Saturday, 25 October 2014

Blast from the Past

धर्मे अर्थे कामे मोक्षे  भरतर्षभ। यदिहास्ति तदन्यत्र यन्नेहास्ति तत्क्वचित् ।।

O scion of the Bharat race, whatever dharma, artha, kaama and moksha exists in the world, exists in the text, whatever is not in the text does not exist elsewhere.

The story of Mahabharata, in the Hindu mythology, shall never be deemed as a description of the past, as the very word itihasa portrays the essence of depiction of life ‘as it was, as it is and as it always shall be’. Without delving any further in to Nietzsche’s ideas on the eternal return and going all gaga over ‘Time being a flat circle’, even a superficial analysis of the text at hand gives us great insights into how organizations worked back then and how relevant the discussion is, till date. Here is our attempt.

The first and probably the most important learning from the text is how dynamic was the organization’s goal structure. Modern day businesses demand constant alignment, commonality of mission and vision and ironically portray Krishna as ‘the one who achieved all’. But if we were to pay any heed to Krishna’s teachings, it becomes clear that alignment is more about heart than head. We all know this, feel this, yet the modern day management would roll out bonus structures and contracts, assuming conformance.
The CEO walked over to the desk and majestically signed the vision statement of the company for the next 5 years to come. The grand statement left everyone who read it in shock and awe of the firm’s (literary skills?) mission and direction.

What when the CEO retires, the new leader is expected to inherit and absorb the old vision. We have bible all over again, slaves flocked to Israel, Promised Lands dispute resulted in the royal house of David replacing Saul, and enemies laid ruin to the fragmented kingdom.
Krishna would have had a different PoV all together; he would have said do not focus on goals at all. Goals are milestones, indicative of the direction you’re going in, the distance you have travelled, the unchanging target of any business should be realization and not measuring up against a set metric. Realisation of strengths, constant correction, and perpetual improvement makes any business a playground; metrics, hollow statements carved in stone, visions codified in conference rooms make the organization a battlefield.
Moving on, let’s analyse Krishna’s role from another perspective: a crisis manager.

Setting aside his divinity, we can see him in a role wherein organization’s success or failure wouldn’t have much impact on his personal appraisals/position. He is the person who sits out of the action and yet has maximum control over it.
Krishna is said to be an avatar of Vishnu. Since the greater objective here was to eradicate evil from the earth, Vishnu’s avatars actually bring out the different stages a manager has to go through in an organization.
A basic lay-out of the reporting relationships:

Parasurama: Enters at an early point, focuses on discipline, regulation, focus.
Rama: Idealistic, sets examples, sacrifices and compromises to enforce and inculcate dedication as a key virtue.
Krishna: instils responsibility/ownership in the team, sits out.
Buddha: If the system is functioning smoothly – walk out and observe.
Kalki (Yet to happen in the Kalyuga): If it’s not (duh?). Exterminate it and dissolve the organization.
Krishna is the first preceptor of sustainability in a competitive environment. While Kauravas have a ‘attack when challenged’ or a reactionary plan, Krishna focuses on the bigger picture. Even the organizational set up laid out by him takes in consideration the limited resources Pandavas had and could be said to be the earliest possible deviation from the functional structure of organizations.

A simple comparison brings out the differences in the structure:



The problem of enforcing the previous leader's vision statement on the succeding leader becomes apparent here. Every Kaurava leader fought his own battle. And as a result, either became disillusioned with the cause of the organization and gave away his secret and died or disregarding the active agenda pursued his own objectives and led the army astray. 

Some visions:

Bhisma: vowed to protect the throne of Hastinapur, preservation and nurutring of the kingdom as a whole.
Drona and Kripa: allegiance to the throne, dutiful servants, followng orders.
Karna: his friendship to Duryodhana and prove his mettle against Arjuna.
Shalya: Was an ally of the pandavas (in the past), demoralise the kauravas. 
All in all, we have three different perspectives. First, have a look at the project and its end points. Second, think of the end points creating problems of their own and pre-empt the problems embedded in the solution. Third, consider the projects as cyclical events which should result in learning and improvement constantly making us better and wiser. 

(References: http://devdutt.com/articles/indian-mythology )




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