The Relationship between Principles of Management and Bhagavad Gita

Author: Suswaram Sridhar

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A Study on Relationship between Principles of Management and Bhagavad Gita

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Contents

S.No.

Contents

Pg. No.

1

Introduction……………………………………………………………...........

04

2

HRM from Bhagavad Gita………………………………............................

05

3

Utilization of Available Resources…………………………………………..

06

4

Work Culture…………………………………………………………………..

07

5

Performance Metrics and Assessment …………………………………….

07

6

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….

09

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"Mind is very restless, forceful and strong, O Krishna, it is more difficult to control the mind than to control the wind" ~ Arjuna to Sri Krishna

Purpose Statement For all achievements, management’s task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their weaknesses irrelevant, as management guru Peter Drucker says.

It creates harmony in working together, equilibrium in thoughts and actions, goals and achievements, plans and performance, products and markets.

It resolves situations of scarcity; be they in the physical, technical or human fields, through maximum utilization with the minimum available processes to achieve the goal.

Lack of management causes disorder, confusion, waste, delay, destruction and depression. Managing people, money and materials in the best possible way, according to circumstances and environment, is the most important and essential factor for an organization.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and discover management lessons that are deeply embedded in the verses of Bhagavad Gita and blend them with modern industrial practices to develop effective and sustainable principles of management for modern workplaces.

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Introduction: Present Scenario of Mankind Today’s human life is very much busy, with its hectic work pressure, all kind relations being stressed with too much violence, and corruption.

The present generation of youth pursuing their education does not have the time for anything at all. In the pinch of time, they manage to spare themselves, they often put to fall prey to various distractions that life displays before them.

Working people are constantly running to earn more money in order provide their family and children with more luxuries and material desirables? In this rat race, humankind lose themselves and their identities, they also forget their actual purpose of life.

Bhagavad Gita for Present Generation Today’s youth is a precious asset for our nation. Shaping and molding them properly and helping them to enhance their personalities will let their hearts feel with complete purity and putting a step ahead by making them better citizens of the universe, who would go ahead and create a better world tomorrow.

The teachings mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita can be utilized by helping them with positive vision of their own lives, from a different mind-set cultivating them spiritually and by telling them to lead a quality and peaceful life. The fascinating thing about Bhagavad Gita is that it does not defend the adherent to sacrifice anything in this material world.

A manager’s functions can be summed up as: Forming a vision, Planning the strategy to realize the vision, Cultivating the art of leadership, Establishing institutional excellence, Building an innovative organization, Developing human resources, Building teams and teamwork, Delegating, Motivating and Communicating, Reviewing performance and taking corrective steps when necessary.

Thus, management is a process of aligning people and getting them committed to working for a common goal to the maximum social benefit. In other words, it is the search for excellence.

The critical question in many managers’ minds is how to be effective in their job.

The answer to this fundamental question is also found in the Bhagavad Gita, which repeatedly proclaims, “You must try to manage yourself.”

Although it was written thousands of years ago, the Bhagavad Gita enlightens people on all managerial techniques, leading them away from conflicts, tensions, poor productivity, absence of motivation, etc.

The modern Western management concepts of vision, leadership, motivation, excellence in work, goal achievement, meaningful work, decision making and planning, are all discussed in the Bhagavad Gita.

While western management too often deals with problems at the material, external and peripheral levels, the Bhagavad Gita tackles the issues from the grass roots level of human thinking.

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Once the basic thinking of humans is improved, it will automatically enhance the quality of their actions.

Western management philosophy is based on materialism and on a perennial thirst for profit, irrespective of the quality of the means adopted to achieve that goal.

This phenomenon has its source in the abundant wealth of the West and so “management by materialism” has caught the fancy of all the countries in the world.

India has been in the forefront in importing these ideas, mainly because of its centuries-old indoctrination by colonial rulers, which has inculcated in its population a feeling that anything from the Western world is good and anything Indian is inferior.

HRM from Bhagavad Gita Human Resource Management (HRM) is the process of managing the human resources within the organization efficiently and effectively.

Today's HR managers and consultants can benefit from the philosophy of BhagavadGita, which can serve as a guide in HRM. A mere reflection of western HRM approaches might not be appropriate especially in the Asian context due to differences in the cultural environment.

Lord Krishna preached in Bhagavad Gita that success and prosperity could be attained by: Bhagavad Gita that: "While we take care of the Devas (through the basic act of Yagna), Devas, in turn, take care of us. This sense of mutual dependency begets ultimate success and prosperity in the long-run".

From the management perspective if we look at it, if the organization serves the employees well in material and in immaterial means it will result in employees being motivated to work effectively. This will further enhance the retention of the employees within the organization This simply does highlight the notion of ‘if the customer is the king, the employee is king of the kings,' which is prevalent within the modern human resource management context. Further, it is stated in the Bhagavad Gita that: "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."

Even though many of the recent HRM approaches continue to emerge, the Bhagavad Gita has remained and will remain to be applicable and continue to contribute to HRM for many centuries to come .

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Utilization of Available Resources

Some people might argue that not seeking the business result of work and actions makes one unaccountable.

The first lesson of management science is to choose wisely and use 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 offers an important lesson to managers on effective principles of management: An effective and efficient manager chooses wisdom over numbers.

In fact, the Bhagavad Gita is full of advice on the theory of cause and effect, saying that all people are responsible for the consequences of their 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 discharging his or her responsibilities.

Work Commitment A popular verse of the Gita advises detachment from the consequences or results of actions performed in the course of one’s duty. Being dedicated to work means “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, we are not detached.

We are working only for the extrinsic reward that may or may not come to us.

Working with an aim to receive anticipated benefits means that the quality of performance of the current job or duty suffers (through mental stress or anxiety for the future). Events do not always respond positively to our calculations, hence expected fruits may not always be forthcoming. The Gita tells us not to mortgage present commitment to an uncertain future.

It should be true that once the basic needs are more than satisfied, managers should have little problem in optimizing their contribution to the organization and society.

Thus, the best means of effective performance management is simply the work itself. Attaining this state of mind, called nishkama karma, is the right attitude for work because it prevents the ego from dissipating attention by speculating on future gains or losses. The mind can be one’s friend or enemy, the cause of both bondage and liberation.

Motivation and Self-Transcendence It has been presumed for many years that satisfying basic needs of workers like adequate food, clothing etc., are the key factors in motivation.

However, it is a common experience that the dissatisfaction of employees and managers is identical — only the levels of dissatisfaction and composition vary.

However, more often than not, it does not happen that way. This situation is explained by the theory of self-transcendence propounded in the Gita.

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Self-transcendence involves renouncing egoism, putting others before oneself, and emphasizing teamwork, dignity, cooperation, harmony and trust; potentially sacrificing basic needs for higher goals. The ego spoils work and the ego is the centerpiece of most theories of motivation.

People do not need a theory of motivation, but a theory of inspiration.

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..

a) Daivi work: This type of culture involves fearlessness, purity, self-control, sacrifice, straightforwardness, self-denial, calmness, absence of fault-finding, absence of greed, gentleness, modesty, and absence of envy and pride. b) Asuri work: This type of work culture involves egoism, delusion, personal desires, improper performance, and work not oriented towards service. A mere work ethic is not enough. A hardened criminal may exhibit an excellent work ethic. What is needed is a work ethic conditioned by ethics in work.

It’s in this light that the suggestion, yogah karmasu kausalam, should be understood.

Kausalam means skill or technique of work, which is an indispensable component of a work ethic. Yogah is defined in the Gita as an unchanging equipoise of mind — detachment

Performance Metrics and Assessment The biggest constraint for modern management is the mind-set towards performance metrics and assessment.

Modern management practices approach this issue in the context of a world of duality.

It works at two stages.

In the first stage, the dual perspectives are first established. For example, all actions and outcomes are first classified using a framework of duality. Good Vs bad, desirable Vs undesirable, performer Vs nonperformer, belongs to my camp Vs opposite camp, positive Vs negative and so on. Based on these, expectations are set that pertain only to the positive aspects of this world of duality.

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In the second stage, the managers begin to develop a false notion that only good things are going to happen. In modern management practice, it is not considered wise to expect negative outcomes in this scheme of duality.

Consequently, they develop no skills to expect negative outcomes, to understand why these happen and evolve no methods to face these. This is clearly unrealistic. In the absence of these, managers develop needless tension and stress in their workplaces. They will be forced to deal with their sub-ordinates in non-managerial and at times unprofessional ways, even carrying these negative emotions and stress back home, and spoil their family life as well.

Slokas 24 and 25 in chapter 14 provide briefly all the important attributes pertaining to the world of duality that a leader/manager must possess to be successful in his/her workplace. If managers can develop a sense of equanimity as indicated in the Gita,

One of the greatest contributions of the Bhagavad Gita is to develop a good understanding of the risks of living in this contrived world of duality and equipping the managers to rise above the plane of duality.

Shri Krishna had devoted much time on this critical aspect of managing the world of duality. In chapter 2 verse 14, he urges Arjuna to learn to tolerate the difficulties that characterizes the world of duality. Later in chapter 2 verse 48, he proclaims that developing a sense of equanimity begets a composed and a complete personality, which is a quintessential attribute for a leader/manager. In several chapters he revisits the notion of sense of equanimity and reminds Arjuna of the virtues of it.

With regard to temporary failure, Sri Krishna says, “No doer of good ever ends in misery.” Every action produces results. Good action produces good results, and evil begets nothing but evil. Therefore, if you always act well, you will be rewarded.

- -Sri Krishna to Arjuna

quality of leadership will dramatically improve and so will the quality of management.

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Power of Science and Wisdom

References

Gita says, “Science can be understood by our senses i.e., mouth speaks and understands various issues through eyes, ears and other senses. Wisdom will create inner feeling (intuition), it will make power of your intentions very strong, which can be transformed into introspection, after a series of inner understanding if your mind says yes, it becomes intentions”.

Bhatt, R 2011, Importance of Bhagavad Gita in Management, International Referred Research Journal, 3(27).

Intentions starts with inner feelings then transform into intuitions and travel as introspection and ably supported by wisdom becomes an action plan and your expressions and through science

ISKCON, Chennai – Gita Made Easy

Mahadevan, B 2009, Bhagwat Gita: Ideas for Modern Management, Towards a New Paradigm of Business management – Alternative Perspectives from Ancient Indian Wisdom, Bangalore, IIM.

CONCLUSION My purpose is not to discard the Western model of efficiency, dynamism and striving for excellence, but to tune these ideals to India’s holistic attitude of lokasangraha—for the welfare of many, for the good of many.

There is indeed a moral dimension to business life.

What we do in business is no different, in this regard, from what we do in our personal lives. The means do not justify the ends.

Pursuit of results for their own sake is ultimately self-defeating.

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