Indian Ethos in Management refers to the

values In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live ( normative ethics), or to describe the significance of different a ...

and practices that the

culture of India Indian culture is the cultural heritage, heritage of social norms and history of science and technology on the Indian subcontinent, technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse nation of India, pert ...

(''Bharatheeya Sanskriti'') can contribute to service,

leadership Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

and

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

. These values and practices are rooted in '' Sanathana Dharma'' (the eternal essence), and have been influenced by various strands of

Indian philosophy Indian philosophy consists of philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. The philosophies are often called darśana meaning, "to see" or "looking at." Ānvīkṣikī means “critical inquiry” or “investigation." Unlike darśan ...

Work values from Bharatheeya Sanskriti

1. ''Paropakaaraartham Idam Shareeram'' - The body is meant for serving others or for the higher

common good In philosophy, Common good (economics), economics, and political science, the common good (also commonwealth, common weal, general welfare, or public benefit) is either what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, o ...

. 2. ''Atmanomokshartham Jagat Hitayacha'' - Endeavors should be made considering the

well-being Well-being is what is Intrinsic value (ethics), ultimately good for a person. Also called "welfare" and "quality of life", it is a measure of how well life is going for someone. It is a central goal of many individual and societal endeavors. ...

of the world too, while considering the (spiritual) well-being of oneself. 3. ''

Trikaranasuddhi Manasa, vacha, karmana are three Sanskrit words. The word ''manasa'' refers to the mind, ''vacha'' refers to speech, and ''karmana'' refers to actions. In several Indian languages, these three words are together used to describe a state of cons ...

'' - To consider work as a means to grow oneself in 'Purity and Unity of Thought, Word and Deed'. 4. ''Yagnaya charatha: karma'' - To engage in work as a sacred offering

Influences

Attempts have been made to distill aspects related to management theory and practice from various texts of India. A variety of works has influenced this area and few of them include ''

Autobiography of a Yogi ''Autobiography of a Yogi'' by Paramahansa Yogananda is a spiritual classic published in 1946. It recounts Yogananda's life, his search for his guru, and his teachings on Kriya Yoga. The book has introduced many to meditation and yoga and has ...

Thirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books with aphoristic teaching ...

Mahabharatha The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succes ...

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

'' and ''

Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; ), often referred to as the Gita (), is a Hindu texts, Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the Hindu epic, epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Ind ...

''.

Examples of practice

E. Sreedharan is one of the leaders who attributes his excellence in professional world to Bhagwad Gita and its principles. A number of examples indicating the practice has been documented.

Popularisation

Academicians and practitioners such as Prof S K Chakraborty, Jack Hawley, Debra and William Miller,

Devdutt Pattanaik Devdutt Pattanaik is a mythologist and writer from Orissa, India whose parents had migrated to Mumbai before his birth. He writes on mythology, the study of cultural truths revealed through stories, symbols and rituals. He lectures on the releva ...

, Prof Subhash Sharma, Prof Sharda Nandram, Prof. Dharm Bhawuk, Ankur Joshi etc. There are even research based videos on application Indian ethos in era of artificial intelligence. have contributed to the evolution and popularisation of this domain.

Stephen Covey Stephen Richards Covey (October 24, 1932 – July 16, 2012) was an American educator, author, businessman, and speaker. His most popular book is '' of Highly Effective People''. His other books include '' First Things First'', ''Principle- ...

has detailed the application of Gandhian values in leadership, through his book ''Principle Centered Leadership''. Faculty of Management Studies,

Banasthali Vidyapith Banasthali Vidyapith, also known as Banasthali University, is a private women's university located in Tonk district, Rajasthan, India. The university offers programs at the secondary, senior secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate degree le ...

has been teaching Indian Ethos in Management since 1996. Recently

IIM Ahmedabad The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad or IIM-A), is a business school, located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It is one of the Indian Institutes of Management and was accorded the status of an Institute of National Impor ...

made a foray into the domain by introducing lessons from Panchtantra stories for management. The

AICTE The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is a statutory body, and a national-level council for technical education, under the Department of Higher Education (India), Department of Higher Education. Established in November 1945 firs ...

in its model curriculum for MBA has stressed on need for Indian ethos in the MBA education.

Prevalence

This theme is embedded in varying levels as part of programmes in business management offered by various business schools and universities. * FMS-WISDOM at

under the National Resource Center setup by

Ministry of Education (India) The Ministry of Education (MoE) is a ministry of the Government of India, responsible for the implementation of the National Policy on Education. The ministry, headed by Sanya Shresth, is further divided into two departments: the Department ...

Government of India, developed video based modules with focus on Indian ethos for management teachers. * IIM Calcutta has a centre for human values to foster research and academic activities in the domain of Indian ethos. * IIM Indore organised a conference on Indian Management in December 2017. * IBA Banglore linked cultural symbols to the idea of Indian ethos.

References

{{Reflist Management education in India Culture of India Workplace Management