Sanjoy Mukherjee

The over-arching influence of the widespread and all-engulfing phenomenon of globalization along with the dominance of the forces of market capitalism and the gospel of fierce competition have limited the quest for Creativity and Human Excellence in global business scenario to mere techno-economic pursuits. Deeper, higher and nobler aspects of life and work are hardly taken into consideration while pertinent questions on meaning of work and purpose of life are pushed beyond the margins of everyday concerns. The present paper is a reflective article that attempts to highlight the significance of the search for Creativity and Human Excellence from a holistic and humanistic perspective with inspiration from such classical Eastern and Western masters like Rabindranath Tagore and Leonardo da Vinci with specific focus on the insights from these great masters for modern management. The paper ends with a Personal Story on Human Excellence through Balanced Leadership from an Indian household for promoting Enlightened Management in the twenty first century.

Spirit connotes the life-breath that enlivens both individuals and organizations. The role of a leader is to unleash in followers this primal creative energy and guide it towards enlightened governance. Although learning organizations grow and evolve in knowledge, conflicts also arise between material knowledge and spiritual wisdom. Using insight from classical Indian wisdom, a more harmonious pursuit of both personal fulfilment and organizational enrichment will be addressed. This article will highlight the importance of exploring non-conventional methods of learning beyond cognition that may improve leadership clarity, decision making and relationship management. Discovering deeper levels of consciousness via meditation also strengthens personal mastery and purpose as well as system thinking and a sense of interconnectedness. The spirit of entrepreneurship draws deeply from such inner inspiration, finding expression in sustained commitment and high-energy performance. Such leaders must ignite a fire within themselves and their followers. Hence, the article begins with asking deep, uneasy questions for wisdom to emerge in leadership consciousness, charting a road map for future enlightenment in learning organizations, and concludes with examples of wisdom leadership from modern India.

A development in Management research is observed in recent years: interface of literature and management. The paper highlights the possibility of constructive impacts on human development through philosophy and experiments of Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Laureate literary genius from India (1913), in the field of education. The essential equality of all, preservation of cultural diversity, and the infinite possibility of deepening our understanding of each other form the core of Tagorean values. Tagore was a visionary and, throughout his life, he tried to bring about a radical change in society through education which would enable the world to come together—irrespective of diversity of language, identity, race, nationality, or religion. He recognized the need to promote a culture that fosters intellectual, social, and cultural growth in the global community. Using the classic example of Tagore the paper will examine how embracing of diversity in leadership and organizational development can contribute to holistic effectiveness through the introduction of non-conventional and alternative learning as advocated by Tagore that makes him all the more relevant in the present globalized context. The paper will also attempt to outline a learning path and unfold a voyage from knowledge to wisdom for leaders and organizations in future.

Excessive predominance of analytical, logical and quantitatively oriented left brain activity has led to the numbing of creative, intuitive and holistic right brain development. Creativity and joy in the learning experience has been sacrificed on the altar of this fossilized system just to ensure the ‘rigor’ of pedagogical methods and processes. The victims of this mechanized and often mindless, utilitarian knowledge are not only students but also faculty, who are hard-pressed in the rush for rush for promotion and tenure. The paper raises the voice of the ‘Other’ to offer alternative sources and methods of learning in the light of valuable insights from the life and work of Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Laureate poet from India who was not only a literary genius but also a musician, philosopher, artist and a pioneer in experimenting with alternative education. The paper also outlines the salient learning points from Tagore to enrich the presently ossified education system and bring in fresh air and new light that promotes the all-round humanistic development of individuals and the creation of a joyful and creative learning environment. Learning from Nature, immersion in silence and integration of inputs from the Humanities into mainstream management education are of extreme importance.

Knowledge and action constitute two important and inter-related domains of human existence. The very pace of our modern life with all its material abundance hardly allows us space for the dawning of higher knowledge or scope for imparting deeper meaning into the endless series of our mechanical actions. The limitations of linear thinking, binary logic and specialized disciplines of knowledge prevent our access to a holistic perception of our life-world. The article draws insights from three classical traditions of learning to highlight the importance of conversations and dialogues as alternative and non-conventional sources of creating and disseminating actionable knowledge. The author delves into a depth exploration of three timeless masterpieces of world literature and philosophy for a comprehensive understanding of the drama of life and death and attempts to create a space for unconditional love in our quest of illumined knowledge and engagement in meaningful action

In this technology-driven Digital Age, Management Education is primarily engaged in development of skills and techno-economic competence of students with dominant thrust on sharpening their rational faculties and quantitative ability. Deeper questions and nobler qualittative issues like Spirituality, Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics are naturally assigned low priority in the rush for money, career, fame, power and position both at the individual and organizational levels. The present paper engages in a Qualitative Research by conducting Focus group Interviews among Participants at the Undergraduate level who had taken up Management Education. After content analysis of the responses the authors highlight their observations on the existing gaps in prevailing management education leading to failure of the present system in charging the students with a deeper Meaning of Work and a higher Purpose of Life. The paper then delves into exploration in pertinent tenets of Classical Indian Wisdom to enrich the spectrum of Management education with insights on Humanistic Philosophy, Holistic Learning, Enlightened CSR and Ethics, and Inspirational Leadership towards creating a better and more humane future for modern organizations.

The need for mainstreaming inputs from literature, poetry and music in MBA curriculum and corporate training modules arises from the acute inadequacy to deal with the complexity, uncertainty, ambiguity and turbulence in the business scenario today. The art of managing people is not just a matter of deployment of a set of skills or use of stereotyped formulae but awakening and unleashing our creative potential energy in its deepest and widest sense. In the twentieth century Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Laurate poet from India, was a strong and living proponent of holistic education for overall human development. He translated his vision into reality by founding his university in the lap of Nature far from the humdrum of the metropolis of Calcutta where he himself had nightmarish experiences of attending schools in his childhood. The life, insights and works of Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Laurate poet from India, and his experiments on education have become increasingly relevant for management education to come out of dehumanizing capitalistic influence.

The paper outlines an indigenous approach to managerial transformation for TQM primarily based on the classical wisdom literature of India. It lays emphasis on the transformation of the subjective domain of the individual as a prior requirement for ensuring quality in other dimensions of the organization. An indepth exploration of a model of the human being, purpose of life and meaning of work have been attempted with specific methodological implications for the individual and the organization. Finally, it provides directions for a transformational HRD endeavour covering issues like personality development, leadership, teamwork and communication for TQM effectiveness.