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CHAKRABORTY, S.K. Managerial Transformation by Values: A Corporate Pilgrimage. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1993. Pp. 215. $33.50
Corporate culture has been of considerable interest to academics and practitioners for over a decade, yet the study of cultural change--especially when such change is the result of a deliberate intervention of management--has been understudied. Much of the earlier work in this area, particularly that targeted at practicing managers, seemed to imply that corporate culture held the potential for being the ultimate control mechanism, and that managers could relatively easily prod and tweak a firm's culture in order to produce a superior (i.e., more profitable) company. Later work has suggested that changing a firm's culture might be difficult, and that producing a specifically desired culture might be impossible. For those who are interested in what might be involved in attempting significant cultural change, Chakraborty's Managerial Transformation by Values will be required reading.
The book relates the programmatic changes implemented by the Godrej and Boyce Ltd. (GBL) industrial group, a closely held firm established in 1897. Gross sales in 1990-91 were about U.S. $200 million; and GBL is one of India's top 100 firms (in sales, profits, and assets). The owners and top managers were aware that the changing competitive environment during the 1970s and 1980s (during which time the firm moved from a semi-monopolistic environment to one of intense competition) had led to significant changes within the firm. Adoption of the divisional structure and the increased employment of highly trained specialists were felt to have led to numerous unexpected negative outcomes, such as feelings of loss of power and esteem in individuals assigned to low-growth areas of the firm. Most importantly, "this shifting orientation towards self-centered careerism" had begun to threaten the traditional trust between top management and GBL employees, and "the impulse of vibrant idealism directed towards a cause higher and bigger than oneself was growing feeble."
By chance, a senior GBL manager attended a conference in 1989 at which Dr. Chakraborty was conducting a...