WORLD CLASS MANAGEMENT BASED ON

Catherine Diana A Assistant Professor, Dept. of MBA, Sri Institute of Management, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India

. ABSTRACT— One of the greatest contributions of India to the world is Holy Gita which is the outcome of Mahabharata. The Bhagavad-Gita is preached in the battle fields’ by lord Krishna to , as counseling to do his duty, while multitudes of men stood by waiting. Mahabharata has got all the management tactics to achieve the mental equilibrium and to over come any situation. Management has become a part and parcel of everyday life, be it at home, in the office or factory and in government. In all organizations, where a group of human beings assemble for a common purpose, management principles come into play through the management of resources, finance and planning, priorities, policies and practice. Management is a systematic way of carrying out activities in any field of human effort. The modern management concepts of vision, leadership, motivation, excellence in work, achieving goals, giving work meaning, decision making and planning, are all discussed in the Bhagavad-Gita. There is one major difference. While western management thought too often deals with problems at material, external and peripheral levels, the Mahabharata helps to tackles the issues from the grass root level of human thinking. Once the basic thinking of man is improved, it will automatically enhance the quality of his actions and their results. The critical question in all managers’ minds is how to be effective in their job. The answer to this fundamental question is found in Bhagavad-Gita, which repeatedly proclaims that “you must try to manage yourself”.

Key words: Bhagavad-Gita, management principles, quality of actions.

1. INTRODUCTION The Bhagavad-Gita , written thousands of years ago, enlighten us on all managerial techniques leading us towards a harmonious and blissful state of affairs in place of the conflict, tension, poor productivity, absence of motivation and so on, common in most of Indian enterprises today and probably in enterprises in many other countries. Within its eighteen chapters it revealed a human drama. This is the experience of everyone in this world, the drama of the ascent of man from a state of utter dejection, sorrow and total breakdown and hopelessness to a state of prefect understanding, clarity, renewed strength and triumph. Mahabharata, one of the greatest epics of all times, is not just the story of a fratricidal war or a fount of wisdom for philosophers; it is also a comprehensive manual on strategy. The Mahabharata deals with eternal values and truths, making its message relevant today too. The analogy between kingship and leadership and the application of kingship to modern business practices, makes ’s epic poem a pertinent handbook on management. Management is a systematic way of carrying out activities in any field of human effort. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their weaknesses irrelevant, says the Management Peter Drucker.

The western management philosophy failed to ensure the betterment of individual life and social welfare and lead to the poor quality of life for many. Hence there is an urgent need for management – by- values that can be done through the management concepts in the light of Bhagavad-Gita. The holy Gita makes practical psychology of transformation, it offers us the tools to connect with our deepest intangible essence and we must learn to participate in the battle of life with right knowledge.

2. Management guidelines from Mahabharata

Kauravas

Bhishma Arjuna

Drona

Karna Dhrshtadyumna

Shalya

Kripacharya Ghatotkach

Ashwatthama Shikhandi

Duryodhan

2.1 Preparation

The two generals of the Mahabharata and Pandavas started preparing for the war. The preparation was started when the pandavas were exiled for 13 years. an efficient member of Kauravas team went on a country wide military mission subdued the different kingdoms and acquired wealth, whereas Pandavas turned their attention to improving over their weakness. Arjuna set out a mission to acquire the Divyastras. Thus the first lesson of management science is to identify the weakness and start preparing to overcome those things to achieve success.

“Turn your weakness into your strength”.

2.2 Allies

Kauravas had centralized power system, the greatest empire of the time, but not many powerful allies, except from old relations from far off places like Gandhara, Sindhu, and Kambodia .The pandavas had no wealth and no power of their own at that time, but they had powerful allies all over India .They had allies in through marriage with Darupadi, Dwaraka through marriage with Arjuna and , and in Magadh, Chedi, Kasi, Kekaya, Matsya etc the powerful allies helped a lot at the time of war.

“Make Powerful Allies”

2.3 Leadership

Kauravas followed centralized leadership .One head of army at a time, who has supreme authority of 11 akshouhini of army. Pandavas had only seven akshouhini and they had distributed leadership .Seven commanders for the seven divisions with Dhrshtadyumna as the commander in chief, Arjuna as supreme commander and Krishna as Arjuna’s charioteer and counselor, which helped them to share their responsibilities, to destroy their enemies in a well planned manner. One akshouhini is equal to 21,870 chariots, 21,870 elephants, 65,610 horses and 1, 09,350 foot soldiers (in a ratio of 1:1:3:5).

“Share your responsibilities”

2.4 Team Spirit

Kauravas had no team spirit; they all fought their individual wars. fought for his vow to protect the throne . and , they owed allegiance to the throne, simply cheated by to be there, was originally a Pandavas ally. They did not gel with each other. Pandavas was one team, had one goal. As men, they all had huge respect for Krishna and Yudhisthira. While as warriors they were in complete awe of Bhima and Arjuna, most of them were close relatives, more than that they all were part of the decision making process. It was their common war

“Team work succeeds where individual effort fails”

2.5 Individual Motives

In Kauravas team except Duryodhana, nobody wanted war .All the four main generals had strong ties with the Pandavas. Bhishma the great grandfather does not want to kill Pandavas, he decided to kill a thousand soldiers each day, Drona the mentor of Pandavas decided only to capture them. Shalya the maternal uncle of Pandavas loved them and covertly helped them by humiliating Karna. Karna, the brother of Pandavas promised not to kill any of the other Pandavas .Thus the kauravas team became a team of traitors.

Whereas Pandavas had a common goal and individuals had their individual targets. Their individual agenda became the team’s agenda. Like Dhrshtadyumna: Drona, Shikhandi: Bhishma, Arjuna: Karna, Bhima: duryodhana and his brothers, : and his sons.

“Get the right man for the right job”

2.6 Commitment

Bhishma a part of Kauravas team, himself gave away the secret of killing him to the Pandavas, he prolonged the war by killing only inconsequential soldiers. Drona too gave away the secret by saying he was invulnerable as long as he held a weapon, Karna did not kill Yudhisthira and Bhima when he got the chance, and all of these are because of the big emotional attachment, which doubts the commitment to job.

In Pandavas’ team Abhimanyu, a 16 year kid ventured beyond enemy lines alone. This was suicide mission but he still went in and took a great part of the army down with him. Ghatotkach even in death took with him almost half of the army, Yudhisthira, he knew, he could not face karna in war, but still went in to set an example. Thus it’s clear that, to win, the interest of individual should never exceed the team interest.

“The best man for a job is not the one with the best capabilities but one with the greatest commitment”

2.7 Right Managers

Pandavas took up calculated risk of knowing the weakness of their enemies and exploit them. They were ready to sacrifice everything in order to have Krishna – The greatest Crisis manager the world has seen, in their battle field, who empowered the Pandavas because of their ethical values and committed nature.

Yudhisthira, the low key strategist, on the first day of the war, he played a master game, went over to the enemy side to seek blessings from elders. In reality he made a covert deal with them, where in all of them agreed to help him and unfolded the secrets of defeating them. While coming back he took a calculated risk. He made an offer to all the assembled people to change sides if they wanted to. He knew well of the lack of cohesiveness among the Kauravas ., son of Dhrtarashtra crossed over to the Pandavas. This exposed the weakness of the kauravas for all to see.

“Inspire, invigorate, and counsel your team in moments of need” 2.8 Know the reality

The Princes of Kauravas were brought up in the comfort of the royal palace, matured on romanticized ideals of power, fame, courage and valor and they had no experience of ground reality.

Pandavas spent their greater part of their lives in poverty, spent their childhood in the Himalayan foot hills among Rishis. Thirteen years of exile, this includes 12 years of vanvas and 1 year of agyatvas. Experienced ground reality and had contact with people from various strata of the society like Sannyasis(celibate monks), Acharyas(householders, teachers), poor Brahmanas , lower caste potter, different races of people, , , , Nagas and people from different regions like uttarkuru, Bengal etc, they had the sense of sharing and brotherhood with everyone.

“Know ground realities, know different ideologies and share”

2.9 Women Empowerment

Kauravas team was patriarchal structure where no importance was given to women. No women were considered for their decision making process ., mother of Duryodhana was retreated to the inner chambers, and no one listened to her.

Pandavas had matriarchal structure. was the supreme authority for Pandavas; Yudhisthira said that “whatever my mother says is to me”. Darupadi was a companion in whatever the Pandavas did. She had a big role in the entire decision making. Without her the Pandavas would have most probably reclined to the forest. Even the younger Pandavas: Ghatotkach, Abhimanyu and were brought up by their mother’s. So the female influence was huge. This shows that any team which does not have women is unbalanced, for the masculine traits of aggression and dominance should be balanced by the feminine traits of harmony and sustenance.

“Women = Better Half”

3 Management Guidelines from Bhagavad-Gita

3.1 Utilization of available resources

The first lesson of management science is to choose wisely and utilize scarce resources optimally. During the curtain raiser before the Mahabharata War, Duryodhana chose Sri Krishna's large army for his help while Arjuna selected Sri Krishna's wisdom for his support. This episode gives us a clue as to the nature of the effective manager - the former chose numbers, the latter, wisdom.

3.2 Detached Thinking

A popular verse of the Gita advises "detachment" from the fruits or results of actions performed in the course of one's duty. Being dedicated work has to mean "working for the sake of work, generating excellence for its own sake." If we are always calculating the date of promotion or the rate of commission before putting in our efforts, then such work is not detached. It is not "generating excellence for its own sake" but working only for the extrinsic reward that may (or may not) result.

Working only with an eye to the anticipated benefits, means that the quality of performance of the current job or duty suffers – through mental agitation of anxiety for the future. In fact, the way the world works means that events do not always respond positively to our calculations and hence expected fruits may not always be forthcoming. So, the Gita tells us not to mortgage present commitment to an uncertain future. Some people might argue that not seeking the business result of work and actions makes one unaccountable.

In fact, the Bhagavad-Gita is full of advice on the theory of cause and effect, making the doer responsible for the consequences of his deeds. While advising detachment from the avarice of selfish gains in discharging one's accepted duty, the Gita does not absolve anybody of the consequences arising from discharge of his or her responsibilities. Thus the best means of effective performance management is the work itself. Attaining this state of mind (called "nishkama karma") is the right attitude to work because it prevents the ego, the mind, from dissipation of attention through speculation on future gains or losses.

3.3 Motivation – self and self- transcendence

It has been presumed for many years that satisfying lower order needs of workers - adequate food, clothing and shelter, etc. are key factors in motivation. However, it is a common experience that the dissatisfaction of the clerk and of the Director is identical - only their scales and composition vary. It should be true that once the lower-order needs are more than satisfied, the Director should have little problem in optimizing his contribution to the organization and society. But more often than not, it does not happen like that. ("The eagle soars high but keeps its eyes firmly fixed on the dead animal below.") On the contrary, a lowly paid schoolteacher, or a self-employed artisan, may well demonstrate higher levels of self-actualization despite poorer satisfaction of their lower- order needs. This situation is explained by the theory of self-transcendence propounded in the Gita.

Self transcendence involves renouncing egoism, putting others before oneself, emphasizing team work, dignity, co-operation, harmony and trust, indeed potentially sacrificing lower needs for higher goals, the opposite of Maslow. "Work must be done with detachment." It is the ego that spoils work and the ego is the centerpiece of most theories of motivation. We need not merely a theory of motivation but a theory of inspiration.

3.4 Disinterested Work

A concept which is described as "disinterested work" in the Gita where Sri Krishna says, "He who shares the wealth generated only after serving the people, through work done as a sacrifice for them, is freed from all sins. On the contrary those who earn wealth only for themselves, eat sins that lead to frustration and failure." Disinterested work finds expression in devotion, surrender and equipoise. The former two are psychological while the third is determination to keep the mind free of the dualistic (usually taken to mean "materialistic") pulls of daily experiences. Detached involvement in work is the key to mental equanimity or the state of "nirdwanda."

This attitude leads to a stage where the worker begins to feel the presence of the Supreme Intelligence guiding the embodied individual intelligence. Such de-personified intelligence is best suited for those who sincerely believe in the supremacy of organizational goals as compared to narrow personal success and achievement.

3.5 Work culture

An effective work culture is about vigorous and arduous efforts in pursuit of given or chosen tasks. Sri Krishna elaborates on two types of work culture – "daivi sampat" or divine work culture and "asuri sampat" or demonic work culture. · Daivi work culture – involves fearlessness, purity, self-control, sacrifice, straightforwardness, self-denial, calmness, absence of fault-finding, absence of greed, gentleness, modesty, absence of envy and pride. ·

Asuri work culture - involves egoism, delusion, personal desires, improper performance, work not oriented towards service. Mere work ethic is not enough. The hardened criminal exhibits an excellent work ethic. What is needed is a work ethic conditioned by ethics in work. By making the equable mind the bed-rock of all actions, the Gita evolved the goal of unification of work ethic with ethics in work, for without ethical process no mind can attain equipoise. The guru, Adi Sankara (born circa 800 AD), says that the skill necessary in the performance of one's duty is that of maintaining an evenness of mind in face of success and failure.

The calm mind in the face of failure will lead to deeper introspection and see clearly where the process went wrong so that corrective steps could be taken to avoid shortcomings in future. The principle of reducing our attachment to personal gains from the work done is the Gita's prescription for attaining equanimity. It has been held that this principle leads to lack of incentive for effort, striking at the very root of work ethic. To the contrary, concentration on the task for its own sake leads to the achievement of excellence – and indeed to the true mental happiness of the worker.

IV. CONCLUSION

While commonplace theories may be said to lead us to the bondage or extrinsic rewards, the Gita's principle leads us to the intrinsic rewards of mental, and indeed moral, satisfaction. Work results The Gita further explains the theory of "detachment" from the extrinsic rewards of work in saying: · If the result of sincere effort is a success, the entire credit should not be appropriated by the doer alone. If the result of sincere effort is a failure, then took the entire blame does not accrue to the doer.

Assimilation of the ideas of the Gita leads us to the wider spectrum of "lokasamgraha" (general welfare) but there is also another dimension to the work ethic - if the "karmayoga"(service) is blended with "bhaktiyoga" (devotion), then the work itself becomes worship, a "sevayoga" (service for its own sake.) Along with bhakti yoga as a means of liberation, the Gita espouses the doctrine of nishkamya karma or pure action untainted by hankering after the fruits resulting from that action.

REFERENCES [1]. Gurcharan Das, The Difficulty of Being Good, Penguin Books India, 2009

[2]. G.N.Das, Lessons from Mahabharata, Abhinav Publications India,1998

[3]. Internet / lifepositive.com http://www.lifepositive.com/Mind/Corporate_Management/Leadership_secrets_fro m _the_Mahabharata92004.asp

[4]. Mahabharata – the oldest management Bible http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-22915.html

[5]. The Economic Times online News, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/corporate-dossier/Mythologist- Pattanaik-decodes-the-dharma-sankats-of-family-usiness/articleshow/6948217.cms

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Ms. A. Catherine Diana, B.Com, MBA,CABL, PGDED Assistant Professor, Sri Krishna Institute of Management, Kunaimuthur, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India.

Mobile No: +91 9790616506 Landline No: 0422-2607447 E-Mail Id: [email protected]

Holds a Bachelor degree in Commerce and completed Post Graduation in Master in Business Administration. Area of Specialization is Human Resource and Marketing. Areas of interest and subjects for instructions include Human Resource Management, Business Law, Business Ethics, Knowledge Management System, Management Information Systems, Accounting for Managers, and Entrepreneurship Development. Presented five papers in the National Conferences Published three papers.