MAHABARATA & MANEGMENT

August 22, 2009 by jagdish indalkar

CONCEPTS OF MANAGEMENT IN MAHABARATA
(with ref.to Adiparv)
SHRI JAGDISH B. INDALKAR
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Prof. Peter drucker in one of his articles expressed his confidence that the sun will rise in the east may be in China or may be in India. We believe that the sun will rise in India. Let the Indian managers rise upto the expectations and become the typical Indian managers. India has a rich cultural background which keeps the lights live for us. We must not, therefore, shy away from the serious task of distilling the best of Indian thoughts or work and commence to implement in our organizations.
The term 'Manegment: is defined in a wider sense to encompass self-manegment, manegment of state and public administration. Oriental literature recognise compartmentalised ,segmented, and specialised knowledge. It contains knowledge of God, sprit, soul, ethics, philosophy, economics, sociology, politics, diplomacy, science, performing arts, public administration, human resource management etc. in an integrated and holistic way. God, nature ,soul, ethics, and administration are integrated and presented like flowers in a pot .It covers war, peace, meditation ,human behaviour, leadership, oraganistion, ethics, God, nature, soul, ethics, self- management, stress managment, family management, public administration, self-realisation, etc. However, it is noteworthy that Mahabharata contains concepts of management, which are known are fundamental principal of management in modern age. Mah. is based on intergrated Social Science. There is no compartmentalisation of subjects like politics, economics, sociology, psychology, etc. Management plinicipals also wide ranging from self management to management. These concepts are bounded by four-fold object of life..Dharma,Artha,Kama,Moksha. For achieving these , life should be manage with propar managerial skills. This sounds in new management era also. Therefore a short survey of some managerial
Thoughts are given in this article.

Organizational Behavior
If you ask managers to describe their most often problems , the answers you get tend to exhibit a common theme. The managers most often describe people problems. They talk about their bosses' poor communication skills, employees' lack of motivation, conflict between team members , overcoming employee resistance to a company reorganization and similar concerns. Therefore only recently that courses in "people skill" have become an important part of business school programs. Hence, the study of people at work is generally referred to the study of organizational behavior.
OB is the systematic study of the actions and attitudes that people exhibit within organizations. so OB is applied behavioral science and , as a result , is built on contributions from several behavioral disciplines. This can be expressed with following diagram.

when we think about some concepts regarding Maha. Certion episods come aeross into light.
In Adiparva of maha. Downfall of king Yayati From heven is naretead. (Mah.Adi.87) King Yayati reached heaven on account of his Good deeds. Lord Indra and King Yayati had the following dialogug:
Lord Indra to King Yayati'' With whom do you compare yourself in Tapasya?"
King Yayati Replied
"veenb osJeceveg<³es DeelcevemleHemee legu³eb keÀefáeled HeM³eeefce JeemeJe~~(Adi.88.2)
At that time Indra said that, you have dishonoured all without knowing effect of those who are less , equal and more in Tapasya to you. Self praise has diminished all your good deeds. Now you go back down to earth"
Then Yayati replied on that "I prefer to go sages on earth as they are best protectors of the poor and destitutes". According to O.B. it seems that, Ego is the main cause of downfall even of good people. Avoid ego of wealth, good deeds and knowledge. Self praise must be avoided. Seek company of Sages or saints when you are distress in order to solve the problem of your ego.
Communication
Communication usually involves an objective and this is true in the case of multicultural communication as well. communication is nothing but transformation of information in the form of an understandable message through a channel from a sender to others. In maha. unique ways of communication are founded
Now a days also, choosing the right style of communication is crucial in the business interactions and it depends a lot on the culture of a region. Basically communication style depends partly on whether the addressees make a high or low contribution in the process. In Mah.one eposide of coded communication is seen at the time of Lakshgruadahan.(ADi.146)
"ke=À YeJevem³e leJe Üeefj Òeoem³eefmle ngleeMeveced~~
cee$ee men ÒeoiOeJ³ee:HeeC[Jee: Heg© Fefle J³eJeefmeleced lem³e Oeele&jeä^m³e oce&les:~~
efkeÀefáe®®e eqJeogjsCeeskeÌlees cues®íJee®eeefme HeeC[Je~
lJe³ee ®e leled leLesl³egkeÌlecesleod efJeMJeemekeÀejCeced~~" 2 (Adi.146.4to6)
Mahathma Vidur send this message in coded message to Yudhistir. Dharmaraja confirmed that, he had got the message ..and saved own family. This is nothing but a communication way used in disaster management .
In the same parva, king Drupad arranged aptitude test to know Pandavs when they were wandering in incognito. (Adi.193)The palace of the Drupade was decorated with fruits, Cows,rops, seats, seeds. etc. meant for farmers in one room. In another room, implements meant for artisans were arranged. On one side several toys were displayed and other side,horse ,chariot sword,arrows,and bows ,safety guard etc.which are used in war ,were arranged. Superfine clothes and ornaments were arrenged in onther room.After arriving Pandavas accupied will decorated seats without any hesitiation.They look their meal in very digified way. After the meals were over .they were taken to the round of the palace. They first entered the room where arms and ammunition were displayed. This shows essential factors of OB like motivation, learning, emostions, personality, etc.
This event shows the way of taking aptitude test from those day. This is truly worthy to follow even today also in any type of organization. In this way some concepts of management touches Mahabarat story. Yet there are some other concepts have to study in new light.

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Biblography
1.Mahabharat, vol.1.Geetapress Gorekhapur.
2.Essentials of Origanizational Behaviour, Eight Ed.Robbins Stephen.p.,prentic-Hall of India,New Delhi,2006.
3.Manegerial Effectiveness, First ED.The ICFAI center for Management Research,Hyderabad,2005.

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