It’s now a ‘manage-mind business’

D. Murali & G. Ramesh

What is at the root of all organisational problems? “It’s the mind,” say Swami Anubhavananda and Prof Arya Kumar, the authors of the ‘Management with a Difference’ (www.anebooks.com). “Understanding the mind, and managing it will improve personal and professional effectiveness,” they explain in the book, banking on the insights and wisdom of the ancient lore, the Bhagvad Gita.

Both the authors are associated with the Birla Institute of Technology (BITS), Pilani. Anubhavananda teaches management, yoga and Vedanta at BITS. Kumar heads the entrepreneurship development and IPR (intellectual property rights) unit and is also group leader of Economics and Finance at the Institute. A course titled ‘Indian Wisdom for Modern Management’ devised by the two was introduced at BITS during 2003-04.

“The students were initially surprised to find the Gita as the source material for their management course,” reminisce the authors, while recently speaking to Business Line. “However on listening to lectures, and writing their assignments, they were extremely happy to discover a management model suitable for modern India, while at the same time retaining the contact with the roots of our culture.”

The two gurus scotch doubts about the acceptability of management principles based on the Gita by people of other religions. “Wisdom does not fall in the purview of copyright or monopoly of any religion,” they declare. “The Gita is not parochial in its approach. Its views are addressed to mankind of all times.”

The ‘uniqueness’ of their management approach is that it is based on the mutual growth of the company and the employees together. “Emphasis is given on identifying the dormant potentialities of the employees to benefit them and the company. It’s a ‘value-based management’ with the greatest emphasis on understanding about the mind, and management of mind,” the authors elaborate.

If the emphasis on ‘knowing the mind’ makes you as uncomfortable as an exhortation for navel-gazing, the BITS teachers have a disarming analogy: “It’s like knowing what is below the bonnet.” As long as the car runs smoothly, problems don’t exist. “But after some time, and ultimately, we see many such mind-vehicles waiting for their turn in the psychiatric garage!” We have only one mind, which is not replaceable like a car; hence the need, the authors argue.

While welfare of the company is high on their list, they demand that sufficient opportunities be given to the erring or the adamant employee to improve. “If things don’t work out well an alternative placement could be tried. Many a time we are unable to judge the best potentiality in an employee and, as a result, he is wrongly employed.” So, the challenge of the manager is to view him “from the perspective of a third person or with what is known as ‘third eye’.”

But the authors doubt if an emotional perspective could help at the workplace. “Emotions are certainly ornaments on human personality but emotionalism is a shackle,” the authors opine. Being emotional can be a burden to oneself and to others, they caution. “It is always better that we do our duties intelligently and deal with the people with emotional beauty without getting corrupted by the emotions.”

To Anubhavananda and Kumar, knowledge management (KM) has a key place in management. KM, they aver, “capitalises on ‘the most precious resource of an organisation, i.e. human assets, by creating a culture and environment to unlock their creativity. That way, your people would keep coming up with innovative solutions to problems, so as to effectively manage and create change.”

In a culture of KM, guarding one’s knowledge, or withholding it from others, for fear of losing one’s prominence has no place in an organisation. Only an incompetent person, whose knowledge and wisdom are in short supply, would feel such fear, say the authors. “Knowledge is infinite and there cannot be any fear of losing one’s prominence in life. Else, none of the scientists would have published their results and their knowledge would have been buried with them.”

Advocating a moral management philosophy to a work-world that is populated by people who are consumed by their own desires and ambitions may look like a tall task. But the authors are undeterred in their efforts. “Weeds definitely grow along with the main crop in any field. Does it mean we should promote the unhealthy weeds?” ask Anubhavananda and Kumar. “Morality and ethics should be the basis of ‘Management with a Difference’,” they urge.

“In fact, of the 200 CEOs studied by Tony and Oster (1998), those who used religious principles in their daily decision-making had more successful companies than those who did not.”

The central message of the Gita is not religion, though, but an exposition of the secret of action: “Do your duty without hankering for results,” as Krishna counselled to Arjun, a “dynamic personality facing the ultimate challenge of his life on the battlefield.” The divine guidance may seem a far cry when confronted by the ground reality: of executives by the droves craving for rewards despite doing very little to merit the same. To those who wonder if the ageless teaching has eventually become a cliché, the BITS teachers offer this reassurance: “The truth does not change. It has, in fact, become more relevant.”

They interpret the maxim thus: “While doing your jobs in the present do not waste your energy and attention about the future possible failures, or do not take results for granted because of over-confidence while executing the job. When we are fully in tune with the job at hand, results are bound to be the best.”

A cheering thought, especially to those who aim at excellence. But what is excellence? “Gaining external success along with internal peace,” define the authors, from a vedantic angle. Do not run after success because you are not internally peaceful, they advise. For, “External success is our expression of inner peace and not an inner struggle.”

Courtesy: The Hindu