basusharma.com

I was born on 29 September 1950 in Nepal. I earned a Ph. D. degree in Industrial Relations from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A., in 1983, and emigrated to Canada in 1984 to work at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon as an Assistant Professor.

I have been a professor of Organizational Studies at the University of New Brunswick since 1985. I received the UNB Merit Award for Extraordinary Performance in Research, Service, and Teaching in 1990,1998 and 2005. I also received the Faculty of Business Administration’s Excellence in Research Award in November 2006 for outstanding performance throughout my career. I retired in December 2023 after 39 years of service at the university.

You may be wondering what happened to me between 1950 and 1983. In fact, several things happened. Here is a summary of those happenings. I was born with breathing problems. My parents were not sure whether I would survive. With the help of a local sorcerer (Dhami), I was able to breathe normally and thus survived. I was the only male child in the family. The members were therefore jubilant about my survival. Not only that, they poured so much love and affection on me that I was almost at the threshold of being a spoiled kid. But life took a different turn: my mom passed away in July 1954 at the age of 38. She left six children behind for my father to look after—five daughters ranging in age from one and a half years to sixteen and a son, two months short of four. I was raised by my father.

Since there was no public school in my village at that time, I was home-schooled until grade four, when a primary school was founded in the nearby village called Okherbote. I did grade five there and got a double promotion. So I skipped grade six and moved to grade seven at a middle school in Bokhim, where my maternal uncle lived. I lived with his family to complete grade seven and joined Bidyodaya High School for grades eight, nine and half of ten. I completed grade ten at Dharan Night High School and sat for the S.L.C. exam. I did my Intermediate of Arts from Mechi College, Bhadrapur, Bachelor of Arts with a major in Economics and Special English from Patan College, and Master's in English literature from the Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu.

I was then awarded a fellowship to study for Ph. D. in linguistics by the Kathmandu branch of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). I studied linguistics under the supervision of Dr. Austin Hale for a year and a half, successfully defended the thesis proposal and was well underway towards earning a doctoral degree from the T.U. But because of a political problem between the Government of Nepal and the SIL, key people associated with the SIL, including Dr. Hale, were asked to leave the country within three months. Dr. Hale left for the Philippines. My Ph.D. program collapsed. I started to teach in the English department at the central campus.

I had given up the idea of a Ph.D. Suddenly, I got a call from the director of The SIL, and in our conversation, he mentioned that he had secured an application form for me from the University of Illinois. He wanted me to go to see him. I was excited and went to see him right away. He gave me the application and asked me to complete and send it. So I did. And my application was successful. I joined the Department of Linguistics at the University of Illinois in January 1977. I studied linguistics for a year and changed to labour and industrial relations. I completed a master’s degree in 1979 and a Ph.D. degree in 1983.

I have held appointments at the National University of Singapore, Tribhuvan University (Kathmandu, Nepal), and the University of Saskatchewan. I have been a consultant for the International Labour Organization, the Singapore National Employers Federation, and the Singapore Institute of Labour.

My intellectual contributions have been in diverse areas of business, management and economic development, with over 90 publications, including Aspects of Industrial Relations in ASEAN, originally published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore and later translated and published in Japanese by the Kansai Institute of Labour of Doshisha University in Japan. I founded the Journal of Comparative International Management in 1997 and served as its editor-in-chief until 2021. I was actively involved in the flagship Canadian professional organization of business and management professors in Canada--Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, serving in various capacities such as a member of the executive, awards chair and the Chair of the Management Education and International Business divisions. Also, I was President of the Atlantic Schools of Business Society for 2005-2006 and for 2015-2016.

Dive into Basu Sharma's world through various sections designed to provide a comprehensive overview of his life and work. From academic publications to personal blog posts, discover the diverse interests and experiences that have shaped his journey.