Institution building : Lessons from Vikrarn Sarabhai's leadership

S.R. Ganesh and Padmanabh Joshi

Leadership actions are among the most complex to analyse, especially those involved in the creation and development of institutions. Drawing upon .Vikram Sarabhai's actions in the early stages of two institutions—the Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Re-search Association and the Physical Research Laboratory —.the authors provide insights for leaders of modern organizations. They present their analysis of the early stages of institutions around three basic strategies, all of which are built on the primacy of the individual as the core value. The three leadership strategies are networking, trusting, and caring. The leader played a multiplicity of roles in the network to impart relevant values through his personal relationships.

Institutions are social arenas where unique strategies are pursued for inducing and maintaining values which satisfy societal needs. Organizations are formal, social mechanisms which facilitate con-stant transmission of values, for example, a business enterprise or the church. Leaders are key actors in these arenas embodying the values. The process of institution building is the energizing of people so that not only they internalize values that transcend nar-row self-interests but they also become infused with a sense of mission in their total life. What distinguishes an economic organi-zation from an institutional organization is the intensity and the depth with which individual members of an institutional organiza-tion hold the core values which seem to suffuse their total being.

S. R. Ganesh is Chief Executive, Foundation /or Organizational Research and Con-tinuing Education, Bombay. Padmanabh Joshi is Programme Coordinator, VIKSAT, Nehru Foundation for De-velopment, Ahmedabad.

LEADERS AND INSTITUTION BUILDING

Leaders have been found to be more intelligent, more self-confident, more self-assured. They have also been found to have more in-tegrated personalities and superior insights into themselves. Ex-troversion, sociability, and moderate egalitarianism are their other attributes. Another significant aspect of their personality is the great inter-personal sensitivity. On the other hand, leaders exercise authority and make decisions in a group, follow the norms of the group, influence group activities towards goal setting and goal achievement, and effect changes in the performance of groups. They facilitate interactions among people. Sinha (18) has developed a model of a leader—the nurtarant task leader—rooted in the Indian milieu. The nurturant task style, ac-cording to him, has two main components, namely, a concern for task and a nurturant orientation. Thus, Sinha says,

The Nurturant-Task style requires that the task must be com-pleted and that the subordinates understand and accept the goals and the normative structure of the group or organization and cultivate commitment to them. The Nurturant-Task leader structures his and his subordinates' roles clearly so that com-munications are explicit, structured, and task-relevant. He in-itiates, guides, and directs his subordinates to work hard and maintain a high level of productivity, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Responsibilities are pinpointed and areas of deci-sion making are synchronized with them. He, thus, creates a climate of purposiveness and goal-orientation.

His task-orientation, however, has the mix of nurturance. He cares for his subordinates, shows affection, takes a personal interest in their well-being, and above all, is committed to their growth. He wants them to grow up and mature so that they can assume greater and greater responsibilities and spare the leader for other tasks like minding the boundary properties of the group or organization. (18,p.55)

According to Burns (3), the essence of leadership is inducing followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and motivations—the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations — of both the leaders and the followers.

Peters and Waterman (14) in their recent research on "excellent organizations" focus on the role of leadership in institution building. They emphasize the role of leadership in shaping the values of organizational members as well as in developing distinctive organi-zational cultures. "Excellent organizations" have four overriding orientations : customer, entrepreneurial, people, and distinctive skill orientation.

The research on excellence draws attention to the role of leaders in developing organizations around individuals and in catering to the needs of the individuals so that they can be unique and, at,the same

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time, belong to a group with a purpose that transcends individual interest. International Business Machines is an example of a large, successful multinational enterprise built on the bedrock of the value of "respect the individual." General Electric is yet another example of a successful organization that tailors its developmental efforts around managers and not around abstractions of management.

ATIRA AND PRL

To develop insights into leadership actions in institution building, we studied two institutions Vikram Sarabhai set up—the Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association (ATIRA) and the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL). Both were set up in 1947. Sarabhai's active association with ATIRA lasted till 1960 and with PRL till 1971, i.e., till his death.

Sarabhai was a prolific institution builder. He set up an institu-tion every year beginning from 1947 till his death in 1971. He left his imprint in fields as diverse as space technology and performing arts. The exhibit provides the list of institutions he was associated with. An in-depth study of an exceptional example like his provides us a basis both to understand the mystique surrounding leadership ac-tions and to distil the essence of leadership actions for those who are engaged in the task of leading diverse organizations in a complex society. The following sections outline various mechanisms used by Sarabhai in creating and developing ATIRA and PRL. These mechanisms have relevance beyond their settings and the initial phases of institutional development. This is because leaders are constantly confronted with situations demanding re-creation and on-going development of their organizations infusing them with new life from time to time in a changing world.

Choice of early leadership

Vikram Sarabhai was very particular in selecting the head of an institution. ATIRA's experience exemplifies Sarabhai's philosophy of leadership choice. The chief executive can make or mar the in-stitutional fabric.

Sarabhai was requested by the Council of Advisors (COA) of ATIRA to shoulder the responsibilities as director till a suitable individual was identified. He, therefore, continued as honorary and part-time director till 1956, when Helmut Wakeham, an American with considerable experience in textile research, was selected as the first full-time director of ATIRA.

The search for a full-time director for ATIRA continued for years, and a number of candidates were interviewed but no satisfactory person was identified. This is common experience of those who are

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entrusted with the task of finding a chief executive. Before taking a final decision on Wakeham, Sarabhai wrote to his

colleague, who was also a well-known scientist, and a member of COA of ATIRA:

I have no doubt, however, that you are fully aware of the human relations side of a man that is necessary in order that he might fit into our environment ...I am very keen, therefore, that before a Director is selected for ATIRA he should be interviewed by one of us so that we can ascertain how suitable he is as a human being, (emphasis added)

The letter reveals what Sarabhai looked for in his choice of leaders besides qualifications and experience. He thought of in-stitutions and men as one and was particular about the suitability of the leader's human qualities for the environment. This is in sharp contrast to the attitude of many Indian business magnates who regard people as replacement spares or commodities.

The first full-time director for PRL was selected even before the institute was established. Sarabhai had met K.R. Ramanathan, who was to become the first full-time director of PRL, during one of his visits to the Indian Meteorological Department, Poona, where Ramanathan was director. Ramanathan impressed him not only as a dedicated scientist but also as a kind human being. He immediately offered him the directorship of PRL and Ramanathan agreed to join PRL after his retirement in 1948.

Location

Identifying the location of an institution was also a very important consideration in Sarabhai's institution-building philosophy.

*For. ATIRA, Ahmedabad, the Manchester of India, was an obvious location; there was full support from the Ahmedabad Millowners' Association. Sarabhai's thinking on the topic is interesting:

Events in the past have shown that the question of the location of a centralised laboratory is likely to create an almost insuperable difficulty, which could in turn jeopardise the essential prerequisite of cooperative research, namely, willing partici-pation of the various units of the industry. This being so, like linguistic provinces, we shall perhaps have to accept in textile research an organisation which, though expensive and likely to be inefficient, would at least satisfy regional ambitions and aspirations, (quoted in Kulkarni, 17.)

Equally obvious was the choice of Ahmedabad for locating PRL : Sarabhai had already established a small research laboratory

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at the "Retreat" (his home) where he was doing cosmic rays research as a part of his study. There were no scientific research laboratories in Gujarat in those days. When somebody asked him why he planned a new laboratory when the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, were already in existence, his explanation was : "No plant grows under a tree."

Cosmic ray research was a new branch of scientific research and needed facilities and funds. The potential for growth and the initial nurturance needs of the new activity—cosmic ray research—was his central concern in his choice of location rather than the umbrella of established reputations of other institutions. His approach to recruitment was similar.

Recruitment

In selecting researchers for ATIRA, Sarabhai insisted on recruiting fresh candidates with knowledge of scientific methodology and preferred those without previous experience. This was a deliberate move, for he believed that taking away experienced and trained people from universities and research institutions would create a vacuum which would weaken them. Does this have a lesson for those companies who always attempt to take away personnel from established organizations rather than induct and develop people through internal investment in organizational processes of develop-ment ? Do they get carried away by short-run business considerations and financial parameters of growth which leave in their trail hollow organizational and institutional "shells" ?

Chowdhry brings out clearly Sarabhai's thinking on the subject : ... the application of the scientific method by fresh and trained young mind would be able to produce better results in the textile industry than the applications of "previous experience" gained in industry. According to Dr. Sarabhai, early experience seemed to indicate that traditionally preconceived job requirements and predetermined hiring procedures were unlikely to yield results when they were related to new institu-tions intended to perform new roles. Since the research workers had neither knowledge nor experience of textiles, each was apprenticed to periods varying from 6 months to a year to a textile mill with the object of learning about the technology and the problems of the textile industry. (4, pp. 137-8)

At the PRL, young students with training in scientific methodology were admitted in the post-graduate and doctoral programmes in the two areas of atmospheric physics and cosmic rays. They worked

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on their research problems under the guidance of Ramanathan and Sarabhai and identified the areas for future research. This led not only to their individual development, but also to institutional development of the PRL.

Enculturation

The operating culture of an institution determines how the institution functions in performing its essential (academic in the case of ATIRA and PRL) as well as peripheral but necessary administrative tasks. According to Sarabhai, a basic requirement of an institutional leader is the ability to provide the appropriate operating culture which* would be created by the attitudes and assumptions of its people rather than by the formal organizational structure.

In other words, the operating culture appropriate to an institution is largely determined, on the one hand, by the nature of its primary objectives and, on the other, by the assumptions and behavioural norms of people working in it. Sarabhai, S.S.Bhatnagar, and Krishnan played important roles in the formulation of scientific research programmes and created appropriate operating cultures in ATIRA and PRL. The operating culture of these institutions were such that administration played a supportive role and helped the institutional growth through implementation of research programmes. This is unlike many organizations, especially educational, research, governmental, and public sector organizations, where the tail wags the dog.

Sarabhai identified the need for an appropriate culture not only for scientific research institutions but also for any organization, be it a business enterprise, a government department, a university, or even the army. According to him, no innovative mission can be achieved without an appropriate operating culture.

Interacting and overlapping clusters

One of the most important strategies which helped Sarabhai in creating institutions like ATIRA and PRL was creating clusters of individuals with whom he interacted and through whom he interacted with others. Sarabhai's use of interacting and overlapping clusters was first noted by Chowdhry 1(4) who was closely associated with him in building ATIRA. Recent work and writings of Naisbitt (12) also emphasize the importance of networks.

Three interacting clusters played a significant role in the growth of ATIRA. In ATIRA's COA, the first interacting cluster at the policy level consisted of Kasturbhai, Bhatnagar, Krishnan, and Sarabhai. The second cluster was at the research level, and it consisted of physical and social scientists. The members of the third cluster were

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young managing agents related to the millowner-members of the COA. Sarabhai was an elected member of the COA, a young scientist, and a young managing agent at Calico Mills. He thus represented all three clusters and thus linked them.

ATIRA's COA had three segments: elected members, coopted members, and government nominees. Each segment had an eminent scientist who was known both to the government and the scientific community. The COA members were close to one another: the three scientists—Bhatnagar, Krishnan, and Sarabhai—not only knew each other well, they trusted and respected each other. Together, they created a culture appropriate for a scientific organization since they were scientists and not bureaucrats.

All the members of the first cluster, which was a policy making group, were involved in an institution building activity. They had served together on many councils: at the CSIR, Bhatnagar was the Director-General, Kasturbhai and Krishnan were members, and Sarabhai was on its Scientific Committee; Kasturbhai was the Chairman of the COA of ATIRA, Bhatnagar and Krishnan were mem-bers, and Sarabhai represented the Karmakshetra Educational Foun-dation (KEF) as a trustee. Their mutual trust and commitment to helping each other's institution building activities added strength.

The second interacting cluster of young researchers played a significant role in formulating the core research programmes. Sarabhai was represented on the second cluster as a young re-searcher with scientific training. Sarabhai decided that every re-searcher of ATIRA should study the textile technology and identify various problems faced by the mills. (He too did not have any back-ground in textile research.) Accordingly, all researchers went to mills to study textile technology and came in contact with people working in the mills. In this way, Sarabhai sowed the seeds for an on-going research and began a dialogue with its users (9), which helped in building bridges with the users for transferring modern scientific values to a traditional industry.

The third cluster of young managing agents facilitated the entry of research workers into the mills. The mills were a new environment for the researchers. The young managing agents had their higher education abroad and were looking for appropriate positions in their family-managed textile mills. The early work of researchers at ATIRA helped them out. The first nucleus of professionals at ATIRA, consisting of a psychologist, a statistician, a chemist, and a physicist, established the need to set up supervisory training and personnel departments, a quality control department, and chemical and physical testing laboratories in the mills. The young managing agents were convinced of the need to set them up and ook it upon themselves to look after these departments. By doing so, they acted as a bridge between the researchers of ATIRA and their family members who were managing the family-owned textile mills.

Thus, owing to their family relations with the millowners' group,

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their professional relationships with ATIRA's young researchers, and their social relations with Sarabhai, the managing agents started taking interest in ATIRA's work. Interacting clusters at different levels were created which made decisive contributions to ATIRA's growth.

At PRL, Sarabhai used the same strategy of institution building. He was an elected member of the Council of Management (COM) of the PRL, a research scientist, and a professor. In the COM, the same individuals—Kasturbhai (Chairman of PRL-COM), Bhatnagar (rep-resenting the GOI), Krishnan (representing the Ahmedabad Education Society), and Sarabhai (a founder-member and scientist)— formed the first cluster at the policy level.- In the PRL-COM, Sarabhai actively participated in the policy-making process, as a member of the PRL faculty he was playing his role in implementing the research programmes, and as a young researcher he helped single out scientific areas where further research was required. Thus, his role was a model to both the faculty and the students, inspiring them as an innovative scientist as well as a dedicated researcher.

To sum up in Chowdhry's words: Wherever Dr. Vikram Sarabhai went he created living intellectual networks of overlapping clusters in a community so that the members of such clusters become 'carriers' of new ideas and were able to perform innovative tasks within their professions and communities. (5, p. 17) And in Sarabhai's own words:

In research laboratories and in other developmental tasks, it seems important that the chief executive, besides being in-volved in policy-making and administration, maintains direct contact with his professional role. (15, p. 36)

This also underscored the importance of visibility of a leader.

Hence, the importance of style.

Leadership style

The crux of culture creation is the style of leadership. To use Sarabhai's own words:

There is no leader and there is no led. A leader, if one chooses to identify one, has to be a cultivator rather than a manufacturer. He has to provide the soil and the overall climate and the envi-ronment in which the seed can grow. One wants permissive individuals who do not have a compelling need to reassure themselves that they are leaders through issuing instructions to others; rather they set an example through their own creativity, Love of nature and dedication to what one may call the 'scientific method.' These are the leaders we need in the field of education and research, (emphasis added) (16, pp. 172-73)

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He believed that an institution based on caring for people gave assur-ance to individuals to innovate and to respond to situations crea-tively. Two events show how Sarabhai put this attitude into practice.

* * * When he was Director of PEL and Chairman of ISRO, he had called a senior accountant from Bangalore for discussing an issue regarding accounts. He was to discuss with him along with a senior scientist of PRL. The moment the accountant entered Dr. Sarabhai's room, he enquired how he was and how his family was. He took a couple of minutes to answer. Immediately, Sarabhai asked him why he was so worried. Finally, the accountant revealed that since his father was not well, he was under tension. Promptly, Dr. Sarabhai told him to go back and take care of his father and to come to Ahmedabad only when his father was all right. The accountant told Dr. Sarabhai that he was ready for the discussion. But Dr. Sarabhai refused to discuss. The senior scientists of PRL also tried to convince Dr. Sarabhai to discuss the issue. But, Dr. Sarabhai flatly refused and asked his secretary to arrange for the return journey of the accountant. *

"He has come. Tell him." "I didn't do it. You tell him." "No, you tell. I feel scared." "What is it, Kane?" "The meter is burnt, sir. We passed too much current." "Oh, I see. Well, don't worry. How else would one learn? Next time you will be more careful."

That, in a nutshell, was professor Vikram Sarabhai. Meters were scarce those days. In fact, we did not get a new one for almost two months and the work was held up. But the human qualities of this great man were evident even before he took courage in both hands and shaped the destiny of the scientific institution that was to be PRL, and brought it national and international repute. Visionaries there are many and finally nothing succeeds like success; but in the case of Vikrambhai one could see straightaway that he had to succeed; there was just no other alternative! (11, p.20)

Many such incidents are recalled by the people who worked under him, and they still remember the personal care and concern shown by him for his people. Sarabhai was opposed to rigid controls and often wrote and spoke against controls which, he believed, "damaged innovative behaviour and consequently the growth of new institutions." According to him, "...the economic analogue of horizontal controls is competition. They are implicit and do not * The narration of the event is based on an interview.

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have to be imposed from above."(15) In this he was close to what Peter Drucker propounded in his writings, viz., management by objectives and self-control with objectives being set by the indi-vidual rather than handed down from above.

Sarabhai was part-time director in ATIRA, and the routine ad-ministrative work was left to the research workers. Since every one was new to the textile industry, all of them, including Sarabhai, jointly explored the new world in order to learn. They jointly identified relevant areas of enquiry. Researchers planned their own work, implemented their plans, and worked out their own budgets. Thus, horizontal controls were more in operation (4). The early circumstances and Sarabhai's aversion to control helped in creating an atmosphere in which there was no control from above.

There were no hierarchical controls at the PRL, in line with Sarabhai's philosophy. Trust was an important element of both personal and organizational relationship for Sarabhai. Although he was from an eminent family in Ahmedabad, he could move easily across various groups because he was able to inspire trust. He en-couraged young researchers to try out new ideas; he himself generated ideas constantly, although many were later found not to be practicable. He liked people who were willing to take risks in a calculated manner and constantly encouraged them. His ability Jo gauge men quickly has been noted by various people (see for inst-ance, Divatia, 6). This is a distinguishing feature of the most suc-cessful of all leaders in any walk of life. It is the one ability that aspiring leaders need to nurture and sharpen constantly through personal risk and experimentation. Both demand tremendous inner strength.

Sarabhai believed in developing people systematically. This, is one reason why he preferred to take young people and provide them with opportunities for development. It is not surprising to find that in industry successful and admired enterprises invest heavily in development of people. This, however, is a rather recent phenomenon and is tantamount to window-dressing except in some instances like the Tatas and Hindustan Lever.

Sarabhai was always accessible to all in both the institutions because he was convinced of the importance of the role played by feedback in managing organizations. This is a lesson which most current generation leaders need to keep in mind because in their own insecurity and inadequacy they keep away from both giving and receiving feedback. During his many trips abroad Sarabhai always took time off to meet young Indian professionals. With his vision, he was able to persuade them to return home to contribute towards country's growth. In the words of Bhavsar, "...one meeting used to be enough for inspiring that young man to return to the homeland to do his bit of work." (2, p. 22)

Decision making and structuring

The COA at ATIRA and the COM at PRL—and their respective

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directors—were responsible for decision making. Sarabhai participated actively both in policy making at the council level and in implementing it as the de facto institutional head of ATIRA and PRL. Both Kasturbhai and Ramanathan had faith and trust in Sarabhai; therefore, they not only appreciated that he should make the decision but wanted him to do so.

Vikram became attracted to communication theory and systems not for their own sake, but because he realised that through their use, an organisational framework could be developed which would make work more efficient, creative and meaningful. (19, p. 143) In many organizations which Sarabhai set up, a committee system

was established. A committee was set up for every research and for every administrative unit. Every committee had a chairman who reported to Sarabhai directly. All the members of the committee also reported to him directly. This feedback system was very effective. But the system did not mean hierarchical control. Every individual research scientist used to report to him directly also.

Sarabhai had recruited the first set of faculty members at both the institutions, and it was his strategy to develop the individual faculty members which would in turn promote institutional growth. At ATIRA, an opportunity to work and learn together was provided to the first four research workers; they were sent to the textile mills to understand the complete process of textile manufacture. This ex-perience helped them not only in understanding the textile process, but also in understanding each other which helped in the development of ATIRA. Between 1949-50 and 1956-57, 71 consulting assignments were completed; the number of research projects undertaken per year increased from 10 to 17; and the scientific, administrative, and other staff increased from 30 to 206 (4).

Similarly, at the PRL, the students and scientist* worked and studied together developing an espirit de corps. Common experi-ences through group work, with administration acting as a support system under Sarabhai's guidance, led to the emergence and nurtur-ance of organic structures in both ATIRA and PRL.

Sarabhai's image as a scientist and the PRL's growth as a scientific institute were very much interwoven; he was responsible for establishing a school of physics (PRL) which provided him the ground to establish his own identity as a scientist. He had tried to create a second line of leaders from the scientists at the PRL, but he failed. They were excellent scientists, but none could become a leader. The failure underscores the difficulty in developing leaders from within. It is a rare organization like the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, or the Hindustan Machine Tools Limited, or the Hindustan Lever that throws up capable leaders from time to time from within. However, as experience shows, it is extremely rare to maintain the quality of successive generations of leaders.

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Identity building. Identity building is an important element that infuses an institution with distinctiveness (6).

In the first decade of ATIRA, Sarabhai as a young managing agent interacted with other managing agents, socially as well as profes-sionally, and developed the identity of the institution as a cooperative, technological venture serving the needs of the textile industry.

To establish the identity was a comparatively less difficult task for PRL. The scientists at PRL had an established reputation in, the scientific community both in India and abroad. By mid-50s, the PRL was recognized as an important centre for cosmic ray study. In 1953, Vikram Sarabhai's proposal for a worldwide study of variations of cosmic ray intensity was accepted by the Special Committee for the International Geophysical Year. This placed PRL on the world-map as an advanced scientific research institution. Both Sarabhai and Ramanathan drew up programmes of work in various disciplines of earth sciences, including in geomagnetism and cosmic rays.

Summing up

Although Sarabhai was an unusually endowed person, his actions in respect of birth and development of the two institutions, once stripped of the mystique that surrounds leadership, offer insights which can prove useful to others. One of the ways of understanding the impact of leadership actions on institution building is by presenting the three guiding strategies he had intuitively used. These three strategies rest on a single pivotal value which is the primacy and centrality of an individual

The three guiding strategies he used to build institutions are : networking strategy or creating interacting and overlapping clusters internally as well as externally both to produce a vision for the institution and to translate the vision into actions in terms of research programmes and projects; trusting strategy or creating a climate of trust providing freedom of action to the individuals, ensuring autonomy, and emphasizing horizontal control; and caring strategy or creating a climate of caring by the leader remaining approachable through open channels of communication and emphasizing the role of administration as a support system to the core tasks of the institution.

Sarabhai was able to translate these strategies into actions because of the multiple roles he played in managing both the external and the internal environment of the institution. These roles were formal as well as psycho-social.

The work of Peters and Waterman (14) emphasizes the importance of vision and organizational culture built on trust and caring in "excellent organizations." One of the ways of under-standing the strategy of creating interacting and overlapping

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clusters in "excellent organizations" is to look upon the linkages such organizations build with the users as well as with various functional people within the organization.

Leadership actions may be focused upon in three ways, namely, externally oriented leadership actions, internally oriented leadership actions, and interface leadership actions. Externally oriented actions facilitate mobilization of support and

resources for the institution around a vision through creation of interacting and overlapping clusters in the environment. Internally oriented leadership actions help in the creation of organic structures, horizontal control systems, and styles of functioning which emphasize symbols and rituals which reflect the autonomy and the freedom of action for an individual in the organization. The inter/ace leadership actions work towards the development of an institution through both attracting people to a vision and establishing mechanisms of research, dialogue, dissemination, and transfer vis-a-vis the environment (8). The interface leadership actions map the environment on to the organization and the organization on to the environment. The multi-faceted orientation of Sarabhai's leadership comes through his multiple roles at ATIRA and PRL. He continued to play similar roles in the numerous other institutions he founded during his lifetime.

The lessons that emerge from the study of Sarabhai as an institution builder can be summed up as follows : • In order to develop institutions it is important to place an indi

vidual at the centre of institution building efforts. The task of a transforming and transactional leadership is to present a vision which will inspire many and to provide meaningful exchange relationships..

• Leadership actions have to nurture trust constantly, creating inter-acting and overlapping clusters both within and outside the organization. Failure to do so is likely to lead to the breakdown of the institutional aspects of the organization resulting in its de cline and decay.

• It is important for an institution builder to identify and play multiple (formal and psycho-social) roles within and without the institution. Decline in the performance of institutions could be traced to inadequate roles (both formal and psycho-social) to translate externally oriented, interface, and internally oriented leadership strategies for institution building. (8,10)

• While the criticality of organizational culture to the development of institutions has always been emphasized, the importance of building in trust and caring has not been adequately emphasized in the literature. (14) It is interesting to note that Bennis and Namus (1) also come to

similar conclusions based on their study of 90 top leaders in the US.

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They identify the importance of attention of vision, meaning through communication, trust, and transmitting values of personal self-regard through all leadership actions. In a more recent book, Peters and Austin (13) talk about passion for excellence fearing in our terminology) as a key leadership attribute.

From these lessons, a check-list could be developed to determine institutional health. It would cover four aspects of an institution and would have the following items : • existence of a shared vision; • number, nature, and scope of interacting and overlapping clusters

both external and internal; • trust as evidenced within the institution and as evidenced by the

institution vis-a-vis its public and as evidenced by its various publics vis-a-vis the institution ;

• caring as shown by concern for performance in the institution, existence of multiple channels of communication, approchabi- lity of leaders, and the centrality of the primary task of the institu tion as evidenced by the attitude of the administration. A quick diagnosis can be made on the basis of which it is possible for

institutional leadership to initiate actions on one or more fronts to reinstate the individual at the centre of institution building. This is imperative whether one is in business or a research institution because it makes good practical sense, and not because it is theoretically fashionable.

Exhibit List of institutions with which Vikram Sarabhai was associated Scientific Research : Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad Communications : Vikram Earth Station, Arvi, Poona Atomic Energy : Fast Breeder Reactor, Kalpakkam

Nuclear Centre for Agriculture, New Delhi Variable Energy Cyclotron Project, Calcutta

Electronics : Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Hyderabad Electronics Prototype Engineering

Laboratory, Bombay Space Research : Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, Trivandrum Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre,

Trivandrum Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad Sriharikota Range, Sriharikota ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore Satellite Instructional Television Experiment

Textile Research : Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association, Ahmedabad

Developmental and : Nehru Foundation for Development, Educational Research Vikram A. Sarabhai Community Science Centre,

Ahmedabad Management and : Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad Operations Research Operations Research Group, Baroda Performing Arts : Darpana Academy for Performing Arts, Ahmedabad

He was also associated with : Indian National Committee for Space Research, Indian

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Space Research Organization, Atomic Energy Commission, Electronics Committee, Department of Atomic Energy, International Atomic Energy Agency, and Committee for Space Research of the United Nations.

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News, 3(1), 1972, 19. 8. Ganesh, S.R., Processes of institution building : A comparative study of

Indian management education institutions, Ph.D. dissertation, University of London (unpublished), 1978.

9. From thin air to firm ground : Empirical guidelines for a general processual model of institution building, Human Relations, 32(9), 1979, 751-79.

10. --------- and Banerjee, S., The undergraduate influence environment: Some insights for action, Ahmedabad : Indian Institute of Management, Public Systems Group Monograph No. 40, (restricted circulation) 1982. 11. Kane, R.P., Professor Vikram Sarabhai: Some reminiscences. Physics

News, 3(1), 1972, 20. 12. Naisbitt, J., Megatrends. New York: Warner, 1982. 13. Peters, T., and Austin, N. A passion /or excellence. London : Collins, 1985. 14. Peters, T.J., and Waterman, R.H. (Jr.), In search of excellence. New York :

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