Our young students and adult managers are systematically

tutored to associate Indian tradition chiefly with the

evils of casteism, joint family, sati, ritualism, feudalism,
child marriage, widowhood and so on. They are carefully
trained not to link Western modernity with colonialism
and apartheid, world wars and nuclear weapons,
Berlin Walls and Prauge Springs, North and South Koreas,
Vietnams, Ozone layer depletion and greenhouse
emissions, single parent Child, AIDS and much else.
Shall we forever stop ourselves from asking then:
What has done more harm to the world, Indian casteism
or the western colonialism.
Such is the great curse of the closed Indian mind today
Management Training
and
Indian Management Ethos
 Duryodhana’s admission to Krishna
I know what is right but is not inclined to
do it; I also know what is wrong but is not
inclined to refrain from it
 Management Education -- Background
 Management training is big business today
 In India, this revolves round parroting theories and
aping techniques spawned and practiced in the
west
 No organized attempt was made to evolve from
within the firmament of the Indian Matrix.
 However, the decade of ’80, saw the birth of a
concept and technique, which are our very own
(Prof. SKC at IIMC)
Science & Technology vs Ethics & Morality
The Fallacies:
1. Fuelling the propensities for greed and acquisitiveness.
(Greed robs the learned man of his wisdom –Holy Koran)
2. Emphasizes the accuracy and excellence in our external and
objective endeavors. ( Everything is dominated by the cult of
efficiency and success, and not by values – Einstein)
3. Large scale and highly expensive, organized science has been
blinded by its own momentum (powerful but blind horse).
Present day researchers acquires a constricted and pedestrian
view of his role
4. Complete domination of man over nature to derive utility in ever
increasing doses by subjugating the environment. (Does not have
solutions of critical problems). The moral and spiritual
dimensions are generally pushed out.
5. Exhorts to cultivate scientific temper (ashamed of dark,
superstitions and traditions). Men in the past were parochial
in space, but we are parochial in time as we treat past with
contempt that it does not deserve and respect the present
that it has not earned – Bertrand Russell
6. Science has given us powers fit for the Gods and to their
use we bring the mentality of school boys and savages
7. A major offensive has been on the “Transcendent”.
Science has long been making a point to scoff at the
supra-sensory dimension of human life, dubbing it as
obscurantist, not withstanding vast evidence to the contrary.
(Science and technology are not evils themselves but
become so when separated from wisdom).
Does India deserves the folly to ape the west and
then relearn the truth??
 Global vs. Parochial
 The American system can not be wished away. However,
blatant copying of the American style has come cropper in
Japan and Sweden.
 European nations have evolved their own styles of
management
 The Indian managers and academics are required to ground
themselves firmly into the psycho-spiritual practices that
made India’s prosperity the envy of the world. It was not a
poverty ridden country that was invaded by successive
hordes of foreigners.
 The Indian system presents models that stresses wisdom,
the emotions and the heart instead of only the intellect,
information and the brain
 Indian Ethos of Management
Six Pillars of IEM
1. Each soul is intrinsically Divine and all powerful:
Discovering divinity is the purpose of work; (a)Tat
Tvam Asi – You are supreme; (b) Aham Brahamasmi-
I’ve immense potential
2. Why work: Atmano Mokshaya Jagat Hitaaya Cha – for
my personal growth and welfare of the society
3. What is work: (a)Yagnayacharithartha karma – work
to be done with the spirit of yagna (teamwork,
selflessness) (b) Parasparam Bhavayanthu - Nurture
each other (Win-win approach).
 Six Pillars of IEM – Contd.

4. How to Work: Seva + Tyag; Serve others, Give your best

for others
5. Spirit of Work: Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam: Dexterity
and excellence in action is yoga
6. The resources: (a)Sukshma, subjective or subtle factors
are more important than Sthula / objective or gross factors
and (b) karma kshetra is dharma kshetra – work is
worship; the work place is sacred.

One should be a great achiever and should also be leading a peaceful life
IEM offers this blending
 TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves
More) Work or Yagna
 In a Yagna conducted in the Vedic period, the members of the
community came together in a spirit of dedication and
sacrifice for the purpose of a co-operative spiritual and divine
endeavor to invoke the grace of the Presiding Deity for the
blessing the community, for the peace of the world, for the
prosperity in wealth etc.
 In modern context, a yagna means

a. Any self-sacrificing work undertaken in a spirit of self-

dedication, for the blessing of all.
b. Any social, communal, national or personal activity (seva)
into which the individual is ready to pour himself forth
entirely in a spirit of service and dedication.
 Features of a Yagna:
 a. Inspiring goal for prosperity of everyone
b. Working together in team-spirit
c. Sharing the results
 Yagna-spirit is seen everywhere in nature: The Sun shines, the
moon appears, the sea throbs, the earth bears – all in a spirit of
sacrifice and self-dedicated love, never with a trace of
attachment or any kind of self-arrogating motives.
 Seva is faithfully followed by every member of the cosmos
instinctively. Man alone is given the freedom to act as he likes
and to the extent he disobeys this Universal Law, to that extent
he comes to suffer because of his arrogant and egoistic actions,
brings discord in the harmony of the existence around him.
 Skills / Values Matrix in Indian Ethos

Values
(Strong)
S(–) V(+) S+ V+
(Preferred State) (Ideal State) Skills
Skills
(Strong)
(Weak) S(-) V(-) S(+) V(-)
(Majority)

Values
(Weak)
Values to be seen in two fold manner; MEANS (how to act) and ENDS (goals)
The operative objective is to bridge the gap between weak & strong values
Basic Principles of Indian Ethos in Management
Management is not getting things done by others but helping
ordinary people produce extraordinary results

Three basic principles guide IEM

1. Unleashing infinite Potential: (Tat Tvam Asi -You are
Supreme) Each one of us have immense potential; we need
to discover our potential, translate potential into
performance and perform to our potential
2. Holistic Approach: (Atmano Mokshaya Jagat Hitaaya
Cha) In helping the society achieve its goals, the company
also seeks to maximize its personal interest
3. Subjectivity: Sukshma (courage, wisdom, morality,
attitude) or subtle subjective, intangible factors are more
important than sthula (materials, resources, manpower) or
gross, concrete, objective and tangible factors.
 Insights into IEM
Business need not be regarded evil, tainted and unethical.
Indian ethos demands subjective management system.
 Management Attitude – value oriented holistic management
 Humanizing the organization – in their HR practices
 Interiorizing management and self introspection – managers
to practice self analysis, self study and self criticism to
locate areas of friction and disharmony
 Brain – Stilling instead of Brain Storming; stepping back for
a while
 Self-dynamizing Meditation and development of intuitive
skills
 Motivation

West vs East 
  Abraham Maslow’s theory of needs is generally followed
by many organizations to motivate their employees by
fulfilling the different needs of the employees. The
Pancha-kosha description in the Taittiriya Upanishad of
Indian Scriptures not only encompasses Maslow’s theory
in itself, but also reveals the transcendental aspect of one’s
personality.
 
 East vs.West– A Comparison
Theory of Needs Panch Kosha
(Maslow) (Taittiriya Upanishad)
Physiological: food, air, water, Food Sheath: body is made up of
sleep and other basic needs food, sustains, grows by food and at
death goes back to food
Safety: Home, Job, Security, Vital Air Sheath: Physiological
insurance pension systems viz. respiration, excretion,
digestion, circulation, assimilation
Love / Social: Social groups, status, Mental Sheath: Emotion, feeling,
recognition etc. sentiments
Self Esteem: Self respect, self Intellectual Sheath: Thinking,
confidence, prestige, achievement discriminating, analyzing, decision
making
Self Actualization: Fulfillment of Bliss Sheath: Meditation
potential
 East Scores Over the West

Western Concepts Oriental Concepts

Nothing to represent OM or Truth is subtler

Divinity than the sheaths
Human beings are Humans are considered
considered as objects Divine and different from
mundane matter
Discovers his FINITE Discovers INFINITE
potential through self potential through Self
actualization Realization (Meditation)
Management Concepts Redefined - 1
Term General Concept IEM Concept
1. Management Getting things done Helping others to produce
extraordinary results
2. Productivity Related to plant’s Related ton men’s
capacity capability
3. Planning Management by results Management by strategy
4. Supervision Concern for tasks Concern for people
5. Motivation Maslow’s theory Self motivation for joy
6. Resources Relies on external Relies on internal
resources resources
7. Organization’s health Money oriented / profit People oriented,
loss / balance sheets environment friendly
8. Profitability Social costs not included Social costs (trust of the
in the balance sheet customers) internalized
9. Hygiene factor Attention on job Emphasis on mind
enrichment enrichment
Management Concepts Redefined - 2
10. Rights and duties Rights – primary, Duties –
secondary
11. Marketing Market driven economy,
keen competition
12. Structure Hierarchical
13. Growth Turn over driven
14. Job satisfaction Hygiene factors, creativity
ignored
15. Training Functional skills, not value
oriented
16. Man machine equation Machine dominates, lip
sympathy
17. Placements Qualification and
experience dependent
18. Quality Crisis of values
Duties over rights
Cooperation, social
awareness in marketing
Organic evolution,
autonomous
Public private benefits
coordinated
Innovation, uniqueness and
trouble shooting
Value oriented, holistic
Healthy philosophy,
emotional stability
Stresses natural inclination
and character
Value driven
 Mindset of a Manager as per IEM
General Concept
1. Produce results
2. Organize men, materials, machines and
money
3. Plan, set goals, prepare schedules,
checklist
4. Motivate, praise, reprimand, punish,
push people
5. Check, control, report at command post
6. Coordinate, requisition, convene
meetings
7. Instruct, issue notices, order, demand
compliance
8. Manage others, “I” centered
IEM concept
Produce performers
Mobilize men and sound out other
readiness
Obtain agreement and commitment on
means and ends
Inspire, empower, celebrate success,
mourn failure, draw people
Set personal example, visible, accessible
on the move
Facilitate, show ways to overcome
obstacles, take part in informal gatherings
Make queries, sound out ideas, encourage
suggestions
Manage yourself; humility
 The Lessons learnt

“We ourselves are our own fate through our actions. The
fate created by us binds us; for what we have sown we
must reap in this life” Sri Aurobindo
THEREFORE
The effective manager has to cultivate awareness that good
cause has good effect. This is like a psychological
thermostat warning us at the brink of taking any wrong
decision. There is no fatalism as we are accountable for
what is happening to us.
 Lessons Learnt contd. 2
 Creative thinking can sometimes solve right versus right
 Involving stakeholders is important
 There are multiple paths to success
 When unsure, seek advice
 Systems can facilitate both ethical and unethical behavior
 There are many examples in this class of how standing up
for what you believe is right– though it takes moral
courage– does not have the horrible repercussions you
might think it would have
 Values West Can Learn From East
• Individual must be respected
• Cooperation and trust
• Jealously is harmful to mental health
• Purification of mind
• Selfless service
• Work is worship
• Containment of greed
• Ethico-moral soundness
• Self discipline and self restraint
• Customer satisfaction
• Creativity
• Inspiration to give
• Renunciation and detachment
 Values East can learn from West
• National service through
• Accountability
industry
• Attitude to corruption
• Professionalism in dealings
• Believe in best
• Proud of work
• Civic and hygienic values
• Public apathy
• Do not rationalize failure
• Quality imperative
• Environment friendly
• Respect for public good
• Gender issues
• Respect for contractual
• Extensive target obligation
• Independence • Time conscious
• Listen to better performers • Unity and solidarity
 Indian Ethos for the Work-life

 Man’s unique inner resource

 Holistic relationship between Man and Nature
 Cooperation with each other
 Self management
 Yoga and meditation
 Dharma
 The spirit of renunciation
 Indian Values for the Workplace
 Importance of relationships in the workplace
 Respect for the elders
 Respect for hierarchy and status
 Need for security
 Simple living and high thinking
 The concept of ‘Karta’
 Internal orientation
 Importance of wisdom
 Balance and moderation
 Rights and duties
QUESTIONS ??