Assignment Work for Management and Entrepreneurship (SSM 5022)

Pratyush Negi

SID – 20203008

Department – M.Tech Water Resource Engineering

Lord Rama as a Transformational Leader

“A leader is someone who knows the path to success, moves on the path to success and leads other
in the path of success” These are the words that very rightfully describes Lord Rama as a leader.
Lord Rama is known as ‘Maryada Purushottam- the perfect man’ because his ethics, morals and
rules narrate to being paramount amongst all men. He is known to be the person who never
deviated from his path of truth and novelty even in the most critical situation. Just because an
obedient son will never disobey his father and it is a son’s pride to respect his father’s promise, he
spent 14 years of his prime in forests living like a poor saint whereas he could live assignment a
king.

I am an atheist, I don’t believe in the existence of god, but it always astonished me how effective
Lord Rama was as a transfer Being an atheist helped me in understanding the leadership of Lord
Rama because unlike the devotees of Lord Rama I comprehend all his wisdom like that of a leader
not as of a god. Lord Rama is considered as the ideal son, the ideal husband, the ideal king but
only a few appreciate him as a brilliant leader. His code of conduct made him a leader that the
whole world is fond of.

A transformational leader is someone who inspire, influences and encourage employees to help
them grow and as they grow the organization as a whole also nurtures. A transformational leader
can be characterized as someone who keeps his ego in check, make difficult decisions, share
collective organizational consciousness, lead with visions and much more. It is not easy to develop
good leadership skills and when you desire to become a transformational leader the task becomes
more difficult.

Lord Rama was a transformational leader. In transformational leadership there is holistic

relationship between the leader and followers. Both respect each other and work with hand in
hand. He inspired his followers to create a kingdom where people lived a virtuous life. There was
a sense of love, respect, trust and admiration amongst the people. His rule was based on truth.

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The truth and honesty were the main pillars of his rule. He inspired his followers to follow what
is not only right for them but also for the society. He connected his ideology with his followers.
He did everything to gratify his followers, he even abandoned his wife for their sake which I
think was totally wrong. This might be right for a God to abandon his wife but if I think from the
point of view of a human being it is not sane to abandon your life partner just to please our
followers. But his nature of devoting all what he have to others made him the most loved one.
There was none who was unhappy in his regime. It was his ideal nature that made him the best
transformational leader the world has ever seen.

It was important for any leader to build an environment where his followers or employees
absorbs and radiates only positive vibes. The best way to create such workspace is leading from
the front and make sure everyone is motivated no matter how grim the circumstances are. Lord
Rama always acted as a role model to his people. He was an unbiased leader, love was his
strongest weapon but he was strict at times when required. He went to exile for fourteen years
because it was the right karma to do, he knew that he would face lot of difficulties but he still did
it. Inspired by his novelty and generosity, the people of his kingdom were highly motivated to
follow the ideology that their leader Lord Rama believed.

Lord Rama was a participative leader and never enforced his verdicts on others. He was calm
and composed and tried to solve the problems of his people by peace and harmony. While
preparing for war against Raavan he always listened the opinions and strategies of his fellow
ministers and commanders. He managed to find varies clues about the whereabouts of his wife
Sita because instead of getting distracted by the thought that his wife is gone, he maintained his
nerve and joined the links to reach Lanka. If he had not listened to Sushain Vaidya, Laxman
would have died. If he had not listened to Vibhishan, there was no way he could have killed
Raavan. This a trait of a good transformational leader. People should not be afraid of having a
conversation with their leaders. A leader must not act like he is above his people, he should
always act like he is at the same level of his people. Although he was the leader of the Vanar
Sena and probably the strongest and wisest among them his all decisions were made after taking
consent from all.

Lord Rama was a modest leader and followed code of conduct. He gave Raavan many chances
to make peace before and during the battle. In fact even before killing him, he offered to make
peace. A good leader always finds what’s best for everyone. He should not bring his personal
grudges in between when he has the responsibility of leading a group. War or killing is never a
good choice to take and Lord Rama always knew that, he never brought his emotions on the
battlefield. A transformational leader never brings out negative vibes and emotions in the
workplace. When you let your emotions to run loose, there is a great chance you can commit a
mistake and in critical situations a small mistake is all that your opponent needs.

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Lord Rama was a humble being and followed the ethics of a true Kshatriya. Because of
inadequate preparation and bad strategy Raavan was rendered weaponless on the first day of the
war. He could have killed the Raavan easily. But like a true Kshatriya warrior, he followed the
code of valor and didn’t attacked him because he was unarmed. Humility was Lord Rama’s most
outstanding asset, which made him the person we all know. He ate the tasted fruits of Shabri. It
showed his down to earth nature. When his enemy’s brother Vibhishan came to him, instead of
thrashing him he treated him like his brother because he knew Vibhishan was following the path
of dharma. In people like Vibhishan and Shabri, he identified the true value and potential of the
person. He didn’t discriminated anyone based on their past or their status. Like a true
transformational leader he gave a true and fair chance to everyone and welcomed them with open
arms. Some people might not like this and there might be some differences but a good leader
should make the fair decision and let everyone under him understand that the decision he took is
correct and will benefit everyone.

Lord Rama was an unprejudiced leader. Even though his most loved was Laxmana and
Hanuman he shared his views, his thought process, and his problems with ever commander of
his army. Commanders like Sugriva and Jamwant were as dignified as Laxmana and Hanuman.
This created a sense of unbiasedness amongst his army. It is important for a transactional leader
to help the budding leaders grow and prosper under his shadow. He should not be self-centered
and should believe in sustainable growth of his organization and of his employees.

Lord Rama was superb in managing the resources effectively. He didn’t had a very large and
strong army but he had some exceptional warriors in his team who had the capability of
defeating an army of millions by themselves. Thus he focused on quality rather than quantity. In
any organization people often are forced to work in crunching timelines and with restricted
resources. In these crunching situations the people who are skilled and motivated survive and
others flop. So it is important to keep the people working under you motivated and invest in their
skill development and training. A good leader should seek help for capital and resources as and
when required.

Another important quality which Lord Rama displayed was to believe in his army. He was leading
an army of monkeys, he didn’t knew how well they can fight and it is also difficult to control an
animal but his belief in his army and their strength was the reason he won the war. He could have
asked help from other kings who would have helped him without hesitating a bit because of his
stature but he showed how a great leader can make diamond out of the coal. Lord Rama assisted
Sugriva and Vibhishan to establish their own kingdoms, although both of them were following
Lord Rama and he could have ruled their kingdoms as well. He courteously helped both Sugriva
and Vibhishan and returned to Ayodhya and ruled the place which was righteously his. Likewise
present military leaders should inspire budding leaders for future.

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A transformational leader should have a clear vision on his future prospects and the way how he
is going to proceed with his plans in future. Lord Rama had a clarity of thoughts and this
empowered his army to put their best and accomplish the desired outcome of rescuing Lord Sita
from clutches of Ravana. Same is in the case of any leader, the more focused a leader is the
better his control will be over the team. A focused leader will guide his followers towards glory.
All the organizations requisite a leader to express the organization’s goals to his team effectively.
So that the people know what is the ultimate goal they want to achieve and start contributing
towards it.

A dumb leader will guide his followers to the pit and a wise leader will take them to the summit.
Lord Rama was an erudite leader. He kept himself under the direction of saints and sages, he
learned everything he could from the sages. This knowledge helped him in making the best
decision in any situation he was put into. It is essential for a transformational leader to learn and
improvise. A well sought out plan might fail sometimes but an erudite leader improvise and
adept according to the circumstances. This wisdom can only be achieved by long learning
process.

More often than not we assume that the only leadership skills are important for a leader to be
successful. But the truth is quite opposite, sometimes to get along with your team you have to
work as a team player. Every employee loves a leader who stands next to them like a friend
rather than the one who commands like Hitler. Apart from being a good team player he should
exhibit to his employees that team work is crucial to accomplish the organization’s goals. Lord
Rama had humans, monkeys and even bears on his side. But Lord Rama was skilled enough in
uniting them and guide all of them to work and fight together.

Lord Rama as a leader build what we called ‘Ram Rajya’. The Ram Rajya is not some religious
dwelling but a place where everyone is happy and the development of individual is sustainable.
The leaders of now need to build the same place where working doesn’t feel like burden. There
should be a holistic environment and no greed in employees. As long as there is a constructive
relationship between the leader and followers, it is definite that workplace environment will be
healthy and productive. It doesn’t matter if you believe in god or not but if you are inquisitive
and want to be a good leader you should study Lord Rama as a leader.