This presentation as part of course contemporary Indian philosophy in IIT Bombay relates to the management aspects of Bhagavat Gita

1. Management Lessons from Bhagavat Gita
Submitted by:
Shivram G Krishnan 163040052
Jothish R 163040035
Rifan C 163040040
Guided by
Prof. Ratikanta Panda
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2. Introduction:
• the average life expectancy of Fortune 500 companies was 40-50 years.
• One-third of companies listed in Fortune 500 in 1970 vanished by 1983
• 40% of new companies lasted less than 10 years
• Modern companies showing high infant mortality rate
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3. Introduction:
Why is this happening ?
• Stress
• struggle for power and control
• cynicism
• work environment that suffocates human imagination
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4. The critical question to all Managers
how to be effective in the job??
Gita Answers:
"you must try to manage yourself."
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5. चञ्चलं हि मन: कृ ष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद्दृढम् |
तस्यािं ननग्रिं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्किम् || 34||
"Mind is very restless, forceful and strong, O Krishna, it is more difficult to
control the mind than to control the wind ..." ......Arjuna to Sri Krishna
(chapter 6, verse 34)
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6. Why Lessons from Bhagavat Gita ?
Gita offers a framework for stimulating
high levels of motivation
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7. Alternative Paradigms from Gita
• Notion of time
• Performance Metrics and Assessment
• Work and Efficiency
• Leadership
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8. Notion of time- Short termism
• quarter-on-quarter guidance
• project a positive outcome quarter after quarter
• create stress, and a short term oriented approach
• Outcome –Negative results in the long run
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9. Notion of time
• “ time is essentially long term” – First lesson to Arjuna
• feel less pressurized of performance targets in the short run
• create a balance between short term and long term
• People come and go but good principles and ideas must remain and
drive choices in organizations
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10. Performance Metrics and Assessment
• Biggest constraint for modern management is the mind set towards
performance metrics and assessment
• Modern management practices approach this issue in the context of a
world of duality.
• Actions and outcomes are classified dually
Good Vs Bad,
Desirable Vs Undesirable,
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11. Performance Metrics and Assessment
• It works at two stages.
• First stage- the dual perspectives are first established
Expectations are for Positive aspects
• Second stage - develop a false notion that only good things are going
to happen
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12. • In modern management - it is a bad thing to expect negative outcomes.
• Consequently NO skills to expect negative outcomes
• Understand why these happen and evolve no methods to face these.
• This is clearly unrealistic.
• In the absence of these, managers develop needless tension,
• Stress in their work place,
• Deal with their sub-ordinates in non-managerial and at times unprofessional
ways
• Even carry these negative emotions and stress back home and spoil their
family life as well.
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13. Gita Suggests
• To rise above the plane of duality.
• Sri Krishna urges Arjuna to learn to tolerate the ups and downs that
characterized the world of duality.
• Developing a sense of equanimity (calmness)
• Quality of leadership will dramatically improve and so will the quality
of management.
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14. what is EFFECTIVENESS ?
&
what is EFFICIENCY ?
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15. Work and efficiency
Important distinction between effectiveness and efficiency in managing.
• Effectiveness is doing the right things.
• Efficiency is doing things right.
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16. Work and efficiency
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Work as Defined by Gita (chapter 2):
1. The Doer has the Right to Work
2. The Doer has no control on outcome
3. The Doer has no control on the root causes of the fruits of Actions
4. There is No choice to revel in Inaction
Source: B Mahadevan, Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

17. • On seeing the first three components, may choose not to engage in
work.
• Managers will revolt at the idea of doing work but having no control
on outcomes
• But during our life time several occasions we practiced this virtue
• Good work - 'I was lost in the work'?
• we ceased to look for outcomes and enjoyed moment
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18. Reasons to consider practicing this idea:
• Result orientation breeds - a sense of fear and discomfort – failure
• A desire to have control on fruits of action will invariably force us to focus
on ends instead of means.
• Process orientation will give way for result orientation.
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19. • Results and outcomes is the matter of future &
• work is the matter of present.
• Therefore with excessive result orientation one tends to escape the
dynamics of 'present' and go after ‘future'.
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20. Leadership
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• Powerful enabler that can leverage an organization to great heights
• One of the major issues concerning Business Organisations, Government and Society
• There is continuous interest in organizations to understand how great leaders are
identified, created and nurtured
• Modern research has proposed several theories on this.
Source: B Mahadevan, Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

21. Leadership- Current styles
• Market contract
• Leaders believe that they have the freedom to take decisions the way
they think is right and have the authority to execute things accordingly
• Leaders having position, power and endowment of resources at their
disposal
• Leader feels he/she can deliver the intended results.
• Not very promising in bringing the best performance in an organization
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22. Leadership- Current styles
• Psychological contract
• Leaders believe that the unique position that they have obtained and the
endowment of resources at their command provides them a great
opportunity to enable others do their best.
• Nourishing leadership talent around by creating space and agenda for
others.
• People respond to the call of duty and work beyond the norms
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23. Leadership Lessons from Gita
• Lord Krishna emphasizes to Arjuna in the issue of leadership
• Leading by example
• Developing a sense of equanimity
• Principle of Mutual Dependence
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24. Leading by example
• ‘Do as I say, not as I do ‘ philosophy
• Leaders think that they are “above law”
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25. Gita suggests
• Krishna warns Arjuna that he needs to lead by example
• unwavering commitment to walking the talk
• leaders hands are tied, they lose the degrees of freedom and the whole world
will keenly watch the leaders’ action and blindly follow the leaders
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26. Developing a sense of equanimity
• Problems
• inability to take bad outcomes
• Modern leadership theories have not even recognized this issue
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27. Gita suggests
• According to Lord Krishna, the world is full of dualities
• leaders are not able to accept the fact that life has both aspects
• master the art of handling the world around us by managing the world
within very well
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28. Principle of Mutual Dependence
• dominance of individuality as a value of life
• Joint families to nuclear families
• society views individual rights as an important element of growth and
progress
• The idea that begins as individuality will soon transform into selfishness
• the way we approach life will be dominated by “what is in it for me?”
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29. Gita Suggests
• To achieve ultimate prosperity and success in whatever we do we need to
honor the principle of mutual dependence.
• The spirit of sharing and unconditional giving (the virtue of Yajna) is the
basis on which everything in the world sustains.
• Paraspara Bhava, Lord Krishna says, is the one that guarantee us ultimate
prosperity (Param Shreyas).
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30. Inspirational Leadership:
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Leadership is at its best only when its inspirational

31. Inspirational Leadership:
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• Fearlessness

32. Inspirational Leadership:
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• Transformational Leadership

33. Conclusions:
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• “ The best leader is the one who leads like a baby. The baby, though apparently
depending on everyone, is the king of the household”_ Swami Vivekanada.

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