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2019 | Buch

Managing by the Bhagavad Gītā

Timeless Lessons for Today’s Managers

herausgegeben von: Satinder Dhiman, A. D. Amar

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Management, Change, Strategy and Positive Leadership

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Drawing upon the timeless wisdom of the Bhagavad Gītā, a philosophical-spiritual world classic, this professional book highlights the spiritual and moral dimensions of management using an inside-out leadership development approach. It interprets the Bhagavad Gītā’s teachings on the personality types and psychological makeup of managers and employees; self-knowledge and self-mastery; and the leadership concepts of vision, motivation, and empowerment. This book covers topics such as training of the mind, ethical leadership, communication, stress management, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Collectively, the enclosed contributions provide managers with an enhanced outlook on management functions such as leading, planning, organizing, and controlling in today’s organizations, particularly those run by knowledge workers. Management research in the 20th century has mainly focused on the industrial paradigm characterized by a hierarchical structure of authority and responsibility with an individualistic focus on the personality of the manager. However, this traditional paradigm cannot solve many of the problems that confront leaders and mangers today. Recent studies have shown that values traditionally associated with spirituality—such as integrity, honesty, trust, kindness, caring, fairness, and humility—have a demonstrable effect on managerial effectiveness and success. Although traditionally interpreted as a religious-spiritual text, the Bhagavad Gītā teaches these values which can be extrapolated and applied to practical management lessons in today’s corporate boardrooms. Applying the text of the Bhagavad Gītā to the context of management, this book views the manager as an “enlightened sage” who operates from higher stance, guided by self-knowledge and self-mastery. It demonstrates how character is the key ingredient for effective management and leadership. This book is therefore applicable to all managers, from first-line to CEOs, in their management and leadership roles in organizations.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter
1. The Text, Context, and Message of the Bhagavad Gītā
Abstract
The Bhagavad Gītā contains timeless management lessons for contemporary organizations. It is a non-sectarian spiritual text with a universal message. It teaches truth regarding our essential nature which can be verified by everyone right here and now, in this very lifetime. Presenting its setting and the occasion, this introductory chapter explores the meaning and the key message of the Gītā to facilitate proper understanding of the text and its application. After recounting the universality of its message and its perennial appeal, it suggests primary application of some key concepts of the Gītā to management and leadership domain. It also explores the key themes and the essence of the Gītā’s eighteen chapters.
Several modern leadership and management topics such as vision; motivation and empowerment; self-awareness, self-mastery, emotional maturity; anger management and stress management; meditation and psychological wellbeing; excellence in work; workplace spirituality; importance of ethical means in achieving righteous ends; attaining meaning and fulfillment at work; and serving a cause higher than oneself for the greater good are lucidly discussed in the Bhagavad Gītā. Likewise, we find that many contemporary leadership constructs such as authentic leadership, servant leadership, and values-based leadership, were already discussed in the Bhagavad Gītā thousands of years ago.
Satinder Dhiman
2. Training the Mind for the Knowledge and Creative Work
Abstract
Highlighting the importance of intellectual and mental work in contemporary organizations, this chapter goes over how the Bhagavad Gita analyzes the difficulties of focusing mind and suggests ways to gain control over it to do the knowledge and creative work. The author takes the usual behavior modification theories of stimulus-response-reinforcement (S-R-R) given by the psychologists, during the twentieth century, for controlling worker behavior for mechanical, repetitive, structured work and shows how it fails in controlling the mind of workers for assignments that go beyond the rudimentary. Then, he applies the mind theory of the Bhagavad Gita and modifies the S-R-R model incorporating the Bhagavad Gita’s concept of doing karma without any expectation of reward, describing how a knowledge worker could be motivated even when there was no reinforcement. He goes further in modifying the model by internalizing the motivation such that a knowledge worker will self-pick knowledge and innovation work to do rather than waiting for the supervisor to assign it. The final model emphasizes the Gita’s concept of kartavya (duty) and shows how knowledge workers could perform well on innovation and mental work without any direction, extrinsic control or supervision. This will focus employee’s mind on the innovation and creative work.
A. D. Amar
3. Doing the Right Thing: The Ethical Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gītā
Abstract
The Bhagavad Gītā is a book of self-mastery for leaders and managers. This chapter presents the ethical and spiritual philosophy of the Bhagavad Gītā as a pathway to self-mastery and freedom. It mainly focuses on its teachings regarding the discipline of selfless action (Karma Yoga) and the discipline of Self-knowledge (Jñāna Yoga) as two basic archetypes of ethics and spirituality presented in the Gītā. The first part of the chapter will present an overview of the Gītā, with a special reference to the psychological make-up of individuals comprising three basic modes of nature—sattva (purity/goodness) that brings truth/harmony; rajas (movement/passion) that kindles action/activity, and tamas (ignorance/ inertia) that leads to delusion/confusion. The teaching of selfless service and three psychological types have direct application to the field of management and leadership.
Given the need and importance of meditation during these stressful times, we will also present the teachings of the Gītā on the art and science of stilling the mind. The chapter will conclude with the five culminating practices for fostering inner security, peace, and harmony in life and leadership.
Satinder Dhiman
4. Ten Key Management Messages from the Bhagavad Gita
Abstract
Going over the background of the creation of Bhagavad Gita and how adroitly it covers the most important aspects of the contemporary organizational work such as knowledge (gyana), duty (kartavya), karma, dhyana (meditation), and yoga, this chapter gives ten major messages of the Gita that the managers of contemporary organizations could use to bring a new, more humane, more effective, and productive style and practice of management. These messages focus on karma, leadership, knowledge, conquering mind, how to succeed, no extrinsic controls, human gunas (personalities), looking for opportunities, not be looking for work to be assigned, and the one aggregate message. For each message, the key verse or verses have been included in the original with their interpretations and emphasis on the practice of the message in real world organizations. Many copies of the Bhagavad Gita and interpretations of many very learned scholars of Sanskrit, Indian philosophy and the Bhagavad Gita have been scanned to bring them to you in this chapter. It is an integration of what is so charming in the Bhagavad Gita.
A. D. Amar
5. Leadership and Communication in the Bhagavad Gita: Unity, Duty, and Equanimity
Abstract
Organizations and communication are fundamental facts of human life. As social animals and relational beings we must collaborate across all planes of our existence, from the micro levels of family and neighborhood all the way up through macro levels of state, nation, and our global community. At each level these groups require a sense of direction and focus to maintain themselves and grow. Without focus and shared meaning groups can develop dysfunctional interaction patterns that harm their own members and drag the whole toward disintegration. Meaning is thus a vital resource for all organizations, and humanity is blessed with many ancient wisdom traditions that can shed the light we all need to flourish and grow together. In Western management theory the Hindu tradition is a relatively unknown source of meaning and light, and the ideas it shares can offer valuable perspective on the perennial challenges facing all leaders. This essay looks to a Hindu spiritual masterpiece, the Bhagavad Gita, to draw lessons for contemporary leaders. Themes of Unity, Duty, and Equanimity are explored via direct textual quotations to suggest ways to communicate light and meaning that can strengthen and motivate our organizations. Using Yukl’s (Leadership in organizations, 2000) ten leadership functions, a set of application principles is developed to show how the Gita’s values can help frame practical management challenges.
Jon Radwan
6. Karma Yoga: Application of Gita (2:47) for Superior Business Performance During Industry 4.0
Abstract
Gita 2:47 is applicable to business. It augments superior performance through individual awareness of a personal calling to be “d”ifferent and also to “a”nticipate demand while the being “r”esourceful and “e”ver-ready through the practice of mindfulness. Via this “dare” framework, individual work becomes worship. At the corporate level, business operations will engage local communities for more diversity and inclusiveness. At the global level, this shloka (verse) will rekindle the harmony between man and nature. Applied to Industry 4.0, Gita 2:47 will encourage extraordinary performance through exponential thinking, although human work will be enhanced by robots and artificial intelligence. More research into this spirituality of work will reinforce the efficacy in superior business performance. Basically, minding a business is a business of the mind.
Charles Chow
7. Bhagvad Gita Approach to Stress Mitigation and Holistic Well-Being
Abstract
This chapter endeavors to highlight the preachings of Lord Krishna in the form of Bhagavad Gita (BG) which forms a part of the epic Mahabharat, one of the Sanskrit epics of ancient India composed by Vyasa “after the very early Vedic period” (Datta, The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature (Volume Two) (Devraj to Jyoti), 2006). The preaching of Lord Krishna to Arjuna, the warrior prince in exile, facing dilemma during the Mahabharat war has been analysed to gain insight into dealing with mental stresses. The accelerating pace of life, increasing competitiveness, technological advancements pose challenges to the coping ability of people in the modern era. Through the study of Bhagvad Gita (BG) we have identified ways for mitigating stress and enhancing mental as well as emotional well-being. BG offers various forms of yogic techniques to deal with stress and provides understanding of human nature through the concept of gunas viz., Tamas, Rajas and Sattva. This facilitates understanding of self and helps people in obtaining inner peace by moving towards sattva guna. When an individual evolves from tamas to sattva, he starts treading the path of Karma Yoga (Agarwalla, Seshadri and Krishnan, Journal of Human Values, 21(1), 11–22, 2015). In addition to the spiritual message, the BG also has a broader and secular framework, and its principles have been applied by scholars and practitioners to a variety of contexts. Broadly speaking BG offers healthy, enlightened and positive thoughts for dealing with stresses and challenges of life and attaining well-being.
Radha R. Sharma, Ronak Batra
8. Ethics of Enlightened Leaders
Abstract
In the Gītā, Arjuna’s fully developed mind knows it is his duty to fight for the side of righteousness; but his fully developed heart feels deep love for his enemies, his very own kinsmen. Arjuna turns to Kṛṣṇa to guide him how to act ethically in this most extreme experience of the duality of heart and mind. Kṛṣṇa instructs Arjuna to transcend, leave the field of relativity, and experience the Absolute Self—“Be without the three Guṇas, O Arjuna, freed from duality”. Kṛṣṇa then gives the formula for effective and virtuous action—“Established in Yoga, perform actions”—be awake in the Absolute Self while engaging in action. These key verses from the Gītā convey the timeless wisdom that gaining enlightenment, higher states of consciousness, provides a foundation for ethical performance by leaders. When fulfillment in the Self is firmly established, the leader is naturally independent of possessions, and balanced in gain in loss. Such an enlightened leader acts for the welfare of the world, without personal attachment.
Dennis Heaton
9. Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā and Knowledge Management with Special Focus on Jñāna Yoga
Abstract
Jñāna yoga is the path of self-knowledge of achieving the farthest insights in personal and professional development. From the decades, the concepts of Gītā viz., wise Leadership, self-awareness, detachment from materials, Leader as enlightened sage, self-Awareness, self-knowledge, and self-realization are important forces to command the journey. This chapter portrays the special focus on Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā and Jñāna yoga (Yoga of knowledge) to find the potentialities of knowledge workers amongst various organizations. The main objective of this chapter is to present the main abilities of knowledge workers in the organizational settings and to present characteristics they possess.
This study is qualitative and comprehensive in which literature from various sources have been studies for better understanding of the concept- the Jñāna yoga. This chapter highlights personal and professional characteristics of a knowledge worker in congruence of Jñāna yoga and portrays the facets with reference to cognitive and emotional abilities. The study regarding knowledge management, empowerment and realization open up the pathways to disseminate the impact of Jñāna Yoga on knowledge workers. It is concluded that the Jñāna yoga of holy Gītā has the most prominent aspects in extraction of personal and professional abilities in convergent and divergent modes.
Chandan Medatwal
10. The Bhagavad Gītā as an Antidote to Duality: A Challenge to the Orthodoxy of Current Decisions Theory
Abstract
This chapter revisits decision-making theory and challenges four major premises. These premises have been identified by James March as the bedrock of decision sciences. Currently these four premises are elucidated as dialectics in the extant literature. This chapter suggests that according to the Bhagavad Gītā the current “closure” to the four premises achieved in the literature would be inadequate to satisfy the dharmic calling of all the parties involved in decision making situations. Drawing from the Bhagavad Gītā we challenge the four divisive dialectics and provide a unitive closure to them. This is achievable by decision makers through a process of transcendence while not rejecting the importance of rooting decisions in the phenomenal plane.
K. Sankaran, C. K. Manjunath
11. Bhagavad Gita and Management: A New Perspective
Abstract
Arjuna suffers breakdown on the threshold of war and refuses to combat. Lord Sri Krishna arouses Arjuna and renders him ready for the war through his discourse. The Bhagavad Gita portrays deliverance of man from depression and withdrawal from duty. The Lord employs an art of counseling as the most cogent means to restore the morale of Arjuna. He acts like his friend, philosopher and guide and propels him to the highest altitude of awakening by his exposition. The discourse is philosophical and exhaustive. It symbolizes a journey of man from diffidence to confidence, indecisiveness to determination and inaction to action. He calls upon him to believe, acquire knowledge and act dispassionately without obsession for fruition of his action. This is the fundamental principle of management which counts on existence of human capacity and aims at exciting overshadowed potential of man to deliver his best. The Gita and science of management are unidirectional.
Chandrashekhar alias Kiran V. Korhalkar
12. Values Based Management: Guided by the Bhagavad Gītā
Abstract
The teaching of the Bhagavad Gītā, has a special role to play today in helping to guide those engaged in business, especially, managers of businesses, small and large. The essence of the problem is that business is mired in a mistaken view that maximizing short-term financial results is the ultimate goal. When focused in that way decisions are made that often ignore important moral, environmental and personal issues. This work looks at the application of natural human values like honesty, patience, and courage that are offered in the Gītā, in the performance of nine core management functions. When these values are properly applied then important business values like credibility, productivity, and innovation arise naturally, resulting in a profitable, sustainable, and responsible business. The essential message is that business can be principled and profitable, ethical and effective, and conscious and commercial.
Paul Palmarozza
13. Distinguishing Revelation Politics from Salvation Theology in The Bhagavad Gita’s Message for Leaders and Managers
Abstract
Numerous people including scholars, professional practitioners, and policymakers turn to the Bhagavad Gita, a timeless reservoir of abundant plurality and diversity of prescriptions. Shlokas (verses) from the Bhagavad Gita cited in support of prescriptive insights, judgement calls and tough decisions in the course of encountering seven eternal dualties of human living are discussed in this Chapter. The Bhagavad Gita’s pull is strongest when existential ambiguity is rooted in phenomenal complexity, surrounded by normative uncertainty and hermeneutic vulnerability. This is precisely the canvas of wicked problems in strategy where boundary confusions arising from incompleteness of knowing and undecideability of actions lie at the heart of the problem. The latent dynamic in the Bhagavad Gita concerns tensions between overt forces of salvation theology and covert forces of revelation politics when beliefs, values, norms, and attitudes are reinforcable by either of these. The same dynamic is present in management of organizations when setting limits, partitions, demarcations for porosity of boundaries that enable and regulate flows. The meta-learning from the Bhagavad Gita is that normative, existential, phenomenal and hermeneutic endeavours are simultaneously required and cannot be rank-ordered. This simultaneity requires attention to processes that enable or disable, and reflect or distort actionable revelations. As the celestial song of non-attachment, the Bhagavad Gita invites us to go beyond religion to touch spirituality and continue that journey beyond spirituality to traverse thresholds into unbounded realities. Functions of boundaries for management of organizations are thereby clarifiable so that structures provide reliability, systems produce certainty, and processes ensure aesthetics and harmony.
Ajeet N. Mathur
14. lokasaMgraha: An Indigenous Construct of Leadership and Its Measure
Abstract
Western models and constructs have dominated research in leadership. Cross-cultural research in leadership has questioned the validity of western models, but because of its focus on etics or universals, it has not provided much insight to managers in non-western cultures. We need to develop indigenous models of leadership that can provide insights to guide people’s daily behavior in work and social settings. To fill this lacuna, a small step is taken, and an Indian model of leadership is presented. The construct of lokasaMgraha is derived from the bhagavadgItA, and its relevance for leadership is examined. The construct of lokasaMgraha is further analyzed in the context of Indian concept of self, stages of life (varNAzrama dharma), and the four objectives of life (puruSArthas). This approach results in a rich cultural model of leadership. The construct of lokasaMgraha proposes that not only leaders but also their followers should act so that all their actions are for the greater public good. In other words, leadership is about serving others. All actions, thus, are to be performed without hankering after the outcomes or fruits of one’s efforts, which is the doctrine of niSkAma karma proposed in the bhagavadgItA. The model is grounded in the idea that willy-nilly we are all on a spiritual journey. Implications of this model for global psychology and future research are discussed.
Dharm P. S. Bhawuk
15. Epilogue: Timeless Teachings of the Bhagavad Gītā
Abstract
This chapter distills the essential teachings of the Gītā on life and leadership. It draws together all the myriad strands presented in the foregoing chapters and offers pointers on the path of action (karmayoga), knowledge (jñānayoga), meditation (dhyānayoga), and devotion (bhaktiyoga). The path of Self-knowledge as taught in the Gītā garners self-awareness, an essential quality of effective leadership. This self-awareness makes us aware of the fact that, at its very core, all life is essentially one. The diversity and multiplicity that we see is an expression of that one Reality in which everything is irrevocably connected to everything else. According to the Gītā, this understanding helps us live a life of selfless service and contribution, the key to personal happiness and social harmony. The Gītā teaches us that true peace can only come by serving the common good and surrendering to the Divinewithin us.
The path to leading others starts with self-awareness through self-discipline and ends with self-transcendence through selfless service. The Gītā calls it enlightened leadership. Enlightened leadership is essentially servant leadership. It represents a shift from followers serving leaders to leaders serving followers. Enlightened leaders are not motivated by personal desires or interests. They become instruments of the whole and selflessly serve for the well-being of all beings (sarvabhūta hitae, BG 5.25; 12.4). Only those who have relinquished personal ambition can truly serve. According to the Gītā, the path to enlightened leadership is paved with authenticity, humility, service, and compassion. The Gītā teaches us that our choice lifework, svadharma, is a supreme means to discover who we are. The goal is Self-knowledge; service is the means.
The chapter presents 101 maxims of life and leadership according to the teachings of the Gītā.
Satinder Dhiman
Metadaten
Titel
Managing by the Bhagavad Gītā
herausgegeben von
Satinder Dhiman
A. D. Amar
Copyright-Jahr
2019
Verlag
Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-99611-0
Print ISBN
978-3-319-99610-3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99611-0