Prof. Vaibhavi Kulkarni - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Prof. Vaibhavi Kulkarni
The case revolves around a change initiative introduced in the Indian division of a US-based orga... more The case revolves around a change initiative introduced in the Indian division of a US-based organization operating in the field of building and composite glass materials. The case has been written from the perspective of Sreenath, who has recently joined as the country head, and has identified a four-point change agenda as part of his aggressive growth strategy. These changes pertain to shift in market focus, revised annual targets, reorganization of the sales and marketing vertical and revised compensation structure with increase in variable pay. However, Sreenath's communication with his team regarding the changes indicates that he is likely to face resistance during change implementation.
This study examined messages representing three institutional orders – institutional order of the... more This study examined messages representing three institutional orders – institutional order of the State, Profession and Corporation – to understand the process of institutional change surrounding the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR). An institutional change influences a host of stakeholders within an organizational field. These stakeholders include organizations representing different institutional orders, with multiple logics emerging from these orders. Institutional changes typically require modifying or replacing these existing institutional logics. Communication plays an integral role in how institutional logics are transformed, legitimized or delegitimized within an organizational field during change. Accordingly, this study used a discursive approach to understand institutional change. It analyzed institutional messages and identified organizing visions within an organizational field. Analysis of institutional messages enabled identification of institutional logics that are established and contested by institutional orders of the State, Profession and Corporation, whereas organizing visions located change discourse within the larger inter-institutional context. This was accomplished by asking the following research questions: What are the institutional logics advanced by institutional orders of State, Profession and Corporation? What are the discursive strategies used by institutional orders to (de)legitimize institutional logics and promote their version of change? What are the dominant organizing visions arising out of the messages within the organizational field? Institutional orders of the State and Corporation attempted to legitimize EHR-related change through logic of healthsystem efficacy, logic of operational efficacy and logic of collaboration. Institutional order of the Profession delegitimized the assertions made by the State and the Corporation by challenging their claims and advocating the logic of healthcare crises. The study found that all the institutional orders primarily [...]
The case captures the origin and initial years of two restaurants Mirchi & Mime and Madei... more The case captures the origin and initial years of two restaurants Mirchi & Mime and Madeira & Mime, which exclusively employed Speech and Hearing Impaired persons (SHI) as servers (often called “waiters” in India). It documents how the restaurants were set up, captures significant incidents during this initial period and the impact of these incidents on the working of the restaurants. Further, it describes the challenge of opening a fine dining restaurant and a gastropub staffed exclusively by SHI persons as servers. The case narrates the reactions and impact on the SHIs and their families, co-workers within the outlets and the customers visiting these outlets. Finally, the case lists the recognition received by the organisation and outlines plans for the immediate future.
The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication, Mar 8, 2017
Teaching cases published by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), Mar 5, 2018
<jats:p>The case revolves around a job offer received by Vinita Upadhyay, a journalist work... more <jats:p>The case revolves around a job offer received by Vinita Upadhyay, a journalist working with a regional daily. Taking up the offer would mean a shift from journalism and require her to join the public relations industry. The case provides three different perspectives regarding this offer. It begins with Upadhyay's perspective, followed by the views of Geet Sethi, who has offered her the job, and finally, that of Minesh Modi, who is her maternal uncle. The case is indicative of the challenges involved in persuading someone who is not open to arguments because of normative beliefs and internal biases.</jats:p>
Global Business Review, Mar 22, 2018
This is a quasi-experimental study comparing three modes of communication during crisis to examin... more This is a quasi-experimental study comparing three modes of communication during crisis to examine whether they lead to differences in perception of relational maintenance. Crisis communication by an airline company was marginally modified to mask the organization's identity, following which participants were exposed to crisis communication through a Facebook page (n = 47), corporate blog entry (n = 58) or corporate media release (n = 50). Contrary to the existing literature, the study did not find any significant differences based on participants' exposure to different mediums. However, participants relying on Facebook for information about the crisis reported a better understanding of the crisis. The study underscores the importance of perceived user control and familiarity with the medium in determining stakeholder perceptions. It also calls for additional empirical studies to investigate the effectiveness of social media vis-à-vis conventional communication routes, especially when the same information is presented through different mediums.
Teaching cases published by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), Jul 3, 2019
This case centres around a senior vice-president in a private bank, who becomes aware of a potent... more This case centres around a senior vice-president in a private bank, who becomes aware of a potential sexual harassment (SH) case within his team. The case captures his reactions, right from his initial attempt to understand the scenario, to his conversations with the woman concerned, and his eventual attempt to minimise the incident. The purpose of the case is to explore how such incidents can play out in the Indian corporate sector, where socio-cultural factors and gender role expectations influence the way organisational members perceive and respond to the complaints. Influence of factors such as gender role expectations, power dynamics, office politics, individual differences, and business concerns in a) perception of harassment incidents and b) attributes related to harassment incidents
Teaching cases published by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), Apr 1, 2017
Cases of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, are prepared as a basis for classroom dis... more Cases of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, are prepared as a basis for classroom discussion. They are not designed to present illustrations of either correct or incorrect handling of administrative problems.
The case captures the origin and initial years of two restaurants Mirchi & Mime and Madei... more The case captures the origin and initial years of two restaurants Mirchi & Mime and Madeira & Mime, which exclusively employed Speech and Hearing Impaired persons (SHI) as servers (often called “waiters” in India). It documents how the restaurants were set up, captures significant incidents during this initial period and the impact of these incidents on the working of the restaurants. Further, it describes the challenge of opening a fine dining restaurant and a gastropub staffed exclusively by SHI persons as servers. The case narrates the reactions and impact on the SHIs and their families, co-workers within the outlets and the customers visiting these outlets. Finally, the case lists the recognition received by the organisation and outlines plans for the immediate future.
OF THE DISSERTATION Discourse of institutional change: (De)legitimization of change narratives wi... more OF THE DISSERTATION Discourse of institutional change: (De)legitimization of change narratives within the organizational field This study examined messages representing three institutional orders-institutional order of the State, Profession and Corporation-to understand the process of institutional change surrounding the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR). An institutional change influences a host of stakeholders within an organizational field. These stakeholders include organizations representing different institutional orders, with multiple logics emerging from these orders. Institutional changes typically require modifying or replacing these existing institutional logics. Communication plays an integral role in how institutional logics are transformed, legitimized or delegitimized within an organizational field during change. Accordingly, this study used a discursive approach to understand institutional change. It analyzed institutional messages and identified orga...
This study examined messages representing three institutional orders – institutional order of the... more This study examined messages representing three institutional orders – institutional order of the State, Profession and Corporation – to understand the process of institutional change surrounding the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR). An institutional change influences a host of stakeholders within an organizational field. These stakeholders include organizations representing different institutional orders, with multiple logics emerging from these orders. Institutional changes typically require modifying or replacing these existing institutional logics. Communication plays an integral role in how institutional logics are transformed, legitimized or delegitimized within an organizational field during change. Accordingly, this study used a discursive approach to understand institutional change. It analyzed institutional messages and identified organizing visions within an organizational field. Analysis of institutional messages enabled identification of institutional logics that are established and contested by institutional orders of the State, Profession and Corporation, whereas organizing visions located change discourse within the larger inter-institutional context. This was accomplished by asking the following research questions: What are the institutional logics advanced by institutional orders of State, Profession and Corporation? What are the discursive strategies used by institutional orders to (de)legitimize institutional logics and promote their version of change? What are the dominant organizing visions arising out of the messages within the organizational field? Institutional orders of the State and Corporation attempted to legitimize EHR-related change through logic of healthsystem efficacy, logic of operational efficacy and logic of collaboration. Institutional order of the Profession delegitimized the assertions made by the State and the Corporation by challenging their claims and advocating the logic of healthcare crises. The study found that all the institutional orders primarily [...]
Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2016
Internet health information seeking can potentially alter physician-patient interactions, which i... more Internet health information seeking can potentially alter physician-patient interactions, which in turn can influence healthcare delivery. Investigating physicians' perceptions about internet-informed patients is important for understanding this phenomenon in countries like India, where this is a relatively recent trend. We conducted a qualitative study to this effect, conceptualizing internet health information access as a disintermediation process, and examining this phenomenon through the dimensions of meanings ascribed, power dynamics and social norms. We found that physicians' perceptions about internet informed patients and their interactions with these patients were largely adversarial. However, some physicians viewed the phenomenon as inevitable. They developed methods that leveraged patients' internet access for the purpose of increasing patient awareness and self-efficacy. We conceptualize this new role of physicians as apomediation, and present recommendations for design and implementation of health information platforms in countries such as India, where power dynamics form a salient part of physician-patient interactions.
Handbook of Research on Discourse Behavior and Digital Communication
This study extended recent attempts at analyzing and comprehending gender differences in emails w... more This study extended recent attempts at analyzing and comprehending gender differences in emails with respect to cooperation and politeness in the Indian business scenario. Four hundred and ninety four emails were studied, out of which two hundred and fifty emails were written by men and two hundred and forty four by women. Collated emails related to directives and non-directives that pertained to information processing as well as soliciting task completion through adherence/violation to principles of politeness. Results revealed that specific forms of politeness will result in cooperation among team members/coworkers in email communication; adherence to politeness maxims is higher in women than in men; specific examples of violations of politeness maxims are higher in men than in women; adherence to politeness maxims in clusters is not gender specific but is contingent on the needs of the situation or the organization; and in directives the variations in use of politeness maxims acr...
Journal of Business Communication, 2013
Implementers need to decide the degree to which to preview the challenges and possible downsides ... more Implementers need to decide the degree to which to preview the challenges and possible downsides of a change process. Scant research has explored the announcement of planned change—especially regarding the previewing of potential painful or stressful effects of the process. This study uses a pen-and-paper experimental method with a sample of 218 working adults to examine the extent to which acknowledging potentially negative aspects of change in announcements heightens perceptions of honesty and trustworthiness of implementers. Also, we sought to explore the effects of these negative previews on initial favorability toward changes and on stakeholders’ subsequent communication targets and purposes for communication. We found that previews of possible negatives did not increase initial favorability or judgments of credibility of implementers. We found high-risk change creates a challenging context. Future research needs to consider whether refutational messages are necessary for high-risk change announcements.
Research shows that electronic communication has affected written language significantly. The inc... more Research shows that electronic communication has affected written language significantly. The increasing importance of use of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in organizations has multiple implications for use of written language at workplace. This study focuses on the influence of gender and politeness on writing style in CMC, specifically work related emails, in the Indian context. Grice’s Cooperative Principle (CP) and Leech’s maxims of Politeness have been used to analyze samples of 494 work related emails written by both men and women. On the basis of this analysis, an attempt has been made to study the relationship between gender, politeness and email content. On the basis of the data, it is concluded that: 1. Different politeness maxims across genders are used in work related emails. 2. Politeness maxims are used in clusters. 3. Variations in use of politeness maxims across genders are highest in directives. 4. Violations of politeness maxims are higher in men than in wo...
The case revolves around a change initiative introduced in the Indian division of a US-based orga... more The case revolves around a change initiative introduced in the Indian division of a US-based organization operating in the field of building and composite glass materials. The case has been written from the perspective of Sreenath, who has recently joined as the country head, and has identified a four-point change agenda as part of his aggressive growth strategy. These changes pertain to shift in market focus, revised annual targets, reorganization of the sales and marketing vertical and revised compensation structure with increase in variable pay. However, Sreenath's communication with his team regarding the changes indicates that he is likely to face resistance during change implementation.
This study examined messages representing three institutional orders – institutional order of the... more This study examined messages representing three institutional orders – institutional order of the State, Profession and Corporation – to understand the process of institutional change surrounding the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR). An institutional change influences a host of stakeholders within an organizational field. These stakeholders include organizations representing different institutional orders, with multiple logics emerging from these orders. Institutional changes typically require modifying or replacing these existing institutional logics. Communication plays an integral role in how institutional logics are transformed, legitimized or delegitimized within an organizational field during change. Accordingly, this study used a discursive approach to understand institutional change. It analyzed institutional messages and identified organizing visions within an organizational field. Analysis of institutional messages enabled identification of institutional logics that are established and contested by institutional orders of the State, Profession and Corporation, whereas organizing visions located change discourse within the larger inter-institutional context. This was accomplished by asking the following research questions: What are the institutional logics advanced by institutional orders of State, Profession and Corporation? What are the discursive strategies used by institutional orders to (de)legitimize institutional logics and promote their version of change? What are the dominant organizing visions arising out of the messages within the organizational field? Institutional orders of the State and Corporation attempted to legitimize EHR-related change through logic of healthsystem efficacy, logic of operational efficacy and logic of collaboration. Institutional order of the Profession delegitimized the assertions made by the State and the Corporation by challenging their claims and advocating the logic of healthcare crises. The study found that all the institutional orders primarily [...]
The case captures the origin and initial years of two restaurants Mirchi & Mime and Madei... more The case captures the origin and initial years of two restaurants Mirchi & Mime and Madeira & Mime, which exclusively employed Speech and Hearing Impaired persons (SHI) as servers (often called “waiters” in India). It documents how the restaurants were set up, captures significant incidents during this initial period and the impact of these incidents on the working of the restaurants. Further, it describes the challenge of opening a fine dining restaurant and a gastropub staffed exclusively by SHI persons as servers. The case narrates the reactions and impact on the SHIs and their families, co-workers within the outlets and the customers visiting these outlets. Finally, the case lists the recognition received by the organisation and outlines plans for the immediate future.
The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication, Mar 8, 2017
Teaching cases published by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), Mar 5, 2018
<jats:p>The case revolves around a job offer received by Vinita Upadhyay, a journalist work... more <jats:p>The case revolves around a job offer received by Vinita Upadhyay, a journalist working with a regional daily. Taking up the offer would mean a shift from journalism and require her to join the public relations industry. The case provides three different perspectives regarding this offer. It begins with Upadhyay's perspective, followed by the views of Geet Sethi, who has offered her the job, and finally, that of Minesh Modi, who is her maternal uncle. The case is indicative of the challenges involved in persuading someone who is not open to arguments because of normative beliefs and internal biases.</jats:p>
Global Business Review, Mar 22, 2018
This is a quasi-experimental study comparing three modes of communication during crisis to examin... more This is a quasi-experimental study comparing three modes of communication during crisis to examine whether they lead to differences in perception of relational maintenance. Crisis communication by an airline company was marginally modified to mask the organization's identity, following which participants were exposed to crisis communication through a Facebook page (n = 47), corporate blog entry (n = 58) or corporate media release (n = 50). Contrary to the existing literature, the study did not find any significant differences based on participants' exposure to different mediums. However, participants relying on Facebook for information about the crisis reported a better understanding of the crisis. The study underscores the importance of perceived user control and familiarity with the medium in determining stakeholder perceptions. It also calls for additional empirical studies to investigate the effectiveness of social media vis-à-vis conventional communication routes, especially when the same information is presented through different mediums.
Teaching cases published by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), Jul 3, 2019
This case centres around a senior vice-president in a private bank, who becomes aware of a potent... more This case centres around a senior vice-president in a private bank, who becomes aware of a potential sexual harassment (SH) case within his team. The case captures his reactions, right from his initial attempt to understand the scenario, to his conversations with the woman concerned, and his eventual attempt to minimise the incident. The purpose of the case is to explore how such incidents can play out in the Indian corporate sector, where socio-cultural factors and gender role expectations influence the way organisational members perceive and respond to the complaints. Influence of factors such as gender role expectations, power dynamics, office politics, individual differences, and business concerns in a) perception of harassment incidents and b) attributes related to harassment incidents
Teaching cases published by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), Apr 1, 2017
Cases of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, are prepared as a basis for classroom dis... more Cases of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, are prepared as a basis for classroom discussion. They are not designed to present illustrations of either correct or incorrect handling of administrative problems.
The case captures the origin and initial years of two restaurants Mirchi & Mime and Madei... more The case captures the origin and initial years of two restaurants Mirchi & Mime and Madeira & Mime, which exclusively employed Speech and Hearing Impaired persons (SHI) as servers (often called “waiters” in India). It documents how the restaurants were set up, captures significant incidents during this initial period and the impact of these incidents on the working of the restaurants. Further, it describes the challenge of opening a fine dining restaurant and a gastropub staffed exclusively by SHI persons as servers. The case narrates the reactions and impact on the SHIs and their families, co-workers within the outlets and the customers visiting these outlets. Finally, the case lists the recognition received by the organisation and outlines plans for the immediate future.
OF THE DISSERTATION Discourse of institutional change: (De)legitimization of change narratives wi... more OF THE DISSERTATION Discourse of institutional change: (De)legitimization of change narratives within the organizational field This study examined messages representing three institutional orders-institutional order of the State, Profession and Corporation-to understand the process of institutional change surrounding the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR). An institutional change influences a host of stakeholders within an organizational field. These stakeholders include organizations representing different institutional orders, with multiple logics emerging from these orders. Institutional changes typically require modifying or replacing these existing institutional logics. Communication plays an integral role in how institutional logics are transformed, legitimized or delegitimized within an organizational field during change. Accordingly, this study used a discursive approach to understand institutional change. It analyzed institutional messages and identified orga...
This study examined messages representing three institutional orders – institutional order of the... more This study examined messages representing three institutional orders – institutional order of the State, Profession and Corporation – to understand the process of institutional change surrounding the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR). An institutional change influences a host of stakeholders within an organizational field. These stakeholders include organizations representing different institutional orders, with multiple logics emerging from these orders. Institutional changes typically require modifying or replacing these existing institutional logics. Communication plays an integral role in how institutional logics are transformed, legitimized or delegitimized within an organizational field during change. Accordingly, this study used a discursive approach to understand institutional change. It analyzed institutional messages and identified organizing visions within an organizational field. Analysis of institutional messages enabled identification of institutional logics that are established and contested by institutional orders of the State, Profession and Corporation, whereas organizing visions located change discourse within the larger inter-institutional context. This was accomplished by asking the following research questions: What are the institutional logics advanced by institutional orders of State, Profession and Corporation? What are the discursive strategies used by institutional orders to (de)legitimize institutional logics and promote their version of change? What are the dominant organizing visions arising out of the messages within the organizational field? Institutional orders of the State and Corporation attempted to legitimize EHR-related change through logic of healthsystem efficacy, logic of operational efficacy and logic of collaboration. Institutional order of the Profession delegitimized the assertions made by the State and the Corporation by challenging their claims and advocating the logic of healthcare crises. The study found that all the institutional orders primarily [...]
Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2016
Internet health information seeking can potentially alter physician-patient interactions, which i... more Internet health information seeking can potentially alter physician-patient interactions, which in turn can influence healthcare delivery. Investigating physicians' perceptions about internet-informed patients is important for understanding this phenomenon in countries like India, where this is a relatively recent trend. We conducted a qualitative study to this effect, conceptualizing internet health information access as a disintermediation process, and examining this phenomenon through the dimensions of meanings ascribed, power dynamics and social norms. We found that physicians' perceptions about internet informed patients and their interactions with these patients were largely adversarial. However, some physicians viewed the phenomenon as inevitable. They developed methods that leveraged patients' internet access for the purpose of increasing patient awareness and self-efficacy. We conceptualize this new role of physicians as apomediation, and present recommendations for design and implementation of health information platforms in countries such as India, where power dynamics form a salient part of physician-patient interactions.
Handbook of Research on Discourse Behavior and Digital Communication
This study extended recent attempts at analyzing and comprehending gender differences in emails w... more This study extended recent attempts at analyzing and comprehending gender differences in emails with respect to cooperation and politeness in the Indian business scenario. Four hundred and ninety four emails were studied, out of which two hundred and fifty emails were written by men and two hundred and forty four by women. Collated emails related to directives and non-directives that pertained to information processing as well as soliciting task completion through adherence/violation to principles of politeness. Results revealed that specific forms of politeness will result in cooperation among team members/coworkers in email communication; adherence to politeness maxims is higher in women than in men; specific examples of violations of politeness maxims are higher in men than in women; adherence to politeness maxims in clusters is not gender specific but is contingent on the needs of the situation or the organization; and in directives the variations in use of politeness maxims acr...
Journal of Business Communication, 2013
Implementers need to decide the degree to which to preview the challenges and possible downsides ... more Implementers need to decide the degree to which to preview the challenges and possible downsides of a change process. Scant research has explored the announcement of planned change—especially regarding the previewing of potential painful or stressful effects of the process. This study uses a pen-and-paper experimental method with a sample of 218 working adults to examine the extent to which acknowledging potentially negative aspects of change in announcements heightens perceptions of honesty and trustworthiness of implementers. Also, we sought to explore the effects of these negative previews on initial favorability toward changes and on stakeholders’ subsequent communication targets and purposes for communication. We found that previews of possible negatives did not increase initial favorability or judgments of credibility of implementers. We found high-risk change creates a challenging context. Future research needs to consider whether refutational messages are necessary for high-risk change announcements.
Research shows that electronic communication has affected written language significantly. The inc... more Research shows that electronic communication has affected written language significantly. The increasing importance of use of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in organizations has multiple implications for use of written language at workplace. This study focuses on the influence of gender and politeness on writing style in CMC, specifically work related emails, in the Indian context. Grice’s Cooperative Principle (CP) and Leech’s maxims of Politeness have been used to analyze samples of 494 work related emails written by both men and women. On the basis of this analysis, an attempt has been made to study the relationship between gender, politeness and email content. On the basis of the data, it is concluded that: 1. Different politeness maxims across genders are used in work related emails. 2. Politeness maxims are used in clusters. 3. Variations in use of politeness maxims across genders are highest in directives. 4. Violations of politeness maxims are higher in men than in wo...