CEO, Chess Master or Gardener?

This volume is based on the author's experiences as a chief executive officer (CEO) at the Bank of Baroda and his research findings of almost five decades (mid-1950s to 2000) on several CEO's strategies in industrial relations (IR) across organizations. The study underlines the need for an effective integration of industrial relations and human resource (HR) development to achieve positive business outcomes. Using personal interviews and archival material, Khandelwal examines the evolution of IR strategies in the context of changing environmental and organizational factors and its impact on the relations between the management and trade unions within the bank over an extended period of time. He submits it is crucial that employees are engaged and formal institutional mechanisms instituted to deal with the concerns of employees as well as of trade unions as a whole in order to transform the paradigm of employee relations from a narrow, union-focused perspective to a broader approach of empowering operating managers. Such a paradigm shift could, this work asserts, pave the way for significant changes, such as the introduction of new technology, customer-centric initiatives, new HR initiatives and rebranding with dramatic business outcomes within a short period of time.