Organizational Studies: Working for Change in India’s Civil Society

This essay analyzes an article on organizational studies centered around the work life of an individual NGO in South India campaigning for the rights of vulnerable communities. The article presents arguments related to caste, neoliberalism, and the impact of NGOs on the labor processes. The essay critically analyzes the article and presents the reason why it is important.

Running head: ORGANIZATION STUDIES
ORGANIZATION STUDIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The different people as present in an organization are considered to be a crucial part of
the organization and it thereby becomes very important for the organization to understand that it
is required to look after these people without which it will become very difficult for the firm to
function at large (Jenkins 2008). The organizational studies are generally centered around the
concept of the management of the people and the manner in which the different forces as
functioning in the business environment and the internal environment of the business have an
influence on the overall performance of the firm at large. The primary aim of the given essay is
to analyze an article and thereby present certain arguments related to the field of organizational
studies. The main arguments as present in the article will be analyzed which will then be
followed by an examination of the fact why the article is considered to be crucial in nature. The
essay will follow a structured format with respect to which a brief summary of the article and its
authors will be followed by the critical analysis of the arguments put forward and the reason why
the article is considered to be very crucial.
Analysis of the article
About the article
The name of the article which has been chosen for the purpose of analysis is the `
Working for Change in India’s Civil Society`. The article has been taken from the Work
Employment and Society. The journal has been established in the year 2018 and the Volume
number is 32(6). The authors of the article are Darryl Humble and Hiresh Mani. The article has
been centered on the work life of an individual NGO as based in South India who campaigns for
the rights of the vulnerable communities as present in India. The article is based on the personal

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narrative who explores the life and describes his experiences of working for the civil society and
has thereby constructed his own notions as well as work and activism (Keane,2003). The article
aims to analyze the manner in which the individual worker has made the decisions about his life
and how together as a team, his staff workers and he handles the everyday issues of inequality,
injustice and exploitation. The notions of activism work and life history which has been shaped
by the gender, class and caste division issues have been discussed.
Critical analysis and general argument
As stated earlier, the article is centered around Hiresh`s narrative on the experiences of
working in an NGO and working along the Indian civil society. According to Hulme and
Edwards (1997), it has been stated that the Indian civil society is undergoing a considerable
change and is struggling to discuss and overview the topics related to caste. According to Laurie
, Andolina and Radcliffe (2005), there exists a profound impact of neoliberalism on the shaping
of various duties, responsibilities, roles and other such structures on the manner in which the
NGO fucntions. The NGOs have become the center of discussion and with respect to this, the
deliver profound public service which assist the different individuals who are in need with tasks
like advocacy and campaigning. In a similar manner, the NGOs as present in in India have gone
a considerable change through the provision of funds, commissioning mechanisms, pressures on
the organization to formalize the working and others (Evans 1990). This can be largely
attributed to the fact that the NGOs have now been undertaken in the light of mainstream
development as well as the agenda of aid. This can be then related to the fact that there have been
certain new management as well as the accountability and transparency in the development
practices which has further given rise to the increased work and standing of the NGOs.

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According to Laurie and Bondi (2005), there has also been a discussion of the literature
which essentially focuses on the position of an expert. The author states that these factors
contribute to the formation of the manner in which organizational structures are developed at
large. According to the co-author, Hitesh, this further tends to have an impact on the labor
processes as present in the society and they might show certain chances of a resistance. As
stated by Roth (2015), the Indian society has undergone a huge change and there has taken place
a profound procedure of professionalism and there exists need to formalize the procedure of the
NGO workers so as to ensure that the organization will successfully be able to conform with the
needs of the funder and thereby ensure that there does not exist any restraint with respect to the
same. According to Boam and Sparrow (1992), there exists various categories of workers in an
NGO but the focus in the paper has been directed towards Hiresh, the organization`s director.
The NGO in question employs around three full time educated staff members who belong to the
Dalit background and has seen a constant stream of volunteers who work for the welfare of the
community.
According to the author, the study on which the article has been based is on the life
history OF Hitesh and the factors which have led him to establish the particular NGO at large.
Through his profound experience, one will be able to understand the paradigms of the Indian
civil society and observe the manner in which the youth present in the country tend to take the
matters in their own hand and work with flexibility as well as self-management so as to ensure
that they are able to work for the welfare of the firm a large (Salaman and Thompson 1973).
According to Hitesh, there exists certain problems with respect to public issues as well as
private troubles. Hence, in this aspect an argument related to the Dalit community and related
politics has been presented whereby the Communist Party of India has been the main topic of

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consult. This procedure of establishing himself from living through his private family troubles
into the civilized society and environment of acivit-ism which helped him to create a labor
procedure and establish his life even though going through the troubles of his family member
and then holding a position which helps to establish the work relationships. Kerala has been
declared as a rather established state and still divided by the injustice and inequality. According
to the author, it has been presented as an argument that even though the state is a developed one,
the position of the economically and socially backward classes is very poor and this is what calls
for the focus of the Support campaign (Roth 2015). There are a large number of challenges as
faced by these groups and with respect to this, it can be mentioned that these groups at large face
the problem of lower educational levels, unestablished work opportunities, unemployment issues
as well as health hazards (Devika 2010). Through this, the work of the support lies to accumulate
adequate funds and then spend these funds on the basis of the welfare of these different castes
and tribes as possible. Although the governments have changed and the management of the
country has gone from one hand to another, the focus of the parties have remained the same and
the life of the Dalits have not improved (Roth 2015). The article traces the work of Hitesh over
two years through the University.
The paper traces the life of Hitesh and how he was born in the village whereby the
political party ideologies were particularly very stringent towards the politics and how there
exists a large number of communist parties (Heller 2013). Hitesh`s father was a party official and
Hitesh`s life begun as a worker in the fiber factory. Hitesh completed his matriculation by the
age of 14 and moved to the city where he was being paid as well as being provided visions for
his family at large. He looked after the party office and begin to study at college and became a
chief part of the student activism. Later on, he left that job and joined the party as a full time

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worker and begin to undergo a shocking experience whereby he was segregated as a Dalit. The
personality of the person changed considerably and he decided to leave Kerala and in order to
meet and explore the opportunities at organizations worldwide and this where he joined a youth
campaign which gave Hitesh a view of the world politics (Roy 2011). Hitesh has worked with
different NGOs and social movements whereby he was involved in the business of human rights
and other such social movements which thereby contributed to Hitesh becoming a good trainer.
However, later on the organization collapsed and with respect to this, they started Support and
came back to his home town in Kerala with a new perspective and vision he began his work of
changing the caste system in Kerala and understood the overall scenario (Salaman 1979).
Although being offered several good offerings throughout, Hitesh has been determined to
continue is Dalit activism. The company has based its work on the people`s demands and has
been working well since nine years.
The work of his Ngo supports three groups like Dalits, Adivasi’s and the fishing
communities in order to examine the stated of the uneconomical schools, the poor state of the
economy and other related factors (Hickey ,Mitlin and Bebbington,2007). Although the firm
understands that they may not necessarily be able to work on all the sectors at one go, it is
essential that they understand that, they need to be present for the people and work for their
movement in order to ensure long term success at large. The communication has a key role to
play and that through his consistent efforts he has been able to build a factually informative firm
which ensures the consistent efforts of the different parties (Dreze and Sen 1997). The NGO also
engages itself in consistent efforts and monitoring activities which then ensure that the budget of
the firm is monitored accordingly and that it is observed that all the important aspects of the
Dalit community are covered accordingly (Townsend ,Porter and Mawdsley 2002). Hence, the

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primary highlights of the article can be stated to be that, the condition of the Dalit community is
very poor in India and although India claims to be a very well developed community there still
exists a large scope for improvement. In addition to his, it can be stated that the article also
presents an argument based on which it can be understood that although the government is
unable to manage all the aspects, there are several NGOs which contribute towards the same.
Reason why the article is important
The reason why this article was chosen is because it gives a deep insight into the civil
community of India and represents the complex problems due to the politics and case systems
which exist at large (Tvedt 1998). The article has argued that the caste system has been the main
barrier of the firm at large and with respect to this, it needs to be noted that the different
individuals are influenced by their personal, political and other environmental factors and based
on which the different decisions which they take are a result of their perception of class, gender
and the caste divisions which exist in the overall society.
Conclusion
Organizational studies look out to explore the manner in which the society and the
organization tends to function in order to highlight the main discrepancies as present in the real
life society. The given essay highlight the scope of organizational studies and he manner in
which a society tends to function. The article has been based on the journey of an Indian social
worker and the management of the NGO named Support which looks out to support the plight of
the Dalit community and seeks to help the society in overcoming the different discriminative
activities which take place with respect to the caste system, inequality and injustice as present in
the society at large. The essay discussed the overall arguments as present in the particular article

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and critically analyzed its findings and the overall contents of the article. The latter half of the
essay highlighted the main findings of the study and presented the reason why the article can be
taken to be of due importance.

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