Nurturing Intrapreneurship: Exploring the Developments in Plantation Sector of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Intrapreneurship or corporate entrepreneurship has gathered significant attention in the recent past, especially in the developed world, as a means of achieving and sustaining competitive advantage in today’s hypercompetitive, globalized marketplace. In this study certain dimensions of the internal work environment, determining/moderating the development of an intrapreneurial culture, were assessed in the context of estate managers in the plantation sector of Sri Lanka. The results highlight the heavy workload and rather rigid organizational system within which managers must operate. Although respondents do claim to have sufficient autonomy in their decision-making, the work environment culture was not indicative as being flexible and allowance of mistakes. The findings of the study, overall, imply that estate managers’ ability to create an innovative organizational culture and environment is constrained by the rigidities prevail at the “Head Office”, from one hand, and the ‘empowering’ leadership style preferred by them to control the “Estate”, on the other. Journal of Food and Agriculture 2010 Vol. 03, No. 1 & 2, Page 57-67 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/jfa.v3i1-2.5171