What they skip at B-schools
By Parul Chandra - Times Of India
It's the New Age mantra for some of the country's leading CEOs. In the US,
Ford has used it for understanding joint ventures, Boeing for designing
executive programmes. Nearer home, Godrej, Crompton Greaves, Excel
Industries and MTNL are some that have partaken of its concepts.
Its practitioners call it Vedic management. It isn't a mass movement yet,
say consultants, but business leaders who've tried it out have reported
animprovement in results.
So what is Vedic management? To the US-based Prasad Kaipa, of the Mithya
Institute for Learning and Knowledge Architecture, it's ``a way of being and
leading that is in accordance with Vedic principles. It helps us to see the
larger design and fabric in which we operate.''
For another Vedic management guru, Anil Sachdeva, CEO, Eicher Consultancy
Services, what is essential for bringing about an organisational
transformation is ``a change in the way you lead''.
Western management experts, he says, have a limited perspective with their
emphasis on change being initiated by external factors. Vedic philosophy, on
the other hand, believes that while such factors can serve as a wake-up call
and take an organisation from a state of tamas (ignorance and passivity) to
one of rajas (aggression), the real inspiration has to come from within,
possible only after reaching a state of satva (absence of friction). ``True
awareness has to come from within and it is important for organisations to
be able to reflect and contemplate,'' he points out.
Remarking on the ``futility'' of benchmarking and the performance appraisal
system in conventional management, Sachdeva says, ``Often, ideas come from
not being restricted and when the mind is not paralysed by fear of
failure.'' Counsels Mrithyunjaya Athreya, another Vedic management
consultant, ``Strive for kaushalam (excellence) in karma (action) and do not
allow anxiety for phalam (result) to divert your energies.''
The management discipline also advocates nishkaama karma (working without
expecting any returns) - in the long run it is more rewarding.
Doesn't this make Vedic management far removed from the realms of
conventional management? Dr Kaipa says he would rather call it a ``a larger
framework for management within which other management principles can
peacefully co-exist since Vedantic principles do not negate or reject any
one approach as wrong or bad''.
Where conventional management falls short, says Dr Kaipa, is in its more
mechanical approach where ``there is really no deep understanding about
people, their desires and frustrations''. Conventional management principles
are goal-rather than people-oriented, which isn't the case in Vedic
management practices.
But not everyone agrees. Says Darshan Vijur, business development manager,
KPMG Peat Marwick: ``The human element is becoming increasingly important in
all management practices; hence, the introduction of employee stock
options.''
As for the Vedic concept of nishkama karma, Vijur remarks: ``How can you not
reward a worker for doing a good job? I cannot see any system of management
that does not reward people for their ability to deliver.''
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