XAVIER INSTITUE OF MANAGEMENT, BHUBANESHWAR

Project Report on Management principles taught to MBA students-same as in GITA?

Management principles taught to MBA students-same as in GITA?

INTRODUCTION
In eighteen chapters, seven hundred verses, the Bhagavad Gita devotes itself to one task making one decision. It does so through the metaphor of war. Arjuna undertakes a voyage of self-discovery so he can master the art of making a complex decision in the face of conflicting values. This is important because decision making is about making a choice; about taking charge of our life; about feeling in control of our own destiny; about self-empowerment. All this holds a lot of importance in management education in today's age. It inculcates an action oriented decision lifecycle, enhanced by philosophical concepts of discipline (yoga) and the pursuit of knowledge (gyana), uniquely integrating the softer skills of human psychology and philosophy with the traditional hard skills such as planning and action. This report looks at some of the managing principles from Gita and attempts to make an analysis whether they are relevant in todays business scenario or not. The issues were analysed based on the group discussions with the Section B students of PGP I, organised under the able leadership of Prof. Ibha Kumar.

GROUP MEETINGS
In the first meeting the group members were asked to speak out whatever they knew or felt about Gita. The group members were in the lighter mood. One of them began singing Yada Yada hi dharmasya. as done in the popular mega serial Mahabharata directed by B R Chopra. When asked about the meaning, the person had no idea. Then he was explained how does it mean that whenever there is spread of evil, God adopts an incarnation to manifest victory of good over evil. The group was unanimous that this sermon had no relevance to the topic we had. Continuing with the lighter mood another member pointed out that with respect to a B-School education only Vedas that can come in the minds of a manager are: finveda, markveda, sysveda, opsveda and hrveda. On to a serious note, it was brought forth that the main idea of Gita was to motivate Arjun, who was initially reluctant to fight against his relatives. But Sri Krishna, through Gita, had explained

to him that the act, which brings about good for the majority, is not a sin but a duty which one should perform whole-heartedly without fretting about the end results. Later, five main issues and five smaller issues related to Gita and modern day principles were distributed among the group members, with one main issue and one smaller issue to a subgroup of two. This subgroup had to prepare a draft writeup on the issues allocated to it and prepare on possible issues or questions. Then in a combined meeting each subgroup was made to present before others and the issues and questions were considered on basis of relevance.

ISSUES AND TOPICS DISCUSSED IN CLASS

Attitude and work: Karmanikavadhikaraste maa falesu kadachan Meaning: Your freedom is only in the field of action, and not in the field of bringing about the fruits of action. Never take yourself as the cause of bringing about a karma-phala (result), and never even resort to a life of inaction. 1. The Gita using the metaphor of war of Mahabharata to explain the conflict that goes in human mind. It explains three concepts: dharma, yoga and gyana 2. Nishkam karma- Attitude towards work: Nishkam-karma is the best means of effective work performance. The focus here is attaining perfection. There should be detached involvement in work which mean the relevant thing should be new experience, motivation from intangible rewards also and quest for learning. Something not relevant is competition (unhealthy), urge for more money and should not follow the rat race. 3. Staying Calm is an important sermon of Gita and maintaining integrity and stability in times of crises are important traits of a good manager. How much is the concept of detached involvement relevant in B-Schools? a. b. Students come to B-School for making money and is deviating from the principles Any project, assignment or presentation is done keeping in mind the weightage

of detached involvement. involved and less for self-learning

c. d.

Rewards sought can be just earning praise Students should have the sole objective to learn

Motivation and Self transcendence: Presumed that lower order needs are motivators but GITA propounded the theory of Self Transcendence i.e., renouncing egoism, putting others before oneself, emphasizing teamwork, harmony and trust; and sacrificing lower order needs for higher goals. Detached involvement is key to state of nirdwanda (mental peace) What is the difference between the goals taught in Gita and in todays world? a. Maslows Theory says humans satisfy lower needs and then go for higher needs. Gita says ideal people might go for higher needs ignoring the lower needs while others who might have moved up the ladder still yearn for lower needs. E.g., Villages have school teachers who might earn much from their jobs but do so for their need to spread education. While there might be some top level manager who is still skeptical about the salary paid to him. Is following Gita relevant in todays world? a. Gita preaches that ultimate motivation is to attain moksha i.e., salvation. b. But it is different from the power, status and money glorified by the management education today. c. Power is needed to make people listen to you. Is power and influence the only thing for which people do charity? a. Class took the example of Mother Teresa to prove that this is not the case. Mahatma Gandhi was another unanimous example. b. But the above examples were not representing the corporate world

Mental Health of a Manager: This is very relevant in todays scenario especially when we see lots of scandals in the corporate world, unethical behavior by employees and also the stress level in the employees. As per Gita, for every human activity a sound mental health is very important and for managers it is even more important considering the kind of work and responsibilities they have. Without sound mental health, managers are under constant pressure to deliver in todays competitive business environment and hence it leads to unethical practices like fraud, tax evasions, etc. How many people in higher positions are born with silver spoon? How sound mental health affects performance? a. Stress is good if increase stress level forces people to outperform, provided you are able to manage it! b. Stress level is bad if it leads to mental tension, bad health and practice of unethical practices. Main source of the problem today: 1. While western management deals with material, external and peripheral levels, Gita tackles the issues from the grass roots level of human thinking. It essentially says that once the basic thinking of man is improved, it will automatically increase productivity and enhance his quality of actions. 2. In todays world worker is a hirable commodity. Workers are paid more to work more, sell more, and produce more and to stick to the organization. The worker has become only a hirable commodity. This has lead to strikes, labour unrest and the like. E.g. Honda issue in Gurgaon.

QUESTIONS RAISED BY CLASS

1. Does going to disco or reading Bhagwad Gita changes your behaviour? By Abhinav.

Gita gives mental peace and satisfaction and it may change the behaviors. It depends from person to person and the real intention with which he is reading. At least Arjuna changed after Krishna taught him lessons in the form of Gita. 2. Dont wait for reward - Is it applicable in current scenario? In Organization Behavior class we learned that individuals always work for some reward. But Gita says other way round. One should only concentrate on the task for its own sake which leads to the achievement of excellence and indeed to true mental happiness. Absence of mental happiness is the primary reason of high attrition rate prevalent in the industry today. 3. Why do you think that organizations are moving from a individualistic performance to team based performance? The entire success or failure shouldnt be credited to the doer alone. The former mollifies arrogance and conceit while the latter prevents excessive despondency, de-motivation and self-pity. Now days organization are moving from a culture of individualistic performance to a team performance which ensures that success or failures arising from a particular task is attributed to the whole team and not to any particular individual.

CONCLUSION
1. Goals are always same from older days till now, the change is only in: Difference in spirit & Approach to achieve the goals. 2. Materialism vs human needs has to be differentiated. 3. Gita is both old in old and new in new.