LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR AND EMPLOYEE MORALE: A Study of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of Shipbuilding Industry

The current study mainly focussed on the Indian shipbuilding industry proven to have various benefits such as a large coastline along cheap labour and Government subsidy for shipbuilding yards. These facts have gone a long way to develop the shipbuilding industry in India. Most prominent shipping yards or shipbuilding yards in India included HSL - Vizag MDL -Mumbai CSL - Kochi GRSE - Kolkota GSL- Goa from Public sector and L&T - Chennai RNEL- Pipavav MODEST- Bhavnagar ALCOCK- Bhavnagar& ABG-Surat were prominent names in the private sector. MSMEs have been the backbone of Indian economy with respect to generation of employment & improving economic growth rate and shipbuilding industry is no exception. Moreover the literature found that the MSMEs in Indian shipbuilding industry had the potential to generate 2.5 million jobs in core shipbuilding and supporting industry sectors. However the Indian shipbuilding industry lacked in both cases of performance and productivity. The Indian shipping industry has been controlled and monitored by the Ministry of Shipping. However it lacked efficiency and performance. Moreover the under performance of the Indian shipbuilding industry was linked to the problem of leadership style and qualities. Literatures proved that the leadership style and employees morale were very important aspects that modulated any industry let alone shipbuilding industry. Therefore the research aimed to determine the reasons behind the under-performance of shipbuilding industry with respect to productivity so as to contribute to the national wealth from the human resources point of view.