Life is more than just making a Good Living

Bhagavad-Gita: Key to modernize modern organizational management. In this age of kali, everything has changed as compared to previous three ages, and especially what has changed is our perception towards management. I have been a student of management and economics and what I have been taught throughout this journey of four years is the models and theories of modern economists and management thinkers like Adam smith, Keynes, Minzberg, Michael porter, robins, Steven covey, Taylor, fayol etc. However, keeping aside all these mundane philosophy, I got attracted to India’s ancient literature, which not only helps us in our spiritual advancements but also enlighten us on how to conduct and manage ourselves and others in this material world with morality and with intelligence. The only thing required is implementing from time to time the ancient philosophy, effectively in the context of modern times. One of the ancient Indian spiritual text is the Bhagavad-Gita or the “Song of the Lord”, which provides the essence of the Vedas, which was delivered by Lord Sri Krishna to Arjuna more than 50 centuries ago in the battlefield of Kurukshestra, India, to boost Arjuna’s declining morale, motivation, confidence to his (Arjuna) intra-personal conflict, which was to fight or not to fight the war at Kurukshestra. Sri Krishna gave not only spiritual enlightenment to Arjuna (and to all of us) but also the art of self management, conflict management, stress &, anger management, transformational leadership, motivation, goal setting and many others aspects of management which can be used as a guide to increase our managerial effectiveness. . The Bhagavad-Gita was given on the battlefield before the commencement of the war. The battlefield represents our body where an unending battle is raging between the forces of good and evil. Henry Minzberg (1973), in his book the Nature of Managerial Work (cited in Robbins, 2003) provided ten roles of managers play for increasing managerial effectiveness, which can be divided into interpersonal roles, informational roles and decisional roles. The Bhagavad-Gita recommends a managerial effectiveness approach, which focuses not only on external world but also on exploring the inner world of the self. Arjuna said: For the mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krishna, and to subdue it is, it seems to me, more difficult than controlling the wind. (B.G. 6.34) Sri Krishna said: O mighty-armed son of Kunti (Arjuna), it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by constant practice and by detachment. (B.G.6.35) Management development programs in organizations should focus on creating and developing managers and organizational members to be strong and be mentally fearless. Sri Krishna also mentioned that for one who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends, but for one who has failed to control their mind, the mind will be the greatest enemy. (B.G. 6.6) Because of this lack of knowledge of self, the individual gets bewildered and it leads to various conflicts at workplace, as, truly speaking, people don’t know in general how to handle unwanted situations. The most crucial management issue is the conflict management at workplace. Conflicts are always there sometimes within an organization (among staff members) and also outside organization with the general environment of the firm. Today organizations (both corporate and educational institutes like IITs and IIMs) are putting considerable emphasis on organizing workshops on conflict handling and self management on the basis of the wisdom of Bhagwat gita for their employees and students, as they have recognized the importance of the need, to collaborate material and spiritual knowledge to address the overall personality of individuals, which benefits both individual and organization. As it is a fact that every notion of conflict arises in our mind first and then our false ego amplifies it which ultimately comes out and causes real conflict in the surroundings. So these types of workshops helps human resource of the organizations to focus on the center and respect the periphery, otherwise if they focus on the periphery then their periphery becomes their center and their center becomes their periphery, and then they struck into a conflict. Bhagwat gita helps an individual in spotting that center and makes him/her capable of receiving things and responding and respecting the periphery, the surroundings, in a better way. In a nutshell, being little philosophical and as anthropologists contends that “the best way to resolve your external conflict is to resolve your inner conflict first, then everything will be resolved automatically”. Thus, organizations should focus on organizing workshops for their employees based on these classical texts to prevent the situations of conflict well in advance as we know “prevention is better than cure”. Not only the conflict management, but also other parts of management like motivation, leadership, Duty and very important issue of corporate governance and of business ethics are all addressed by lord Krishna in Bhagwat gita. In many verses of the Bhagavad-Gita, Sri Krishna motivates and energizes Arjuna to do his duty. Sri Krishna focuses on the internal (intrinsic) motivation more than external (extrinsic) motivation. Sri Krishna demonstrated transformational leadership qualities in developing and guiding Arjuna to victory in the war. After Bhagavad-Gita He (Arjuna) stood steady on the ground with bow and arrow in hand. He lifted his arms ready to fight the war. As far as Duty is concerned, it is given great importance in the Bhagavad-Gita. Duty in the organizational context goes beyond contractual agreement in the employment relationship. Sri Krishna motivates and encourages Arjuna to do his duty and not to run away from the battlefield. Sri Krishna further stressed that duty needs to be done without attachment and for those who do their duty without attachment will attain the supreme goal (B.G 3.19). Now talking about corporate governance and business ethics, well, people will comply to them automatically if they put their faith in the teachings of Bhagwat gita and try to implement them in their life, as Bhagwat gita is all about ethics, and self governance which includes not only governance of self and corporate behavior but also most important Political governance. Modern managers, can benefit from the philosophy of Bhagavad-Gita, which serves as a guide in developing managerial effectiveness. Mere imitation of western Management approaches may not be appropriate in the Indian (Asian) context due to differences in the cultural environment. However, the philosophy of Bhagwat gita has also been adopted in many western companies, because Wisdom is for all. The philosophy of Bhagavad-Gita has remained and will remain as a guide for developing managerial effectiveness, not only in this 21st century but also for many centuries more to come. After all the entire creation of this universe is by Lord Krishna and to live in it peacefully, purposefully and beautifully, we must understand the manual guide or user’s guide called Bhagwat Gita by the manufacturer (lord Krishna), so that we can handle ourselves and this world with utmost care. In the end Arjuna's illusion has now gone. He is motivated to win the war for the Pandavas. This is due to Sri Krishna, who became the spiritual master and adviser for Arjuna and transformed him (Arjuna) and the Pandavas to victory. This is a wonderful example of a true leader, a true follower and in effect the best result: The Victory. So it can be seen that wherever there is Sri Krishna and Arjuna, there will be Victory. Thus here through this article I am suggesting a new text book of management to every student of any field and I am sure this will be a good deal as it is not only about making a good living but it is also about making a good life!!!!!!!!!! Think about it. I wish you people “All the Best”!