This issue contains four papers that highlight workplace issues such as work-life
balance, creating a learning organization and the relevance of behavioral event
interview in the selection process. The papers contribute significantly to the existing literature, laying emphasis on workplace attitude and behavior in the Indian scenario.
The first paper, “The Influence of Leadership in Building a Learning Organization”, by Jacqueline Kareem, investigates the role of different leadership styles in creating a learning organization. The paper emphasizes the importance of learning organization in educational institutions and the role of leadership in fostering the learning organization. The paper first reviews past works on the leadership styles most frequently engaged in schools, and second, it identifies the dimensions of leadership style that influence the learning organization. The paper investigates the impact of transactional and transformational leadership styles on educational institutes. The findings of the study indicate that the most frequently engaged leadership style is transactional-task style and the least is transactional-reward style. The findings of the study suggest that all types of leadership styles have an impact on building a learning organization.
The second paper, “A Study on Work-Life Balance in the Indian Service Sector from a Gender Perspective”, by Jyoti Kakkar and Anuradha Bhandari, investigates the issue of work-life balance based on gender differences in the context of the Indian service (hospitality and healthcare) industry. The study focuses on the perceptual difference between males and females with regard to work-life balance. The study further investigates the factors that impact work-life balance in the service industry. The findings suggest that factors such as shift work, ability to devote time for oneself, extra work hours suggest differences in the perception of males and females. The perception towards inability to balance work-life shows a higher percentage among women. The paper concludes by highlighting the implications in terms of policies in the organization.
The third paper, “The Relevance of Behavioral Event Interview (BEI) in Selection Processes: A Corporate Sector Study”, by Shaji Kurian, Neuza Ribeiro and Daniel Roque Gomes, highlights the relevance of BEI in selection processes by evaluating if BEI is a valid tool to access candidates’ abilities in selection processes. Selection process being crucial by nature, this paper examines the effectiveness of the behavioral interview process. Using an experimental design, the study was conducted on postgraduate job-seekers. The study established that BEI is an effective tool of interview in differentiating employees with respect to their future performance potential. This paper contributes to the importance of BEI as an effective selection method.
The last paper, “Work-Family Balance as per Life Stage and Total Experience: An Empirical Study Among Officers of Defense (Central Public Sector Enterprises) in Bangalore”, by Nita Choudhary and Niranjan Kumar Singh, highlights the work-life balance issues in the defense sector in India and relates it to life stages and experience. Age and total experience are important factors that impact Work-Family Balance (WFB) significantly. In defense, Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), the career advancement and promotion are time-based irrespective of outstanding performance put in by the employees. The paper investigates how work-life balance varied as per experience in this organizational setting. The study covers various aspects of WFB—work, sleep, family time, management of work and family and commuting. To measure WFB among officers of Bangalore, the researchers developed a 26-item scale to measure the various aspects of WFB. The findings of the study indicate that age and experience have a significant relationship to WFB.
Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): The Changing Face of Banking in India
Bank Management
Information and communication technology has changed the way in which banks provide services to its customers. These days the customers are able to perform their routine banking transactions without even entering the bank premises. ATM is one such development in recent years, which provides remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the development of this self-service banking in India based on the secondary data.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a very important role in the progress and advancement in almost all walks of life. The deregulated environment has provided an opportunity to restructure the means and methods of delivery of services in many areas, including the banking sector. The ICT has been a focused issue in the past two decades in Indian banking. In fact, ICTs are enabling the banks to change the way in which they are functioning. Improved customer service has become very important for the very survival and growth of banking sector in the reforms era. The technological advancements, deregulations, and intense competition due to the entry of private sector and foreign banks have altered the face of banking from one of mere intermediation to one of provider of quick, efficient and customer-friendly services. With the introduction and adoption of ICT in the banking sector, the customers are fast moving away from the traditional branch banking system to the convenient and comfort of virtual banking. The most important virtual banking services are phone banking, mobile banking, Internet banking and ATM banking. These electronic channels have enhanced the delivery of banking services accurately and efficiently to the customers. The ATMs are an important part of a bank’s alternative channel to reach the customers, to showcase products and services and to create brand awareness. This is reflected in the increase in the number of ATMs all over the world. ATM is one of the most widely used remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the growth of ATMs of different bank groups in India.
International Scenario
If ATMs are largely available over geographically dispersed areas, the benefit from using an ATM will increase as customers will be able to access their bank accounts from any geographic location. This would imply that the value of an ATM network increases with the number of available ATM locations, and the value of a bank network to a customer will be determined in part by the final network size of the banking system. The statistical information on the growth of branches and ATM network in select countries.
Indian Scenario
The financial services industry in India has witnessed a phenomenal growth, diversification and specialization since the initiation of financial sector reforms in 1991. Greater customer orientation is the only way to retain customer loyalty and withstand competition in the liberalized world. In a market-driven strategy of development, customer preference is of paramount importance in any economy. Gone are the days when customers used to come to the doorsteps of banks. Now the banks are required to chase the customers; only those banks which are customercentric and extremely focused on the needs of their clients can succeed in their business today.
