Gandhi’s management mantra
Gandhian views are still relevant for acquiring Management skills and making future managers successful. Sunil Thapliyal reports
Are Gandhian views still relevant in this day and age? Do they still have an impact on the modern system? With all these questions, hundreds of students assembled at the Asia-Pacific Institute of Management, Delhi on January 11, where the granddaughter of the Mahatma, Ela Gandhi came to address this issue. She expressed her view on “Reflections on Gandhian views vis-à-vis ethics in issues of management” organised by APIM.
Sharing the legacy of the great leader of India, she spoke about her personal experience with students and solved their queries thorough Gandhian views.
While giving answers of some questions, she described the importance of management in life. She said, “Gandhiji was one of the best managers of all times. He knew the importance of management. You can see his management skills, whether it’s man management, organisation management, time management etc, in all his acts. He managed them all very well and these skills led him to achieve his targets. He is an emblem of management.”
Echoing the importance of time management to achieve good results, she gave an example of how Mahatma Gandhi exemplified the qualities of an excellent manager by managing his time well.
Educating students on the role of managers in the complexity of organisational life, Ela Gandhi said that prospective managers, who will be the future leaders, must think objectively. They should be transparent in decision making and most importantly encourage individual behaviour in a direction that would provide ideal consequences for the economy as a whole.
She shared some personal incidents from her own life and the lessons she had received from the Mahatma. “It is very important to make use of the right values in one’s own life and then disseminate the same to others,” she said.
Ela also reflected that strong business ethics are the pillar for strategic planning and planned thinking.
Speaking on Gandhiji’s approach towards economics, she said, “The economic thought expounded by him was moral and humanistic. For Gandhiji, the only sensible economics was the one that holds human dignity and also a quality of life necessary to promote it. He wanted economics to focus not just on how an individual is likely to behave but also how he ought to behave.”
Elaborating further, she said that being a part of an economy, which is developing at a fast pace, it is very important to have a strong decision-making ability that caters to the institution as a whole, rather than having just individual profits.
She even enlightened the students on how to maintain a professional life with sheer dignity and, thus, achieve success using ideals that somehow depict the ethical virtues promoted by the great Mahatma.
When asked about the mismanaging to organise the upcoming Commonwealth Games, she replied, “It shows that India desperately needs good managers at all levels, and with Gandhian views such mismanagement can be avoided.”
“This experience will not only be worthwhile for the students but every individual who has got the golden opportunity to listen to her words,” said Prof DK Banerjee, Director of the Institute.
