Modern Management Through Ancient Indian Wisdom: Towards a More Sustainable Paradigm

Abstract

The paper attempts to establish the relevance of the teachings of Ancient Indian scriptures like Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Manu-smriti, Arthashastra, etc in the practice of Modern Management. In this paper, we will see that though Drucker's modern management paradigms like MBO are very ideal theoretically and can be derived from the ethical and spiritual frameworks of ancient Indian ethos however, in practice, companies are struggling to implement these frameworks effectively because they are still not aligned to the teachings of ancient Indian scriptures. Also, through the same body of knowledge derived from ancient Indian scriptures, we will try to understand the reasons behind individual decision-making failures ultimately leading to institutional failures and in the process would look forward towards integrating some elements into the existing frameworks to create a more sustainable management paradigm. In this regard, I have created a model which depicts a 6- fold path of “Jnan” or Knowledge through which we can not only better manage on an individual as well as institutional and global level, but also better able to contribute towards restoring World peace and uniform economic order through spiritual congruence.