduates. The government also confers awards for achieving excellence in various fields
including sports. Admissions to leading undergraduate colleges are almost always based on the
academic performance at the high school level. Entrepreneurship, traditionally confined to certain
community groups, has in the past few years, started becoming more and more widespread; and
entrepreneurs have attracted increasing social recognition.
Future Orientation
Historically and traditionally, Indian society has emphasized the “hereafter” in preference to the
“here and now”, and therefore has been generally future-oriented. The government also
encourages future orientation by providing tax breaks on savings. There is no state-funded social
security system, but employers are required by law to contribute to what is called a provident fund
to provide post-retirement benefits for employees. Interest paid on housing loans is eligible for
tax benefits. The concept of providing for the “hereafter” at times extends to even providing for
after-death, with some people engaging in actions, ceremonies, and rituals which they hope will
improve their lot in their next lives following the doctrine of karma. These some time take the
form of contributions to charitable and religious activities and institutions.
18
Gender Egalitarianism
India’s society continues to be male-dominated in spite of having had a very strong woman Prime
Minister (who was sometimes described as “the only man in the cabinet”) who had one of the
longest tenures in that position. The number of women in the higher echelons of all professions
is still minuscule. A large majority of women continue to be home-makers and are expected to
be so, in spite of making substantial contributions to the income-generating activities of the family
such as agriculture in rural areas. In urban areas where more women work outside their homes,
caring professions such as nursing and teaching are considered more appropriate for women.
There are no professions which women are legally prevented from entering. India has women
working as commercial pilots, as officers in the army, for example. Even when they work as
professionals outside the home, responsibility for house work and child rearing continues to rest
almost solely with women.
A large majority of national and social heroes are men. The literacy rate for women is lower than
for men. Traditionally it was considered preferable and sometimes even necessary for a woman
to bear male children for two reasons, dowry and continuing the family lineage; and having female
children was often considered undesirable. This situation continues in some sections of society
even today, though dowry is forbidden by law. Polygamy is illegal except for some religious
groups under certain conditions. Women were excluded from entering some temples and from
priesthood till very recently but legal action has abolished these restrictions. There has been a
substantial amount of legislation to reduce gender differentiation, including reservation of 33 per
cent of elected positions in the panchayats (village councils) for women.
Human Orientation
Accidents at work are required to be investigated and reported to designated authorities. There
are specific provisions in law for compensation for injuries at the work place. There is a law
against begging but its implementation is very slack. There are a few institutions, generally
religious, which provide food for the homeless, poor people. Adult and child prisoners are kept
in separate facilities. There are special schools for handicapped people, but not all handicapped
people can take advantage of them. Organizations are encouraged by government to employ
handicapped people. Cases of brutality and torture by police do happen but they also create an
uproar. The preferred mode of settling personal disputes is conciliation or arbitration, rather than
calling of police, which is also partly due to the police not having a reputation for helping.
Whenever an individual suffers a personal or family tragedy, neighbours, friends, and
acquaintances always offer and do help. Being altruistic and charitable are also considered to help
in improving one’s lot after life, and thus overlap with future orientation.
Power Distance
Indian society is quite structured and stratified. Two major contributors to this are the centuries
19
old caste system, and almost 200 years of British rule. The Indian Civil Service which the British
used as a major instrument of governance, and an Indianised version of which continues even
today, was a very hierarchical and formal structure, and has had a widespread impact on Indian
organizations. Work titles are often displayed on doors. Offices, office spaces, and privileges at
work tend to reflect one’s status in the organization. Eating places for workers and managers are
often different. Social rights and privileges vary with one’s status and are fairly clearly
understood. There are “powerful” families in every village, town, and city, and their power is
generally accepted by most other residents. Certain groups or classes of people are considered
to be influential and they evoke respect in the others. Wealthier families tend to have full-time
domestic help, often referred to as servants. Families of political leaders often come to be
considered to have higher status.
Collective Orientation
The family continues to be one of the basic units of Indian society. Children are trained to first
depend on, and subsequently support, the family. The concept of “joint” or “extended” family
where more than two generations live as part of one household, which weakened for some time,
seems to have acquired a new lease of life particularly in urban areas. With an increasing number
of women in cities working outside the home, grandparents are now often considered a welcome
resource for the child care which they provide, since it is not easily available otherwise.
Unmarried adults usually live with parents, and the “joint family” arrangement often continues
even after the children get married. In some major cities, it also happens as an economic necessity
as affordable housing is often hard to find. In such joint households, a “common kitchen” is often
a standard feature where meals for everyone are cooked, and eaten together. When friends and
colleagues at work go out to eat, dishes are invariably shared. It is quite common for older
members of the family to arrange marriages for younger members of their family, even when the
latter are professionally and economically independent. Help of family members and friends is
often sought, and provided, in dealing with personal problems and crises.
Uncertainty Avoidance
Attempts to reduce the unpredictability of future events are quite common. There are specified
age limits for voting, for holding public offices, and there is a minimum age for marriage. Social
customs and norms especially for major life events such as birth, marriage, death, are quite well
established and are widely followed, though these vary depending on religious and social
grouping. There is great stress on good performance at school particularly among children of
middle class parents, at times resulting in too much pressure on the children. Religious beliefs and
practices arising out of them are a major source of attempts to reduce uncertainty of the future.
Some emic manifestations
Given the diversity and complexity of society and culture in India, it is not easy to find
manifestations of “Indian” culture which are (a) common to the entire country without exception,
and (b) unique to the country insofar as these are not found in other countries. A few
characteristics however do stand out though they are also found in several other countries whose
20
societies may be termed as traditional and collectivist. Some of these are described below in brief.
Rituals and ceremonies
Rituals, ceremonies, and other similar practices are quite common in almost all walks of life.
Initiation of major activities such as starting a new business, opening a new plant, date of
marriage, and even swearing-in of cabinets, are often scheduled for what are considered
auspicious dates and times. There is a widespread interest in astrology. Astrologers are often
consulted not only to know what the future holds but also to determine the appropriate date and
time to undertake important activities.
Concept of time
There is a kind of ambivalence about time and punctuality. While a number of official and
business activities do occur in a pre-set, though somewhat flexible, time frame, social activities
and functions are often delayed. This ambivalence was attributed by a western observer to the
fact that the word for yesterday and tomorrow in some of the Indian languages was the same
(kal), and therefore it did not make a difference if a meeting was held yesterday or tomorrow, for
example. It was however explained to this observer that while one day might be critical in a finite
and limited concept of time, it was not so in an unending continuum of time which goes on even
before and after one’s present life. This was a possible reason why the need for two different
words for yesterday and tomorrow was not felt. This is of course similar to the monochronic and
polychronic concepts of time mentioned by Edward Hall (1976).
Family controlled and managed business organizations
Some of the largest business organizations in India are controlled by the families of their founders.
The families control the management of these companies even though they own only a minority
of common stock. Some of the prominent business families are the Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis,
Mahindras, Shrirams. Such companies, or groups of companies, are usually headed by a member
of the family, often a son or grandson of the founder. Key positions in management are often held
by members of the “extended” family which might include relatives by marriage, and by close
friends and confidants. A dilution of management control to professional mangers who are not
connected to the family, happens with generational changes and often becomes substantial by the
third generation after the founder.
Deference to age and status
In keeping with the traditional nature of the society and in spite of being in transition, people of
higher age and status are still often treated with respect and deference. Seniority continues to
have value in almost all types of organizations. It is common for seniors to be addressed formally
by their last name. Honorifics such as Mr, Mrs, Sir, and Madam, and their equivalents in Indian
languages are widely used.
21
Quantitative Analyses
The results comparing India with other cultures are presented first, followed by somewhat detailed
results of confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses of leadership items.
Societal Culture "As Is" and "Should Be"
Table 5 contains India's average scores for societal culture "As Is" and societal culture "Should
Be" on the seven core GLOBE dimensions of societal culture. The table also gives the ranking
of India on each of the dimensions among the 53 countries which participated in the GLOBE
research programme as of the time this chapter was written. Countries scoring the highest and the
lowest on each dimension are also identified along with their average scores, for easy comparison.
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Table 5 about here
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The highest rankings obtained by India are on collectivism, and humane orientation. This is as
would be expected from the description of the evolution of Indian culture in an earlier section of
this chapter. It has been described as follows:
The conflict is between two approaches to the problem of social organization, which are
diametrically opposed to each other: the old Hindu conception of the group being the
basic unit of organization, and the excessive individualism of the west, emphasizing the
individual above the group (Nehru, 1985, p.246).
Going merely by rankings, India is in the top one-third in all dimensions except uncertainty
avoidance and gender egalitarianism. On uncertainty avoidance, it is almost exactly at the half
way mark at rank 26 out of 53, with a score of 4.15 (with the highest and the lowest being 5.37
and 2.85). This is somewhat different from the expectation of a lower value of uncertainty
avoidance, as mentioned in an earlier section. The relatively low score on gender egalitarianism
which indicates a greater emphasis on the male role is as expected. Relatively higher scores on
power distance and future orientation are also in keeping with expectations. The high score on
performance orientation is somewhat surprising since only a moderate performance orientation
was expected. This might be due to the increasing focus on material success and may also be a
reflection of the recent changes in the economic policy and environment which have consciously
encouraged competition.
The most significant finding from a comparison of the "as is" scores of India with the "should be"
scores, is for power distance. A strong preference for the reduction of power distance is indicated.
This is in keeping with the earlier conclusion that political equality experienced since
independence has increased the desire for social equality, and that a struggle for altering broad
power relations in the society at large is currently on. Another dimension for which a preference
for lowering, though marginal, has been expressed is collectivism. The focus on materialism is
possibly also causing an increase in individualism in the society, particularly among the managerial
class which experiences competition every day, particularly at work. There appears to be a clear
preference for a higher level of performance orientation, future orientation, and humane
22
orientation. The preferred increase in uncertainty avoidance is not as high as that in these three
dimensions. The least increase preferred is in gender egalitarianism. This cannot be termed as
unexpected given the traditional and conservative male dominated society that India is9. The fact
that respondents have expressed a preference for equal emphasis for male and female roles, can
itself be an indicator of the depth of the change which the society is going through.
Leadership
India's average scores and rankings on leadership scales used in the GLOBE research are in Table
6, which also shows the countries scoring the highest and the lowest on these scales.
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Table 6 about here
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Among inter-country rankings, the highest rankings for India are for self-absorbed, face-saving,
and autocratic (6,7, and 8). It is however important to note that these are the scales getting the
highest rankings for India in the inter-country comparisons, and that these are not the scales
which got the highest ranking among different scales within India. The five highest ranking scales
within India are visionary, integrity, procedural, performance oriented, and inspirational, in that
order. The within-India rankings for self-absorbed, face-saving, and autocratic are the lowest
among the seventeen scales at 17, 15, and 16 respectively. The high inter-country rankings for
these three scales can be understood in the context of Indians having “developed ‘encompassing
systems’ (Dumont, 1970) through which contradictions between thoughts and actions, instead of
leading to dissonance and confrontation, are balanced, accommodated, integrated, or allowed
to coexist (Marriott, 1976)” (emphasis in original) (Sinha, 1997, p.61). Being self-absorbed also
has roots in the importance assigned to understanding oneself in some of the traditional belief
systems in India. Introspection is often valued as an important activity even to process external
experiences. Roland’s (1988) observation that Indians can keep important secrets in a much
guarded manner and for much longer durations than Americans even in therapeutic situations, may
also be considered as an indicator of being self-absorbed. Face-saving acquires importance due
to the high sensitivity of Indians to context in their thoughts and practices (Ramanujan, 1989).
Triandis and Bhawuk (1997) claim even lying to be acceptable in collectivist cultures when it
serves the purpose of saving face. The preference for autocratic leadership can possibly be traced
to the long history of benevolent, autocratic monarchs.
The rankings following these three, those for charismatic, diplomatic, humane, calm, procedural,
bureaucratic, and collectivistic appear to fit the expectations from the description of Indian
leadership given earlier. It is also worth noting that the average scores for India are in the top half
(going only by the rankings of the 52 participating countries) for nine of the seventeen scales.
These nine scales are autocratic, bureaucratic, charismatic, diplomatic, calm, face saving, humane,
procedural, and self-absorbed. This gives a rough idea of the comparative perception of the
attributes for effective leadership in India. India's ranking is somewhat close to the half way mark
for collectivist, decisive, individualistic, and status conscious.
9
Only 14 per cent of the sample being women could also have influenced this.
23
Factor Analysis of Leadership Items
Though the leadership instrument contained 112 items, only 76 items were used for the factor
analyses reported below. The remaining items were not included for the following two reasons:
a) Previous work with these items in the two pilot studies of GLOBE indicated that these
were universally endorsed as being indicators of effective leadership, and failed to load on
the previously developed GLOBE scales. These items were thus referred to as the
“universals”.
b) Using 76 items with 214 observations provided an adequate item-observations ratio for
performing factor analysis.
Confirmatory Factor Analyses
A confirmatory factor analysis of the 76 items was attempted to determine if the data were best
represented by the 16-factor solution of the GLOBE Pilot Study 2. The 76 items were aggregated
into 36 parcels which is a common practice in structural equation modeling (Bernstein and Teng,
1989; Kishton and Widaman, 1994; Takahashi and Nasser, 1996). The rules employed for
aggregation were: (1) each factor should contain at least 2 parcels and at most three parcels; and,
(2) only items which were highly correlated were combined so that to the extent possible only
items with common variance were aggregated. The results of this and subsequent confirmatory
factor analyses are presented in Table 7.
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Table 7 about here
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From column 1 of Table 7 it is seen that the 16-factor model indicated a poor data-model fit.
None of the indices meet the generally accepted criterion levels for fit (Tabachnik and Fidell,
1996). However, this result was not entirely unexpected. Attempting to capture 16 latent
variables through 36 parcels is expected to be unwieldy due to the high levels of random error in
the items (parcels) (Bagozzi and Heatherton, 1994), further exacerbated by the covariations
among the 16 latent variables themselves.
Subsequently, to overcome the problems associated with the partially disaggregated approach
above, a second order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the sixteen scales identified in the
Pilot Study 2 was attempted with the Indian data, to examine the stability of the 5-factor structure
that emerged in Pilot Study 2. A 16x16 correlation matrix was analyzed using maximum
likelihood estimation. The CFA did not converge due to problems of multicollinearity particularly
with the self-centered and face-saving dimensions. Since these two dimensions were
contaminating the entire data set, they were eliminated and the resulting 14x14 correlation matrix
was analyzed. The results showed a remarkable improvement in fit indices (chi-square=313.965,
p<.00, CFI=0.905, GFI=0.844, AGFI=0.766, RMSEA=0.123--column 2 of Table 7). All factor
loadings, as shown in Table 8, were significant except for the loading of diplomatic dimension on
factor 5. Also the pattern of factor loadings closely matched the factor loadings obtained in Pilot
Study 2, which are shown in Table 9.
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Table 8 about here
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24
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Table 9 about here
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Although the fit indices improved substantially yet they did not reach acceptable levels. However,
this is to be expected. Given that the items theoretically classified under their respective content
domains did not empirically load correspondingly in the Indian sample, the second-order CFA
displayed problems of multicollinearity which worked to reduce the overall data-model fit. While
it would have been ideal to do a second order CFA of the 18-scale Indian model with a second
sample from India, it could not be done since a second sample was not available. However, some
preliminary modifications were attempted which helped in increasing the overall data-model fit.
The modifications effected were the following:
* Face saving dimension was allowed to load on factor 5.

* Humane orientation was allowed to load on factor 2.
* Bureaucratic dimension was allowed to load on factor 5.
* Self-centered dimension was allowed to load on factor 5.
* Procedural dimension was allowed to load on factor 1.
The fit-indices of this CFA are in column 3 of Table 7 and the resultant factor loadings are in
Table 10.
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Table 10 about here
------------------------------------
With these modifications the data-model fit improved further and even the chi-square value was
non-significant indicating a good fit. Some possible explanations for the results are:
* Self-centered dimension has been problematic in all the analyses performed on the Indian
sample indicating a multicollinearity problem. It loaded significantly on both Factors 1 and
5, while theoretically it should have loaded on Factor 4. This could mean that in the Indian
context, self-centeredness is more strongly positively associated with autocratic leader
behaviors and strongly negatively associated with charismatic leader behaviors.
* The face-saving dimension which in Pilot Study 2, had a negative loading on Factor 1,
displayed a high positive loading on Factor 5 in the Indian sample. Again face-saving is
highly related to autocratic leadership styles.
* The higher loading of the bureaucratic dimension on the autocratic factor (Factor 5) than
on the bureaucratic factor (Factor 2) itself, and the high loading of the humane orientation
on the bureaucratic factor are somewhat surprising. While these results are not easily
explainable, it is possible that some of the bureaucratic items covary with autocratic items
and some with humane orientation. This could be an interesting pointer to the way
bureaucracies work in India. Certain features where the top management forces all
important decisions on the lower levels, may be perceived to be autocratic, while at the
same time a degree of fairness on issues such as promotions, salaries, perks, and welfare
25
which the system ensures, may be perceived to be facets of an humane orientation.
* Another surprising finding was that the procedural dimension did not load on the
bureaucratic factor (Factor 2). It instead showed significant loadings on Factors 1 and 3.
This is in all likelihood more due to problems of multi-collinearity in the data than to
substantive reasons.
* All other dimensions loaded on the theoretically specified factors.
Individual CFAs of the 16 scales
Individual CFAs of the 16 scales were done to confirm the unidimensionality of each of them.
CFA of one factor (Humane Orientation) could not be carried out due to under identification (2
item scale). The results are presented in Table 11.
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Table 11 about here
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It is seen from Table 11 that all scales except face saving and charismatic demonstrate adequate
fit indices indicating unidimensionality. The problems with the face saving scale have already been
discussed. In addition, the face-saving items indicate very low inter-item correlations (from 0.08
to 0.17) which explains poor unidimensionality. The same is the case with the charismatic
dimension, the items of which had inter-item correlations ranging from 0.19 to 0.26.
Unidimensionality was replicated for the remaining 13 scales.
Exploratory Factor Analysis
Since the 16-factor Pilot Study 2 model did not seem to fit the Indian data very well, an
exploratory factor analysis of the 76 leadership items was conducted. An initial principal
components analysis yielded 19 factors. Since four of these 19 factors consisted of only one item
each, a 16-factor solution was extracted and rotated using the varimax criterion, to compare it
with the results of Pilot Study 2. The factors that emerged were significantly different from the
results of Pilot Study 2 and were not interpretable under the original 16-factor classification of
Pilot Study 2. The 16-factor solution was therefore abandoned for the Indian sample.
The 19-factor solution resulted in many of the factors of Pilot Study 2 being duplicated, though
the pattern of loadings and the factor structure differed significantly. One factor (worldly, number
18) which had only one item (effective bargainer) was eliminated as it also loaded highly (0.7633)
on factor number 2. It was decided to retain this item under factor 2 since it was interpretable.
Table 12 presents the resulting 18 scales, along with number of items in each scale, Cronbach's
alpha coefficients, and percentage of variance explained by each of the scales.
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Table 12 about here
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Two scales which emerged from the Indian data and which do not correspondingly appear in the
results of Pilot Study 2 are worldly, and elitist. This is probably because respondents in the Indian
26
sample did not see any of the other characteristics in the leadership scales to covary with worldly
and elitist resulting in these emerging as two distinct scales. Calm, which appears as a scale in
Pilot Study 2, does not show up in the Indian data. This is probably because the calm factor
contains items such as self-effacing which may not have been fully and completely understood by
some of the respondents. Self-effacing is not a very commonly used expression in India.
Respondents in the Indian sample do not seem to have been able to clearly distinguish between
the items indicating autocratic and dictatorial natures. Items indicating individualism and self-
centeredness have merged, which is not unexpected. Similarly, items from the original procedural
dimension have merged with the organized and bureaucratic scales respectively, which again is
not surprising.
The first scale in Pilot Study 2 seemed to clearly indicate performance orientation, whereas in the
Indian data the first factor with 11 items loading on it points to items indicating a collective
orientation, integrity, and diplomacy. It is a tentative pointer that there was reasonable consensus
in the Indian sample over the characteristics which contribute to a person being an effective
leader. This is consistent with the overall impression that while western managers emphasise
greater task orientation, Indian managers are more relationship oriented. Findings of the two focus
groups conducted in India, given in Table 2, also confirm this.
In conclusion, the leadership scales which emerged from the Indian data seem to be in general
agreement with the scales which emerged in Pilot Study 2. The relative importance of the factors
as seen from the order of emergence and the pattern of loadings are somewhat different, possibly,
due to differing perceptions of the characteristics of effective leaders.
Second Order Exploratory Factor Analysis of Indian Data
The eighteen scales which emerged from the exploratory factor analysis of Indian data, were
subjected to a principal components factor analysis with a varimax rotation. A total of three
factors accounting for 58.7 percent of the variance emerged. The factor loadings for the rotated
factor solution along with S)))))))))))))))))))))))))))Q
the variance explained by each factor, are presented in Table 13.
Table 13 about here
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The three factors were labeled as "Charismatic and Action-oriented Leadership", "Autocratic
Leadership", and "Bureaucratic Leadership", generally in keeping with the labels used in the
second order exploratory factor analysis in Pilot Study 2. The Indian data did not yield the
remaining two second order factors of Pilot Study 2 viz. Humane Leadership and Individualist
leadership.
Summary of Analyses of Leadership Data
Various analyses of the leadership data indicate that
* The results obtained from the Indian data are generally similar but not identical to those
obtained in Pilot Study 2.
27
* The leadership scales seem to exhibit satisfactory psychometric properties with the Indian
data.
* Relationship orientation seems to be a more important characteristic of effective leaders

in India than performance or task orientation.
* At the aggregate level, the most effective leadership styles in India seem to be Charismatic
and Action-oriented, Autocratic, and Bureaucratic.
The most effective leadership style in India would thus combine integrity, being organized, an
action orientation, being a self starter, charisma, and a collective orientation; with being a problem
solver, a visionary, entrepreneurial, and inspirational, in that order. This would be a tall order for
any one person to fulfill but is not really surprising given that “two sets of values -- vertical
collectivism and individualism -- coexist in Indian organizations” (Sinha, 1997, p. 60). It is
possibly the existence of such seemingly mutually contradictory sets of values that makes such a
comprehensive set of demands for being an effective leader in Indian organizations.
DISCUSSION
The findings of both qualitative and quantitative analyses are in general agreement on the
importance of action-orientation and charisma, and these can therefore be considered to be the
most important characteristics for effective leadership in India. Four characteristics,
communication, direction, vision, and change-orientation, which the qualitative analyses found
to be important, did not attain the same level of importance in the quantitative analyses. Similarly,
being bureaucratic, autocratic, and collectivistic, which emerged important in the quantitative
analysis, were not as prominent in the qualitative analysis. In part this could be a function of the
two methodologies, qualitative and quantitative. It may also be a reflection of the complexity of
India which has been described as "a land famous for extremes" (Walsh, 1996, p.30).
Collectivism and humane orientation continue to be the most important characteristics of Indian
culture. This is in keeping with earlier findings (Triandis et al., 1986). The society appears to be
in a period of major transition towards power equalisation. At the same time there is an increasing
preference for individualism.
Taking an overall view, two distinct though interrelated characteristics of Indian society seem to
stand out. One is that Indian culture is ancient yet continuously living and evolving. The second
is the great complexity and diversity of Indian society and culture. These two characteristics in
combination with other features of Indian society do demand unique attributes, abilities, and
behaviours of leaders in India. This may require a high tolerance for ambiguity, and the ability to
balance a diverse set of factors not at the lowest but at a rather high common denominator. A
phrase often used in India, "unity in diversity", does seem to capture some of this special
requirement but not all of it.
It is therefore important for managers and leaders from other cultures who have to, or plan to,
28
work with organizations in India, to be prepared to deal with a wide range of organizational and
leadership practices. Given the size, diversity, and complexity of the country and society, and
variations within them, it is not possible to provide a list of “do’s and don’ts”. The interaction,
and more often mere co-existence, of collectivist and individualist values; and the adoption, by
many Indian organizations, of the formal systems of management in a vertical collectivist culture
(Sinha, 1997), often creates an unpredictable situation. The experience of a foreign national
visiting India on work is likely to go through three phases of surprise. The surprise, and often
shock, in the first phase being at how things work or, more often, don’t work, and how different
they appear to be from what the visitor is used to in his/her culture. As the visitor becomes
somewhat knowledgeable about the situation, the cause of surprise is likely to be the similarity
of a number of practices to the visitor’s own culture. This is because the range of phenomena in
Indian culture is so broad that almost every visitor finds something or the other which is familiar.
The surprise in the third stage comes when one discovers that while the practices seem similar,
their basic causes or driving forces are quite different. The quest thus continues, leading to a
deeper and richer understanding of and appreciation for the country and its culture. The resultant
prescription for dealing with India, and also for any other foreign culture, is to expect differences,
to accept differences, and also to respect differences.
Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research
Any attempt at capturing the totality of societal and organizational culture, and leadership
practices in a country such as India with a sample of 214 respondents from ten organizations in
two industries, has obvious limitations even if it is complemented by a number of qualitative
research methods. A much larger sample would be required for any attempt at randomization and
representativeness. It would also be very useful to match subsamples based on factors such as
regions, industries, languages, religions, ownership especially private and public sectors, and size.
Other limitations arise out of embeddedness and pervasiveness of culture. A person researching
his/her own culture has potential for experimenter bias which is perhaps best captured by the
saying “fish will be the last to discover water”. The influence that Western perceptions and
characterisations of India have had on the self-perceptions of Indians themselves compounds these
complications (Sen, 1997). Formal management education in India, introduced in the early 1960s,
has certainly had an impact on organizational and management practices in the country, some of
which must obviously have been reflected in the responses of participants in various aspects of
GLOBE research in India.
Complexity of the society also creates limitations of its own. For example, the media analysis in
this study was restricted to the English language press. It would obviously have been revealing
to also analyze press reports of some of the Indian languages. The multiplicity of languages (12
different language families, 15 ‘official’ languages recognized by the constitution of the country,
and 24 different mutually unintelligible scripts) makes it a major endeavour in itself. It is these
features of India which make it an almost ideal setting for a full-blown GLOBE project of its own.
29
Table 1
Findings of Focus Groups conducted in India
Normally Effective Above Average Outstanding Leader

Manager Manager
Getting things done on time Getting things done on time, Inspiring people to unusual
with lesser resources dedication and strong
commitment
Carry out given work Demanding from his people Visionary, Future oriented
Maintenance function Inspires people Imaginative, Creative,
Innovative
Motivates people Hard task master, if situation Always works with and leads
demands the team
Uses power and fear Will carve out little bit extra Also builds the team
work; over & above the
given work
Just about manage to do Creative, above maintenance Looks for new opportunities,
what is set out for him untrodden paths
Goal set by the organization Create atmosphere to make Charismatic
is the ultimate, nothing work itself motivating
beyond that
Routine worker type Uses love and willingness Good Communicator
Generally less often, to Flexibility of behaviours Motivator
lesser extent the
characteristics of above
average manager
Attaches lot of value to Trust of followers

work, also to people
Greater delegation, selective Rises to the occasion
monitoring
Gets involved in things Looks at things in totality,
outside the work Macro view, Overall picture
environment
Thinks beyond his area of Quick grasping power
immediate responsibility
Concerned about Deductive, Decisive
development of his/her
people
30
Table 1 (Continued)
Findings of Focus Groups conducted in India
Normally Effective Above Average Outstanding Leader

Manager Manager
Practices what he/she

preaches
Courage to take larger or
greater risk
Fast response
Vision more expanded, going
beyond the commonly
understood boundary of
organisations, society, etc.
Translating vision into
mission
Getting people to do
something which most others
have not been able to do
Inspire confidence, not only
below but also above the
line/hierarchy
Empathy
Carrying people with him
Human element (Humane)
Pushing boundaries beyond
what is considered possible
Conceptual abilities
All in addition to Above
Average Manager
31
Table 2
Comparison of Indian and American Managers

in Focus Groups conducted in India
Indian Managers American Managers
Somewhat lackadaisical and Task oriented

indifferent
More relationship oriented Impersonal
Somewhat knowledgeable in several Tend to be specialized but only in one

areas/fields area
Long term time horizon Short term time horizon (here and
now, at the most couple of years)
Believe verbal statements Don't believe in verbal statements;
require documentary proof
More trusting Less trusting
Emotion oriented Fact oriented
Efforts oriented Result oriented
Less demanding More demanding
Conservative, cautious Generally less conservative
Low risk taking Higher risk taking
"Hurting others is not good" "Does not matter if others are hurt"
Greater human touch (Humane) Materialistic, cold
Formal Informal
Better equipped in terms of
equipment & facilities
Better time managers
32
Table 3
Results of Media Analysis
Characteristics Total First Period Second Period

of
Leadership/Lead Ra # of Perce Ra # of Perce Ran # of Rank
ers nk Time nt nk time nt k time
s s s
ment ment ment
ione ione ione
d d d
Change 1 103 27.76 1 46 27.06 1 57 28.3
6
Action 2 52 14.29 2 19 11.18 2 34 16.9
2
Control 3 24 6.47 3 16 9.41 5 8 3.98
Direction 4 22 5.93 4 15 8.82 7 7 3.48
Communication 5 19 5.12 9 7 4.12 3 12 5.97
Culture 6 18 4.85 10 6 3.53 3 12 5.97
Charisma 7 17 4.59 6 9 5.29 5 8 3.98
Objective 8 13 3.50 6 9 5.29 11 4 1.99
Energetic 9 11 2.96 8 8 4.71 15 3 1.49
Systematic 9 11 2.96 5 11 6.47 - - -
Image 11 9 2.43 12 3 1.76 8 6 2.99
Strategy 12 6 1.62 - 0 - 8 6 2.99
Caste 12 6 1.62 - 0 - 8 6 2.99
Autocratic 12 6 1.62 12 3 1.76 15 3 1.49
Commitment 15 5 1.35 11 4 2.35 23 1 0.50
Aggression 15 5 1.35 15 2 1.18 15 3 1.49
Role Model 15 5 1.35 17 1 0.59 11 4 1.99
Vision 15 5 1.35 17 1 0.59 11 4 1.99
Knowledge 19 4 1.08 17 1 0.59 15 3 1.49
Survival 19 4 1.08 12 3 1.76 23 1 0.50
Facilitate 19 4 1.08 - 2 - 11 4 1.99
Confident 19 4 1.08 15 1 1.18 20 2 1.00
Shrewd 23 3 0.81 17 - 0.59 20 2 1.00
Manipulative 23 3 0.81 - - - 15 3 1.49
Corruption 23 2 0.54 - - - 20 2 1.00
Ambition 26 1 0.27 - - - 23 1 0.50
33
Table 3 (continued) GLOBE Anthology/INDIA/Chhokar
Results of Media Analysis
Characteristics Total First Period Second Period

of
Leadership/Lead Ra # of Perce Ra # of Perce Ran # of Rank
ers nk Time nt nk time nt k time
s s s
ment ment ment
ione ione ione
d d d
Glamour 27 1 0.27 - - - 23 1 0.50
Optimistic 27 1 0.27 - - - 23 1 0.50
Accusation 27 1 0.27 - - - 23 1 0.50
Competition 27 1 0.27 - - - 23 1 0.50
Accommodate 27 1 0.27 - - - 23 1 0.50
Avoidance 27 1 0.27 17 1 0.59 - - -
Democratic 27 1 0.27 17 1 0.59 - - -
Responsibility 27 1 0.27 17 1 0.59 - - -
Total 371 100.3 170 100.0 201 100.
0 04
34
Table 4
Content Analysis of Unstructured Interviews
Characteristics Rank No. of times Percent

of Leaders mentioned
Communication 1 12 16.00
Skills
Vision 2 9 12.00
Direction 3 6 8.00
Action 3 6 8.00
Change 3 6 8.00
orientation
Charisma 3 6 8.00
Understanding 3 6 8.00
Responsibility 8 4 5.33
Knowledge 9 3 4.00
Aggression 10 3 4.00
Strategy 11 2 2.67
Autocratic 11 2 2.67
Energy 13 1 1.33
Optimistic 13 1 1.33
Cultured 13 1 1.33
Dynamic 13 1 1.33
Systematic 13 1 1.33
Value driven 13 1 1.33
Entrepreneurial 13 1 1.33
Egoistical 13 1 1.33
Delegative 13 1 1.33
Broad-minded 13 1 1.33
Total 75 100
35
Table 5
Societal Culture
India Highest Lowest

(Rank) (Country : (Country :
Rank) Rank)
Societal Culture "As Is"

Performance Orientation 4.25 4.94 3.20
(16) (Switzer’ld:1) (Greece : 53)
Future Orientation 4.19 5.07 2.80
(12) (Singapore: 1) (Russia : 53)
Gender Egalitarianism 3.53 3.12 4.27
(32) (Nigeria : 53) (Sweden : 1)
Humane Orientation 4.57 5.23 3.18
(9) (Zambia : 1) German-GDR:53)
Power Distance 5.47 5.80 3.25
(15) (Morocco : 1) (Iran : 53)
Collectivism (Triandis) 5.92 6.36 1.97
(3) (Philip’nes:1) (Iran : 53)
Uncertainty Avoidance 4.15 5.37 2.85
(26) (Switzer’ld:1) (Russia : 53)
Societal Culture "Should Be"
Performance Orientation 6.05 6.58 1.94
(24) (ElSalvador:1) (Iran : 53)
Future Orientation 5.60 6.20 2.95
(28) (Thailand : 1) (CzechRep.:53)
Gender Egalitarianism 3.81 3.44 4.82
(44) (Malaysia: 53) (Austria : 1)
Humane Orientation 5.28 6.09 2.36
(35) (Nigeria : 1) (Iran : 53)
Power Distance 2.64 4.35 2.04
(31) (CzechRep.: 1) (Colombia :
53)
Collectivism (Triandis) 5.32 6.52 3.90
(44) (ElSalvador:1) (Iran : 53)
Uncertainty Avoidance 4.73 5.61 2.67
(26) (Thailand : 1) (Iran : 53)
36
Table 6
Leadership Scales
Attribute India Highest Lowest
(Rank) (Country : Rank) (Country : Rank)
Autocratic 3.10 3.90 1.89

(8) (Russia : 1) (Canada : 52)
Bureaucratic 4.10 4.89 2.87
(21) (Thailand : 1) (Finland : 52)
Charismatic 5.45 5.99 3.98
(10) (Ecuador : 1) (France : 52)
Collectivistic 5.51 6.09 4.42
(28) (Brazil : 1) (Qatar : 52)
Decisive 5.83 6.37 3.62
(29) (Philippines : 1) (Qatar : 52)
Diplomatic 5.70 6.05 4.49
(10) (Argentina : 1) (Qatar : 52)
Calm 5.33 5.85 4.23
(19) (Iran : 1) (Russia : 52)
Face Saving 3.57 4.53 2.05
(7) (Taiwan : 1) (Finland : 52)
Humane 5.17 5.68 3.29
(10) (Georgia : 1) (France : 52)
Individualistic 3.85 4.73 2.27
(28) (Russia : 1) (Brazil : 52)
Inspirational 5.93 6.63 5.04
(38) (Ecuador : 1) (Qatar : 52)
Integrity 5.99 6.79 4.83
(41) (Ecuador : 1) (Qatar : 52)
Performance 5.96 6.64 4.51
Oriented (38) (Ecuador : 1) (Qatar : 52)
Procedural 5.98 6.42 4.53
(20) (Iran : 1) (France : 52
Self-absorbed 2.63 3.41 1.55
(6) (Egypt : 1) (Finland : 52)
Status conscious 4.18 5.93 2.37
(32) (Kuwait : 1) (Czech Rep.:52)
Visionary 6.02 6.50 (Ecuador : 4.62
(36) 1) (Qatar : 52)
37
Table 7
Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Leadership Scales
Goodness of Fit Indicators
First Order Second Order
CFA CFA
(16 Scales Modified Factor
Structure Acc. Structure
to Pilot
Study 2) 14 Scales 16 Scales
could load
on
different
factors
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
Chi.Square 2454.94 313.965 30.109

df 510 70 58
P 0.00 0.00 0.999
# of items 36 14 16
CFI 0.62 0.905 1.00
GFI 0.62 0.844 0.984
AGFI 0.48 0.766 0.964
PGFI 0.45 0.563 0.42
NFI 0.58 0.882 0.990
NNFI 0.51 0.877 1.020
PNFI 0.44 0.678 0.478
RMSEA 0.13 0.123 0.00
RMSR 0.19 0.0962 0.0154
Sig Load 1 ns 1 ns 3 ns
CFI = Comparative Fit Index

GFI = Goodness of Fit Index
AGFI = Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index
PGFI = Parsimony Goodness of Fit Index
NFI = Normed Fit Index
NNFI = Non-Normed Fit Index
PNFI = Parsimony Normed Fit Index
RMSR = Root Mean Square Residual
RMSEA = Root Mean Square Error of Approximation
38
Table 8
Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Second Order Factor Structure of Leadership Scales
(Five 2nd Order Factors, 14 Scales of Pilot Study 2, India Data)
Second Order Factors
Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor 5
Performance 0.888*
Orientation
Autocratic 0.894*
Calm 0.892*
Inspirational 0.883*
Collective 0.890*
Decisive 0.853*
Diplomatic 0.839* 0.052
Visionary 0.903*
Humane 0.674*
Orientation
Individualism 0.894*
Integrity 0.523* 0.344*
Bureaucratic 0.593*
Procedural 0.833*
Status- 0.535*
conscious
Factor Labels
1 = Charismatic and Action-Oriented Leadership
2 = Bureaucratic Leadership
3 = Humane Leadership
4 = Individualistic Leadership
5 = Autocratic Leadership
* P < 0.05
39
Table 9
Confirmatory Factor Analysis for 2nd Order Factors Structure of

Leadership Scales
Pilot Study 2 Data

Factor Factor Factor Factor Factor
1 2 3 4 5
Performance 0.67*
Orientation
Autocratic 1.00*
Calm 0.83*
Inspirational 0.62* -0.20*
Collective 0.90*
Decisive 0.83*
Diplomatic 0.62* 0.22*
Face Saving -0.34*
Visionary 0.80* 0.23*
Humane 0.80*
Orientation
Individualism 0.57*
Integrity 0.46* 0.51*
Bureaucratic 0.56*
Procedural 0.77*
Self-centered -0.64* 0.11 0.76*
Status-conscious 0.29* 0.40*
Factor Labels
* P < 0.05
40
Table 10
Confirmatory Factor Analysis for 2nd Order Factors Structure of

Leadership Scales
Five 2nd Order Factors, 16 Scales of Pilot Study 2, Indian Data,
Scales allowed to load on other than original factors

Factor Factor Factor Factor Factor
1 2 3 4 5
Performance 0.98* -0.15*

Orientation
Autocratic -0.28* 0.79*
Calm 0.89*
Inspirational 0.89* 0.20* -0.18*
Collective 0.64* 0.34*
Decisive 0.85*
Diplomatic 0.41* 0.49*
Face Saving -0.13 0.78*
Visionary 0.77* 0.19*
Humane 0.90*
Orientation
Individualism 0.89*
Integrity 0.51* 0.38*
Bureaucratic 0.46* -0.27* 0.68*
Procedural 0.58* 0.01 0.28*
Self-centered -0.57* 0.86*
Status-conscious 0.14 0.49*
Factor Labels
* P < 0.05
41
Table 11
Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Individual Leadership Scales as

Reported in Pilot Study 2
(Indian Data)
Perf. Autocrat Calm Charisma Inspirat Collecti Decisive

Orient. ic tic ional ve
Chi.Squ 0.42 4.54 0.082 4.81 0.97 1.72 0.082

are
df 1 6 1 1 8 6 2
P 0.52 0.60 0.77 0.028 1.00 0.94 0.96
#of 3 6 4 3 8 6 4
items
CFI 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.86 1.00 1.00 1.00
GFI 1.00 0.99 1.00 0.99 1.00 1.00 1.00
AGFI 0.99 0.98 1.00 0.92 1.00 0.99 1.00
PGFI 0.17 0.28 0.100 0.16 0.22 0.29 0.20
NFI 1.00 0.97 1.00 0.84 1.00 0.99 1.00
NNFI 1.01 1.03 1.03 0.58 1.07 1.04 1.04
PNFI 0.33 0.39 0.17 0.28 0.29 0.40 0.33
RMSEA 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.13 0.00 0.00 0.00
RMSR 0.0098 0.023 0.0034 0.054 0.0079 0.015 0.0042
Sig All All All All All All All
Load

42
Table 11 (continued)
Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Individual Leadership Scales as
Reported in Pilot Study 2
(Indian Data)
Diploma Face- Vision Integri Bureau Procedu Indivi Self-

tic Saving ary ty cratic ral dualis centre
m d
Chi.Squa 0.48 6.03 18.88 0.014 1.07 0.0038 0.079 0.28

re
df 3 1 20 1 2 1 1 2
P 0.92 0.014 0.53 0.91 0.787 0.95 0.78 0.87
#of 5 3 9 4 5 4 4 4
items
CFI 1.00 0.45 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
GFI 1.00 0.98 0.98 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
AGFI 1.00 0.90 0.96 1.00 0.99 1.00 1.00 1.00
PGFI 0.20 0.16 0.44 0.100 0.20 0.100 0.100 0.20
NFI 1.00 0.50 0.97 1.00 0.99 1.00 1.00 1.00
NNFI 1.06 -0.65 1.00 1.02 1.06 1.02 1.07 1.09
PNFI 0.30 0.17 0.54 0.17 0.30 0.17 0.17 0.33
RMSEA 0.000 0.15 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
RMSR 0.0083 0.064 0.028 0.0013 0.0013 0.0007 0.0053 0.0083
Sig Load All 1 ns All All 1 ns All 3 ns All

43
Table 12
Leadership Scales Based on Indian Data

Principal Components Analysis with Varimax Rotation
Scales # of items % Var. Alpha

Explained
1 Integrity 11 26.4 0.9074

2 Charismatic 7 7.0 0.8822
3 Performance 7 4.8 0.8808
Oriented
4 Collective 6 4.2 0.8334
5 Organized 4 3.7 0.8360
6 Entrepreneurial 3 2.7 0.5969
7 Self-starter 4 2.5 0.7938
8 Autocratic 5 2.5 0.7089
9 Consultative 4 2.3 0.7402
10 Visionary 4 2.2 0.6628
11 Problem Solver 2 2.1 0.6921
12 Evasive 2 2.0 0.5529
13 Individualistic 4 2.0 0.6189
14 Bureaucratic 2 1.8 0.5469
15 Elitist 1 1.7
16 Dictatorial 1 1.6
17 Inspirational 2 1.5 0.4514
18 Worldly 1 1.3
72.3
44
Table 13
Second Order Factor Structure of 18 Leadership Scales

Exploratory Factor Analysis
(Indian Data)

Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3
Integrity 0.8883
Charismatic 0.7523
Action- 0.8343
Orientation
Collective 0.7308
Organized 0.8403
Entrepreneurial 0.6676
Self-starter 0.8076
Autocratic 0.8193
Consultative -0.5918
Visionary 0.6747
Problem Solver 0.7217
Evasive 0.5309
Individualistic 0.5848
Bureaucratic 0.7859
Elitist 0.5162
Dictatorial 0.8696
Inspirational 0.5554
Worldly 0.5427
Eigen Value 7.0252 2.5171 1.0224
% Var Exp. 39.0 14.0 5.7

Factor Labels
Factor 1 : Charismatic and Action-oriented Leadership
Factor 2 : Autocratic Leadership
Factor 3 : Bureaucratic Leadership
45
Appendix 1
Basic Information on India
India is located in the continent of South Asia, between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. It shares
borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, and Pakistan. Its total area is 3.3 million
square kilometers, and it has a coast line of almost 7000 kms. It has a variety of climate zones from tropical
monsoon in the south, to temperate in the north, to cold in the Himalayas. The terrain also varies from upland
plain (the Deccan Plateau) in the south, to flat and rolling plains along the Ganges, to desert in the west, and
mountains in the north. It has the fourth largest coal reserves in the world, and a number of other mineral
deposits.
It is the second most populous country in the world with the latest estimates of population exceeding 950
million. The economy is a mixture of traditional village farming and handicrafts on one end, to modern
agriculture, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services on the other. It has emerged as one
of the world’s leading exporters of computer software in the last decade, for example. Other industries include
textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery
and machine tools. The World Bank estimated the GDP in 1995 to be US $ 329.9 billion. Local estimates
however placed the gross domestic product for 1995-96 at Rupees 9,85,787 crores (equivalent of US $ 281.65
billion, @US$ 1=Rs 35) showing an increase of 14.5 per cent over the similar estimates for the previous year.
Per capita income for 1995-96 was estimated at Rupees 9321, with an increase of 12.54 per cent over the
previous year.
Sources
India: A reference (1996). New Delhi: Government of India, Publications Division.
National Accounts Statistics (1997). New Delhi: Government of India, Central Statistical
Organization, Department of Statistics, Ministry of Planning and Programme Implementation.
Trends in developing economies (1996). Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.
46
Appendix 2
Quotations from prominent business leaders of India
(Source: Jayakar, 1996)
Sanjay Lalbhai, Managing Director, Arvind Mills: "The new leader has a well balanced intellect, mind and
multi-disciplinary (holistic) perspective. He listens more and speaks less, observes more and concludes less,
uses `we' more than Ì', and says `let's go' more often than `go'. He takes more than his share of blame and less
than his share of credit. He's open and yet decisive, focuses on human processes rather than only on end
results, and is more of a coach and less of a boss" (p.80).
Maitreya Doshi, Managing Director, Premier Automobiles: "The self-confidence to share power with others
in the organization is crucial for the leader" (p.82).
Leading by vision
S.D. Kulkarni, Managing Director, Larsen & Tubro: "The CEO has to influence and direct, through a vision,
how the organization wants to position itself, and what it wants to do" (p.83).
Adi Godrej, CEO, Godrej Group: "A leader needs to formulate and understand his company's strategy, take
a major part in building it, ensure that it secures the commitment of everyone in the organization, and then
devote a lot of energy and time in ensuring that it is carried through". (p.83).
Leading by inspiration
N. Sankar, Managing Director, Champlast Sanmar: "The new leader has to be first among equals" (p.84).
Suresh Krishna, CEO, Sundaram Fasteners: "A leader needs not just far-sighted vision, but also commitment
to his beliefs, and, above all, commitment to his people" (p.84).
Leading by influence
Arun Maira, Vice President, Arthur D. Little: "The CEO-as-leader will have to influence the performance of
the network that his company is becoming, without exercising line authority over every part of the network"
(p.80).
Leading by empowerment
Anand Mahindra, Deputy Managing Director, Mahindra and Mahindra: "The leader has to spend a lot of time
on selecting appropriate people, and on designing processes to get the best performance and behaviour" (p.86).
Leading by expertise
Ajay Piramal, CEO, Piramal Group: "The main challenge for the new leader is to convert managers into
entrepreneurs" (p.88).
"Dhirubhai Ambani, Chairman of the Reliance Group is a hero in the eyes of his company's
employees...precisely because of his demonstrated--and disseminated--competence of financing and finishing
mega projects on global scales" (p.88).
47
Appendix 3
Focus Group Exercise

Participant Assignment
This assignment should take about forty five minutes.
To begin with think of a person whom you know, or have observed several times, and whom you judge to be
an outstanding leader. If you do not know such an individual personally select a prominent leader about whom
you have read or one whom you have observed in the media, and whom you judge to be an outstanding leader.
Now visualize an important incident in which the leader has interacted with one or more of her/his subordinates
or followers. Spend about three minutes recalling the incident in detail, and visualizing the behaviour of both
the leader and the subordinates/followers.
1. Please write a short story about the incident using the following questions as guides. Devote one or
two paragraphs to each of the following questions. The total story should take no more than about 15
minutes.
I. What were the background circumstances which led up to the event?
ii. Who were the people involved. What were their formal positions, relationships to each other?
iii. What was said during the incident? Did the leader do anything that was particularly effective?
Ineffective? Please describe.
iv. What feelings were experienced by each party?
v. What was the outcome? Was it a successful incident? Did the leader achieve his or her
objective?
Now think of a person whom you know, or have observed several times, and whom you judge to be a
competent manager but not an outstanding leader. Visualize an important incident in which the manager has
interacted with one or more of her/his subordinates or followers. Spend about three minutes recalling the
incident in detail, and visualising the behaviour of both the manager and the subordinates/followers.
2. Now please write another short story in which you address the same questions mentioned above.
48
Appendix 3 (continued)
3. Now please develop a list of attributes (skills, abilities, personality traits, values, behaviours) that you
believe distinguish outstanding leaders from competent managers in general.
Please send both the short stories and the list of attributes to:
Professor J. S. Chhokar
Indian Institute of Management
Vastrapur
Ahmedabad - 380 015
Thank you.
49
Appendix 4
Guiding Questions for Semi-structured Interviews
* What is your understanding or personal definition of leadership?
* Is there a difference between a competent manager and an outstanding leader? If yes, what is it?
Please elaborate.
* What is your perception of the opposite of outstanding leadership? Can you think of someone who is
or was in positions of leadership but does or did not exercise outstanding leadership? What kind of and
what specific behaviours does or did this person engage in?
* Please describe a critical incident which illustrates outstanding leadership.
* Did the leader face any obstacles in the incident just described by you? If yes, what were these and
how did the leader get over them?
* Can you name two or three people whom you think were or are outstanding leaders, preferably well
known individuals?
* What makes these people outstanding leaders? Are there some characteristics, qualities, behaviours
of these people which (a) are common among them, and (b) differentiate them from other people?
* Can you think of something which a leader did which resulted in your strong acceptance or support of
the leader, or resulted in significantly increased motivation or effort on your part in the interest of the
leader's vision, objective, or mission?
50
Appendix 5
Financial Services Industry
Money-lending was a recognised activity in India even in ancient times. Somewhat formal financial activity also
had an early beginning. Exchange and trading of shares (stock) began in Bombay in 1870 and The Native
Share and Stock Brokers' Association was established in 1875. This association subsequently evolved into the
Bombay Stock Exchange (Parekh, 1975). By the early 1940s stock exchanges had been set up in most large
cities. After independence in 1947, there was greater institutionalisation of the finance function and the
financial services industry came under increasing government control. The Reserve Bank was nationalised in
1949. Several financial institutions were set up by the government, the prominent ones being the Industrial
Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) in 1948, State Financial Corporations in various states during 1952 and
1953, Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) in 1955, and the Industrial Development
Bank of India (IDBI) in 1964. There was also a gradual growth of the capital market in India. The setting up
of the Unit Trust of India (UTI), a mutual fund, in 1964 brought the savings of small investors into the capital
market. Nationalisation of banks and life insurance in 1969 strengthened government control on the industry.
The Indian banking sector in 1995 consisted of 280 scheduled commercial banks (including 27 public sector
banks and 24 foreign banks), two non-scheduled commercial banks spread over 62,000 branches. The deposits
of public sector, private sector, and foreign banks in 1995 were Rs. 3,10,456 crore, Rs. 26,106 crore, and
Rs.28,350 crore (US $88,700 million, US $7,459 million, and US $8,100 million) respectively. The respective
advances were Rs.1,84,361 crore, Rs. 15,159 crore and Rs. 16,761 crore (US $52,675 million, US $4,331
million, and US $4,789 million) (Gelli, 1996).
The financial services sector has undergone major changes with economic restructuring and liberation which
has acquired a lot of momentum since 1991. While the pace of change has certainly accelerated since 1991,
gradual changes had been taking place even before that. The 1980s for example saw the introduction of new
services such as leasing, venture capital, factoring, and specialised merchant banking. Several new institutions
such as the Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Credit Rating and Information Service of India
Limited (CRISIL), and Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL) also came into being. New
financial instruments such as cumulative convertible preference shares (CCPSs), Zero coupon bonds (ZCBs),
commercial paper (CP), and warrants, added variety to the financial services industry.
Subsequent to the advent of liberalisation, the industry has changed and continues to change rapidly.
Currently, there is no control on the pricing of securities; a regulatory agency, the Controller of Capital Issues,
has actually been closed down with some, but only some, of its functions being transferred to SEBI; the rupee
has been made partially convertible; private and foreign mutual funds have been allowed to operate. This
period of rapid change and deregulation has also seen some instances where almost the entire financial system
has been abused by individuals for personal, unlawful gain. These aberrations seem to appear from time to time
but so far have not caused serious, non-repairable damage to the system.
The financial services industry in India is currently, and has been for the last few years, very dynamic and
competitive. The competition is quite fierce with a number of new and aggressive firms being set up and heavy
investments in the Indian market by foreign institutional investors (FIIs). The involvement of foreign financial
services companies has also had a strong impact on the industry, further increasing intensity of the competition.
Appendix 6
Food Processing Industry
51
While Food Processing activity has been in India since times immemorial as an essential part of human
existence, the development of food processing industry has been described as "diminutive". "India is an
agricultural giant, but a foods pygmy" (The Gravy Train, 1997). The combined turnover of the country's ten
largest food companies is US $ 2 billion (Rs.7,200 crore), about one-tenth of what Nestle's European
operations achieve (de Boer and Pandey, 1997). Even then food production and processing account for 26
percent of India's gross domestic product, and for over 60 percent of employment (The Gravy Train, 1997).
The primary reason for the industry not having developed to any where near its potential seems to be the
preponderance of the small scale and unorganised sectors in the industry. Several value added food items, ice
creams for example, were until recently "reserved" for the small scale industries (SSI) sector with the result
that economies of scale and the required levels of investment could not be achieved. According to a recent
estimate "two thirds of the industry is accounted for by small-scale units and unorganised sectors, which
together account for half the total value of foods produced" (The Gravy Train, 1997, p.21). The very close
interlinkages between agriculture and food processing also make the latter quite a sensitive political issue
because any changes in the food processing industry have a significant impact on and consequences for
agriculture. "Low yields, combined with excessive number of intermediaries in the procurement chain, the
waste, and the loss of value, lock India's food chain in a vicious cycle of low investment, low skill, low yield,
low efficiency, and low added value" (de Boer and Pandey, 1997, p.92).
The government seems to have recognised the need and potential to develop this industry in the mid 1980s
when a separate Ministry of Food Processing was set up at the central (federal) government. With progressive
restructuring of the Indian economy which began slowly in the mid 1980s and become the cornerstone of all
economic policy since 1991,
the government's focus has recently turned to encouraging the role of agriculture in India's
development. In consequence it is actively reforming both food legislation and the taxation
structure...There now seems to be increasing recognition that developing the food industry is crucial
to raising agricultural productivity and achieving rural prosperity. As a result, large-scale investment
is being more actively encouraged (de Boer and Pandey, 1997, pp.92-93).
The industry is thus undergoing a major transition with a certain amount of consolidation taking place and
larger companies getting more actively involved, the government trying to play a facilitative and enabling rather
than a controlling role, and a number of multinational companies entering the industry. As a consequence of
increasing population and prosperity, the overall market for value-added foods is expected to treble from
current level of US $21.4 billion (Rs.74,900 crore) to US $62.5 billion (Rs.2,18,750 crore) by the year 2005
(FAIDA, 1997).
52
Appendix 7
Outstanding Leaders
Mentioned during Focus Groups and Semi-structured Interviews
Political: Mahatma Gandhi

Jawaharlal Nehru
Subhaschandra Bose
Indira Gandhi
Social Workers: Ela Bhat

Medha Patkar
Sunderlal Bahuguna
Military: Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw
Spiritual-Religious: Swami Vivekananda
Business: JRD Tata

Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata
Rusi Mody
RK Talwar
DN Ghose
GD Birla
Aditya Birla
Ashwin Nagarwadia
Dhirubhai Ambani
Rahul Bajaj
53
Appendix 8
Illustrative statements from Media Analysis
Change: India is going through a major transition in all spheres: economic, social, political.
By and large the political structure follows the contours of the social power
structure. Sections of society which have been excluded from positions of power
have become politically conscious. Parties like the Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party
and the Bahujan Samaj Party directly reflect their aspirations. But all the other
parties are also fielding increasing numbers from these social groups.
Change is a two-sided coin. It can fire up imaginations and churn up the juices in
an organisation. Equally, it can induce fear and a spell of uncertainty. One change
that produces a feeling akin to dread is a change in a company's ownership or top
management. Both are inevitable in this liberalised world. Mergers and
acquisitions are going to increase in number, as industrial houses restructure their
business portfolios. In the performance-oriented culture that multinationals are
now bringing in, chief executives have to deliver or suffer the ignominy of being
turfed out.
"We need a pragmatic approach and should change with the times in our own self
interest," he said.
Action: As a nation "we have to reinvigorate our efforts to eliminate social and economic
injustice and this involves the task of immense magnitude in which all of us have
to participate actively. Purposive action is the need of the hour." the President
advised.
Action against ministers who are continuing to campaign against party candidates,
despite repeated warnings by the state leadership, also appears imminent. The
suspension of the MLAs is being seen here as the final warning to them.
Charisma: For ultimately those leaders who have shown vote catching magic, the ability to
form governments and forge ruling alliances, are likely to tap their personal power
bases, caste discrimination and personal charisma in order to emerge as India's new
king makers.
Amid the flock of Hindutva hawks, Vajpayee is the moderate voice and the BJP's
star campaigner. His considerable charisma apart, he lends a liberal touch to the
party's image and, therefore, is the BJP's best bet to attract a significant chunk of
the undecided voters.
Appendix 8 (continued)
54
Illustrative statements from Media Analysis
Control: Rao had assumed control at a crucial period, headed a minority government and
successfully piloted the affairs of the country for the full term.
Culture: The BJP is committed to the concept of one nation, one people, one culture, and
asserts that its nationalist vision is defined by the nation's ancient culture heritage.
Direction: Though issues such as corruption, casteism, communalism, stability and price-rise
are likely to figure prominently in the campaigning by both the main parties, the
BJP, a senior party leader said, would concentrate its energies on giving a new
direction to society, its "clean" rule and "splendid" record in implementing its poll
promises in the state.
Communication: When Indira Gandhi found herself up against a powerful syndicate, she
broke loose by communicating directly with the people and went on to
exercise complete control over the party apparatus.
Vajpayee's greatest appeal is his oratorical skills, which he uses to telling

effect. His style is that of an accomplished stage actor--his speeches
punctuated with pregnant pauses, voice high pitched one moment, and
down to a whisper the next, as if he were sharing a secret with the crowd.
55
Appendix 9
Illustrative statements from Unstructured Interviews
Communications ... the ability to communicate ... is also very important in leaders ... of course.
He should be able to communicate effectively. And in communication, I think one of the major
skills in communications is listening ... So if you are not a good listener, you cannot be a good
communicator because one way communication is no communication, you're just talking. So, that
is the third thing that comes out of this ... (not clear) ... decision making, being able to
communicate that, decisions and all ... those things ... those are important
Communication skills ... here I mean not the ... the way he talks ... that kind of ... thing ... his
ability to ... make ... people understand ... what exactly he wants to communicate basically ...
actually ... there should not be any kind of gaps like .... It is not necessary to have language skills
and all...
He should be good at communication, whatever is that vision ... that he is going to see, he should
be able to communicate it ... and he has to be articulate because ... that vision that he is seeing, he
should be able to put it in the way that ... would inspire people to follow and make them also see
the same thing.
Either he makes the vision evolve or he communicates it in such a way that ... (pause) ... they are
sold on it you know, that they can identify themselves ... with the same ... a'h ... vision or the
mission he has.
I would say a very important quality of leadership would be that you should be able to see much
beyond ... (pause) ... because that is how you are going to lead. And the perspective should be
not only that much beyond but a holistic ... larger perspective of every thing.
He has got a clear vision, direction ... he is very knowledgable ... very influential in the industry
and as a person he has got some kind of clear cut vision.
56
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Leadership and Culture in India : The GLOBE Research Project1

SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN INDIA

The Current Situation

GLOBE Dimensions of Societal Culture

While there is a dearth of rigorous research-based writing, there is a plethora of writing on

must demonstrate". These were leading by vision, by inspiration, by influence, by empowerment,

METHODOLOGY OF GLOBE RESEARCH IN INDIA

Focus Groups and Semi-structured Interviews

The following definitions of leadership emerged:

"Steering a group of people to contribute willingly towards a vision".

Obstacles and Constraints faced by outstanding leaders

Role models and status

Table 1 about here

The summarised findings of media analysis are in Table 3.

The results of the content analysis of unstructured interviews are in Table 4.

Summary of Qualitative Results

Participant and Unobtrusive Observation

Some emic manifestations

Rituals and ceremonies

Family controlled and managed business organizations

Deference to age and status

Societal Culture "As Is" and "Should Be"

Factor Analysis of Leadership Items

Confirmatory Factor Analyses

* Face saving dimension was allowed to load on factor 5.

which the system ensures, may be perceived to be facets of an humane orientation.

* All other dimensions loaded on the theoretically specified factors.

Individual CFAs of the 16 scales

Exploratory Factor Analysis

Second Order Exploratory Factor Analysis of Indian Data

Summary of Analyses of Leadership Data

Various analyses of the leadership data indicate that

* Relationship orientation seems to be a more important characteristic of effective leaders

Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research

Normally Effective Above Average Outstanding Leader

Attaches lot of value to Trust of followers

Normally Effective Above Average Outstanding Leader

Practices what he/she

Comparison of Indian and American Managers

Indian Managers American Managers

Somewhat lackadaisical and Task oriented

More relationship oriented Impersonal

Somewhat knowledgeable in several Tend to be specialized but only in one

Results of Media Analysis

Characteristics Total First Period Second Period

Results of Media Analysis

Characteristics Total First Period Second Period

Content Analysis of Unstructured Interviews

Characteristics Rank No. of times Percent

India Highest Lowest

Societal Culture "As Is"

Autocratic 3.10 3.90 1.89

Chi.Square 2454.94 313.965 30.109

CFI = Comparative Fit Index

Confirmatory Factor Analysis for 2nd Order Factors Structure of

Pilot Study 2 Data

Confirmatory Factor Analysis for 2nd Order Factors Structure of

Second Order Factors

Performance 0.98* -0.15*

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Individual Leadership Scales as

Perf. Autocrat Calm Charisma Inspirat Collecti Decisive

Chi.Squ 0.42 4.54 0.082 4.81 0.97 1.72 0.082