Value systems in the Indian context

Abstract

The key objective of the CCS was to study the Value System in an Indian context. the research of which would feed into a larger research being conducted on “Multigenerations in organizations” by SHRM. With rapidly changing demographic patterns across the world, the typical organization of today is characterized by a more diverse workforce than ever before. Along with workforce diversity comes a clash of value systems. Understanding this difference is important for an organization, as it would help give greater clarity on how to work effectively with different people. The definition of “generation” is fundamental to this study. Multiple generations working within a single organization has been researched extensively in the western context. There has been a gap in research in the Indian setting in this regard. One of the current studies in this area is the work being done by SHRM (Society for human resource management) that aims to define generations and values that are common in a specific generation. The primary research on “Multi Generations in Organizations” by SHRM has identified key variables that could be used in defining the meaning of the “word “generation and its categorization” which are as follows: work and life related values, motivators, professional growth, attitude to rules, authority and hierarchy, attitudes to learning, training, development and work environment. As a part of our CCS study, we would like to take up an exploratory study on the Value System in an Indian context. The commonly witnessed and accepted values change their trends with change in time owing to the changes in India’s social, economic and technological development. Through our study, we would like to address this issue and understand if we could find any patterns of similarity or dissimilarity in the basic Value System across multi generations (defining generations on the basis of age).