in Public Sector Enterprises V Nilakant This paper attempts to explore issues in organisational change within the framework of perspectives developed in the field of Organisational Behaviour It is hoped that such an exploration would contribute towards building a theory and practice of organisational change in the Indian context The focus of inquiry is organisations in the public sector INTRODUCTION THE theory and practice of organisational change is one of the central concerns of the field of Organisational Behaviour (OB). Although OB concepts and practices have evolved primarily in the western context, Khandwalla (1986) believes that the field can significantly contribute to socio-economic development in the third world societies This paper attempts to explore issues in organisational change within the framework of perspectives developed in the field of OB. It is hoped that such an exploration would contribute towards building a theory and practice of organisational change in the Indian context The focus of inquiry in this paper is organisations in the public sector in India The choice of organisations is guided by both pragmatic and normative considerations. First, the public sector constitutes a major segment of the Indian economy. Total investments in central government undertakings were about Rs 42,800 crore in 1984-85 as compared to Rs 953 crore in 1960-61. This segment has witnessed rapid growth in the last twenty years Second, although the normative focus in OB has been on organisational effectiveness, this has been viewed in terms of profitability, rate of growth, adaptability, resource acquisition, and employee welfare. There is a need for viewing organisational effectiveness in third world societies in terms of contribution of the organisation to socio-economic development. Public sector enterprises are one of the principal instruments of the state to bring about socioeconomic development in our society and thus provide an ideal setting for an inquiry into organisational change.
