Management
being a culturally determined discipline exhibits flavours
peculiar to the genius of the people, inspite of its universal
scientific structure. Thus we have American Management, European
Management, Japanese Management etc. The overall concern of
management is creating value for stakeholder's money and time.
And of them customer is the king. This requires technology
and design innovations on an ongoing basis. Worker motivation
also is important. There has to be an investment-capital friendly
entrpreneurial environment.
India,
as it is poised on the high road to economic boom, has to
learn to integrate the modern management values and practices
with its ageold intgral worldviews and human objectives. Environment,
family, spirituality, ethics and social justice are important
survival values that humanity pursues and management science
cannot and shoud not ignore those values in its wealth creating
activities. Indian Management is in the crossroads. It can
remain rooted in its present orthodox paternalistic mode,
breeding corruption and inefficiency, and perpetuating poverty
or take bold steps to open the economy to market competition,
individual enterprise and to the challenges of global standards.
No doubt it will be a painful process.
Growing
up is always a painful experience. This
does not mean that government has to go passive and remain
a moot observer. The state must play critical role in ensuring
infrastrucure building, social justice, law and order, individual
freedom and above all reaching every citizen with food, health
care and education. What is required is a partnership between
government and private initiative. Sixty percent of Indians
are abjectly poor, living below the poverty line, whose daily
income will be less than fifty rupees. Another thirty percent
may be called the middle class, with a percapita monthly income
of 5000-7000 rupees. The rest ten percent of Indians are super
rich. Goverment's focus should be on the bottom sixty percent
poor. Government must ensure that the disposable income of
the middle class grows and that the rich finds it profitabe
to invest in India. This requires broad tripartisan class
consensus in India's political culture and economic thinking.
Individual thinkers, think tanks, media and grass root workers
have to join hands to create such a dialoguing and focussed
society. This is what is meant by the phrase 'Towards An Indian
Management Style'.
