HR Dynamics in Family-managed Businesses in India

Out of the 100 largest companies listed in India in terms of market cap, more than 50 per cent are family managed. Indian family-managed companies have a distinct organisational culture. Organisational culture shapes and re-shapes people management, influenced by several factors—stage of evolution of the organisation, environmental/economic challenges and owner family culture. The way the owner family conducts itself embodies family governance. Family governance influences corporate governance. Human resource management (HRM) is an essential element of corporate governance. Nature of HRM in family-managed companies is significantly influenced by the way the owner family drives it. Some of the large Indian family-owned companies are consistently high on market cap because they are able to attract and retain the best talent. They can do this consistently because the best talent gets attracted to the best HR practices in an organisation. There is increased awareness of this among Indian owner families and they are now adopting world-class people practices to attract the best talent from the market. Soon we shall have many more Indian family-owned companies indistinguishable from western family-owned companies in terms of people practices.