Dr. Vidyut Lata Dhir
  •  lata@spjimr.org

Vidyut Lata Dhir

Professor and Department Chair, Organisation and Leadership Studies (OLS)

Vidyut Lata Dhir holds a Ph.D. from SNDT University, with her research focus on Organisational Commitment and Citizenship Behaviour. She has an M.Phil. from Mumbai University and a master’s in psychology from Panjab University.

With over three decades of experience, she has taught at top B Schools in India and Germany. Her 20+ years of corporate training and consulting experience includes designing and delivering management development programmes on leadership and building high-performing teams.

She is passionate about women’s leadership and recently directed an 18-month Women Leadership programme co-created with Mahindra and Mahindra experts, which won them the UNGCNI Award for Best Innovative Practices for successfully implementing a first-of-its-kind Women Leaders Programme.

She has spearheaded the design and development of Personal Growth Lab – an innovative pedagogic innovation to teach Organisational Behaviour through experiential learning. She was awarded an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship (2014) by the European Union for Interdisciplinary Bridges for Indo-European Studies.

As a psychologist, she pioneered Vishwas, an initiative for nurturing psychologically safe spaces. She is also a co-founder at Nest, a start-up dedicated to mental well-being. She has dedicated her efforts to guiding, mentoring, coaching and counselling, decoding life stories and impacting lives meaningfully across countries, academic programmes, industries and sectors.

She is a panellist at international conferences and is also an author. Her research interests include organisational commitment, leadership, design thinking, and innovative pedagogy. Her research articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals.

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EDUCATION

SNDT University

Ph.D. in Organisational Behaviour, 2013
Dissertation Title: Organisational Commitment and its Role in Managing Responsibility in an Organisation

University of Mumbai

Phil. in Psychology, 1993
Dissertation Title: Indian Merchant Navy Officers’ Attributions of Responsibility as a function of Subjects Status, Outcome Severity, Causal Controllability, and Acceptance versus Denial of Responsibility

University of Punjab

MA, 1980
Major: Psychology

University of Punjab

BA (Hons.), 1978
Major: English

  • RESEARCH INTERESTS

    Pedagogic Innovations

    Organisational Commitment & Citizenship Behavior

    Attribution of Responsibility

    Design thinking in HR

    Intersection of Psychology and Technology, Psychological Safety

    Individual Factors in Cyber security.

    Leadership

  • SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

    Dhir, V. L., Das, S., & Chatterjee, D. (2023). Impact of Firm Ownership Type on Organizational Commitment and Citizenship Behaviour. Management and Labour Studies, 0(0). Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.1177/0258042X231204413

    Arora, S.V., Dhir, V.L. and Krishna, M. (2023), “Moderna’s Spikevax: A prickly pricing decision”, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 98-116. The Case Journal, Emerald Publishing Limited, https://doi.org/10.1108/TCJ-01-2022-0027

    Arora, S.V., Krishna, M. and Dhir, V.L. (2022), “Meesho: mission possible?”, Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, Vol.13 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-12-2022-0458

    Link to Google Scholar

  • CASE STUDIES

    Dhir, V. L., Lalwani, S. (2006). The Indian Cricket Saga (pp. 16). Case Centre, ECCH.

  • BOOKS/BOOK CHAPTERS

    Dhir, V. L., Gopalakrishnan, R. (2021). Shapers of Business Institutions: How Deepak Parekh grew HDFC Group Exponentially (pp. 160 pages). Rupa Publications India.

    Dhir, V. L., Bremner, N. M., Datta, S. (2016). An Examination of the Social-Institutional, Cultural, and Organisational Antecedents of Commitment in India. Handbook of Employee Commitment (pp. 403-417). Book: Handbook of Employee Commitment; Edward Elgar Publishing; Edited by John P. Meyer, University of Western Ontario, Canada; Oct 2016 576 pp; Part VI Commitment across Cultures-Chapter 29

    Meyer, J & Dhir V.L. et al. (2016). Organisational Commitment in India, chapter in Handbook of Employee Commitment: Cross Culture Perspective; Edward Elgar Publishing

  • CONFERENCES

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Datta, S. (Author), Shah, S. (Author), 83rd Annual Meeting Conference 2023, “Far yet close: An experiential e-learning model for developing relational competencies”, Academy of Management (AOM), Boston, Massachusetts, USA. (August 9, 2023)

    Dhir, L., Jain, A., “Preparing future leaders for mental health challenges: Experience from teaching management graduates in India”, Virtual American Psychological Association (APA) 2023- (August 2023)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Datta, S. (Author), Shah, S. (Author), EURAM Annual Conference 2023, “Balancing high tech & high touch: An experiential e-learning model for developing relational competencies”, EURAM 2023, Dublin. (June 14, 2023)

    Dhir, L., Datta, S., Shah, S., “Balancing high tech & high touch: How To develop relational competencies In the experiential e-learning context”, The European Academy of Management (EURAM) 2023 Annual Conference, Trinity Business School, Dublin, Ireland (June 2023)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Datta, S. (Author & Presenter), 82nd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, ‘An Outside-In, Inside-Out Approach: An Experiential Pedagogy for Personal Growth In B-Schools’, AOM. (August 7, 2022)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), American Psychological Association (APA) 2022 Convention, “Ameliorating pandemic isolation in India and world wide: Yes there’s an app for that”, (August 6, 2022)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Datta, S. (Author), The European Academy of Management (EURAM) 2022 Annual Conference, ‘An Experiential Pedagogy for Personal Growth In B-Schools: An Outside-In, Inside-Out Approach’, EURAM 2022. (June 15, 2022)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), 2nd International Conference on Contemporary Business Trends, “Social Relationships Matter! Organizational Commitment and Citizenship Behaviour in Family Vs Non-Family Firms”, National Institute of Technology (NIT). (May 22, 2022)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Conference on ’Driving Systems Change – Corporate leadership for the SDG, “Wickedness Challenge: Principles of Sustainable Business”, Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) of the Erasmus University (May 26, 2021)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Academy of Management Idea Development Workshop,” Managing Employee Wellbeing in ‘distant-yet virtually connected world” (April 1, 2021)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Society of Consulting Psychologists, American Psychological Association, “Creating Psychological Safe Spaces in the Virtual World” (August 14, 2021)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Society of Consulting Psychologists, American Psychological Association, Annual Conference, “Creating ‘safe spaces’ in the post-COVID19 era: Mitigating the Impact of the Weakest Link in Cybersecurity 2021”. (February 4 – 7, 2021)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Annual APA conference on Technology, Mind and Society, “Interplay of Personality and Psychological Safety with Online Behaviour”, Washington DC, 2019

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), APA Conference Technology Mind Society, “An Investigation into an Interplay of Psychological Safety, Personality, Social Media Usage, and Risky Cyber-Security Behaviours,” Washington DC. (October 5, 2019)

    Kulkarni, B. V., Kamath, R., Dhir, V. L. (Author), ISDSI, “Design Thinking: Cultivating mindsets,” SPJIMR, Mumbai. (December 30, 2018)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Das, S., ISDSI, “Understanding Organisational Commitment: A Comparative Study of Employees of Small- and Large-Scale Enterprises,” SPJIMR, Mumbai. (December 30, 2018)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Leadership Conference on “Stress Identification and Management for Engineering Students”, (14th October 2016)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Macquarie University, Sydney, “Exploring Organisational Type, Age and Education on Organisational Commitment in the Changing Landscape of India”, Australia, 2016

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Indian Business School, “New Initiatives in B Schools to deal with Leadership and Soft Skills”, (27th February 2015)

    Dhir, V. L. (Author & Presenter), Organisational Behavior Teaching conference on Pedagogic Innovations (OBTC), “Organisational Behavior @ SPJIMR – Learning the “FUN” way!!!”, Charleston, USA, 2009

  • PERIODICALS

    Dhir, V.L. (2021). How This B- School is Redefining Mental Health and Its Importance. Inside IIM. https://insideiim.com/how-this-b-school-is-redefining-mental-health-its-importance

    Dhir, V.L. (2021). Management Lessons Business Leaders Can Learn from Sports. https://www.businesstoday.in/

    Dhir, V. L., Kapoor, V., Gondhalekar, M. (2020). Why we need to engage in agenda less conversation. People Matters. https://www.peoplematters.in/blog/life-at-work/why-we-need-toengage-in-agendaless-conversation-26860

    Dhir, V. L., Kochhar, R. (2020). Creating safe workspaces at home. People Matters. https://www.peoplematters.in/article/employee-relations/creating-safe-workspaces-at-home-26527

    Dhir, V. L., Karkhanis, G. V. (2020). Who Are We To Judge The Migrant Workers? : (Ir)Rationality From Their Perspective. BW Businessworld. https://www.businessworld.in/article/Who-Are-We-To-Judge-The-Migrant-Workers-Irrationality-From-Their-Perspective-/27-04-2020-190323/ SPJIMR

    Dhir, V. L., Khosla, S. (2019). Nurturing human bonds: A design thinking approach. People Matters. https://www.peoplematters.in/article/guest-article/nurturing-human-bonds-adesign-thinking-approach-22505

    Dhir, V. L., Kapoor, V., Kaushal, A. (2019). Here’s how storytelling enhances leadership presence and self-awareness. People Matters. https://www.peoplematters.in/article/others/heres-how-storytelling-enhances-leadershippresence-and-self-awareness-20947

    Dhir, V.L. (2016). Teaching Leadership: How do We Define Leadership, Other than that We Know It When We See It? Inside Higher Education.

    Dhir, V. L. (2016). Annakshetra – A Vehicle to Combat Food Wastage. SPJIMR.

    Dhir, V. L. (2016).Creating a Sustainable Future. SPJIMR

    Dhir, V. L. (2016). Sustainable Livelihood Development. SPJIMR.

    Dhir, V. L. (2016). Taking a big leap – Next Step after “Taiyari”. SPJIMR.

    Dhir, V. L. (2016). Technological Transformation And 40 Year Culture Of Manual Work. SPJIMR.

    Dhir, V. L. (2015). Evolving MGVS from a transactional to a transformational Organisation. SPJIMR.

    Dhir, V. L. (2014). HCDO: Seeking Sustainable Community Development. SPJIMR.

    Dhir, V. L. (2014). HIV Free Himachal- A Step Closer. SPJIMR.

    Dhir, V. L. (2014). Seeking Business Opportunity in Sustainability. SPJIMR.

  • WORKING PAPERS

    Design Thinking and Human Resource Management – A Natural Fit? – Writing

    Developing the Growth Mindset of Leaders through Impacting the Knowing, Doing, and Being: Path Breaking Scientifically designed non-classroom initiatives in MBA Education. – Writing

    What makes employees of family firms more committed and go beyond their call of duty? Role of ‘firm ownership type’ in Organisational commitment and citizenship behaviour- Under Review.

    Your Compliance with Cybersecurity Norms: Role of Personality and Team Environment. – Writing.

  • COURSES

    Organisational Behaviour

    Leadership

    Design Thinking and Innovation

  • AWARDS & HONOURS

    Recipient of the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship (2014) by the European Union for Interdisciplinary Bridges for Indo – European Studies

    Best-Case Writer Award for the case, “An Innovative Pedagogy for Teaching & Learning of Organisational Behaviour in B-Schools” at FLAME International Conference on Cases and Pedagogical Innovations, 2017.

  • WORKSHOPS

    Design Thinking for Economic Times, 2021

    Staff Workshops on Interpersonal Effectiveness, 2021

    Women Leadership Programme, 16 participants. (February 15, 2020 – February 16, 2020)

    Emerging Leaders, 15 participants. (May 9, 2019 – May 11, 2019).

    Enhancing Self-Awareness and Building High Performing Teams Huntsman PU Division, 27 participants. (July 9, 2019 – July 10, 2019)

    Workshop, Enhancing self-awareness and interpersonal effectiveness, MUI Women’s Wing on Empowering Women in Maritime community, 24th September 2019

    Staff Workshops on Self-Awareness, 2015

    Developing Leadership Competencies for German Soldiers, June 2014

    Workshops, Team Building and Stress Management, Merchant Navy officers, 1998 – 2004

    Faculty Development workshop on Decoding Personality Differences

  • TEACHING INTEREST

    Organisational Behaviour

    Leadership

    Design Thinking and Innovation

  • WORK EXPERIENCE

    S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai  

    Academic Faculty

    Professor, SPJIMR. (July 1, 2016 – Present).

    Associate Professor, SPJIMR. (April 1, 2009 – June 30, 2016).

    Assistant Professor, SPJIMR. (June 9, 2004 – March 2009).

    Administrative Assignments

    Department Chair, Organisation and Leadership Studies (OLS) (2022 – present).

    Head Personal Growth Lab (present)

    Group Head, Design Thinking (December 4, 2020).

    Head, Counselling and Development Centre. (November 26, 2015 – present).

    Head, People & Performance (2009 -2014)

    Head, Vishwas – A space for nurturing mental well-Being

    Member of the SPJIMR POSH Committee

    Narsee Monjee Institute For Management Studies (June 2001 – April 2004)

    Adjunct Faculty

    Narsee Monjee Institute For Management Studies (JUNE 2000 – APRIL 2001)

    Visiting Faculty

    Various Academic Institutions (May 1999 – April 2000)

    Visiting Lecturer, Mithibai College of Arts and Commerce

    Narsee Monjee College of Commerce Mumbai.

    Mithibai College (1988 – 1995)

    Lecturer

  • CONSULTING

    Consulted and co-designed the Women Leadership programme at Mahindra (2016 – 2018).

    Mahindra group was awarded the UNGCNI award for this Women Leadership programme.

  • MDPS/FDPS

    Management/Executive Development, Bajaj Finance (March 12, 2020 – March 14, 2020)

    Management/Executive Development, Marsh and Guy Carpenter (March 2, 2020 – March 4, 2020)

    Management/Executive Development, Women Leadership Programme (February 15, 2020 – February 16, 2020)

    Management/Executive Development, DCM Shriram (January 21, 2020 – January 22, 2020)

    Management/Executive Development, Yes Bank (January 8, 2020 – January 9, 2020)

    Management/Executive Development, Huntsman PU Division (November 4, 2019 – November 5, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, Voltas Limited (September 19, 2019 – September 22, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, DCM Shriram (August 8, 2019 – August 9, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, DCM Shriram (August 5, 2019 – August 6, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, Huntsman PU Division (July 9, 2019 – July 10, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, Pidilite (July 3, 2019 – July 8, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, DCM Shriram (May 16, 2019 – May 17, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, Emerging Leaders (May 11, 2019 – May 13, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, Emerging Leaders (May 10, 2019 – May 12, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, Emerging Leaders (May 9, 2019 – May 11, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, Lupin (May 8, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, Huntsman PU Division (May 6, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, Bharti Axa General Insurance (April 15, 2019 – April 16, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, Bharti Axa General Insurance (April 15, 2019 – April 16, 2019)

    Management/Executive Development, Chemetall India Pvt. Ltd (August 9, 2018)

    Management/Executive Development, Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CEdSS) (October 10, 2017 – December 23, 2017)

    Management/Executive Development, Mahindra & Mahindra, Women Leaders Programme (October 9, 2017 – October 14, 2017)

    Management/Executive Development, Total Oil Corporation (September 8, 2017)

    Management/Executive Development, Mahindra & Mahindra, Women Leaders Programme (June 10, 2017)

    Management/Executive Development, Total Oil Corporation (April 21, 2017)

    Management/Executive Development, Total Oil Corporation (April 13, 2017)

    Management/Executive Development, Tata Edge. (August 2015). Management/Executive Development, Asian PPG. (September 2014)

    Management/Executive Development with Axis Bank, ICICI, Great Eastern Shipping, Registry of Shipping, Bankers Training College, Mumbai, Chartered Accountants Council. (1990 – 2004)

  • CORPORATE MENTORING

    Dapps Inc: Strategic Advisor for US-based startup with headquarters in Los Angeles and offices in New York and Barcelona, Spain, for leadership in emerging technologies.

    Advisor at Joye – Wellbeing Technology Company partnered with Microsoft to bring engaging mental fitness experience to the users of Microsoft Teams globally. Head Quarters: Singapore ai (Jan. 2022)

  • BOARD MEMBERSHIPS

    External PhD Advisor , R.V. University, Bangalore, India

  • REVIEWER EXPERIENCE

    Academy of Management

    Management of Labour Studies

  • SOCIAL IMPACT

    Abhyudaya

    ADMAP Committee

    Others

  • PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

    Advisor, Mental Health Initiative at Sardar Patel Institute of Technology and Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Mumbai (June 2017 to Feb. 2020)

    Organized Mental Wellbeing sessions through ‘Vishwas and Beyond’ at the GSBN Beyond Virtual conference from 11th October to 1st November 2020. GBSN is a non-profit Organisation, Washington DC ( gbsn.org). Participants from across the GBSN network participated.

    Advisor, Mental Health at Rajhans Vidyalaya, Mumbai (June 2011 to 2015)

    Advisor, Bhavan’s Research Center (BRC Microbiology) Jun 2016 – Jul 2020

    Conceptualized and organized

    7th SBAC HR conclave 2017, Theme: New Age People Management

    6th SBAC HR Conclave 2016, Theme: Exploring the Changing Employee-Employer Relationship

    5th SBAC HR Conclave 2015, Theme: Equity in the Workplace: Tapping Talent from the Margins.

    4th SBAC HR Conclave 2014, Theme: Business as HR Partners – Redefining the Relationship

    5th SBAC HR Conclave 2013, Theme: Building Inclusive Workplaces by Harnessing Diversity

    6th SBAC HR Conclave 2012, Theme: Organisational and Social Transformation through Innovative Human Resource Management

    7th SBAC HR Conclave 2011, Theme: Managing People in changing Business environment: Implications for industry and management education

    HR Symposium Does HR really add value to an Organisation, 17th Jan 2010

    SPJIMR’s Business Leadership Seminar: 4th Jan 2008 – Leadership in the changing socio-economic context

    Pioneered Vishwas, a unique initiative at SPJIMR, for creating psychologically safe spaces for students through counselling, coaching, creating, and nurturing an ecosystem of symbiotic human connections. Facilitated non-classroom initiatives geared towards building ‘Being’ aspects of Management students.

    Participated in Design Thinking, Creative Thinking and Innovation, led by Dr Shrikant Datar from Harvard Business School, TOPSIM Simulation on General Management

    Created a Virtual Personal Growth Lab to mirror the offline experiential experience in the online medium.

    Curated a Design Thinking and Innovation course in the online mode

    Introduced the concept of Experiential Learning and Personal Growth Labs to the students across programmes ranging from Humanities, Interior Designing to Engineering and Management at Reutlingen University, Germany, 2014.

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