This document discusses management principles from an Indian perspective and how Indian ethos can influence organizations globally. It covers several topics: 1. It outlines important eras in world history that influenced business and economies. While India and China once dominated globally, western influence grew over centuries. Now focus is shifting back to these eastern economies. 2. Indian management principles were developed long before the field of management existed. Concepts like work as worship, unattached action, and human welfare influenced how organizations are structured. 3. Three traditions influenced management thought - pure materialism, humanism, and transcendentalism. Isms like capitalism and socialism also had impacts. Models of leadership discussed include Vijigshu, work

1. MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND ETHOS:
FROM INDIA TO THE WORLD
Rishikesh Patil
(rishikeshpatil12@gmail.com)
The industrial revolution in the 16th
-17th
century, the great depression of
1930, the fordist and post-fordist era in the 60’s, are all important eras in
world history. They have had a major influence on world economies, large
corporations and industrial giants. They had an impact on businesses and
still affect the way we do business today. Every era brought in a new
learning, some the hard way. Hundreds of years ago, India and China
controlled around 50 percent of the world’s GDP. Culturally rich, these two
countries had a major influence on world trade. However, the western
domination was beginning to be felt by the 14th
and the 15th
century and
gained momentum thereafter. The two eastern giants lost their power and a
new era ushered in. For centuries, the western world dominated and the
eastern economies followed. They defined the way businesses are done, we
followed. They set principles, we followed. They succeeded, we tried to
catch up. They faltered and fell, we limped.
Today, the dynamics have changed. The focus has again shifted to the old
superpowers, India and China. The western world is increasingly influenced
by the eastern world economies and trying to cash in on their growth story.
Having adopted a low-regulated capitalist economic system and faltered,
they have now turned towards the other side of the world for management
lessons. They are now looking towards us for solutions, ways to mend their
businesses. The time has come when history will repeat itself and India is
once again at the centre of the world stage. A land of diverse cultures, a
country with a booming economic growth, a nation regarded as the world’s
largest democracy, a rich cultural heritage, a country which taught the world
the principles of life and science through its diverse scriptures, a country
where management principles were laid long before the field of
management came into existence. We are a paradigm of success despite the
constraints. It’s time that India propagates the relevance of the ethos which
have laid the foundation of our success. What are these and how can they
affect the organizations? Let us analyze in brief.

2. ROOTS OF MANAGEMENT
The concept of management has been changing over a period of time. Until
recently, management was considered as an art and a state craft. With the
advent of industrial revolution management became a science and an art
was transformed into science. Subsequently, management became a
discipline and a profession that could be formally taught to all those
interested in becoming managers. In this discipline we find the convergence
of various other disciplines such as economics, psychology, sociology,
ethics, et cetera. The ‘core knowledge’ of the discipline of management
draws heavily from other disciplines and through value addition, integration
and synthesis of ideas from various disciplines a new discipline of
management has been created with its own concepts at the levels of thought,
discourse and action.
Vedic integration of transitions in management thought from ancient times
to modern times provides a Vedic integration of various intellectual
traditions that have influenced the development of management ideas and
concepts. Some integrative models of ‘transcendental management’
suggests the need to create an intellectual bridge between ‘Harvard’ and
‘Haridwar’ metaphorically representing the concepts of corporate
management and self-management.
The discipline of management has also been influenced by various ‘isms’
such as capitalism, socialism, feminism, et cetera. While its roots are largely
in capitalism and the capitalistic mode of thinking, it could not avoid the
influence of other ‘isms’ such as socialism and feminism. The corporate
model, with its focus on maximizing returns to the shareholders, had its
origin in capitalism. However, over the years, the corporate model itself has
been undergoing a change. From a mere stakeholder’s organization it
became stakeholders organization wherein it had to address itself to the
concern of various stakeholders such as customers, employees, suppliers,
government, society, et cetera. In its third stage of evolution, corporate are
evolving as ‘corporate citizens’. They may further evolve into social
institution as their influence on the society increases. They are no more
mere business entities but are expected to play their role as social
institutions wherein they care for the society and the social welfare. These
concerns are finding their expression in ideas such as ‘corporate
governance’ and ‘corporate social responsibility’. These concerns point to
the need of new ideas in management thought. The intellectual roots of
management and social thought can be traced to three major traditions, viz:
 Pure materialistic/ Economist tradition

3.  Humanist-Materialist tradition
 Transcendentalist tradition
Pure materialist or economist tradition considers human beings as economic
units. Humanist materialist tradition considers human beings as social
beings for whose benefit the society exists. This tradition’s thought is rooted
in the philosophy of justice, rights and duties (JRD) emphasized by many
social thinkers. Transcendentalist tradition is rooted in the philosophy of
love, compassion and devotion (LCD) emphasized in various spiritual
traditions. This three step model also broadly corresponds to capitalism,
socialism and spiritualism reflecting their major focus in terms of market,
society and self.
The three intellectual traditions also define three worldviews, viz:
 Transactional- Primacy to calculative and acquisitive mindset or mode of
thinking
 Transformational- Primacy to liberation from domination, exploitation and
expression, concern for others, et cetera
 Transcendental- Primacy to helping others
The fight between various ‘isms’ has given way to reconciliation, mutual
understanding and co-existence of various ‘isms’. The integration has been
happening through emergence of ideas such as corporate social
responsibility, corporate governance, concern for the poorest and the
weakest. This indicated that the world is moving towards holism wherein a
holistic view is taken to integrate the contradictory world-views. ‘Ism’
stands for an idea or a set of ideas, its spirit and its manifestation.
 I- ideas
 S- spirit
 M- manifestation
Hence, we use them to connote ideas that give primacy to a central concept
and not to represent an ideology
PURPOSE OF EXISTENCE (ENVISIONING THE
FUTURE OF AN ORGANIZATION)
What is the purpose of existence? A transactional view of life considers
struggle for existence and 'survival of the fittest' as purpose of existence.
The transformational view considers struggle for social values such as
justice, rights and duties as purpose of existence. The transcendental view

4. considers struggle for spiritual values such as love, compassion and
devotion as purpose of existence. Further, 'struggle for grace of divinity
(god)' is also part of transcendental view. Thus, there are four types of
struggles for human beings viz. struggle for existence, struggle for human
values, struggle for spiritual values and struggle for 'grace of divinity'.
In transcendental management, an organization has to identify its higher
order purpose of existence, in addition to its vision and mission. In
absence of linkage of vision and mission with higher order purpose, an
organization may not contribute towards social objectives. Purpose of
existence in the social context is reflected through Negative - Positive
Karma of human beings. Individuals driven by higher order purpose of
existence tend to be more positive - karma oriented. In contrast, believers
in 'survival of the fittest' tend to resort to unethical actions and thereby tend
to be negative - karma oriented. The best example of this would be the
fordist era. Henry Ford was the first one to bring in the assembly line
system of production. The main motive was to increase production to high
levels. In this process, however, employees lost value. They were simply
seemed like mechanized robots that were programmed to do specific tasks.
Employee job satisfaction levels were the lowest in this fordist era.
The, transcendental philosophy of HOPE (Higher Order Purpose of
Existence) tends to motivate people towards synergy creation. Even one
man or women with well defined Higher Order Purpose of Existence can
change the society or shape the history. There are many examples of the
same from history of the world. In fact, every age produces a new prophet
i.e. individuals who articulate a Higher Order Purpose of Existence,
according to the needs of the times and create mega-changes in the society
and shape history. This has been the experience of the history and seems to
be a law of nature, wherein natural mutation may favour an individual with
highly developed mind. This is also reflected in the concept of 'arrival of
the best to lead the rest' in contrast to Darwinian concept of 'survival of
the fittest to eliminate the rest'.
ETHOS THAT SHAPE THE FUTURE
Human Welfare or the Loksangraha
This idea implies that individual and corporate actions should be driven by
the criterion of the overall benefit of the society. It draws our attention
towards the social responsibility of the corporates. 'Sarve bhavantu sukhina,
sarve shantu niramaya' is an ancient Sanskrit sloka outlining the basic
philosophy of life applicable not only at the individual level but also at the
corporate level. It implies 'welfare of all' and 'survival of all'. It should be

5. contrasted with the social Darwinism which believes only in the 'survival of
the fittest'.
Ethical Profits or the Shubh Labh
Wealth generation through ethical means or the Dharma driven Artha has
been an ideal principle for the conduct of business. Indeed wealth
generation has been given positive importance in Indian secular texts and
scriptures. The very fact that India was known as Golden bird at one point
of time in the world history, indicates that wealth generation had its
due importance in the overall scheme of life. The conditionality imposed on
the wealth generation was in the form of an ethical principle that wealth
generation should be driven by dharma or the ethical ways. Hence, the idea
of shubh-labh was developed.
Unattached Action or the Nishkam Karma
The idea of nishkama karma is unique to Indian thought. Formulated
centuries ago, the concept is at the core of leadership concept in corporate
context. Detached action without longing for the immediate results is the
essence of this concept. Modern leadership literature is coming close to this
idea as a fundamental quality of enlightened leaders.
Work as Worship
The ideal concept of work ethics is inherent in the well-known Indian
phrase, 'work is worship'. Hence, the attitude in performing one's task
should be in the form of worship. When work is treated as worship it leads
to excellence in task performance. Manifestation of this idea can be seen in
many fields of art and literature wherein most people ascribe their
achievements to their attitude towards work in the form of work as worship.
It may be indicated that the difference between 'work religion' and 'personal
religion' should be understood. In the idea of 'work as worship', the 'work
religion' gets a priority over the rituals of the personal religions. When
personal religion is adjusted to the requirements of work religion, then only
proper work ethics develop in an organizing context.
Divinity in Human Beings
'Every soul is potentially divine' declared Vivekananda. This philosophy is
at the core of Indian thought. Vivekananda's idea has also been repeated by
many others in one form or other. It also represents the essence of self-
development. Similar ideas have now been expressed in the concept of
Spiritual Quotient (SQ).
The Concept of Family ( Kutumbh)

6. 'Vasudhaiv kutumbkam' – Entire world is one family, is an important
message from Indian thought. The idea of kutumbh is unique because each
family member has a say in decision making as well as a role to play which
changes according to situation and requirements. When organizations are
viewed as a family, the joys and sorrows are shared equally and members
are part of the 'corporate community'.
Avoidance of Extremes
Avoidance of the extremes is an idea formulated long time ago. Also
popularly known as Buddha's middle path, it implies balancing and steering
through the middle or alternative approaches to the extreme solutions.
Hence, Indian models seek to evolve new ways rather than being carried
away by the 'only way' approaches to problems of humanity.
LEADERSHIP MODELS
Vijigshu Model of Leadership
Vijigshu means Vijaya (victory) ikshuk (desirous). Thus, leader must be
desirous of victory. Developed in the context of 'Kingdom Management',
model required the king or the leader to be self motivated and driven by
'victory' orientation. Vijigshu uses the persuasion (sam), economic incentive
(dam), power division (bhed) and punishment (danda) as instruments to
achieve his objective of loksangraha (welfare of the world). In this model,
power (danda) is to be used for loksangraha i.e. enlightened collective
interest and not for self-interest.
Workship Model of Leadership
Rooted in the concept of Karmayoga, the workship model of leadership
considers, 'work as worship'. Workship "signifies that when work is done in
the spirit of worship, the quality of work undergoes a metamorphosis. As a
result, even ordinary work is transformed from a mere chore to an
extraordinarily reality". In the workship model of leadership, there are four
roadmaps that take the leader towards workship. "These are inner paths
leading to the same destination which is the self". These paths are (i)
Discipline; (ii) Righteousness; (iii) Sacrifice; (iv) Transcendence. In this
framework, transcendence is defined as 'a state of realization in action'.
Workship creates conditions for effortless effort and the leaders practicing
workship become the inspirational models.
Wisdom Leadership Model

7. The model of 'wisdom leadership' is rooted in the ancient 'rajrishi' model
wherein a leader has a touch of 'rishi' or the touch of sacredness in all his
actions. According to this, "This line of leadership development has
continued unbroken from mythology to history, to the present times; from
King Janak to Budha, Ashoka to Chandragupta, Vivekananda to Gandhi". It
considers the 'raj-rishi' concept as quintessential Indian model of leadership.
To substantiate his argument, he provides empirical evidence in the form of
dialogues with leading corporate leaders and he finds many of them
practicing 'raj-rishi' model in one form or other. Problem with such
dialogues is that at times, people in senior positions tend to give socially
desirable answers. Hence, many times it is extremely difficult to make firm
conclusions about the true nature of leadership. In spite of such limitations,
the 'rajrishi' model as a concept is a useful benchmark for leaders. Since,
'rajrishi' is an embodiment of 'wisdom', We refer to this model as 'wisdom
leadership'. However, the expression wisdom could have different meaning
for different individuals. Some 'wisdom leaders' are known for their
authoritarian approach. However, wisdom is largely a feminine quality,
hence, to capture the 'rajrishi' concept through the expression 'wisdom
leadership' may not be an exact formulation. Nevertheless, it could be
considered a close equivalent. There is a need for a new metaphor that takes
us beyond the male-centric, authoritarian 'wisdom leaders'.
Rishi as Re-see Model
This model is rooted in the interpretation of Rishi concept as Re-see
concept. A rishi is one, who can re-see the things, events, and actions
around him or her in a new perspective in addition to providing a touch of
humanness. He / she is also Self Responsible Individual (SRI) and she is
Matured - Self Responsible Individual (MS). This model considers
knowledge creation in terms of rationality, intuition and revelation in a
hierarchical order. Rationality is at the lowest step, intuition is the next step
and revelation is the third step. Through re-see approach, leaders use their
intuition effectively and thus arrive at new interpretations and revelations
that lead to radical changes in the organization and society. Re-see leaders
use the radial approach for being always in touch with happenings around
them and also for envisioning the future. We can also refer to them as 'full
circle leaders', as they see and re-see the environment through full circle
radial visioning approach.

8. INDIAN ETHOS OR INTERNATIONAL ETHOS -
THE RIGHT PATH
In order to bring out the differences between Indian ethos and international
ethos, we need to first classify ethos based on 3 attributes:
 Universal system of ethos
 Duty
 Goals
In the universal system, we try to define certain taboos which an individual
organization should avoid at all costs. These are strict no-no’s. As per the
Indian religious scriptures, we define 3 ethos which are taboos: ‘parastri’,
‘par-dravya’, ‘par-ninda’.
In the duty system, we are given certain principles which help us in deciding
the course of action. Religious scriptures and works help us in
understanding our real duties. As stated in the Bhagvad Gita,
“Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshou kada chana”
Which simply means that one should not work for tangible future benefits,
but should do so as a duty.
In the goal system, we consider one aspect that will in turn lead to a long-
term ‘shreyas’ and introspect. In Hinduism, four goals are mentioned for
which one should strive for all life: ‘dharma’, ‘artha’, ‘kaama’, ‘moksha’.
Based on the above points, we try to bring out differences between Indian
and international, rather western, ethos:

9. INDIAN WESTERN
Money, not obtained at the
expense of others
When I win, someone else’s
loss is inevitable
Defaming competitors is
not considered a ethical
practice
Defame when necessary to
gain advantage
Businesses are responsible
towards all parties or
stakeholders, viz.
employees, suppliers,
customers
Goal of business is to
maximize long term ‘wealth
of equity’ for shareholders
Goal needs to be high on
profit margins along with
focus on social welfare
Focus on high profit
margins
Sustainability is a key
factor
What matters is growth
Employee is a part of the
organization, viewed as one
family
Hire and fire if necessary
Hostile takeover not well
received
Takeovers necessary for
expansion
The best example of an organization displaying true practice of Indian ethos
is the TATA group. Jamshetji Tata once said, “I don’t want India to be a
superpower, I want India to be a happy nation”. From the time of its
inception, the TATA group has been high on values and ethics. It has earned
a great name owing to its ethical practices and work for the society at large.
It incorporates almost all the ethos and principles mentioned above, viz.
sustainability, social welfare, organization as one family, hostile takeovers a
strict no, et cetera.
ACCEPTANCE OF INDIAN ETHOS BY THE
GLOBAL COMMUNITY
The Western world has stood up and taken notice of the Indian ethos,
principles and management practices in the last few decades. But there still
is a long way to go. Before this, however, the Indian businesses themselves
followed the western model. End result was the only thing that mattered. A
certain parallel system of business was developed in India during this

10. period. This has its roots in the Mahabharatha. During the war, Lord
Krishna said to Arjun ,“end goal needs to be achieved in any way possible”.
To cope with bureaucracy and ‘license raj’, businesses had to resort to
bribery. The common word used for this was ‘jugaad’. However, not all
business houses in India followed ‘jugaad’ way of getting work done. There
are some corporations which took the rough path but emerged as successful.
The world took notice and lauded them for their extraordinary work
practices.
 Tata acquired JLR
It was feared that the employees would lose jobs and the JLR group would
lose its image. However, even during the recession, not a single employee
was fired.
 ITC e-Chaupal
For years, the poor farmer had to suffer. He never got the right price for his
crop as most of the profit was raked in by middlemen. ITC e-Chaupal
empowered the farmer and made him independent. The farmer was
informed about the market prices and was able to get the right price for his
harvest eventually.
CARVING FUTURE MANAGERS
The world has changed in the last few decades and the power has now
shifted to the new engines of growth, India and China. There are many
factors that India will have to consider before it is ready to take on the
responsibility of a world superpower. These are:
 Inclusive growth
 Entrepreneurship for creating more jobs
 Tackling corruption and encouraging ethical practices
B-schools will have the responsibility of shaping leaders of tomorrow who
will face these challenges as soon as they enter the corporate world. Making
them future ready and competent enough to tackle these issues without
sacrificing ethics will be a huge challenge. Following are some of the
practices which we suggest B-schools should adopt:

11.  Entrepreneurship
As attitudes and cultural references take shape at an early age, education can
play a major part in successfully addressing the entrepreneurial challenge.
Education should therefore develop awareness of entrepreneurship from an
early age. Introducing young people to entrepreneurship develops their
initiative and helps them to be more creative and self-confident in whatever
they undertake and to act in a socially responsible way. Statistics show that
enterprise education is a task in which we, as a nation, are failing. Educators
need to face up to the fact that our current model is broken. The common
belief that a single pathway from school to university is the only way to get
a good job no longer holds true. We must challenge and inspire young
people with the idea that they can make it happen for themselves, by
nurturing a new culture of enterprise education, embedding the key
ingredients of entrepreneurship in the curriculum.
1. A coherent framework: national and regional authorities should establish
cooperation between different departments in order to develop a strategy
with clear objectives and covering all stages of education. School
curricula should also be revised to explicitly include entrepreneurship as
an objective of education.
2. Fostering entrepreneurship in higher education: entrepreneurship
should be incorporated in various subjects, particularly within scientific
and technical studies, in order to provide students with specific training
on how to start and run a business. B-schools should be given practical
support and incentives to incorporate entrepreneurship in their curricula,
through a range of different instruments (distribution of teaching
materials, funding of pilot projects, dissemination of best practice,
promotion of partnerships with businesses, support for dedicated
organizations conducting entrepreneurship programmes with B-schools,
et cetera.).
3. Support for teachers: it is essential that teachers be given initial and in-
service training as well as practical experience. Awareness should also
be raised among heads of schools to ensure that teachers are allowed the
time and resources to plan, run and evaluate activities.
4. Participation by external actors and businesses: educational
establishments and the local community, especially businesses, should
cooperate on the subject of entrepreneurship training, and firms should

12. regard this as a long-term investment and as an aspect of their corporate
social responsibility.
5. Practical experience: one of the most effective ways to promote
entrepreneurial mindsets and skills is through learning by doing
 Educating on Ethics
Probably the most important learning of all for any future management
student. This is an issue that has been troubling us for years and the whole
system has begun accepting corruption as a norm. Students need to be told
about the importance of ‘karma’ without expectation and the need to have a
long term vision by sacrificing short term benefits for a long term one.
Subjects like Vedanta should be introduced to management students which
tells them about the importance of ethics in work and introduces them to the
management principles laid out down by rishis and scholars of ancient
times.
 Corporate Social responsibility
One of the yogas discussed in the Gita is karma-yoga or the “Path of
Selfless Action”. Karma means action, work or deed, and Krishna speaks to
Arjuna about the importance of performing selfless actions. Krishna tells
Arjuna that action is better than inaction, and people need to live in the
world rather than in their minds. He also warns Arjuna about becoming
attached to the objects of the world. B-schools can inculcate the value of
selfless work by including CSR activities as a part of the curriculum. Tie-up
with NGOs for social activities could be initiated. Students should be
encouraged to take up internships in NGOs.