Rajarshi leadership and Team work

1. Rajarshi leadership and Team work
Submitted by
Akshay Vats (1226114102)
Boppana Sreeram (1226114107)
Digumalla Veera Bhadra Anjaneyulu (1226114112)
Mohammed Naseer khan (1226114117)
Manish Kumar Saini (1226114123)

2. Abstract:-
It is widely acknowledged that many lessons from ancient philosophy are
important in today’s management. Consistency, self-knowledge, fairness,
self-discipline, thrift, responsibility for our actions and their effects on
others and ability to lead by example are values and principles dominant to
ancient Indian philosophy, while they also constitute core characterise-tics
that organizations and business leaders should manifest today. We
observe in present world that despite of the so called developments in
science and technology, things have become more complex at least from
the point of view of harmony, humanity, trust, love and human relationships.
The epidemic of corporate scams, frauds and scandals is spreading
worldwide. The society, every now and then, witnesses unethical activities
committed by large business organizations doing lot of damage to
common people, investors, employees and environment. The relevant
questions that comes to mind are that why things are becoming complex,
why there is crisis of humanity in world society, why so many large
business corporations are getting themselves involved in unethical practices,
why common man is losing hope, why everybody wants to dominate others
and what can be the solution for the evils that is prevailing in the world
society. This study gives an insight for leadership concept and its reflection on
modern management with Kautilya’s management model as Rajarshi
leadership example. Rajarshi leadership which is an ancient Indian concept of
ideal leadership is offered as a solution for the modern business world.
Introduction:-
Presently the world is facing leadership crisis. Wedo not find a humanitarian
global mindset of leaders in present times and that is the reason that this
world despite of so many material developments is facing the crises of ethics,
values and humanity. Business leaders of modern times have no doubt
demonstrated great abilities when it comes to skills, framing of
organizational systems and structures and developing business strategies.
But when it comes to ethics and values, most people will agree that in this
aspect modern world business leaders have failed miserably. The root cause
of leadership failure in recent times is that ethics, values and humanity were
subsided for materialistic objectives. When it comes to ethics and spirituality,

3. we find that ancient literature has lot of relevance. For the harmonious co-
existence of materialism and spiritualism in a leader there is an ancient
Indian concept of Rajarshi. Rajarshi leadership which is an ancient Indian
concept of ideal leadership is offered as a solution for the modern business
world and this conclusion is drawn by getting the insights from the
evolution of society, business and leadership theories.1The other study of
modern management4 reveals that Mahatma Gandhi had once said that
the purpose of development is to make things simpler. But what we observe
in present world is that despite of the so called developments in science and
technology; things have become more complex at least from the point of
view of harmony, humanity, trust, love and human relationships. Today, the
society is probably more fragmented and divided than it ever was in the
history of mankind. Mutual trust and harmony has almost vanished and people
have started seeking business even in human relationships. Last few
decades have belonged to dominance of business. No other field, profession or
activity comes even closer to business. When it comes to dominating the
present world scene and when we peep into the business world, we find
that money stands ahead of humanity. This makes the scene disturbing. The
epidemic of corporate scams, frauds and scandals is spreading unabated. The
society, every now and then, witnesses unethical activities committed by
large business organizations doing lot of damage to common people,
investors, employees and environment. The relevant questions that comes
to mind are that why things are becoming complex, why there is
crisis of humanity in world society, why so many large business
corporations are getting themselves involved in unethical practices, why
common man is losing hope, why everybody wants to dominate others and what
can be the solution for the evils that is prevailing in the world society. For the
answers, if we look closely at the happenings of last few decades, we get
compelled to focus on leadership. The vast, hidden and irreversible damages
caused by science-technology driven economic growth which thrives on
globalized greed, needs to be halted. Spirituality has to be the master, not the
servant of material endeavours.

4. Management and Leadership Spirituality:-
offers rich implications for management and leadership. As Josep Lozano and
Raimon Ribera observe, the way we manage depends on the way we are.
Spirituality 5 is not something that we can just tack on to management: If
spirituality is in our nature, we will bring it with us when we manage. The
question, then, is what type of management results from placing spirituality at
the core of the human condition. Management is a challenge for spirituality. The
connection is not automatic; it needs effort and vigilance to develop.
Management practices generate feedback that impacts our own vision of life,
humanity and spirituality. Management benefits from an approach that does not
merely consider spirituality as a potential “addition” to management. The
opportunity should be seized to develop a more precise, richer conception of
management. Pruzan notes that the term “management,” as traditionally
conceived, includes such activities as strategy, planning, administration and
control. In recent years, particularly in the “West,” the term management has
been supplemented with the term “leadership.” This later term is now being
used to relate to concepts, processes and roles that had not previously been
central to the traditional themes of management. These include such notions as
corporate vision, change-management, stakeholder-dialogue and social and
ethical accountability in self-organizing and values-based organizations.
Bouckaert warns that while a “manager” thinks through instrumental rationality,
a “leader” is driven by a more intrinsic and contagious commitment to values.
But the cult of leadership, fostered by spirituality, has an ambiguous record. It is
rooted in a long history of aristocratic, hierarchic and authoritarian tradition.
Spiritually-based Leadership:-
Spirituality presents a humanistic, democratic and sustainable frame of
reference for the behaviour of leader-managers and their organizations. Peter
Pruzan summarizes the concepts and values that are connected with spiritually-
based leadership. Nishkamakarma: a perspective on action and decision making
that stresses performing one’s deeds without attachment to the fruits thereof --
and where the action and the fruits are offered to the divine. A leader who
behaves in accord with this perspective is grounded in wisdom and lives in a
state of equanimity. This perspective is in stark contrast to the current emphasis
on unbridled materialism, growth and competition characterizing many

5. corporations and their leaders. The performers of deeds who follow their
conscience are sensitive to the needs and values of those affected by their
behaviour. Such an individual acts in accord with basic concepts of ethics in
organizations, “walks the talk” through values-based leadership and promotes
corporate social responsibility through respect and reverence for the
organization’s stakeholders. However, the underlying reason for this behaviour
is not business “success” but spiritual progress. Selflessness and non-
attachment: prominent terms in the “Eastern” varieties of spiritual growth and
closely related to the concept of nishkamakarma. The Catholic concept of “holy
indifference” is similar. A useful synonym is “detached involvement.” The
underlying idea is that rather than plying our egos and appraising our activities
by the payoffs that result, and rather than being elated when our desires are
fulfilled and disappointed when they are not, there is another way -- this is by
acting without attachment to the fruits of our efforts. From this perspective, all
work can become transformed into selfless service. We must follow our inner
voice, our conscience, and do to the best of our ability what we find to be
important. But such action is selfless in that it is performed with indifference to
the outcomes, be they success or failure, praise or 7 blame. Work performed in
accord with one’s values and a sense of interconnectedness with others leads to
the transcendence of the lower, ego-dominated self. Detached involvement frees
one from the chains of personal desires and ambitions.
Non-violence or ahimsa: an ideal in Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity.
Non-violence refers to non-violence in thought, word and deed. Leaders guided
by the value of nonviolence perform their duties in peace, free from the
demands of the lower self and its ego and in a deep awareness of their
connectivity to all living creatures, to all existence. They realize that by hurting
others they are hurting themselves. Four leaders in modern times have
exemplified this concept: Mahatma Gandhi in India, Martin Luther King in the
United States, Nelson Mandela in South Africa and Vaclev Havel in the former
Czechoslovakia. They achieved almost universal respect by “fighting” their
respective “wars” in a non-violent way. Chakraborty characterizes Spirit-
cantered or Rajarshi or Wisdom leaders with the Sanskrit dictum: "svarat samrat
bhavati." It means, one who can rule or govern oneself can also lead others well.
That is, the ideal or model leader exercises leadership on him or her first. This
entails bringing forth the hidden Spirit being of the leader into the forefront of
his or her personality. Then, only, can he or she become empowered to lead
others. Such capability is more basic than professional competence and skills.

6. The Indian civilization is founded on the groundwork laid by such leaders,
called Rajarshis; i.e., king-sages. In this holistic model, the schism between the
secular and the sacred vanishes (the king or raja is the secular aspect and rishi,
the sacred). Principles of Spirit-cantered or Rajarshi leadership are as follows:
(i) The capability of being haunted by deep existential questions
(ii) Detachment from daily routine
(iii) Repairing to solitude and silence in nature
(iv) The humility to learn from persons who do not run the affairs of the world
(v) Ego-stripping, by non-disclosure of kingly identity.
(vi) One month of rigorous practice of holistic disciplines learned under direct
supervision of the mentor.
(vii) Resumption of secular responsibilities after gaining sacred wisdom.

7. Successful teamwork: A case study:-
Final year students enrolled in the Interactive Multimedia course at Edith
Cowan University are required to develop skills and expertise in managing the
design and development of client web sites. The unit IMM 3228/4228 –
“Project Management Methodologies”, uses teams of HERDSA 2002 ✬✭
PAGE 642 four or five students to utilise their specialist skills to meet a “real
need” for an industry client. Team roles include programmers, graphic designers
and project managers. There were 82 students (20 teams) completing this unit.
The aim was to have students experience project management issues that occur
when dealing with “real” clients in “real” projects and was heavily focused on
teamwork and problem solving. The environment was based on the learning
principles of authenticity, self-regulation and reflection (Luca & Oliver, 2001).
Features included student contracts, journals (for self/peer assessment &
reflection), “Conference Centre” for problem solving, bulletin boards, time
management tools, syllabus and assessment materials, lecture notes, legal/QA
templates, relevant URL’s, web sites and assignments developed by previous
students and a student details database. Within this setting, two teams were
selected for investigation. One team was highly successful in developing a
quality product, and collaborated in a highly successful manner. Another team,
experienced severe team problems, which caused it to become dysfunctional
and had to be split. Data was collected on both of these teams from focus groups
sessions, interviews and questionnaires that were recorded and transcribed for
analysis.

8. This study compared how well two teams performed by comparing attributes
identified for successful teamwork, as shown in Table 1. From the results it is
evident that these attributes played an important role in determining the success
of these teams. The results show a compelling relationship between how the
teams embraced these six attributes, and how successful the team was in
collaborating and developing a quality product. The results from this study
indicate that these key attributes need to be carefully considered by both tutors
and students when teamwork activities are proposed. Further research needs to
be considered on how best to implement these strategies in a methodological
fashion to ensure tutors and students acknowledge and understand the
importance of how to implement each attribute i.e. a template outlining
implications for best practice when designing and implementing constructivist
learning designs which incorporate teamwork activities.
Development of Modern Leadership Theories
Influential modern leadership theories are:
 Trait Theory
 Behavioral Theory
 Situational Theories including Charismatic, Transformational and Path-
Goal Theory
Spiritual Theories including Servant, Ethical and Visionary Theory

9. Trait Theory
 In the 1930’s and 1940’s, trait theories were developed by psychologists
looking for personality, social, physical or intellectual traits that were
universally associated with leadership success.
 The search for specific traits or characteristics that differentiate leaders
from non leaders dominated the early research efforts in the study of
leadership.
 Six traits consistently found in successful leaders were drive, desire to
lead, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, intelligence, and job-relevant
knowledge.
Behavioral Theory:-
 Between the 1940’s and 1960’s behavioral theories emerged as trait
theory neglected the importance of action or behavior.
 It was hoped that behavioral theories approach would provide more
definitive and practical answers to the nature of leadership.
 Task orientation (TO) and Relationship orientation (RO) matrix was
studied by many researchers to find out the effective leadership styles.
 Leaders with high TO emphasize more on structure of roles, tasks, goals
and supervision.
 Leaders with high RO demonstrates consideration for subordinates by
building trust, mutual respect, showing regard for feelings, and
developing relationships.
 It was suggested by many researchers that high TO and high RO
combination style is superior leadership style for achieving best results.
Situational Theory
 The failure to attain consistent results through trait and behavioural
theories led the researchers to focus on situational influences.

10.  Beginning in the 1960’s situational leadership developed with the
observation that any behavioral leadership style could be either effective
or ineffective depending upon the situation in which it was applied.
 Fiedler (1967) argued in his leadership contingency model that leaders
should select their leadership styles based on whether a situation is
favorable to the leader. A situation was considered favorable depending
on (1) the personal relationship with the followers; (2) the degree of
structure in the task; and (3) the power and authority inherent in the
leader’s position.
 House (1971) developed path-goal theory by recommending that leaders
flexibly apply the leadership style most effective in a situation.
 Stinson and Johnson (1975) improved path-goal theory by proposing that
high task orientation is effective for leaders when tasks are unstructured
and followers have weak motivation, low independence and low task
related knowledge and experience. Moreover low task orientation is
effective when tasks are unstructured but followers have high motivation,
high independence and high task related knowledge and experience.
 Reddin (1970) and Hersey and Blanchard(1972, 1993) developed similar
situational theories by defining that key responsibility of a leader is his
effectiveness in achieving output requirements in different situations.
Spiritual Theory
 Presently the theory of spiritual leadership is gaining its foothold with
many thinkers and business leaders openly discussing it and writing about
it.
 Spiritual leadership addresses the concern with situational leadership that
the leader was made a servant of the situation rather than the person who
defined what the situation should be to achieve the desired outcome.
 Another concern with situational leadership is that if leadership
effectiveness depended solely on performance results, then the ends
justified the means. Any leadership style, no matter how negative for
followers, was deemed to be effective if the leader achieved the output
requirements.

11.  According to Fry (2003):
“Spiritual leadership is a paradigm for organizational transformation
and development designed to create an intrinsically motivated learning
organization. Spiritual leadership taps the fundamental needs of both the
leader and follower for spiritual well-being. Operationally, spiritual
leadership comprises the values, attitudes and behaviors that are
necessary to intrinsically motivate one’s self and others so they have a
sense of spiritual well-being. The source of spiritual leadership is an inner
life or spiritual practice which is a fundamental source of inspiration and
insight.”
Indian Spiritual Thoughts
 Man is a spark of the Divine and he must link his will with the Divine
will.
 The ultimate goal of all human beings is to achieve the state of
sthitapagan where a person is established in eternal peace and acts in life
without selfish desires.
 Ancient Indian concept of leadership is deeply rooted in spirituality and
strongly focuses on ‘conquering the self before conquering the outside
world’ which means control of the senses and unity of the self with the
divine resulting in detached and selfless action.
 For ordinary human beings to follow the path of total sacrifice may be
difficult but for leaders it is necessary.
 Ancient Indian concept of leadership places the spirit-core or SELF of the
leader at the centre.
Rajarshi Leadership
 Rajarshi leadership is an ancient Indian concept of ideal leadership deeply
rooted in ancient Indian spiritual tradition.
 Rajarshi leadership has two dimensions, Raja (king) and Rishi (sage).
 According to this concept a leader apart from having the necessary
qualities of a leader also has sage like qualities.

12.  Rajarshi signifies a synthesis of ‘Raja’ (king) being representative of the
secular dimension and ‘Rishi’ (sage) denoting the sacred dimension.
 The emphasis of this model is on external glory (performance of all duties
of the king successfully) as well as internal glory (self realization) with
internal glory driving the external glory.
 Internal glory is achieved through sage dimension where a leader perform
all his duties remaining unattached to material pursuits for himself, free
of selfish desires, controlling all his sense organs and the mind.
 Rajarshi leader is a great spiritual being who guide human life to
perfection, rise above human limitations, and combines wisdom of
balance, serenity and chivalry.
 Rishi dimension in Rajarshi enables the leader to see himself in others
and others in himself. In this state there is no rigid individuality, no sense
of separateness. The ego is gone and the leader in such a state show great
compassion and establish loving relationships with others. He become
master, not slave of desires and distorted emotions. He gets filled with
wisdom and selfless desires with complete self-control and peace of
mind.
Characteristics of Rajarshi Leadership
 Difficulties and problems keep pounding him like waves, one after the
other, but he faces them all with perfect equanimity.
 His numerous victories does not affect his poise, nor he gets dejected in
defeats.
 He performs his duties at every stage to perfection but remaining
unattached all the time.
 On no occasion he swerves from the narrow path of virtue.
 He is merciful, pure, self-controlled, seeking welfare for all, and adept in
professional skills.
 He faces every event with equanimity, discrimination and dispassion and
is unaffected by opposing emotions of elation and humiliation.

13.  Rajarshis lead from the soul. So all their materialistic pursuits are
embraced by natural law or dharma dedicated to the Divine and for the
welfare of the humanity.
 Engaged in duties for the society, Rajarshi has the capacity to allow the
‘role’ (societal interest) to precede the ‘self’ (individual interest) in case
they happen to conflict.
 Sacrifice, forgiveness and service are his eternal ideals.
 He is a continuous seeker of realms of higher knowledge.
 He practices self-control, humility, and righteousness and believes that
weakness breeds many evils.
 For him hatred is the most terrible poison and love is the one constructive
force that is all powerful.
 In Arthashastra, Kautilya has described that a Rajarshi always respect
those councilors and purohitas who warn him of the dangers of
transgressing the limits of good conduct, reminding him sharply of the
times prescribed for various duties and caution him when he errs in
private. Rajarshi avoids daydreaming, capriciousness, falsehood and
extravagance and avoid association with harmful persons and indulging
in harmful activities. He improves his discipline by continuously learning
in all branches of knowledge and endears himself to his people by
enriching them and doing well to them.
 Sri Aurobindo cemented the philosophy of Rajarshi leadership through
the following words:
 “The problem which has troubled the mankind can only be solved by
conquering the kingdom within, not by harnessing the forces of nature to
the service of comfort and luxury.”
Lesson from ‘Bhagvad Gita’
In Bhagvad Gita, Arjuna asks Lord Krishna
“What is the force that binds us to selfish deeds, O Krishna? What power
moves us, even against our will, as if forcing us?”

14. Lord Krishna replied:
“It is selfish desire and anger, arising from the state of being known as
passion; these are the appetites and evils which threaten a person in this life.
Just as fire is covered by smoke and a mirror is obscured by dust, just as an
embryo is developed in the womb, knowledge is hidden by selfish desire.
Arjuna, this unquenchable fire for self satisfaction is the biggest enemy of
the wise. Selfish desire is found in the senses, mind and intellect misleading
them and burying wisdom in delusion. Fight with all your strengths, O
Arjuna, controlling your senses, conquers your enemy, the destroyer of
knowledge and realization.”
This message from Bhagvad Gita is a clear indication for modern day
business leaders and professionals that to take the organizations to a higher
pedestal real fight has to be waged internally by the individuals rather than
in the marketplace.
Internal development of business leaders and professionals would reflect the
outer outcome instead of vice versa.

15. Conclusion:-
 Rajarshi concept of leadership transcends all the modern theories of
leadership. It covers the trait aspect what should be present in the leader.
It also explains about the behavior a leader should demonstrate. Moreover
this concept is not meant for specific situation but applies to all leaders
for facing all type of situations. Spiritual dimension forms the core of this
concept.
 For perennial success in the leadership position Rajarshi paradigm is the
most ideal one and leaders if evaluated from Rajarshi point of view could
act as the most effective reference tool for predicting the long term and
holistic success of a leader.
Team sprit facts:-
1. I love this story on teamwork I heard the other day. I think you will agree it is
powerful. Feel free to share with your teams.
A team of about 35 employees had come together for a team building event.
They were a young, bright and enthusiastic team.
However, one big problem this team had was they wouldn’t share information
or solutions with each other. The leader felt they were too focused on self and
not enough on team.
So she started off with a fun team activity that would allow her to teach the
importance of each team member working together and sharing more.
She brought the team into the cafeteria. All of the tables and chairs had been
stacked and put away. Placed around the room were fun decorations and
hundreds of different collared balloons.
Everyone was excited, but not sure what it was all about. In the center of the
room was a big box of balloons that had not been blown up yet.
The team leader asked each person to pick a balloon, blow it up and write their
name on it. But they were instructed to be careful because the balloon could
pop!
A few balloons did indeed pop and those members of the team were given
another chance, but were told that if the balloon popped again they were out of
the game.

16. About 30 team members were able to get their name on a balloon without it
popping. Those 30 were asked to leave their balloons and exit the room. They
were told they had qualified for the second round.
Five minutes later the leader brought the team back into the room and
announced that their next challenge was to find the balloon they had left behind
with their name on it among the hundreds of other balloons scattered in the
large cafeteria. She warned them however to be very careful and not to pop any
of the balloons. If they did, they would be disqualified.
While being very careful, but also trying to go as quickly as they could, each
team member looked for the balloon with their name. After 15 minutes not one
single person was able to find their balloon. The team was told that the second
round of the game was over and they were moving onto the third round.
In this next round the leader told the team members to find any balloon in the
room with a name on it and give it to the person whose name was on it. Within
a couple of minutes every member of the team had their balloon with their own
name on it.
The team leader made the following point: “We are much more efficient when
we are willing to share with each other. And we are better problem solvers
when we are working together, not individually.”
Often time’s members of teams create obstacles that get in the way of teamwork
by solely focusing on their own pursuits and goals. They hoard information,
avoid collaboration and distance themselves. It is bad for the team and it is bad
for that individual.
Every member of a team should ask themselves on a regular basis what they are
doing for the team and can do for the team.
2. I ran across this inspiring teamwork fable the other day. One windy March
day the Mayor of the town decided to take a stroll across the park. He ran into a
small boy who was flying the biggest and most beautiful kite he had ever seen.
It soared high and gently across the sky that the mayor was sure it could be seen
in the next city. This little town didn’t have very many things that were

17. spectacular, so the Mayor decided to award a “key to the city” to the one
responsible for such a beautiful thing.
“Who is responsible for flying this kite?” the Mayor asked.
“I am,” said the little boy holding with all his might to the beautiful big kite. He
said, “I made this huge kite myself, with my own hands. I painted all of the
colourful pictures on it, and I fly it!”
“I am,” said the wind. “It is my breeze that keeps it in the air flying so big and
beautiful. Unless I blow on it, it will not fly at all. I fly it!”
“Not so,” claimed the kite’s tail. “I make it sail and give it stability against the
wind’s blowing gusts. Without me the kite would spin out of control and not
even the boy could save it from crashing to the earth. I fly the kite!”
So, who flies the kite?
They all do, don’t they?
In the day-to-day hustle and bustle of work it easy to forget that everyone flies
the kite. Without the team, the leader would never be successful. Without a
good leader the team would fail. Both need each other. And each person on the
team needs one another as well. They all fly it!

18. References:-
1. https://ideas.repec.org/a/mgn/journl/v5y2012i8a5.html
2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254429020_Rajarshi_Leadershi
p_A_Key_for_Modern_Management
3. http://sepact.blogspot.in/2008/11/indian-concept-of-leadership-is-
based.html
4. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=Sbu1HB9f6acC&pg=PA237&lpg=P
A237&dq=rajarshi+leadership&source=bl&ots=Xz9gxL31VO&sig=9w7
uMPCY3jTPHc0K1AGPpTt1SMk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiu6faS
pbrJAhXOSY4KHX5gCuEQ6AEIUDAJ#v=onepage&q=rajarshi%20lea
dership&f=false
5. http://www.rkmscc.org/modules/knowledge/uploads/0_Leadership%20&
%20Human%20values.pdf