Indian Manager Still In Search Of A Style

Management style is important to all developing countries as they still have to evolve a comprehensive managerial culture. The style of the pioneer in the field will determine the speed and nature of that culture. This is what Arabinda Ray emphasizes when he takes a second look at the Indian manager. Tracing the history of Indian management in the last four decades Ray says that the manager initially felt the pin-pricks of not being considered on par with the administrative services, law and medicine, which were the prestigious professions. What was not appreciated was that on the skills, judgement and professionalism of these managers in utilizing men, money, market and materials depended future development of the country. As globalization of industry and commerce takes place, Ray reemphasizes the increasingly significant role of managers at the top level. The chief executive is no longer a distant formal patriarch but leader of a democratic group also the first among equals. Ray -- discusses suitable remuneration for the manager, and the manager as an incipient entrepreneur. Nor does he overlook the role of women in professional management. He also devotes a chapter to the managers' unavoidable exposure to politics and politicians. The author's discussion, as he says, is exploratory and diagnostic, and does not prescribe in the manual. A book for the aspiring manager -- and one at which the established manager should also take a second look.