Indian railways Indian railways scope and opportunities for scope and opportunities for

researchresearchB.V.L.NarayanaB.V.L.Narayana

Railway staff collegeRailway staff college

IntroductionIntroduction

Restricted to research in Restricted to research in managementmanagement

Management Management Young growing fieldYoung growing field Research Research

FragmentedFragmented DispersedDispersed DisaggregatedDisaggregated PluralisticPluralistic Positivist dominatedPositivist dominated

Management researchManagement research

Management researchManagement research Started with studies in public Started with studies in public

domaindomain More focus on private domainMore focus on private domain Western oriented—US dominantWestern oriented—US dominant New focus on orient/ eastNew focus on orient/ east

Is a function of Is a function of Volume of business activitiesVolume of business activities Variation in business activitiesVariation in business activities

Indian railwaysIndian railways

Large organizationLarge organization Geographical spreadGeographical spread Multiple sub contexts within common Multiple sub contexts within common

contextcontext Large number of systemsLarge number of systems

High volume of variation in activitiesHigh volume of variation in activities In public domain, service orientationIn public domain, service orientation mix of oriental and western culturemix of oriental and western culture Great history of achievementsGreat history of achievements Old organizationOld organization Human resource dominant yet Human resource dominant yet

technology dependenttechnology dependent

GIGANTIC DIMENSIONS OF IRGIGANTIC DIMENSIONS OF IR63,500 ROUTE KILOMETERS63,500 ROUTE KILOMETERS48,000 COACHING VEHICLES48,000 COACHING VEHICLES

7,900 LOCOMOTIVES7,900 LOCOMOTIVES2.22 LAKH WAGONS2.22 LAKH WAGONS

7133 BLOCK STATIONS 7133 BLOCK STATIONS 14.20 LAKH WORK FORCE14.20 LAKH WORK FORCE

RS. 618 MILLION EXPENDITURE ON RS. 618 MILLION EXPENDITURE ON STAFF PER DAYSTAFF PER DAY

RS. 1171 MILLION REVENUE RS. 1171 MILLION REVENUE EXPENDITURE DAILYEXPENDITURE DAILY

Scope for researchScope for research

Management research Management research Needs accumulation, integration of theoryNeeds accumulation, integration of theory Cross discipline researchCross discipline research

Three streams likely Three streams likely (Volberda and Elfring 2003)(Volberda and Elfring 2003) Organization levelOrganization level

Boundary conditionsBoundary conditions ConfigurationsConfigurations Routines Routines cultureculture

Individual levelIndividual level CapabilitiesCapabilities Motivation Motivation

Community levelCommunity level Communities of practiceCommunities of practice

Boundary conditionsBoundary conditions

Organizational formsOrganizational forms Wide variation in organizational Wide variation in organizational

forms seenforms seen Consistency of main organizational Consistency of main organizational

structurestructure Matrix organization– mixed M formMatrix organization– mixed M form Other formsOther forms

Evolution of formsEvolution of forms Organizational cultureOrganizational culture Flexibility Flexibility

Capabilities Capabilities

Resource allocationResource allocation RAP modelRAP model

strategy as iterative resource allocationstrategy as iterative resource allocation

Strategic resource/ factorsStrategic resource/ factors Technology evolutionTechnology evolution

Technology adaptationTechnology adaptation

Models of capability developmentModels of capability development Dynamic capabilitiesDynamic capabilities LearningLearning Strategy as learningStrategy as learning

Configurations Configurations

Organizational performanceOrganizational performance Strategy implementation Strategy implementation

Frame worksFrame works Process modelsProcess models Implementation capabilities as SCAImplementation capabilities as SCA

As systemsAs systems Autopoietic systemsAutopoietic systems Self generationSelf generation adaptabilityadaptability

Configurations Configurations

Learning systemsLearning systems Absorptive capacityAbsorptive capacity Knowledge management Knowledge management

FrameworksFrameworks Link with performanceLink with performance Cognitive architecturesCognitive architectures

Stake holder theoryStake holder theory Stewardship Stewardship OCB or Public service motivationOCB or Public service motivation

Strategy as timeStrategy as time

Time Time an important variable in researchan important variable in research Part of processual studiesPart of processual studies

RailwaysRailways Consistent performance over 150 yearsConsistent performance over 150 years

Research on Research on SCASCA ImplementationImplementation Evolution of formsEvolution of forms Learning Learning

Individual levelIndividual level

Work place conditionsWork place conditions Interaction between work place Interaction between work place

and family conditionsand family conditions Motivation Motivation

Linkage to performanceLinkage to performance Transfer of trainingTransfer of training Individual level learningIndividual level learning

Scope for research Scope for research

Scope in railwaysScope in railways LARGELARGE Huge variation in topicsHuge variation in topics Large repository of dataLarge repository of data

Conducive to quantitative and Conducive to quantitative and qualitative methodsqualitative methods

Ideal for processual studiesIdeal for processual studies Organizational need for researchOrganizational need for research

Easy accessEasy access Collaborative effort possibleCollaborative effort possible

Community levelCommunity level

Do railway men form a Do railway men form a community?community? If yes –howIf yes –how How does it impact How does it impact

Transfer of skills , capabilities, Transfer of skills , capabilities, learninglearning

Creation of social capitalCreation of social capital Formation of networks and their Formation of networks and their

workingworking

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