UNIT VII Indian Ethos

INDIAN ETHOS MANAGMENET: Oxford defines ethos as The characteristic Spirit and Beliefs of community/ people which distinguishes one culture from the other. Indian ethos is drawn from the Vedas, the Ramayana, Mahabharata, the Bhagwadgita, and Upanishads.

INTRODUCTION

CULTURAL DIVERSITY:
The Indian identity is not clear one. It is not merely nationhood or citizenship. The Indian in the village in Tamilnadu is very different from Indian in the Punjab. In his life styles, beliefs system and attitudes to external world. So also, the urban Indian in the metropolitan cities is different from the rural Indian in the villages. Both of them are different from NRIs. Despite the differences there exists the Indian ethos. We believe that there is in all these diversity a certain commonality that distinguishes the Indian from the westerners. This commonality is in thoughts, in values, in habits and in practices. If we were to look for ancient text that are Indian, we would locate Upanishad, Vedas, Ramayana and Mahabharata and Panchtantra stories, most Indian would be familiar to it regardless of the religious affiliation. Infact, these epics have universal appeal, being popular in Germany and Indonesia, in adopted forms as they deal with human issues and contain lessons which are relevant to all mankind. The Vedas and Upanishads do not contain anything that is religious. They contain the essence of findings of the sages of old. They deal with management of self and issues of living in harmony with the rest of nature the environment.,

The contents corresponding to the fundamental teachings of all religious leaders through the ages which recognizes that all living being are united by the same unseen power or force or source of energy, which may be called Divinity, Almighty, Allah, Brahman, God, etc People behave and respond according to their ethos. People from different parts of the world do not have same ethos. Ideas of management developed from western experience will not work when applied in the Indian context because the ethos are different.

WORK LIFE In INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Inspite of Indian having an ancient culture and philosophy about the work life, we in India have not yet managed to develop our management styles with regards to our own cultural ethos and have been importing management systems from foreign countries. Indian philosophy regards work as worship and customer as god. Mahatma Gandhi has said- we are not doing a favour to the customer by serving him, rather the customer is doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to serve him. According to Bhagwat Geeta- a detached mind is essential because only a calm mind without any attachment can take clear decisions.

Indian ethos for work life:

Mans unique inner resource:- Indian ethos states that all human beings and indeed all creatures are brothers, as we all belong to the same God. Eg: praying of tulsi, cow due to acceptance of potential god in every soul. Thus according to it if the ends is towards something good, then god is by your side.

Holistic relationship between man and nature

This view states that all human beings and nature are interconnected & interdependent. Thus the only law (dharma) is to service each other. Thus it says that no one in the universe can remain in isolation, we are mutually interdependent.

Cooperation with each other

Indian ethos stress upon cooperation amongst others at workplace, for peaceful coexistence and mutual interdependence. Excessive competition, stress leads to drug even suicide.

Self-management
Indian ethos prescribe that a man should be able to control himself first, before he can control anybody else. Introspection involves examination of ones own thought, belief, emotions, desires, goals, weakness, strengths.

Yoga and meditation:

Yoga:= excellence Meditation: concentration. Thus meditation helps one to focus to solve many complex problems of the organization.

Dharma : duty

Each organization in Indian ethos is considered to be a living identity, having its own dharma and character. Thus an organization must inculcate ethical values such as fairness, justice, self discipline. The dharma of people in the organization is different according to their level in the org, but they have a dharma common i.e. to perform ones duty to the best of ones capacity. When an organization keeps within its own dharma, and does not violate it, does the organization flourishes and grow.