Corporate Management Lessons from Indian Mythology Relevant for PGDM/MBA Qualification

As the best PGDM/MBA college in Noida, we at Asian Business School (ABS), are constantly striving to impart management knowledge in innovative ways. Here, we use case studies, skill-building activities like simulation games, live projects, industrial visit, exposure to workshops & conferences.

We all know that ‘Ramayana’ is one of the greatest epics of Hindu Mythology. However, it is not just a story, but also served as a medium used in ancient times to promote the importance of doing your ‘Dharma’ (duty). And in modern times, we can adopt several corporate lessons from ‘Ramayana’ which are part of leadership, management and governance and can be learnt in the best PGDM/MBA college in Delhi NCR. A few of such lessons that can be adopted as management principle can be enumerated as SWOT Analysis, Importance Of Communication, Belief & Value In Your Team, Having A Clear Vision, Leaving The Comfort Zone, and Succession Planning.

·         Doing SWOT analysis: SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities & Threats) analysis plays a vital role in modern day management. As per the established norms of management, before entering into any job, we do a complete analysis of the situation and then get mentally prepared and then make a plan, analyze competitor’s SWOT and then act accordingly. We may quote here the situation in Ramayana when Hanuman entered Lanka; the first thing he did was a complete study of the Lankans and assessing their strengths, weakness, threats & opportunities.

·         Focusing on the importance of communication in constraints: A lack of communication generally causes loss of focus and direction. On the contrary, continuous guidance and direction through effective communication helps subordinates to march towards the predetermined goals of the organization. This needs to be followed in congenial as well as adverse situation too. This was evidently observed in the kidnapping journey of Sita by Ravana when she purposefully dropped her belongings and jewellery at the regular intervals throughout the journey which gave Lord Rama the indication of the right path.

·         Believing & valuing your subordinates: In the corporate world, a manager is the one who can get his work done even from the contenders. A manager pins your ears back to what his subordinates has to say and tries to hold onto them together especially when the organization needs them the most. As we can see, in Ramayana, Ravana has time and again shown the signs of a bad manager, and hence it led to the demise of his kingdom. Right from the beginning, he ignored the advice of his managers and got his kingdom in the state of war with Lord Ram. His mismanagement and the act of not valuing his subordinates resulted in Vibhishan (one of the wisest manager) leaving him in the middle of a crisis.

·         Having a clear Vision: It is required that every leader must have a clear vision of what he is aiming for and what fruit will it bear him in future. For example, Rama’s clear vision was to release his wife Sita and rout the evil forces. This clarity about the intentions as well as the process enabled his army to put its heart and soul in the battle to release Sita. So, a clear vision will always be a motivating factor to focus on the goal and to not get deviated.

·         Leaving your comfort zone: It has been found thatmarketing managers of today who travel through the vicinity to get a better first-hand feel of the customer’s pulse do a far better job of servicing the market. In Ramayana, when Rama gets ordered to remain in the jungle for a period of fourteen years, Sita and Rama take it as an opportunity to engage with the ordinary citizens of their monarchy, rather than remaining confined to the contentment of their palace. This helps them to understand the ground realities better.

·         Having a clear Succession Plan: A well-managed organization makes sure that the career development plans of their top performers are directly linked to the succession plans. Therefore, good leaders should invariably groom the managers under them and must make them aware of their succession planning. For instance, although Dasaratha’s preparations to install Rama on Ayodhya‘s throne turned into disarray, but one can never deny the existence of a simple succession plan. It is basically intended to ensure consistency of Governance. Aside from being the eldest son, it helped; Rama was loved by all, and was therefore chosen to lead the kingdom after Dasarath. As per Kalidasa’s Raghuvansham, when the time came to surrender his body, Rama divided it impartially between his two sons – Lava and Kusha.

At Asian Business School, through our flagship PGDM programme, we are strongly committed to inspiring ABS students for a bright future. To know more about the ABS PGDM admission criteria, PGDM admission fees, etc. please log in to our website www.abs.edu.in.

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