( November 25, 1944 – September 12, 2025)
It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Professor Jagdeep S. Chhokar on September 12, 2025. Jagdeep S. Chhokar was a Professor (teacher, trainer, researcher, and advisor) in the Organisational Behaviour Area at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) from 1985 till November 2006, when he retired after reaching the mandatory age of superannuation. He was the Dean (2001-02) and Director-in-Charge (July-September 2002) at IIMA. Prof. Chhokar is also a citizen-activist for improving democracy and governance in the country, a birdwatcher and conservationist, and a trained lawyer.
In 1999, with a few of his IIMA colleagues, he was part of the founding team of the Association for Democratic Reforms, which has played a critical role in enhancing transparency in Indian elections for over two decades, winning several notable cases at the Supreme Court level. Since his retirement, he has also been associated with Aajeevika Bureau for over a decade, working on internal migration-related issues.
His educational background is as follows: LL.B. (2005, Gujarat University); PhD (1983, Louisiana State University), MBA (1977, University of Delhi), Grad. Mech. Engg. (1967); Grad. Prod. Engg. (1967). He also obtained a certificate in ornithology from the Bombay Natural History Society in 2001 and enjoyed the company of birds on the IIMA campus and wherever he travelled.
Before becoming a professor, he was an engineer-manager with the Indian Railways and worked as an international marketing manager for four years. After entering academia and the IIMA world, he taught in several countries, including Australia, France, Japan, and the US. His professional interests encompassed all aspects of organisational functioning, including behaviour, structure, design, and the effectiveness of organisations and their people within them. His professional interests also included cross-cultural management; international marketing; international management; international business; human resource management; business strategy and policy; management in government, and in public systems/sector; and industrial and occupational safety.
His research appeared in several international journals, including the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Columbia Journal of World Business (now known as the Journal of World Business), the International Labour Review, Industrial Relations, and the Journal of Safety Research. He also contributed chapters to edited books and has written several teaching cases. His writing also appeared in the business and popular press such as The Economic Times, The Times of India, The Hindu, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, The Financial Express, The Tribune, The Pioneer, Daily News & Analysis (DNA), The Asian Age, Deccan Chronicle, Frontline magazine, India Today, Governance Now, Business India.
He was the lead editor of a volume titled Culture and leadership across the world: The GLOBE Book of in-depth studies of 25 societies, brought out by the Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) Research Programme, and published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (now Routledge/Psychology Press), Mahwah, N.J., in 2007. This book was awarded the 2008 Ursula Gielen Global Psychology Book Award by the International Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association, for making “the most significant contribution to psychology as a global discipline.”
He fondly remembers his time at IIMA, accompanied by his wife, Kiran, who worked with the Centre for Environment Education in Ahmedabad for over two decades.
