Shrihari S. Sohani

Bio: Shrihari S. Sohani is an academic researcher from Indian Institute of Management Indore. The author has contributed to research in topics: Tacit knowledge & Competitive advantage. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 11 publications receiving 41 citations. Previous affiliations of Shrihari S. Sohani include Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.

Emotional labour of rural women in difficult geographies of an emerging economy: narratives of community healthcare workers of India

Abstract: This study attempts to find the existence, execution and outcome of emotional labour in the work of community healthcare workers. Through a ten-month field study comprising in-depth interviews with 26 accredited social health workers (ASHAs), we found that their work requires emotional labour. Our study shows that they use 'attached approach', which is similar to deep acting, and 'detached approach', which is similar to surface acting, to perform emotional labour. We also found that surface acting resulted in minimal negative effect in case of negative situation and in well-being due to attenuation of work benefits in case of positive situation at the workplace. Deep acting in a positive situation led to emotional permeability between work and personal life, whereas in the event of a negative situation, it led to stress. Furthermore, deep acting decreases their effectiveness and efficiency due to associated stress that could have detrimental effects on the beneficiaries of healthcare.

Multilevel analysis of ambidexterity and tagging of specialised projects in project-based information technology firms

Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the expression of ambidexterity at the “between” projects level as well as the “within” project level in project-based information technology firms (PBITF). The research also provides a framework for the classification of specialised projects. This classification is essential to clarify the level of attention the project will receive with respect to the appropriation of resources and the requisite management bandwidth. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on a nine-month long field-based qualitative study and ensures a rigorous triangulation of the findings through an analysis of archival data and actual project artefacts. Findings The authors bring forth three critical implications for practice. First, strategizing ambidexterity at the level of “between” projects and “within” projects is heavily dependent on the interaction among distributed actors and partners. Second, routines and actions to deal with manpower constraints are completely different at these two levels. Lastly, the classification framework of specialised projects proposed here should enable firms to appropriately apportion resources to engagements that are strategic in nature. Originality/value The study extends the concept of ambidexterity to the “within” project level and finds it relevant at the lowest level in the project-based structure. Also, the framework for the classification of specialised projects that is provided will assist decision makers in PBIT firms to decide the organisational response to such projects.

Broker imposed precarity of Indian technical immigrants

Abstract: The primary purpose of this article is to investigate the labour supply chain of Indian technical immigrants in the United States. The two important findings that emerge are as follows: First, the study unearths a latent phenomenon of broker‐induced precarity that results from the labour supply chain and explores how aspirational jobs are becoming precarious ones. Second, the study provides a foundation for devising policies and interventions to make the process of the labour supply chain less detrimental to the Indian technical immigrants. This article draws on a seven‐month‐long field‐based qualitative study and ensures a meticulous triangulation of the findings through an analysis of archival data and actual artefacts related to manpower movement across the labour supply chain.

Experiential learning frameworks for development of dynamic capabilities in project-based technology firms

Abstract: Project-based technology firms operating in a dynamic environment have to preserve their firm-specific advantage and also buffer against labour market shocks. Preservation and propagation of tacit knowledge that assists the firm in creating a non-replicable strategic advantage thus becomes vitally important. Due to the nature of tacit knowledge to not get codified, it is difficult for the firm to sustain advantage based on firm-specific tacit knowledge. Experiential learning-based frameworks can aid in resolving this issue. Such methodologies propagate tacit knowledge, shorten the lead time for execution of projects, reduces the time to market for innovative products and also protect against labour shortages by pursuing strategic staffing. In this paper, utilising a case study of a project, we suggest an experiential learning framework for facilitating the development of dynamic capabilities in project-based technology organisations. This framework will assist the firm in preserving tacit knowledge and develop manpower for future projects.

Engaging Stakeholders of Crowdsourced Work: Case of Cab Aggregators of India

Abstract: With the advent of mobile application-based aggregator models, engaging stakeholders has become more challenging as the lines separating external and internal customer are blurred. This study deciphers the points of engagement and points of disengagement for the major stakeholders viz. drivers and commuters for the cab aggregators in India. Through semi-structured interviews of cab drivers and triangulation through media reports, interviews of customers, bank officers and regional transport officers, the authors elicit what enhances customer and driver engagement and what reduces it. Results show that technology has a dual nature where it enhances as well as diminish the engagement of drivers. The identity of a professional and the flexibility offered by this app-based work fosters engagement for drivers as well as customers. Changes in organizational and government norms are a source of disengagement. The theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

The Rise of Women: The Growing Gender Gap in Education and What It Means for American Schools

Abstract: liberal democracy. So, in this sense at least, the answer to the question that forms the title of della Porta’s book, ‘‘can democracy be saved?’’, is yes. A different question, however, concerns what the future holds: will democracy be saved? No one can claim the answer to that question. However, della Porta’s exploration identifies three important barriers to such a wider transformation that merit further examination. The first is state resistance. In an important chapter on conflicts between these new social movements and governments, della Porta explores the emerging new strategies of police and state repression and control. They are, in some ways, as inventive as the democratic innovations she celebrates elsewhere in the book, though with different implications for democracy. More broadly, we can expect those who now enjoy the privileges of executive or representative power to resist the press for different kinds of democracy. Second, far from embracing state-originated democratic innovations, social movement organizations are often indifferent or skeptical (p. 173). Even though this skepticism is sometimes justified, it is difficult to see how democratic reform will achieve depth or scale absent working alliances between social movement organizations and political officials both committed to that goal. Finally, there is in most societies at present a dearth of political leaders who understand and are open to the project of deepening deliberation and participation in their governance institutions. Sometimes, as with the Workers’ Party in Brazil at the end of the twentieth century, there is a systematic confluence of interest among officials in the political success and expansion of participatory democracy. Much more often, however, officials’ commitments regarding democratic reform are idiosyncratic and episodic. How, then, can public officials be made to take a deeper interest in deepening their democratic institutions? Della Porta argues that social movements are the key, and she is likely correct. The Rise of Women: The Growing Gender Gap in Education and What It Means for American Schools, by Thomas A. DiPrete and Claudia Buchmann. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 2013. 277pp. $37.50 paper. ISBN: 9780871540515.

Managing the Margins: Gender, Citizenship, and the International Regulation of Precarious Employment

Abstract: Gender inequality remains both a pressing social issue and a fruitful area of social science research. This edited volume seeks to examine gender inequality and the production of well-being in Europe from an interdisciplinary perspective that is perhaps more feminist economics than sociology. The chapters draw on historical and contemporary European examples and offer a somewhat different take (both theoretically and methodologically) on what is usually found in American sociology journals. This book takes a broader view on gender inequalities and the production of wellbeing, with the ‘‘capability approach’’ serving as the theoretical connection between the chapters. The chapters reemphasize that social reproduction is more complex than the production of goods. The various authors also call for and (in the empirical chapters) take into account the socio-political and economic context. An entire chapter is dedicated to the introduction of the capability approach (Chapter Two). But the description of the theory remains lacking amidst numerous references that point the reader towards clarification elsewhere. The authors posit that well-being is an important outcome, and that the production of well-being itself needs to be included in the study of gender inequality (Chapter One), while also demanding that women are not just another vulnerable group (Chapter Four). Chapter Three further challenges conventional notions about the evolution of the ‘‘modern family’’ in the wake of the industrialization process, and argues that the fragility of families is not a novel concept. These theoretical chapters call for a more multidimensional assessment of gender inequality, and remind readers of the importance of the concept and production of well-being. The topics covered in the two empirical parts of the book are very diverse in terms of subject, methodology, and historical time period. The first empirical section ‘‘Gender Care and Work’’ is held together by the challenge to the idea of women as passive victims and in need of assistance. Chapter Five demonstrates widows’ relative economic independence in urban Sweden and Finland from 1890 to 1910, and Chapter Six shows the centrality of female relatives in caring for extended family members in times of crisis. Chapter Seven reaffirms the idea that intergenerational support is not one-sided, and those often thought of as needing care due to older age are also givers of care and other forms of support. The findings from the chapters emphasize the importance of non-monetary transfers outside the market system. The theme of caregiving is readdressed in later chapters which illustrate how home caregiving in Belgium is situated between the public/market divide (Chapter Nine) and the problems of combining market work with caregiving, especially for those in the ‘‘sandwich generation’’ (Chapter Ten). In a seeming departure from studies in the capability approach tradition, Chapter Eight is a more typical time-use study that examines the gender asymmetry in unpaid labor in Italy. The results are not novel as women are found to do more unpaid work, especially in couples with children. The second empirical part of the book focuses on the intra-household allocation of resources. Three of the five chapters in this section center primarily on the nineteenth century, examining consumption patterns in Spain (Chapter 11), gender differences in children’s schooling in Switzerland (Chapter 12), and the differences in the treatment of and opportunities for celibate men and women in the Pyrenees (Chapter 13). These chapters illustrate gender differences, but not in

Factors affecting job performance: an integrative review of literature

Abstract: Job performance is an important variable, which primarily affects outcomes at three levels: the micro level (i.e. the individual), the meso level (i.e. the group) and the macro level (i.e. the organisation). This paper aims to identify, analyse and synthesise factors that affect job performance.,Through an extensive integrative review of literature, this study identifies and classifies the factors that affect job performance. A synthesised model based on the schema of demands, resources and stressors is also developed.,The demands identified are grouped into physical, cognitive and affective. Stressors adversely affecting job performance are classified at an individual level, job level and family level. Finally, resources are classified at an individual level, job level, organisational level and social level.,This review enhances the job demands-resources (JD-R) model to job demands-resources-stressors (JD-R-S) model by identifying a separate category of variables that are neither job demands nor resources, but still impede job performance.,The subgroups identified under demands, resources and stressors provide insights into job performance enhancement strategies, by changing, managing or optimising them.,This study helps in better understanding the factors that go on to impact job performance differentially, depending on the group to which they belong. It gives a holistic picture of factors affecting job performance, thereby integrating classifying and synthesising the vast literature on the topic.