About the Author

Dr (Colonel) P. S. James is a professor of Organisational Behaviour, Human Resources, and Leadership at T. A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI), Manipal. A professor for the last 11 years, he is known for integrating OB with other functional areas of management and championing OB as a strategic resource. He is a well-established corporate trainer and has delivered programmes on transformational leadership, team design, motivation, conflict management, assertiveness, assessment centre, succession planning, competency mapping, and evaluation of training to several corporate clients. He has been a UNDP consultant in leadership and was deputed for designing a leadership development centre for Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.

Setting up the Leadership Assessment and Development Centre of TAPMI is a landmark achievement in his career. The centre conducts and integrates the result of eight independent psychometric tests to provide a unified assessment of transformational leadership potential of every student of TAPMI. The Centre also supports Individual Leadership Development Plan.

Dr James is a product of Loyola College, Chennai. He joined the Indian Army as a commissioned officer in the Infantry and rose to the rank of Colonel. He sought an early retirement to follow his call—training young people to be globally competitive. During his days in the Army, he held three instructional positions. The first one was in the coveted Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, followed by the Infantry School, Mhow, where he received ‘The Order of the Dronacharya’ for excellence in teaching. Later, he was posted as the Director, Faculty of Studies, one of the thinktanks of the Army. He received ‘The Chief of the Army Staff Commendation’ award for innovations in training. He was deputed to the United Nations, where he received the UN service medal, and also gained valuable experience in cross-cultural management.

After an illustrious career in the Army, he took over as President, Indeco Leisure Hotels, and later joined Saintgits Institute of Management as its founding director. He is also the founding president of Travancore Management Association.

While pursuing his MBA from University Business School, Chandigarh, he was selected for a semester abroad programme in Israel Asper School of Management, University of Manitoba, Canada. Impressed by his acumen in research, his professors in Canada sowed the seeds for his academic pursuit. After his MBA, he completed his master’s degree in psychology from Madras University, and a PhD before entering the academic field. He has an M. Sc. in Defence Studies from the prestigious Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He has made several intellectual contributions and is an approved Ph. D guide of Anna University, Manipal University, and the All India Management Association.

This book is his labour of love. He hopes that the book would enable readers to leverage the power of OB to lead change, create sustained competitive advantage, and navigate their organisations to their destination in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world.