Organizational research, in general, is biased towards business organizations. It is heartening, therefore, to come across research carried out in other types of organizations. For some researchers, the organization is merely a source for collecting data, but some take up research to address the specific issues of different types of organizations. In this issue, there are two studies that have been carried out in nonbusiness organizations, making an attempt to address issues which are specific to these types of organizations. The first paper , “Effect of Justice Perception on Managerial Effectiveness”, examines the effect of justice perception on managerial effectiveness. The concept of justice has been discussed in the area of political philosophy, and one of the most prominent philosophers whose work is widely referred to is John Rawls. The works of John Rawls, amongst other things, attempt to solve the problem of distributive justice, and the philosopher’s conceptualization of ‘Justice as Fairness’ seems to have been borrowed by scholars and researchers in the area of organizational justice. The work of John Rawls, which is based on Kantian and Utilitarian philosophy, describes a method for the moral evaluation of social and political institutions. On similar lines, organizational justice, as a concept, deals with people’s perception of fairness in organizations. Besides dealing with the concept of organizational justice, the paper discusses another term, that is, managerial effectiveness, with the intention of examining the impact of justice perception on managerial effectiveness. The findings from this study are on expected lines, in the sense that positive perception of justice tends to enhance managerial effectiveness.

The second paper, “Intrinsic Motivators in the Indian Manufacturing Sector: An Empirical Study”, discusses the results of an empirical investigation carried out on employees from the manufacturing sector with respect to intrinsic motivators and its impact on performance. There is a plethora of studies that have examined the issue of motivation, but still the fundamental question of ‘what motivates employees’ tends to evade a conclusive and universal answer. Maybe, it is because of this reason that studies on motivation still find many takers, both amongst the researchers and the practitioners. What is interesting about this particular study is, that it focuses on intrinsic motivators, as compared to the overresearched extrinsic motivators. The findings from this study are again on expected lines, in the sense that the study indicates that there is a strong link between intrinsic motivators and the performance of employees. What would be interesting to examine is which one (intrinsic or extrinsic) would have a greater impact on performance and will the relationship be the same across levels and functions within an organization.

The third paper, “Organizational Climate and Service Orientation in Select Schools”, focuses on schools with respect to their organizational climate and service orientation. The selection of schools, as organizations, for conducting the study is well-justified, in the sense that schools not only provide the foundation for future citizens of the country but also act as a catalyst in transforming the lives of many. Given this, the importance of service orientation in such organizations assumes far greater significance than in business organizations. The findings of the study indicate that the service orientation of teachers is largely influenced by the organizational climate of the school, but what is of greater importance and concern is the finding that the service orientation amongst the teachers of government schools is less than that of their counterparts in the private schools. Besides the organizational climate of these two types of educational setups, there could be other factors that could impact and explain the difference in the service orientation of the teachers in government and private schools. In this case, it will make sense to examine the career anchors of teachers to see if teachers (across the types of schools) are generally high on sense of service or not.

The last paper, “Training Need and Gap Analysis with Regard to NGOs in Mangalore”, deals with the issue of training in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The paper emphasizes the fact that though different types of NGOs are found across the length and breadth of the country, the people they employ are generally nonprofessionals and come from varied socioeconomic and educational backgrounds and therefore, there is a need for training them so that the NGOs themselves can operate at optimum levels. To further emphasize on the issue of training, the paper presents facts and information about NGOs operating in Mangalore with respect to the kind of training they provide to their employees. The findings of this study are not very encouraging, in the sense that use of training programs for educating the employees of NGOs is at a very primitive stage.

--Vivekanand
Consulting Editor