Authority Patterns and Subordinate Behavior in Indian Organizations

This paper reviews the literature on authority patterns in Indian organizations in a comparative framework. These patterns are found to be dominated by the parental ideology of authority relations. On the basis of an empirical study, the paper suggests that this ideology, though legitimized by social-cultural factors, may be dysfunctional in having a negative effect on subordinate performance and satisfaction. The results of the empirical study suggest the hypothesis that the effect of social-cultural factors on organizational behavior is better understood through the concept of psychosocial identity, in which the effect of occupational identity is an extremely important factor, rather than through the concept of national character with its implications of cultural relativism in work behavior.