About My Research Journey!

 

As a doctoral scholar at XLRI, one of India's leading business schools (leading to degree FPM), I started my research journey. During the period, I worked full time and as a visiting faculty too. 

During my coursework, I explored "Workplace Spirituality" and "Organizational Culture." Later stage worked on "Calling and Karma Yoga" during a seminar paper. First research work under the faculty guidance. 

In the thesis, I focused on "Calling and its interplay with work." 

In the whole journey, I have become more curious about the "Calling" and "Karma" and how it shapes us (human beings)? And does it deliver the "self-transcendence" that it promises? And How?  On this broad canvas, more specific variables or concepts that I explored or getting curious are: 

1. Calling and Careers (specifically Career Change)

2. Future Work Self. 

3. Karma Yoga

4. Job Crafting

5. Leisure Crafting

6. Meaning 

7. Stress

8. Peak performance 

9. Self-actualization  

Within the subject matter of "Organizational Behavior,"  my interests are deepening and expanding more in the areas of "Positive Psychology" and "Indian Psychology". 

(Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia-research.png#file )

Reviving the blog -

I started this blog  on 29-Sept-2008, but it  is  dormant since my last post on 9-Sept-2013.

I was in Tokyo in 2008, and was considering career switch from Oracle Database Administrator to "something else". That "something else" was not very clear.  I was courting "HR" in various ways. Hence I titled this blog as "HR-Universe".

I blogged with more or less enthusiasm. Postings were sporadic.  Possibly due to "transition phase", plus I wasn't having much content to write that will fit for heading "HR-universe".

Later I could get admission to the executive FPM (It trains one to do research and qualifies  for entry position in higher education) at XLRI - India's  best known b-school.  It was like dream come true moment in 2009.

I developed keen interest in the organization behavior during my coursework - the way people behave in workplace, in groups/teams, as leaders, and in organizations. I fully enjoyed this journey.

Mean-while I returned to India in 2011 after deadly tsunami. I wasn't directly affected by tsunami at all, but it triggered "back-to-home" decision.

After settling back, I started hunting for academic job and could find a position at IBS Business school, Pune.  Selection was through demo lecture, followed by couple of interviews. In demo lecture I spoke on "Job Crafting", pretty new area at that time.

Over roughly last three and half years, I  taught organization behavior and human resource management at IBS. My hands-on experience in writing business plans at JMEC, helped me to work on developing entrepreneurship cell and facilitate entrepreneurship as elective course.  But more than "teaching" I was "learning" as a teacher, and as  OB student.

I learned mostly from students. IBS students always surprised me. They stretched my abilities as "faculty".  Their behavior, abilities pushed me to challenge some of assumptions about learning/teaching. I also learned from other faculties, from IBS as Institute, from its well proven, fine tuned  processes and culture.

I experienced "OB" and "HR" theories in practice at IBS!

Reflecting on these experience may help in learning!

I intend to write some of my experiences as a career switch to academia, as a doctoral student in OB area at XLRI, and as a faculty at IBS. It is more of my reflection on my learning journey. Stay tuned.

Do write in comments for your suggestions/feedback.  

     Image source: http://learninginhand.com/blog/2013/7/5/roll-reflect-with-qr-codes

"7 Habits" : A Management Guru Stephen Covey - passed away.

Stephen Covey , The author of the best seller "7 Habits of highly effective people" passed away.

I hooked to  this book ,when I just passed out of engineering college. Since then I kept visiting this book , as well as the workbook and his website often. In my opinion if one is allowed to pick up only one self-help book , one should pick up "7 Habits" . No wonder it is best seller for many years and the author is regarded as a management guru for well known established firms.  Though he had other books to his credit, 7 habits is the best of them all.

7 Habits is wonderful book. The habits rests one on another, they are interlinked. The book has whole ecosystem of workbook, website, audiobooks and training courses based on it. So for every taste of learning style , there is serving resource.  So get "7 Habits" on your priority list this year for further development.


And ,may his soul rest in peace.



Ref: Image Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stephen_Covey_2010.jpg

Changing the sleeping Blog ..

Currently this blog has infrequent updates, And this is about to change.

Basically this blog is a reflective personal journal started as a learning tool. One can see that early topics were scattered all around. Because when I started blogging , I was "exploring" different areas. As time passed , I could narrow down this search to Organization Behavior (OB). Though the blog is titled hr-universe, it is about OB. In practice HR and OB don't have water tight compartments, but still they differ. (Surely in the academic world !).

HR has excellent presence on blogosphere ,but not so for OB. So aim is to connect with these few like minded bloggers. This is also attempt to understand puzzling behaviors at and outside the workplace, There are so many ways to look at behavior that stretches limit of our potential and limits our potential too. It's interesting.

Lastly as I am switching over to academic world from corporate , I guess both will be visible in these learning steps.

Stay tuned !

(Image source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/spursfan_ace/2328879637/ )

"The next management Guru"

Pathways -my Blog - though little more than one year old - it is still do not have any single subject focus as such . Postings also have sometime too big gap between them .... (Doesn't that happens often on all blogs !! ).

I am using my blog as a public journal of my learning and thought process. And I am still learning the tricks of trades about what to blog ,when to blog and how !. I am neither tracking about readership ( How many ? ) nor its development and I wish to keep this in the same way.

Then I feel elevated when Angushman asked me suddenly to contribute on TNMG.

I feel TNMG is a nice effort particularly in the area of Management and Business studies . And being group blog - there is synergy from different areas of management . Readership is also growing . Few of them comment at different places like Facebook ,twitter or on mail. Reader feedback and comments do motivate one to write more. So I hope I will contribute more in the area of Organization Behavior. So watch the place.

I have two posts on TNMG ,

• Communication - Something that makes life better .
  
• To be MBA or not to be MBA.

and hope to write more ( what should be the ideal target , post a week ? or post a month ?)

Begining ...

Once Upon a time ....

No stories here . Just plain my thoughts !!.

I am currently located in Tokyo ,and finding ways to "do different" or/and "find outlet for my inner voice". This blog is attempt towards that.

I find people & all sorts questions about them very interesting.
This is true for Individuals and groups and equally true for human aspect of organizations ( Both For Profit and Not for Profit Units ) , I guess this covers every aspect of so called HR , and That is the reason I titled this blog as "HR Universe".

I have made up my mind to post regularly my thoughts on relevant to this and looking forward for your feedback.