Premium
Management by trust in a democratic enterprise: A law firm shapes organizational behavior to create competitive advantage
Author(s) -
Desai Nishith
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
global business and organizational excellence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.227
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1932-2062
pISSN - 1932-2054
DOI - 10.1002/joe.20284
Subject(s) - democracy , proposition , control (management) , competitive advantage , value proposition , value (mathematics) , public relations , organizational structure , business , law and economics , knowledge management , sociology , law , management , economics , marketing , computer science , political science , epistemology , politics , philosophy , machine learning
The founder of Mumbai‐based Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) built his law firm on a few powerful ideas: a trust‐based, nonhierarchical, democratically managed organization that leverages research and knowledge to deliver premium services, high value, and a unique employer proposition that shatters many negative law‐firm stereotypes. The author discusses the rationale behind NDA's business model and its organization and talent framework, and tracks the firm's philosophical genesis, which includes ideas from Mahatma Gandhi on democracy and from Charles Handy on trust in virtual organizations. He examines the implications of Handy's Rules of Trust for HR policies and practices, and then he describes NDA's approaches for creating challenge, growth, and rewards in a nonhierarchical structure; building behavioral competencies; balancing control with freedom; and other management practices that empower employees to act in the best interests of the firm and its clients. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.