Jai Guru Datta -- article: "old truths in a new context"

[Guest guest]

I ran across this very interesting article that may

inspire and provide fresh perspective. Spirituality

and practicality, are not opposed to one another;

indeed, they balance and motivate one another. Please

read and enjoy. Jai Guru Datta.

 

source:

http://www.corante.com/brainwaves/archives/neurofinance_profitable_mind_manageme\

nt.php

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Old truths in a new context

 

The Bhagavad Gita, written thousands of years ago,

enlightens us on all managerial techniques leading us

towards a harmonious and blissful state of affairs in

place of the conflict, tensions, poor productivity,

absence of motivation and so on, common in most of

Indian enterprises today – and probably in enterprises

in many other countries.

 

The modern (Western) management concepts of vision,

leadership, motivation, excellence in work, achieving

goals, giving work meaning, decision making and

planning, are all discussed in the Bhagavad Gita.

There is one major difference. While Western

management thought too often deals with problems at

material, external and peripheral levels, the Bhagavad

Gita tackles the issues from the grass roots level of

human thinking. Once the basic thinking of man is

improved, it will automatically enhance the quality of

his actions and their results.

 

The management philosophy emanating from the West, is

based on the lure of materialism and on a perennial

thirst for profit, irrespective of the quality of the

means adopted to achieve that goal. This phenomenon

has its source in the abundant wealth of the West and

so 'management by materialism' has caught the fancy of

all the countries the world over, India being no

exception to this trend. My country, India, has been

in the forefront in importing these ideas mainly

because of its centuries old indoctrination by

colonial rulers, which has inculcated in us a feeling

that anything Western is good and anything Indian is

inferior.

 

The result is that, while huge funds have been

invested in building temples of modem management

education, no perceptible changes are visible in the

improvement of the general quality of life - although

the standards of living of a few has gone up. The same

old struggles in almost all sectors of the economy,

criminalisation of institutions, social violence,

exploitation and other vices are seen deep in the body

politic.

 

The source of the problem

 

The reasons for this sorry state of affairs are not

far to seek. The Western idea of management centres on

making the worker (and the manager) more efficient and

more productive. Companies offer workers more to work

more, produce more, sell more and to stick to the

organisation without looking for alternatives. The

sole aim of extracting better and more work from the

worker is to improve the bottom-line of the

enterprise. The worker has become a hireable

commodity, which can be used, replaced and discarded

at will.

 

Thus, workers have been reduced to the state of a

mercantile product. In such a state, it should come as

no surprise to us that workers start using strikes

(gheraos) sit-ins, (dharnas) go-slows, work-to-rule

etc. to get maximum benefit for themselves from the

organisations. Society-at-large is damaged. Thus we

reach a situation in which management and workers

become separate and contradictory entities with

conflicting interests. There is no common goal or

understanding. This, predictably, leads to suspicion,

friction, disillusion and mistrust, with managers and

workers at cross purposes. The absence of human values

and erosion of human touch in the organisational

structure has resulted in a crisis of confidence.

 

Western management philosophy may have created

prosperity – for some people some of the time at least

- but it has failed in the aim of ensuring betterment

of individual life and social welfare. It has remained

by and large a soulless edifice and an oasis of plenty

for a few in the midst of poor quality of life for

many.

 

Hence, there is an urgent need to re-examine

prevailing management disciplines - their objectives,

scope and content. Management should be redefined to

underline the development of the worker as a person,

as a human being, and not as a mere wage-earner. With

this changed perspective, management can become an

instrument in the process of social, and indeed

national, development.

 

Now let us re-examine some of the modern management

concepts in the light of the Bhagavad Gita which is a

primer of management-by-values.

 

Utilisation of available resources

 

The first lesson of management science is to choose

wisely and utilise scarce resources optimally. During

the curtain raiser before the Mahabharata War,

Duryodhana chose Sri Krishna's large army for his help

while Arjuna selected Sri Krishna's wisdom for his

support. This episode gives us a clue as to the nature

of the effective manager - the former chose numbers,

the latter, wisdom.

 

Attitudes towards work

 

Three stone-cutters were engaged in erecting a temple.

An HRD Consultant asked them what they were doing. The

response of the three workers to this innocent-looking

question is illuminating.

 

'I am a poor man. I have to maintain my family. I am

making a living here,' said the first stone-cutter

with a dejected face.

'Well, I work because I want to show that I am the

best stone-cutter in the country,' said the second one

with a sense of pride.

'Oh, I want to build the most beautiful temple in the

country,' said the third one with a visionary gleam.

Their jobs were identical but their perspectives were

different. What the Gita tells us is to develop the

visionary perspective in the work we do. It tells us

to develop a sense of larger vision in our work for

the common good.

 

Work commitment

 

A popular verse of the Gita advises “detachment” from

the fruits or results of actions performed in the

course of one's duty. Being dedicated work has to mean

“working for the sake of work, generating excellence

for its own sake.” If we are always calculating the

date of promotion or the rate of commission before

putting in our efforts, then such work is not

detached. It is not “generating excellence for its own

sake” but working only for the extrinsic reward that

may (or may not) result.

 

Working only with an eye to the anticipated benefits,

means that the quality of performance of the current

job or duty suffers - through mental agitation of

anxiety for the future. In fact, the way the world

works means that events do not always respond

positively to our calculations and hence expected

fruits may not always be forthcoming. So, the Gita

tells us not to mortgage present commitment to an

uncertain future.

 

Some people might argue that not seeking the business

result of work and actions, makes one unaccountable.

In fact, the Bhagavad Gita is full of advice on the

theory of cause and effect, making the doer

responsible for the consequences of his deeds. While

advising detachment from the avarice of selfish gains

in discharging one's accepted duty, the Gita does not

absolve anybody of the consequences arising from

discharge of his or her responsibilities.

 

Thus the best means of effective performance

management is the work itself. Attaining this state of

mind (called “nishkama karma”) is the right attitude

to work because it prevents the ego, the mind, from

dissipation of attention through speculation on future

gains or losses.

 

Motivation – self and self-transcendence

 

It has been presumed for many years that satisfying

lower order needs of workers - adequate food, clothing

and shelter, etc. are key factors in motivation.

However, it is a common experience that the

dissatisfaction of the clerk and of the Director is

identical - only their scales and composition vary. It

should be true that once the lower-order needs are

more than satisfied, the Director should have little

problem in optimising his contribution to the

organisation and society. But more often than not, it

does not happen like that. (“The eagle soars high but

keeps its eyes firmly fixed on the dead animal

below.”) On the contrary, a lowly paid schoolteacher,

or a self-employed artisan, may well demonstrate

higher levels of self-actualisation despite poorer

satisfaction of their lower-order needs.

 

This situation is explained by the theory of

self-transcendence propounded in the Gita.

Self-transcendence involves renouncing egoism, putting

others before oneself, emphasising team work, dignity,

co-operation, harmony and trust – and, indeed

potentially sacrificing lower needs for higher goals,

the opposite of Maslow.

 

“Work must be done with detachment.” It is the ego

that spoils work and the ego is the centrepiece of

most theories of motivation. We need not merely a

theory of motivation but a theory of inspiration.

 

The Great Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941,

known as "Gurudev") says working for love is freedom

in action. A concept which is described as

“disinterested work" in the Gita where Sri Krishna

says,

 

“He who shares the wealth generated only after serving

the people, through work done as a sacrifice for them,

is freed from all sins. On the contrary those who earn

wealth only for themselves, eat sins that lead to

frustration and failure.”

 

Disinterested work finds expression in devotion,

surrender and equipoise. The former two are

psychological while the third is determination to keep

the mind free of the dualistic (usually taken to mean

"materialistic") pulls of daily experiences. Detached

involvement in work is the key to mental equanimity or

the state of “nirdwanda.” This attitude leads to a

stage where the worker begins to feel the presence of

the Supreme Intelligence guiding the embodied

individual intelligence. Such de-personified

intelligence is best suited for those who sincerely

believe in the supremacy of organisational goals as

compared to narrow personal success and achievement.

 

Work culture

 

An effective work culture is about vigorous and

arduous efforts in pursuit of given or chosen tasks.

Sri Krishna elaborates on two types of work culture –

“daivi sampat” or divine work culture and “asuri

sampat” or demonic work culture.

 

Daivi work culture - involves fearlessness, purity,

self-control, sacrifice, straightforwardness,

self-denial, calmness, absence of fault-finding,

absence of greed, gentleness, modesty, absence of envy

and pride.

Asuri work culture - involves egoism, delusion,

personal desires, improper performance, work not

oriented towards service.

Mere work ethic is not enough. The hardened criminal

exhibits an excellent work ethic. What is needed is a

work ethic conditioned by ethics in work.

 

It is in this light that the counsel, “yogah karmasu

kausalam” should be understood. “Kausalam” means skill

or technique of work which is an indispensable

component of a work ethic. “Yogah” is defined in the

Gita itself as “samatvam yogah uchyate” meaning an

unchanging equipoise of mind (detachment.) Tilak tells

us that acting with an equable mind is Yoga.

 

(Bal Gangadhar Tilak, 1856-1920, the precursor of

Gandhiji, hailed by the people of India as "Lokmanya,"

probably the most learned among the country's

political leaders. For a description of the meanings

of the word "Yoga", see foot of this page.)

 

By making the equable mind the bed-rock of all

actions, the Gita evolved the goal of unification of

work ethic with ethics in work, for without ethical

process no mind can attain an equipoise. The guru, Adi

Sankara (born circa 800 AD), says that the skill

necessary in the performance of one's duty is that of

maintaining an evenness of mind in face of success and

failure. The calm mind in the face of failure will

lead to deeper introspection and see clearly where the

process went wrong so that corrective steps could be

taken to avoid shortcomings in future.

 

The principle of reducing our attachment to personal

gains from the work done is the Gita’s prescription

for attaining equanimity. It has been held that this

principle leads to lack of incentive for effort,

striking at the very root of work ethic. To the

contrary, concentration on the task for its own sake

leads to the achievement of excellence – and indeed to

the true mental happiness of the worker. Thus, while

commonplace theories of motivation may be said to lead

us to the bondage or extrinsic rewards, the Gita’s

principle leads us to the intrinsic rewards of mental,

and indeed moral, satisfaction.

 

The Gita further explains the theory of “detachment”

from the extrinsic rewards of work in saying:

 

If the result of sincere effort is a success, the

entire credit should not be appropriated by the doer

alone.

If the result of sincere effort is a failure, then too

the entire blame does not accrue to the doer.

The former attitude mollifies arrogance and conceit

while the latter prevents excessive despondency,

de-motivation and self-pity. Thus both these

dispositions safeguard the doer against psychological

vulnerability, the cause of the modem managers'

companions of diabetes, high blood pressure and

ulcers.

 

Assimilation of the ideas of the Gita leads us to the

wider spectrum of “lokasamgraha” (general welfare) but

there is also another dimension to the work ethic - if

the “karmayoga” (service) is blended with “bhaktiyoga”

(devotion), then the work itself becomes worship, a

“sevayoga" (service for its own sake.)

 

(This may sound a peculiarly religious idea but it has

a wider application. It could be taken to mean doing

something because it is worthwhile, to serve others,

to make the world a better place – ed.)

 

Manager's mental health

 

Sound mental health is the very goal of any human

activity - more so management. Sound mental health is

that state of mind which can maintain a calm, positive

poise, or regain it when unsettled, in the midst of

all the external vagaries of work life and social

existence. Internal constancy and peace are the

pre-requisites for a healthy stress-free mind.

 

Some of the impediments to sound mental health are:

 

Greed - for power, position, prestige and money.

Envy - regarding others' achievements, success,

rewards.

Egotism - about one's own accomplishments.

Suspicion, anger and frustration.

Anguish through comparisons.

The driving forces in today's businesses are speed and

competition. There is a distinct danger that these

forces cause erosion of the moral fibre, that in

seeking the end, one permits oneself immoral means -

tax evasion, illegitimate financial holdings, being

“economical with the truth”, deliberate oversight in

the audit, too-clever financial reporting and so on.

This phenomenon may be called as “yayati syndrome”.

 

In the book, the Mahabharata, we come across a king by

the name of Yayati who, in order to revel in the

endless enjoyment of flesh exchanged his old age with

the youth of his obliging youngest son for a thousand

years. However, he found the pursuit of sensual

enjoyments ultimately unsatisfying and came back to

his son pleading him to take back his youth. This

“yayati syndrome” shows the conflict between

externally directed acquisitions (extrinsic

motivation) and inner value and conscience (intrinsic

motivation.)

 

Management needs those who practise what they preach

 

“Whatever the excellent and best ones do, the

commoners follow,” says Sri Krishna in the Gita. The

visionary leader must be a missionary, extremely

practical, intensively dynamic and capable of

translating dreams into reality. This dynamism and

strength of a true leader flows from an inspired and

spontaneous motivation to help others. "I am the

strength of those who are devoid of personal desire

and attachment. O Arjuna, I am the legitimate desire

in those, who are not opposed to righteousness," says

Sri Krishna in the 10th Chapter of the Gita.

 

In conclusion

 

The despondency of Arjuna in the first chapter of the

Gita is typically human. Sri Krishna, by sheer power

of his inspiring words, changes Arjuna's mind from a

state of inertia to one of righteous action, from the

state of what the French philosophers call “anomie” or

even alienation, to a state of self-confidence in the

ultimate victory of “dharma” (ethical action.)

 

When Arjuna got over his despondency and stood ready

to fight, Sri Krishna reminded him of the purpose of

his new-found spirit of intense action - not for his

own benefit, not for satisfying his own greed and

desire, but for the good of many, with faith in the

ultimate victory of ethics over unethical actions and

of truth over untruth.

 

Sri Krishna's advice with regard to temporary failures

is, “No doer of good ever ends in misery.” Every

action should produce results. Good action produces

good results and evil begets nothing but evil.

Therefore, always act well and be rewarded.All clouds

will vanish. Light will fill the heart and mind. I

assure him of this. This is the message of Holy Gita.

 

My purport is not to suggest discarding of the Western

model of efficiency, dynamism and striving for

excellence but to tune these ideals to India's

holistic attitude of “lokasangraha” - for the welfare

of many, for the good of many. There is indeed a moral

dimension to business life. What we do in business is

no different, in this regard, to what we do in our

personal lives. The means do not justify the ends.

Pursuit of results for their own sake, is ultimately

self-defeating. (“Profit,” said Matsushita-san in

another tradition, “is the reward of correct

behaviour.” – ed.)

 

M.P.Bhattathiri.

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