In the recent past, global corporations have resolved many complex issues confronting them by adopting strategies which yielded results to the satisfaction of the main stakeholders. Naturally, the phenomenon of deriving strength from the ethical standards set by the society and culture gains strength and in the process, many questions about morality arise. The impact of this scenario resulted in a multitude of practices and processes in the context of operational strategies. Alleviating the grievances of the new generation workforce is of paramount importance to the contemporary managerial class. The sustainability of business is the outcome of the efforts made in the direction of achieving optimum results on various fronts of business management. The current issue makes an attempt to bring forth some of the studies on the subject of achieving synergy between management practices, business ethics and employee satisfaction in global corporations.

The role of individual ethics in corporate world in terms of achieving business objectives set forth by teams of strategists, whose outlook and understanding of business ethics is quite hidden, is a debatable issue. Hence, the question of achieving rationality, which is popularly identified with morality by many of the thinkers, remains unanswered. The N J Yasaswy Memorial Lecture—“Defining Ethics in a Changing Society”— delivered by V Raghunathan at Hyderabad, attempts to address the basic issues connected with the transformation of business ideology. The lecture focused on the complex differentiation between ethics and morality, while extending their usage in the context of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by most of the big firms. This conceptual framework would certainly be of help to resolve the managerial challenges faced by corporations on various fronts.

Any attempt to characterize the spirit of globalization with a particular tagline loses its credibility. With the advent of modern technology, many studies are being pursued to identify firms in the domains of microbial biotechnology and biochemistry in the context of globalization. The application of human intellect and knowledge which is crucial to these firms has certainly posed a big challenge to the workplace managers in terms of managing their quality. The next paper, “A Conceptual Framework for Key Success Factors in Microbial Biotechnology Firms in Iran”, by Alireza Azimi, provides a conceptual framework for understanding the human factor specific to the microbial-biotechnology industry in Iran.

With the advent of knowledge-based enterprises across the globe and the sweeping reforms taking place in the management of these firms, many have stressed the need for examining the psychological state of employees. This becomes paramount in the case of motivated employees who encounter the problem of mental overload and the uneven distribution of it on work days. This has resulted in the problem of cognitive fatigue among the new age workforce, which is analyzed in the paper, “Mental Workload and Cognitive Fatigue: A Study”, by Malini Subramanyam, Prajwal Muralidhara and Pooja M.
Any attempt to attract global investments in the competitive scenario demands more groundwork by the nations and ‘e-Readiness’ which is measured on a quantifiable scale. As such, the predominant factors and the corresponding indicators of this phenomenon are empirically examined in the paper, “A Generalized State-of-the-Art e-Readiness Framework”, by Lopamudra Pradhan. The paper provides a new framework for understanding the flow of investments to world nations.

Be it Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) or Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS), there is a growing relevance to the technology factor in streamlining the HR operations of the firms in the contemporary globalized world, and very few studies have been done on the perceived emotional response of the workforce in the context. The research note, “Role of Affect in the Acceptance of Human Resource Information Systems”, by David Jawahar and K Nitin Harindran, gives a serious thought to the element of ‘affect’ and its influence on the swiftness of HRIS penetration. With a comprehensive review of literature that sheds light on the psychological dimensions of employees in the technology context, the research note brings to light the intricacies of implementing a successful HRIS.

Lastly, the issue presents a review by Sebastian sdb A J, of the book, A Saint in the Board Room, authored by R Durgadoss and B Yerram Raju. The reviewer highlights the essentials of board room management in contemporary times. The basic tenets of winning strategies are vividly discussed in the review.

--Radha Mohan Chebolu
Consulting Editor