به سوی مشاوره ی زنان سازمانی در هند: گزاره ها، ملاحظات و مراحل اول

The globalized Indian economy creates employment opportunity for educated Indian women and increases gender diversity in Indian Enterprises (IEs). Increased gender diversity presents myriad challenges for integrating women into the managerial ranks of IEs. We highlight these challenges, offer propositions on the Indian culture, the status of women within IEs, and formal mentoring as a human resource development initiative. Further, we use social identity theory as a lens for understanding these challenges, and integrate knowledge from the Western literature on mentoring women. We conclude by suggesting first steps for developing formal mentoring programs aimed at the Indian organizational woman.

Globalization and its resultant economic reform in the early 1990s have spawned macro and micro level changes in the Indian economy. A hallmark characteristic of these changes is that the Indian business environment is more competitive and more diverse. This competitive environment has created a need for a highly qualified workforce that includes the participation of educated urban women in greater numbers (Budhwar & Boyne, 2004). This paper addresses the issue of educated urban women's participation in the Indian workforce by focusing on their human resource development (HRD) needs. HRD consists of organizationally sponsored educational and developmental activities aimed at improving employee performance and personal growth. Our specific focus is on formal mentoring, an HRD initiative proven to be helpful in facilitating the personal and professional socialization of women and minorities in the Western organizations; particularly in the United States. Indian women by virtue of their demographic characteristic represent diversity and minority status in Indian enterprises (IEs). This gender diversification of IEs presents an HRD opportunity for IEs to achieve vertical integration of their human resources. By vertical integration of human resources, we mean incorporating and combining the talents of both men and women for the sole purpose of producing outputs in the most effective and efficient manner. A hallmark characteristic of vertical integration in this instance is that women may come to hold positions in every structural level of IEs. Vertical integration can only occur if these new women entrants are socialized to IEs. Socialization is the process where an employee learns to appreciate the values; social knowledge, expected behaviors and abilities for participating as an organizational member and functioning in organizational roles (Louis, 1980). The diversification and subsequent vertical integration of women into the professional workforce associated with IEs can be viewed as a positive development because IEs are transforming from an essentially male-dominated manifestation to a post globalization state where educated urban women are now a source of diversity. We define the professional workforce in IEs as comprised of individuals with a minimum of a baccalaureate degree and additional professional degrees such as Master of Business Administration (MBA). For purposes of this paper, we delimit our discussion of diversity to the observable characteristic of gender within IEs. Further, we contextualize our discussion of gender by focusing on formal mentoring as an HRD process for socializing and vertically integrating Indian women into IEs. We use research and scholarly literature on mentoring as a repository of knowledge and guidance for how formal mentoring could be used to achieve vertical integration. We acknowledge that organizational mentoring in all its manifestations is largely a phenomenon practiced and studied in the West and/or western-styled organizations located in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. However, this acknowledgement underscores the reality that not enough is known about mentoring in IEs and virtually little to nothing is known about mentoring the Indian organizational woman. Given this reality, and acting in the spirit of boundaryless organizational learning, we make the following propositions: (1) Indian culture as reflected within organizations and their sub-cultures invariably impacts women and cross-gender relationships in IEs; (2) the Indian woman's role has progressed from that of a daughter, mother, and wife to now include that of a professional; however, the patriarchic culture in IEs may hinder a woman's progression through the leadership/managerial ranks; (3) Formal mentoring programs can help the Indian organizational woman to become a mentor and a protégé and progress through the leadership/managerial ranks in IEs; and (4) Social Identity theory and the constructs of diversity and inclusion can aid the vertical integration of women into IEs. These propositions are anchored in the domain of organizational development (OD). Bennis (1969) describes OD as a response to change using a complex strategy for changing organizational values, beliefs, attitudes and structures so that they can adapt to change. We begin our discussion at a macro level by focusing on the Indian culture. We then refine our focus to a discussion of the culture within IEs. This discussion concludes with a statement characterizing the status of the Indian organizational woman. Next, we address organizational mentoring using gender as a lens to conduct a focused review of the mentoring literature. We then use social identity theory; the constructs of diversity and inclusion as an explanatory base for understanding gender differences within the mentoring literature and extend this understanding to IEs. We conclude the paper by proposing first steps for OD/HRD interventions aimed at maximizing the effectiveness of formal mentoring programs directed at the Indian organizational woman.

IEs play a critical role in securing India's position in the group of five (G5) emerging nations. These organizations have responded to the challenges of globalization by becoming more competitive and more diverse. This diversity is evident by the increasing presence of highly educated, urban professional women working within IEs. These women have HRD needs and IEs will need to move towards vertically integrating and socializing these women into their organizational cultures. This process requires a careful consideration of culture, gender differences and strategic action to promote inclusion and vertical integration. Thus, recognition of diversity and the subsequent action to include that diversity and its perspective into all aspects of how the work gets done are evolutionary steps along the vertical integration continuum. We advanced the view that formal mentoring as an HRD initiative is well suited for promoting inclusion and vertical integration of the Indian organizational woman. Indian organizational women are similar to Western organizational women because they face similar bifurcated demands of work and family life balance. Further, they are similar because they require training and development for skill enhancement purposes and access to social networks within the organizational context. These demands and needs offer a primary reason for instituting mentoring programs that support and nurture the Indian organizational woman. We offer concrete steps for developing these mentoring programs and we suggest that these steps be implemented incrementally with deference to culture and the organizational power structure. Finally we call for research on mentoring within an Indian context. First step efforts should involve validating the mentoring construct in India.