Management DESI style

Management Concepts – ‘DESI’ style!

-        Concept of ‘Management’ has evolved over decades under various management thinkers or management gurus.

•         Scientific management by Frederick Taylor & Gantt.
•         Classical Organisation theory – guidelines for managing complex organizations.
•        The behavioral school – focus on the ‘people’ side of the business.
• .      Management Science School –  Use of concepts like operations research, data modeling etc. in managerial decision making.

They are predominantly Western management thoughts. They deal with problems at material, external and peripheral levels. All these thoughts are based on the lure of materialism and perennial thirst for profits, irrespective of the quality of the means adopted to achieve that goal. This phenomenon is known as “Management by Materialism”. This has started a slow erosion of values and deeper search for meaning in existence.

Western management philosophy may have created prosperity, but has it really been as successful in achieving the aim of ensuring betterment of individual life and social welfare? Answer for this question lies in the Indian philosophy or Eastern philosophy.

The driving forces in today’s business are: Speed and Competition. 21st century worker experiences high levels of stress amid competition and performance pressure. Some attempts are made by eminent thinkers like Dr. Subhash Sharma, Devdutt Patnaik to search for solutions to the problems of modern westernized management concepts from Indian Philosophy.

Books like Management in New Age Western Windows Eastern Doors  by Dr. Subhash Sharma talks about the necessities of  Western managers acquire greater understanding of the `Eastern Doors`, and Eastern managers look beyond the `Western Windows`. Concepts and frameworks presented in the book arise from this view for a new combination of management ideas from the West and the East to facilitate `holistic globalization’.

The book explores the interlinkages between management thought, social discourse and spiritual concerns that constitute three foundational themes of the book. Through an integration of market, society and self, it articulates the vision of sacro-civic society and sacro-civic nations rooted in harmony paradigm that aims at a new balance between utilitarian, ecotarian and ethicotarian philosophies of life. It suggests the need for a paradigm shift from, `survival of the fittest to eliminate the rest` to `arrival of the best to lead the rest`.

One more interesting book is A very Indian approach to Management: Business Sutra by Devdutt Pattanaik.  The book shows how modern management is rooted in Western beliefs and obsessed with accomplishing rigid objectives and increasing shareholder value. By contrast, the Indian way of doing business—as apparent in Indian mythology, but no longer seen in practice— accommodates subjectivity and diversity, and offers an inclusive, more empathetic way of achieving success. Great value is placed on darshan, that is, on how we see the world and our relationship with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Business Sutra uses stories, symbols and rituals drawn from Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology to understand a wide variety of business situations that range from running a successful tea stall to nurturing talent in a large multinational corporation.