In recent years, the Western management education
and training citadels such as Harvard, Kellogg, Wharton and several others have
experienced persistent failure of their modern management technology to inspire
executive trainees and students to stay perpetually motivated in the face of
growing challenges posed by economic liberalisation and globalisation trends
sweeping across the world. Hence, modern management minds are looking for
solutions beyond the reservoir of Western management thoughts and practices.
They have examined and experimented with the Japanese and Chinese systems of
management. Of late, their focus has shifted to Indian philosophy to find
solutions to re-occurring irritants in efficient management practices. As a
step in this direction, Western management executives, particularly in USA, are
being cajoled to put purpose
before self during retraining sessions at institutions of management
learning. It is Ved Vyasa’s Bhagavad Gita through which they are attempting to enrich
themselves with the supremacy
of action. They are trying to enrich
matter with forces of spirit, realising that the principle of karma has invaluable merits.
The
present work is an attempt at systematic presentation of the vital management
contents as enshrined in Bhagavad Gita,
the eternal Song of Wisdom. The book
is a running treatise comprising principles, percepts and practices employed by
Lord Krishna to achieve his mission incarnate objectives.
The
work is divided into IX Parvas (or Chapters).
Parva
I presents the wisdom concentrates of Lord Krishna in the form of brief
analysis of selected management-relevant slokas from the Bhagavad Gita, the divine Song
of Wisdom.
Parva
II delves on Lord Krishna’s approach to dignity of work, commitment
appreciation, respect for reality, strategic intervention, efficient
facilitation, intense rapport, internal conflict management, talent
recognition, superior team management and management of uncertainties.
Lord
Krishna was a man of action, a
unique manifestation of action
warriorism. His action initiatives, at all stages of his life, are
perpetual source of inspiration for productive action. His leadership qualities
of divine proportions come alive in Parva III.
Parva
IV elaborates the intense thought warriorism
of Lord Krishna. His unique thought prowess led him to command people of
immense capabilities and diverse interests, with the finesse of a magician. His
skills as a power thinker, his practice of thinking ahead, his divine doctrines
of karma, dharma and non-material motivation, are described
in this Parva.
Lord
Krishna was a true master of soft skills,
the skills of verbal and non-verbal communication, logic and intellect,
through which he managed friends and foes, juniors and seniors, and
co-operators and antagonists, with equal ease. The humility and ethicality of
his approach, respect for virtue and merit, effective empowerment of
subordinates, superior emotion quotient, skillful ego management, total
impartiality, and his irresistible technology
of madhura, are detailed in Parva V.
Parva
VI is devoted to Lord Krishna’s skills as a teacher and as a guru. He was a
guru with a spiritual core, and a guru of rectitude and alternatives. His
relevance as a perpetual guru, and also as a management guru, is elaborated
with essential brevity.
Finer
aspects of management, practised by Lord Krishna are detailed in Parva VII.
Energy as a management tool, principle of causality, power of absolute,
creative destruction, approach to managing the boss, and more significantly,
the unified concept of management
performance are discussed therein.
Parva
VIII presents the distilled wisdom of
Lord Krishna’s management approach and practices. His divine skills of madhura,
doctrines of karma and dharma, sanctity of objectives, among others, are
discussed here as the omnipotent
technology of management.
Parva
IX entitled as nectar of management wisdom
covers the essentials of Lord Krishna’s management skills, practices,
percepts and preaching.
Besides, the book
contains a detailed introduction by the author in the form of preface, attachments,
references and index.
The work is topical
in view of the fast changing business scenario across the world. It is relevant
to deal with frequently encountered modern day management requirements and
challenges.
