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Abstract
This qualitative study was designed to explore the role of the organizational culture in an Indian family run manufacturing company. The organization selected for this study is a large manufacturing organization with sustainability as its core mission. The study is guided by the following research questions:1. How does the organizational culture of an Indian family run manufacturing company reflect the larger religious community culture of the family that owns the business? 2. How do the members of the organization make meaning of sustainability within an Indian family run manufacturing company?This study applied the theoretical framework influenced by sustainability, critical human resource development and organizational culture. The study explored the practices of a large Indian family run manufacturing business and gathered information through semi-structured interviews, documents and observations. Two findings were derived. First, the organization culture of an Indian Family Run Business is used as a tool for shaping for employee behavior and is deeply rooted in Marwari values. Second, sustainability implementation is based in raising consciousness.Two major conclusions were arrived at. First, the linkage between human resource development, organizational culture, and sustainability is problematized in the Indian corporate setting because sustainability is ensconced and dependent in Western cultural strategies that are in direct contrast to Indian corporate values. Second, the modeling of espoused Western individualistic values that critical to personal success in a Western organization setting are in opposition to Marwarian tradition where collectivist values of this manufacturing business that was grounded in a centralized hierarchical power model. Additionally, the larger religious culture is impacted by socio-cultural constraints including the legacies of the British Raj. It is suggested that the study be carried out in other organizational settings to identify the linkages between human resource development, organizational culture and sustainability. The recommendations include developing an organizational culture that can develop the sustainability strategy to reflect social, ecological and economical outcomes.