Research Newsletter

January 2006

In our endeavour to develop the existing body of knowledge and provide a

forum to share it with other similar minded institutes, we bring you the
second issue of the XLRI Research Newsletter, a quarterly brief on the
research output of faculty and doctoral students of XLRI, Jamshedpur.
Chairperson
(FPM & Research) As was mentioned in our first newsletter, a new executive doctoral
E S Srinivas program has been started to cater to the scholarly needs of working
srinivas@xlri.ac.in business executives who already have a full-time MBA and three years of
work experience, the intake being 30. The commencement of classes would
be on February 27, 2006. This is apart from our regular full-time FPM.
Dr E S Srinivas is the new Chairperson (FPM & Research).
This issue contains abstracts of articles published and papers presented
by XLRI faculty and doctoral students during the last quarter. Abstracts
FPM Officer of 11 pieces of writing of 6 faculty members and 2 doctoral students are
B Jagan Rao included in this issue.
bjaganrao@xlri.ac.in
We will appreciate suggestions from the readers so that we can enhance
the quality of the newsletter to serve its purpose.

Niharika Rai
Editor

Editor
Niharika Rai
p04f66@astra.xlri.ac.in

XLRI Research Newsletter

http://www.xlri.ac.in/research/
Vol.2 No.1 Page 1 January 2006

Founding Time and the Growth of Firms

R Srinivasan G R Chandrashekhari
gchandra@xlri.ac.in

In this research the importance of the founding conditions of a firm has been recognized
and a new construct, Founding Time (F) has been conceptualized, measured and
validated to represent one of the founding conditions of a firm. Founding Time is then
used to understand the phenomena of growth of firms.
The impact of founding time on the growth of a firm has been examined. This examination
reveals that there is a certain zone of founding time, which seems to result in high firm
growth rates. This research also establishes that there is an optimum for the founding time
of a firm. A multi-method approach has been used which includes econometric modeling
and case studies. This approach has allowed us to triangulate the results of founding time
in this research.
Chandrashekhar, G.R., & Srinivasan, R., 2005, "Founding Time and the Growth of Firms", New
England Journal of Entrepreneurship, Special Iissue on Measurements, Fall, 8(2) [in press].

Influence Tactics in India: Effects of Agent's Values and Perceived

Values of Target
Venkat R Krishnan
venkat@xlri.ac.in

This paper reports two studies that assessed whether the six factors of assertiveness,
bargaining, coalition, friendliness, higher authority, and reasoning best represent the
domain of influence tactics in India. Data was collected from 281 graduate business
students on their lateral influence tactics and value systems, and from 280 managers on
their upward influence tactics, their value systems, and perceived value systems of their
superiors (influence targets). Exploratory factor analysis was used to generate several
factor solutions. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a five-factor solution—
bargaining, coalition, reasoning, pressure, and meekness—was the best fit. Results of
Nonparametric Median test and Wilcoxon rank sum test show that lateral and upward
influence tactics are related to both agent’s and target’s value rankings.
Krishnan, V. R. (2005). "Influence Tactics in India: Effects of Agent's Values and Perceived Values of
Target." Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference,
Canberra.
Transformational Leadership and Outcomes: Role of Relationship Duration
Venkat R Krishnan
venkat@xlri.ac.in
The study sought to show that relationship duration enhances the effect of
transformational leadership on follower's terminal value system congruence and
identification (cognitive outcomes), but not on attachment and affective commitment
(affective outcomes). Data was collected from the principal and 144 teachers of a
prominent high school in western India. The principal and the teachers answered the
value survey. The teachers also answered questions on transformational leadership and
outcomes. Findings show that the positive effect of transformational leadership on the out-

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Vol.2 No.1 Page 2 January 2006

comes is enhanced by the duration of relationship between leader and follower in the
case of congruence and identification, but not in the case of attachment and affective
commitment.
Krishnan, V. R. (2005). "Transformational Leadership and Outcomes: Role of Relationship Duration."
Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 26 (6), 442-457.

Impact of Transformational Leadership and Karma-Yoga on

Organizational Citizenship Behavior

B Madhu Venkat R Krishnan

b.madhu@hewitt.com venkat@xlri.ac.in

This study looked at the effect of transformational leadership and leader’s Karma-Yoga on
Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) of followers. Using the experimental design,
transformational leadership and leader’s Karma-Yoga were manipulated and OCB of
followers was measured. The sample consisted of 86 managers of a large manufacturing
organization and 28 fulltime MBA students with prior work experience in eastern India.
Five dimensions of OCB—altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy, and
civic virtue—of participants were peer evaluated through a questionnaire. Results indicate
that transformational leadership enhances altruism and conscientiousness and reduces
civic virtue. Moderate support was found for negative impact on sportsmanship but no
support was found for impact on courtesy. The combined effect of transformational
leadership and Karma-Yoga on altruism, conscientiousness, and courtesy is positive, and
on sportsmanship and civic virtue is negative.
Madhu, B., & Krishnan, V. R. (2005). "Impact of Transformational Leadership and Karma-Yoga on
Organizational Citizenship Behavior". Prestige Journal of Management and Research, 9 (1), 1-20.

Naïve-Bayes Classification Using Fuzzy Approach

S K De
P Radhakrishna
skde@xlri.ac.in

Data Mining is the quest for knowledge in databases to uncover previously unimagined
relationships in the data. This paper generalizes Naive-Bayes classification technique
using fuzzy set theory, when the available numerical probabilistic information is incomplete
or partially correct. We consider a training dataset, where attribute values have certain
similarities in nature. Though nothing can replace precise and complete probabilistic
information, a useful classification system for data mining can be built even with imperfect
data by introducing domain-dependent constraints. This observation is analyzed here
based on fuzzy proximity relations for the domain of each attribute. The study shows that
this approach is highly suitable for real-world applications, especially when databases
contain uncertain information.
Radhakrishna, P. & De, S. K. 2005. Naïve-Bayes Classification Using Fuzzy Approach, IEEE
proceedings of Third International Conference on Intelligent Sensing and Information Processing,
ICISIP-2005, Bangalore, India, pp.61-65.

XLRI Research Newsletter

http://www.xlri.ac.in/research/
Vol.2 No.1 Page 3 January 2006

Network Centrality, Perception of Power, and Transformational

Leadership

Niharika Rai
p04f66@astra.xlri.ac.in

Every social act is an exercise of power, every social relationship is a power equation, and
every social group or system is an organization of power. Accordingly, it is possible to
transpose any system of social relationships in to terms of potential or active power. The
network centrality explains the perception and variance of power. Leadership is a social
capital that collects around certain individuals, whether formally designated as leaders or
not, based on the acuity of their social perceptions and the structure of their social ties.
The paper tries to explore the relation between network centrality, perception of power
and transformational leadership. It proposes a positive relation between network centrality
and perception of power and transformational leadership. It also proposes a positive
relationship between perception of power and transformational leadership.
Rai, Niharika, 2006. "Network Centrality, Perception of Power, and Transformational
Leadership”, Conference Proceedings, Third AIMS International Conference on
Management AIMS International and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad,
January 1-4, 2006.

Power, Public Administration and Poverty: An Enquiry into

Implementation of Rural Employment Program in India

Biswatosh Saha Ram Kumar Kakani

biswatosh#xlri.ac.in kakani@xlri.ac.in

The State vested with the political right to govern over the sovereign must engage in
ensuring prosperity among its citizens. In a harmonious society this is achieved through
provision of space to individuals and groups to co-exist with differences, such differences
in skills and beliefs constituting the basis of private profit ensuring prosperity. This
obligation, however, is difficult to discharge in practice. In nations, such as India, rural
underdevelopment and the accompanying poverty of a large section of the population
continue to be alight on the narrative of development.
As part of the development planning exercise in India, the government has been carrying
out direct poverty alleviation programs for over two decades now. The thrust of such
programs has been generation of employment in rural areas through State financed public
works construction programs that build up the rural physical infrastructure as well. We
argue in this paper that the basic thrust of the program is misplaced. Rural unemployment
and poverty is, at its roots, an outcome of deskilling of large parts of the rural population
(even the rural elites) or devalorization of the skills that they might still possess (leading to
a lack of markets to trade). Central to this process has been the shift of political power (of
rule making) to the urban metropolis. In India it has taken the form of disempowerment of
the local government that has lost rights to police, tax and engage in such other activities
in its own jurisdiction. Strategic action is therefore beyond the ambit of the local
government bodies. That has left even the rural elites to remain 'agent mobilizers' for a
fundamentally centrist political undertaking. Rural skill building and nurturing institutions
have therefore been left to lurch.

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Vol.2 No.1 Page 4 January 2006

We take up in this paper the case of employment generation scheme in India (sponsored
and financed mostly by the Central Government) - looking into rules (or norms) of the
scheme, the process of rule-making and the implementation process at the field level (in
one province of India) - involving local political elites, the local administration and the poor
folks around whom the scheme is designed. The structure of the program, we argue,
reflects the overall structure of State administration in India. Rule making remains the
preserve of the Central bureaucracy, failing to reflect numerous local particularities. Norms
are violated (or deviated) in practice and around such deviations a local macabre economy
grows up. Lacking the glory of skills, the accumulation (and ensuing prosperity) of those
who benefit from such arrangements fail to strike a chord of harmony. Skills and
entrepreneurship take a back-seat. We argue that a reversal of these dynamics can be
attained through re-empowerment of the local polity (which has partly been met by the
recent changes strengthening Panchayats, the village level local government, by
legitimizing it through an electoral process similar to that of the provincial and federal
political bodies) and regenerating a discourse around skill formation and building
institutions of skill generation and transfer. Trading on the strength of such skills would
provide a sustainable escape out of poverty.
Saha, B. & Kakani, R.K., 2005. 'Power, Public Administration and Poverty: An Enquiry into
Implementation of Rural Employment Program in India', paper presented at 2nd Annual Conference of
Network of Asia-Pacific Schools and Institutes of Public Administration and Governance (NAPSIPAG),
held at China National School of Administration, Beijing, China, December 5-7, 2005.

Discovering Fuzzy Association Rules with Interest and Conviction Measures,

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 3684 (2005) Springer-Verlag, Knowledge-Based
Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems

S K De
K Saikrishna P Radhakrishna
skde@xlri.ac.in

Association rule mining forms an important research area in the field of data mining. The
theory of fuzzy sets can be used over relational databases to discover useful, meaningful
patterns. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to mine fuzzy association rules over
relational databases using Interest and Conviction measures. In the present work, we
introduce fuzzy interest and fuzzy conviction measures and eliminate the rules, which have
negative correlation. The experiments are conducted on an insurance database using our
approach. The presented approach is very useful and efficient when there are more
infrequent itemsets in a database.
Saikrishna, K.; Radhakrishna, P. & De, S. K. 2005. Discovering Fuzzy Association Rules with Interest
and Conviction Measures, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 3684 (2005) Springer-Verlag,
Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems, Rajiv Khosla, Robert J. Howlett,
Lakhmi C. Jain Eds., (Ninth International Conference on KES), 4, 101-107, 14 - 16 September, 2005,
Australia.

XLRI Research Newsletter

http://www.xlri.ac.in/research/
Vol.2 No.1 Page 5 January 2006

Transformational Leadership, Aspects of Self-Concept, and

Needs of Followers

Anubhuti Sharma Venkat R Krishnan

anubhuti.sharma@hewitt.com venkat@xlri.ac.in

This research examines how "higher levels of motivation" could be operationalized in

Burns' (1978) definition of transformational leadership. Two lines of argument are
examined empirically. The first, based on Shamir (1991) suggests an explanation based
on a self-concept based motivation theory, and the second is based on traditional need
based theories. Using the survey method, a predominantly male sample drawn from all
levels and comprising 70 pairs of leaders and followers, was studied in a single medium-
sized manufacturing organization. Results indicate that transformational leadership is
positively related to personal identity and unrelated to social identity. Needs were seen to
be unrelated to transformational leadership. Therefore, some empirical support was found
for Shamir (1991) suggesting that the process by which transformational leaders engage
followers to higher levels of motivation and morality, involves engaging the follower's self-
concept.
Sharma, A., & Krishnan, V. R. (2005). "Transformational Leadership, Aspects of Self-Concept, and
Needs of Followers". Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management
Conference, Canberra.

Structuring Coordination and Communication in

Global Software Work

Rajeev Sharma
S Krishna
rsharma@xlri.ac.in

This research investigates formal and informal approaches that are used to manage
geographically dispersed projects through field studies. In the recent past, the Indian
information technology industry has been able to grow at double-digit figures, thanks to
the burgeoning demand for software services and products in the international market.
The new work arrangements however have brought in complexities in managing software
projects.
Separation of resources in time and space leads to problems in coordinating these
activities. Various formal and informal approaches used for coordinating the collocated
projects need to be applied differently in the case of geographically dispersed projects. It
was observed that structures put in place for coordinating geographically dispersed
projects have evolved over a period of time. The newer structures have also increased
trust and productivity of the dispersed team members.
Sharma, R. & Krishna, S. 2005, "Structuring Coordination and Communication in Global Software
Work", First International Conference on Management of Globally Distributed Work, Indian Institute of
Management Bangalore, India, December 28-30, 2005, Proceedings ISBN: 81-7525-684-2, pp.51-67.

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Vol.2 No.1 Page 6 January 2006

Toward a Better Understanding of Transformational Leadership:

Differentiating between Altruism and Self-Sacrifice

Niti Singh Venkat R Krishnan

niti.singh@gmail.com venkat@xlri.ac.in

This paper distinguishes between self-sacrifice and altruism, and reports a cross-sectional
survey of working managers (n = 127). The study tested how the two variables
differentially affect transformational leadership. Results yielded evidence that altruism is a
better predictor of transformational leadership than self-sacrifice is. The hypothesis that
self-sacrifice would enhance the effect of altruism on transformational leadership did not
obtain support. Findings also showed that transformational leadership in turn leads to
followers' enhanced perception of collective identity and performance. Implications of the
results are discussed and future directions for research are proposed.
Singh, N., & Krishnan, V. R. (2005). "Toward a Better Understanding of Transformational Leadership:
Differentiating between Altruism and Self-Sacrifice". Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand
Academy of Management Conference, Canberra.

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