The concept of management is thought to be Western in origin.
Indians over the past 5000 years have managed many traditional institutions well. The Epics, Purana and other Indian literature give useful insights into how events and institutions were managed through successive generations.
This presentation looks at some of these innate knowledge systems and how they can be adopted in present day management.
Harvard Law School initially started case study approach in America. Later Harvard Business School adopted the case study methodology in studying management issues also. In India, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad utilized the case study style of teaching since the 1960s.
This case study methodology of teaching management techniques is not new to India. One of the most popular examples is the Panchatantra, where a Rishi teaches behavioural sciences and management to his 2 students, the brash princes through animal stories.
Similarly, in this capsule we analyze popular incidents in our past and recent history, look at them as case studies and draw management lessons based on the behaviour of the characters involved and the consequent turn of events.
The events have been categorized as Approaches.
Approach
It is pertinent to mention here that these approaches are not viewed at from a religious or philosophical angle but only as case studies with relevance to present day Indian management needs.
The Americans, the British, the Germans, the Japanese, the Koreans have evolved their own style of management based on the native behaviour of their respective people and the local environment.
In India, we have not yet evolved an Indian style of management based on our behaviour and local requirements. This capsule helps us understand this lacuna and the consequent need to create an Indian style of management.
We have drawn lessons from these paths - approaches and try to understand as to how the Indian psyche reacts to given situations. Based on this we should form our Indian style of management.
With these approaches, we should evolve our own style of management, so that the young managers of today can create a harmonious blend of our cultural ethos with the modern strategies of management, which will certainly help to take on the business world with confidence.