Sumantra Ghoshal Scientist and manager Country: USA

1. Early Life and Education
2. Corporate Career and Transition to Academia
3. Pioneering Research and Matriarchal Management
4. A Critique of Control and the Importance of Power
5. Leadership and Impact
6. Legacy

Early Life and Education

Sumantra Ghoshal was born in Calcutta, India. He earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Delhi University and a master's degree in social work and business administration from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management.

Corporate Career and Transition to Academia

After working at the Indian Oil Corporation, Ghoshal moved to the United States to pursue an academic career. He received a Master of Science in 1983, a PhD in 1985, and a DBA in 1986 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management and Harvard Business School, respectively.

Pioneering Research and Matriarchal Management

In his early research, Ghoshal focused on the matrix structure of multinational organizations and the conflicts that arose from the intersection of functions and geographic locations. Later, he shifted his attention to more ambitious theories, arguing against the dominance of economic logic in management.

A Critique of Control and the Importance of Power

Ghoshal's exploration of control in management led him to conclude that a theory of management that reduced human beings to economic agents was incomplete. He believed that the theory of agency, which assumed that principals could not trust agents, created untrustworthy agents. This critique drew significant criticism from colleagues.

Leadership and Impact

Ghoshal served as Dean of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, which was co-founded with the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and the London Business School. He co-authored the influential book "Managing Across Borders: The Transnational Solution," which has been translated into nine languages.

Legacy

Ghoshal died of a brain hemorrhage. His pioneering work on matriarchal management, the importance of power in organizations, and the limits of economic logic continues to influence the field of business administration.