Tag: International Finance Mumbai University BMS Notes

A system of beliefs that helps one to make decisions (personal/business) is known as a value system. In a professional environment, such core values form the foundations that build any business. These values need to be upheld and implemented across the entire business. The employees need to treat such value systems as sacrosanct and use them regularly throughout the decision-making process. When they are used optimally, these core values can provide benefits to a company to grow fast and evolve into a larger organization.

Importance of Workplace Values

Your workplace values are the guiding principles that are most important to you about the way that you work. You use these deeply held principles to choose between right and wrong ways of working, and they help you make important decisions and career choices.

Some (possibly conflicting) examples of workplace values include:

• Being accountable
• Making a difference
• Focusing on detail
• Delivering quality
• Being honest
• Keeping promises
• Being reliable
• Being positive
• Meeting deadlines
• Helping and respecting others
• Being a great team member
• Respecting company policy and rules
• Showing tolerance

Strong work ethics and values play an important role in the workplace. The following mentioned are few important workplace values in an organization.

Values are the foremost thing which makes a company:

Nowadays, the companies are not only mere business entities, but they are more than that. Now companies breathe, live by focusing on many brands at a time. The companies are tapping large part of the market, changing the demands and building altogether different environment to work in.

It promotes a cooperating environment in the company:

The company is known by the employees who work in it. If the employees leave the company one by one, the company will not work and may come to an end. So, this is the behavior of the employees which promotes a good and cooperating environment in an organization.

Promotes positivity among the employees:

If the employees will not adhere to good behavior in an organization, it will ultimately affect the work and the output. So, in order to promote happiness and positivity among employees, good values are expected within an organization.

Enhances the interpersonal behavior:

Interpersonal behavior means the communicating behavior among the employees within an organization. If there will be no rules and code of conduct for the employees to follow and the employees are unwilling to talk to one another, then it promotes negativity within the organization.

To prevent chaos within the organization:

No values in the workplace, no ethics in the workplace to follow, no codes of conduct, and then,

how can peace and friendly atmosphere be expected?

This is not at all possible. So, in order to make it possible, the first and the foremost thing is to let employees adhere to the values. Else there would be only chaos and no work within the organization. To avoid all those, the values are important for workplaces.

To maintain discipline within the organization:

Discipline is the father of success. If you are disciplined in your work, you are going on the right track, but if you are not disciplined you are astray from your path. So, if you want to achieve the goals you have desired, it is important to work with values within the company.

Values set the tone for the company’s culture:

The culture of the company is decided by the values it’s employees follow. It tells what is your organization on the whole. It is important that the people within the organization adhere to the values set by the company.

Values within the workplace attracts more employees:

The values are something which attract more employees. This is because if the company will follow proper values, it will establish a good work culture and if the work culture is satisfying then ultimately more employees would want to work within the organization.

Helps in the growth of the company:

The values form a good work culture. If there will be no values, no rules to follow, no one would want to work unless the environment is work friendly. So, the more valuable work environment is, more it will be good for the growth of the company itself.

Right things are done at the right time:

The values teach many other values like discipline and so on. The discipline helps in keeping the things at right place. Also doing the right things at the right time.

Generally, value has been taken to mean moral ideas, general conceptions or orientations towards the world or sometimes simply interests, attitudes, preferences, needs, sentiments and dispositions. But sociologists use this term in a more precise sense to mean “The generalised end which has the connotations of rightness, goodness or inherent desirability”.

These ends are regarded legitimate and binding by society. They define what is important worthwhile and worth striving for. Sometimes, values have been interpreted to mean “such standards by means of which the ends of action are selected”. Thus, values are collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable, and proper or bad, undesirable, and improper in a culture.

According to M. Haralambos (2000), “a value is a belief that something is good and desirable”. For R.K. Mukerjee (1949) (a pioneer Indian sociologist who initiated the study of social values), “values are socially approved desires and goals that are internalised through the process of conditioning, learning or socialisation and that become subjective preferences, standards and aspirations”. A value is a shared idea about how something is ranked in terms of desirability, worth or goodness.

Familiar examples of values are wealth, loyalty, independence, equality, justice, fraternity and friend­liness. These are generalised ends consciously pursued by or held up to individuals as being worthwhile in themselves. It is not easy to clarify the fundamental values of a given society because of their sheer breadth.

Characteristics:

Values may be specific, such as honouring one’s parents or owning a home or they may be more general, such as health, love and democracy. “Truth prevails”, “love thy neighbour as yourself, “learning is good as ends itself are a few examples of general values. Individual achievement, individual happiness and materi­alism are major values of modern industrial society.

Value systems can be different from culture to culture. One may value aggressiveness and deplores passivity, another the reverse, and a third gives little attention to this dimension altogether, emphasising instead the virtue of sobriety over emotionality, which may be quite unimportant in either of the other cultures. This point has very aptly been explored and explained by Florence Kluchkhon (1949) in her studies of five small communities (tribes) of the American south-west. One society may value individual achievement (as in USA), another may emphasise family unity and kin support (as in India). The values of hard work and individual achievement are often associated with industrial capitalist societies.

The values of a culture may change, but most remain stable during one person’s lifetime. Socially shared, intensely felt values are a fundamental part of our lives. Values are often emotionally charged because they stand for things we believe to be worth defending. Often, this characteristic of values brings conflict between different communities or societies or sometimes between different persons.

Functions

• Values play an important role in the integration and fulfillment of man’s basic impulses and desires in a stable and consistent manner appropriate for his living.
• They are generic experiences in social action made up of both individual and social responses and attitudes.
• They build up societies, integrate social relations.
• They mould the ideal dimensions of personality and range and depth of culture.
• They influence people’s behaviour and serve as criteria for evaluating the actions of others.
• They have a great role to play in the conduct of social life.
• They help in creating norms to guide day-to-day behaviour.

Features

1. Integrity

Honesty and integrity are the cornerstone of sustainable success. In order for people to want to follow their leader they must have complete trust in his honesty, his dedication, his commitment and his unshakeable ethics and high standards and values. Managers who are open, truthful and consistent in their behaviors are more likely to inspire trust, loyalty and commitment in their teams.

2. Willingness to take Risk

Leaders are not afraid of taking risks or making mistakes. They take calculated as opposed to reckless risks and while they weigh their options and alternatives carefully they do not allow themselves to fall prey to the “analysis paralysis” syndrome. The best leaders learn from their mistakes and emerge from them resilient and ready to take on the next challenge.

3. Optimism and Enthusiasm

A great manager inspires others with their infectious enthusiasm, their disarmingly genuine keenness, passion and their zeal for what they do. Rather than dwelling on problems they are solution-oriented and focus on how to make things work and succeed. They are willing to see the silver lining in every cloud and have a ‘can-do’ optimistic attitude that leaves no place for negativity.

4. Commitment to Growth

Leaders recognize that learning is a life-long process and never stop doing what it takes to grow professionally and personally and maintain a grip with emerging trends and tools and business realities and technologies. The best leaders realize that to remain at the vanguard of their particular function or industry requires constant learning, enquiry, exploration and innovation as well as continuous self-scrutiny and analysis.

5. Vision

Leaders know precisely what they want and make clear detailed and achievable plans to get there. They are not vague or ambiguous in their goals nor do they leave anything to chance. Leaders are also able to articulate and communicate their vision clearly and in no uncertain terms and inspire and win others to their platform with their vision.

6. Pragmatism

While leaders may have lofty visions and ideals, they do not hide their heads in the clouds and are mindful of the hard facts and figures that surround them. They are very realistic when it comes to assessing the landscape they operate in and practical about the decisions they make.

7. Responsibility

Leaders can be depended on to take responsibility for their actions and to live up to their responsibilities completely. They stand firmly behind the commitments they make and do not let their teams down; nor do they assign or allocate blame to deflect from their own responsibilities. They do not have a victim mentality that holds others responsible for their poor choices and deficiencies but stare challenges in the face and confront them head-on.

8. Hard Work and Conscientiousness

Leaders work hard and accept no short cuts. The best leaders lead by their example demonstrating a stellar work ethic by being the first in the office, the last out and the most productive, persistent and dedicated while at work. They have a strong sense of duty and very high standards of excellence and they apply these rigorous standards to themselves first always seeking better, smarter, more effective ways of doing things.

9. Self-confidence

Leaders have no shortage of that essential commodity of self-assurance that enables them to risk giant strides, be bold and tough-minded and ‘fall forward’ in the rare instances when they do fall/fail. Leaders generally have little need for approval and are motivated by an inner strength, maturity and drive. Leaders are very cognizant of their inner strengths, weaknesses and the impact they have on others and knowledgeable of what they can and cannot realistically do/achieve/influence. They do not wallow in self-pity or guilt over past mistakes or doubt.

10. Emotional Intelligence

Empathy, self-awareness, decisiveness, self-discipline, intuitiveness and social competence are all key to successful leadership and all are associated with high levels of emotional intelligence. Congeniality, the ability to put oneself in another’s shoes and relate with others, the ability to read between the lines and analyze the pulse of a relationship or situation, the ability to focus on the positive and refrain from negative and self-defeating attitudes and behaviors, are all elements of emotional intelligence that contribute to leadership success.

11. Expertise in Industry

While there are many generalists in leadership positions the best leaders become generalists not by knowing a little about many fields but my being experts in a multitude of fields. Good leaders are characterized by a very high level of energy, conscientiousness and drive and spare no efforts to become experts in their field and harness all the information and knowledge and competence they need to maintain an edge over their competitors.

12. Ability to Engage Others

A key leadership trait is inspiring, motivating, engaging and bringing out the best in others. The best leaders encourage leadership in all around them and strive to develop and empower others to assume roles of leadership and responsibility. They are able to propel others to elevated levels of performance through their own energy and enthusiasm and insight and can maximize the strengths and capabilities of their team for the benefit of the whole organization.

Types:

(1) Individual values:

These are the values which are related with the development of human personality or individual norms of recognition and protection of the human personality such as honesty, loyalty, veracity and honour.

(2) Collective values:

Values connected with the solidarity of the community or collective norms of equality, justice, solidarity and sociableness are known as collective values.

Values can also be’ categorised from the point of view their hierarchical arrangement:

(1) Intrinsic values:

These are the values which are related with goals of life. They are sometimes known as ultimate and transcendent values. They determine the schemata of human rights and duties and of human virtues. In the hierarchy of values, they occupy the highest place and superior to all other values of life.

(2) Instrumental values:

These values come after the intrinsic values in the scheme of gradation of values. These values are means to achieve goals (intrinsic values) of life. They are also known as incidental or proximate values.

Values Formation

Value formation is the confluence of our personal experiences and particular culture we are entwined in. Values are imposed from our family in childhood and reinforced through culture and life experiences. The value of, for example, kindness was imposed on me from my parents, and reinforced throughout early childhood. Then I applied that value on the school playground and experienced how it helped me create greater social bonds with my school mates. My personal experiences growing up reinforced the value of kindness as I experienced the adaptive effects of showing kindness and the maladaptive effects when choosing malice over kindness. All through my upbringing, both my personal experiences and cultural surroundings both reinforced the value of kindness.

Having been born and raised in Dallas, Texas, the values of rugged individualism, church, and God was ingrained in my psyche from birth. Each of those three values, as I grew older, eventually formed the foundation of my worldview and politics. In a sense, our values, imposed upon us early in childhood, become the spectacles in which we view and judge the world.

Our culture plays a huge role in our value formation. Culture gives us a community and shared reality so that we can cooperate in activities and customs that give meaning, purpose, and significance to our existence. Culture gives us prescriptions for appropriate conduct so that we can learn best how to get along with others. All you have to do is travel to another country to see how values ebb and flow with culture. You can travel to China and see how they elevate the group and family over the individual in contrast to most Americans; you can see how South Americans elevate hospitality and care for their elderly unlike most Americans; and how Hawaiians elevate relaxation and balance unlike most urban metropolitan cities in the U.S.

Value Based Management (VBM) is the management philosophy and approach that enables and supports maximum value creation in organizations, typically the maximization of shareholder value. VBM encompasses the processes for creating, managing, and measuring value.

The value creation process requires an understanding of the attractiveness of the market or industry where one competes, coupled with one’s competitive position relative to other players. Once this understanding is established and is linked with key value chain drivers for cash flow and profitability, competitive strategy can be established or modified to maximize future returns.

The three elements of Value Based Management:

• Creating Value. How the company can increase or generate maximum future value. More or less equal to strategy.
• Managing for Value. Governance, change management, organizational culture, communication, leadership.
• Measuring Value. Value Based Management is dependent on the corporate purpose and the corporate values. The corporate purpose can either be economic (Shareholder Value) or can also aim at other constituents directly (Stakeholder Value).

Benefits of Value Based Management

• Can maximize value creation consistently.
• It increases corporate transparency.
• It helps organizations to deal with globalized and deregulated capital markets.
• Aligns the interests of (top) managers with the interests of shareholders and stakeholders.
• Facilitates communication with investors, analysts and communication with stakeholders.
• Improves internal communication about the strategy.
• Prevents undervaluation of the stock.
• It sets clear management priorities.
• Facilitates to improve decision making.
• It helps to balance short-term, middle-term and long-term trade-offs.
• Encourages value-creating investments.
• Improves the allocation of resources.
• Streamlines planning and budgeting.
• It sets effective targets for compensation.
• Facilitates the use of stocks for mergers or acquisitions.
• Prevents takeovers.
• It helps to better manage increased complexity and greater uncertainty and risk.

Phases to developing a Value-based corporate culture:

1. Assessment:

Determine the company’s position on its values culture and figure out what the values need to be.

2. Improve initiatives:

To develop improvement initiatives that tightly align to the strategies developed means that they must contain measures and outcomes that link directly to the measures and outcomes stated in the strategy. To do this, management must look inward to its knowledge workers for solutions. This requires that management to communicate its strategies and objectives. It requires management to view the organization in terms of how its processes function and to pose challenges to cross functional groups that represent those processes.

Take the example of a car manufacturer who might have a strategy to improve customer satisfaction with its cars by building cars with low price, high mileage, good design, 5 years warranty etc. the management than organize a team of knowledge workers to purpose ways to achieve the goal. The team would comprise collectively and explore how to reduce material weight, streamline production, and develop engines that to achieve the goal.

All organizations have implicit values, yet few have taken the trouble to make them explicit. Aligning Values with the management practice is the essential component.

3. Program development:

Once the company determines where it stands on its selected values, it decides how to make progress towards them. Create a code of conduct that represents the ethical values established during assessment. Keep the code precise, based directly on the selected values. Establish a training plan for getting the required information to everyone working with the company.

Employees are not the only one’s to introduce to the new effort. Do not forget about vendors and contracted staff, though the company may introduce them to the program after its successful internal launch. Each of these other stakeholders needs training based on their role in the business.

4. Program Implementation:

Communicating the program effectively throughout the organization is an essential to a successful program. Communicating the program frequently is another important success factor. Distribute the “Code of Conduct” and train people so they understand it. Verify that all levels of staff are getting the desired message. Establish an anonymous reporting system to raise questions about the values and any suspected lapse. If the company is successful with investigations, several things can happen. First, giving each incident the appropriate investigation will establish the credibility of the program.

5. Re-assessment and Modification:

After the initial implementation of the program’s major elements, review if again. Find out the communications effective in getting the right message to all levels of staff.

6. Evaluation:

This process is more comprehensive than the re-assessment. It comes on a less frequent basis, usually annually. Consider adding questions about the ethic s program to your annual employee questionnaire. This will not only help the evacuation process but can also moderate the costs of gathering such information. Re-evaluating the program and keeping it relevant are essential to its continued health. Remember that ethics are about people and how they interact. The program is about building a culture that supports sound decision-making based on respect for all stakeholders. That asset is a way to draw concerned parties into the company culture and create an environment where they all can be productive.

Recent happenings about accounting practices, conflicts of interest, document shredding and retaliation against employees in companies heighten interest in spiritual values.

Secular Values in Management

• Profits: Business is done for profit for the organization by which it can survive and develop. This profit should be justified in context of service and development of society.
• Productivity: Business value emphasis on productivity through which an organization serve the society. It doesn’t make any difference on the basis of caste, religion or any other difference of customer.
• Goodwill and Reputation: Goodwill is the important things for the business people. All the customer of any society should be satisfying from the services of any organization. It makes an organization a real unit of service oriented industry.
• Strategy and Achievement: All the professionals of an organization have their strategy for achieving their goal and objective to serve the society and make profit again for the development.
• Responsibility: Business people and organization are equally responsible to the whole society for the safe development and harmony.

Characteristics of Secular Values

• Focus on factual realities: In secular value system approach the facts of life are the major source of inspiration and not the religious way.
• It treats the person on the basis of actuality.
• Secular values focus on scientific facts.
• These values believe in equality: it emphasis that there is no superior or inferior caste; in the same way there is no superior or inferior religion. All human beings are equal and should be treated in the same manner.

Spiritual Values in Management

Ego–Lessness: Spiritual persons have a concept of unity of all life they don’t have a sense of separate or individual existence where they feel egoistic. They see themselves in all and all themselves. They don’t have greed, anger, jealousy or any other such bad feelings, which made differences. Ego is the cause of all the evils.

Self-fulfilment: spiritual persons should have a feeling of self-completeness. They should have no personal desire or goal where they seek anything anybody. They should not deficit driven personality.

Universal or Unconditional love: Spirituality loves all the human being. It is concern for the sharing, caring and giving out their humanness to others their conduct and behaviour are guided by the ethics of love. They don’t have any fear from anyone and nobody has any fear from them. This is called the great spiritual value of ‘Abhaya’.

Complete freedom: Spiritual people are free from all human limitations or personal attachments. They have overcome all dualities conflicts and suffering of life. So, they are living a blissful life from heart and soul.

Characteristics of Spiritual Values

Wisdom and Skills: Any act performed by a person must follow an approach of wisdom which has always support of spirituality and is automatically get reflected in the skills. Every soul has a potential of God in it than all the skills he practice and exhibits get reflected in his deeds. With this belief he would enjoy his life more purposefully.

Consciousness: The spiritual value for managers suggest on having a higher level of consciousness, which means that a manager must be aware of positive and negative effects of his action and decisions undertaken, which are consciously performed.

Spiritual values in terms of divine qualities: There are number of divine qualities which are present in an individual and can be termed as spiritual values e.g. respect for self, respect for god, belief in giving than grabbing, enjoying satisfaction to maximum level. All these factors present the divine qualities.

Spiritual values in terms of Inspiration. High level of inspiration can be achieved through any of the source of life. Purification in terms of vale means purification of heart, feelings and expression. Inspiration can be achieved through God or may be form of any living or non-living objects.

Karma Yoga: to be able to perform one’s responsibility and duties properly, is a major source of inspiration.

Strong belief in Religion: the way we behave is the reflection of our religion on a broader level. People being different follow different religion, respect different god that leads to a moral strength in them. As has rightly been said, ‘belief in religion is a mirror of our spiritual values’.

Control over Mind: it is another important features in terms of our spiritual values. So right from the childhood one must be taught to keep a control and balance over mind also helps in proper usage of pure energy and resources. Aim is to attain a state of pure mind

Balance between Need, Wants and Demand: the most important factor in terms of spiritual value is to maintain a balance between need wants and demand. The most satisfied person is the one who has a clear idea about his expectations from life and accordingly identifies what are his need, wants and demands are.

Difference between secular and spiritual values in management

• In secular management, there are no spiritual values employed while on spiritual values of management there are spiritual procedures lain in order to manage any institution.
• On secular values in management there is no reference to any supreme being while on spiritual values there is reference to a supreme being.
• On spiritual values there is reference to a spiritual book whereas on secular there is no reference from any book.
• On secular values the leader can be selected from anywhere while on spiritual the leader must be one of the spiritual believers.

Highly important values in transcultural conflicts include equality, communication, respect, open-mindedness, honesty and truth, calmness, appreciation, politeness, co-operation, teamwork and punctuality. It is clear that values which have been under-represented in apartheid (Hart, 2002), particularly, lead to conflicts in the described context in South Africa. Managers highlighted equality as one major value which still stayed unfulfilled in their work context. Values such as calm and appropriate communication, mutual respect, equality, appreciation, politeness and co-operation were experienced as missing. This shows that values which were described as “Missing” in the apartheid society and which have not completely been reinstalled in post-apartheid South Africa still spill over into today’s organisations in this country.

Misunderstanding and transcultural conflict seemed to arise through miscommunication between members of different cultural groups. They particularly included values, such as non-existence of collective transparency in communication processes, as well as unacceptable and inappropriate behaviour, such as shouting or cursing. Transcultural conflicts were interpreted as occurring due to cultural variations in values across managers of different cultural groups. Managers did not seem to have appropriate skills to manage these value conflicts appropriately in all respects and therefore cultural and value diversity within the organisation could lead to transcultural conflicts.

Cultural practices & values have become significantly important in corporate business. The synergy between corporate culture & managerial values gives rise to cross-cultural practices which helps in making effective strategic options & performing the business tasks successfully. Skills, capabilities, knowledge, technology & experiences are better facilitated by cross-cultural approach particularly in multinational organizations.

Compatibility between societal values & managerial practices influences the critical organizational success. Institutions of higher education can serve as the sources for providing global perspectives of multicultural education.

Multicultural education has two viewpoints:

Assimilation or melting pot: In this, small cultural people should give their original culture, identities, language, values, behavior & communication styles & merge into the predominant bigger culture.

Global perspective: It promotes trans-cultural human values & equity amongst all cultural groups in the society. It allows people to respect & appreciate all existing cultural groups.

Trans-cultural competence is the process in which a person adopts multiple ways of perceiving, evaluating, believing & solving problems to understand & learn to negotiate cultural diversity among nations.

Equity pedagogy: It aims at achieving fair & equal educational opportunities for all the children.

Curriculum reform: It should include curriculum theory & historical inquiry so that bias in textbooks, media & other educational materials can be easily detected.

Teaching for social justice: It develops understanding of the evidence of the individual i.e. what exactly an individual is.

This dimension includes the value domains of:

Universalism: Referring to issues of respect, transparency, open-mindedness, tolerance, understanding and appreciation; and

Benevolence: Referring to helpfulness, honesty, forgiveness, and mutual giving and taking.

Transculturalism is the mobilization of the definition of culture through the expression and deployment of new forms of cultural politics. Based on Jeff Lewis’ From Culturalism to Transculturalism, transculturalism is charactized by the following:

• Transculturalism emphasizes on the problematics of contemporary culture in terms of relationships, meaning-making, and power formation; and the transitory nature of culture as well as its power to transform.
• Transculturalism is interested in dissonance, tension, and instability as it is with the stabilizing effects of social conjunction, communalism, and organization; and in the destabilizing effects of non-meaning or meaning atrophy. It is interested in the disintegration of groups, cultures, and power.
• Transculturalism seeks to illuminate the various gradients of culture and the ways in which social groups create and distribute their meanings; and the ways in which social groups interact and experience tension.
• Transculturalism looks toward the ways in which language wars are historically shaped and conducted.
• Transculturalism does not seek to privilege the semiotic over the material conditions of life, nor vice versa.
• Transculturalism accepts that language and materiality continually interact within an unstable locus of specific historical conditions.
• Transculturalism locates relationships of power in terms of language and history.
• Transculturalism is deeply suspicious of itself and of all utterances. Its claim to knowledge is always redoubtable, self-reflexive, and self-critical.
• Transculturalism can never eschew the force of its own precepts and the dynamic that is culture.
• Transculturalism never sides with one moral perspective over another but endeavors to examine them without ruling out moral relativism or meta-ethical confluence.

Theoretical Reflections on Transcultural Management

This report aims at describing the status quo of transcultural management in selected focus areas in two global firms. More precisely, as part of a so called “field project”, we conducted case study research which allowed us to understand and describe transcultural learning processes that we consider constitute an inherent and fundamental element of transcultural management. In the following, we will briefly outline the major theoretical concepts behind transcultural management and transcultural learning, which serve as a basis for conceptualizing and analyzing our case study research.

Culture and Leadership

Culture can most simply be defined as how we view and do things. Within our community we construct our own world. Thus, culture is a shared set of meanings and interpretations of a collective represented by a group, a community or by an organization. Culture is embedded invisibly in the deep structure, which is called the core or inner layer, and has fundamental impacts on perception and behavior patterns influencing the interactional dynamics of that community. The outer layers are visible. The inner layer consisted of basic assumptions influences the way we cope with daily life, solve problems and meet changes and challenges. Consequently, culture defines our perception of truth and shapes community’s identity. In that sense, culture is a social construction based on shared experiences reflected and expressed in history and memory, and representing of the past in multiple ways. Language is the vehicle to construct and deconstruct the meanings of the experiences, and supports the process of attachment or detachment of the members in regard to their community’s organization. Within this context, culture has several functions. First it is a system of orientation, second it defines identity, and third it supports internal integration and external adaptation. It is constructed by and refers to the process of defining meaning in which a collective is involved.

Thoughts:

• Setting direction: “Every organization needs to have its mission, vision, and values established, and everyone looks to the company leaders to either deliver that vision, and values established, and everyone looks to the company leaders to either deliver that vision or facilitate the process of generating it collectively…”
• Gaining commitment: “Leaders don’t make people do what the leader wants; they make people want to do what the leader wants, and feel valued for doing it. When people talk about what energizes them about a good company, they generally rave about the company’s people and, more specifically, about the values of the people. There has to be a fit between the values of the organization and the individual. That fit is easier to accomplish if the values are clear and the company’s actions match the company’s words.”
• Delivering results: “Set incremental goals and meet them. Deliver measurable results. What you measure is what people will put the most effort into, so make sure you’re measuring the right things. Vision is necessary, but it’s also important to set a plan and manage it. Make sure there’s follow-through on commitments, and check in on results. Focus on results, provide feedback, and monitor progress.”
• Building relationships: “Investing your time and developing an awareness of yourself and others builds relationships and can have tremendous payoff in the form of committed employees, suppliers, and customers. People like to do business with people they trust and will even pay more for a service or product knowing that you are there to take care of them when needed. Build consensus, collaborate effectively, and provide support.”
• Establishing credibility: “Having a strong moral compass, following through, and being good at what you do not just being the expert – are all part of establishing credibility. Don’t forget that you can also establish credibility if you are quick to acknowledge when you don’t have the answer. Bringing in other expertise to assist you isn’t an admission of incompetence, gain respect, think innovatively, and develop trust.”
• Encouraging growth: “Are you taking interest in developing your people? Empower others, support learning, and demonstrate appreciation.”
• Managing self: “Knowing and sharing your own strengths and weaknesses is a precept to leading others. A leader can create a supportive environment by modelling the need for support as well as a self-reliant approach to getting support in a timely and appropriate manner. Be persistent and reliable.”

Leadership is a practical skill that involves the guidance and coaching of others, such as teammates or employees. They set directions, build or cultivate visions and create new ideas altogether. Examples of leaders include Politicians, Executives, Managers and Business owners.

Leadership revolves around the planning and strategizing of ways in which you, your team and your company exceed expectations. Being a leader is a dynamic position filled with decisions that determine the type of person you are. Being a great leader involves adhering to a set of values you believe in.

Value defines the level of importance placed on an item or action when determining the best choice. Values are fundamental beliefs that guide or motivate actions by determining what is most important.

Values specify the relationship between people and their goals. What one person chooses as an important value in their leadership, others choose something more specific to themselves. The values they choose have a significant impact on their leadership. For example, a leader who values honesty might report wrongdoing by one of their team members. Another leader who prefers loyalty might prefer to remain silent in this same situation.

If, as a manager, you are in touch with your own values about what is important and why, you can make more informed choices about what you do in the workplace and how you do it and also what you won’t or can’t do.

This will give you more sense of personal control and will directly impact the way you are perceived by others. Your behaviour will be contributing to the style and culture of the organisation and how others in turn behave.

Articulating what is important to you and why, combined with knowing what is important to your team members, will give you more options about how to keep yourself and those who work with you engaged and motivated.

Your reputation as a manager, and that of your organisation, will depend on the way people your Board, executive leaders, employees and customers alike see you. If your management style motivates groups of people to do their jobs consistently well, then your pivotal role in the success of the team and the organisation will be seen.

Components:

Respect

Respect or esteem is a positive feeling or action shown toward a person or item of importance. Leaders demonstrate respect through both self-respect and the respect of others, regardless of differences or experiences. Respecting an individual involves treating them with compassion and the ability to earn others’ respect.

Authenticity

The concept of authenticity relates to your presence, living with conviction and staying true to yourself. Leaders demonstrate authenticity through consistency and congruency within their beliefs and actions. They integrate principles within the workplace that create purpose and contribute to others’ growth.

Service

The concept of service relates to the intent of supporting others beyond one’s self. Leaders demonstrate service through a steady commitment that stretches beyond their self-interest. Service-oriented leaders have a degree of personal humility that helps them work for a greater cause.

Wisdom

Wisdom is a quality that comes with experience, knowledge and good judgment. Individuals acquire wisdom over time throughout their life. Leaders demonstrate wisdom through a broad understanding of interpersonal dynamics and how individuals work together. It’s the ability to balance the interest of multiple individuals when making decisions. Wise leaders consider long-term perspectives when deciding between courses of action.

Transparency

Transparency is the ability to communicate information to all affected individuals and being honest in every situation. Leaders demonstrate transparency by discussing imminent changes with their employees or team members and ensuring their opinions find value within the organization.

Innovation

Innovation is the act of consistently introducing new ideas and methodologies. Leaders demonstrate innovation through both imagination and communication. Not only do they come up with new and unique ideas that benefit the business, but they also listen to and account for the ideas of other team members.

Integrity

Integrity is the practice of honesty and consistency in strong moral principles. Leaders demonstrate integrity through ethical strength and overall trustworthiness. Showing integrity involves keeping promises and fulfilling expectations.

Courage

Courage is either the choice or willingness to confront something perceived greater than the self. Leaders demonstrate courage by having and showing the strength required to act on behalf of a common good. They take a stand when necessary and act boldly in the service of justice.

Humility

Humility is a modest view of one’s self-importance. Leaders demonstrate humility through dignity and an awareness of their limitations. They’re open to other team member’s perspectives on certain situations that arise within the workplace.

Confidence

Confidence is the feeling or belief that an individual has when they have faith in an individual or idea. Leaders demonstrate confidence through a high degree of emotional intelligence, being open to others’ ideas and speaking clearly and effectively.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to identify and understand how another individual feels. Leaders demonstrate empathy through listening to the needs of their employees or team members. They’re open to different perspectives and do their best to accommodate everyone as best as possible.

Trust

Trust is the firm belief in the reliability of an individual, object or idea. Leaders demonstrate trust by showing support for their employees or team members. They let them complete tasks on their own without direct supervision or oversight. Trustworthy leaders also show respect to each team member’s ideas and opinions.

Work Ethos is at the heart of why we work, what drives us and gives us purpose and meaning in the workplace. It is a state of mental being that leads to what Gallup describes as employee engagement (or Disengagement).

Work ethic is a belief that work and diligence have a moral benefit and an inherent ability, virtue or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. It is a set of values centered on importance of work and manifested by determination or desire to work hard. Social ingrainment of this value is considered to enhance character through hard work that is respective to an individual’s field of work.

An individual that possesses a positive work ethics will consider the moral implications of everything he does and will establish clear boundaries between what he considers appropriate and what he doesn’t, according to his own values and principles. Companies should establish and promote a set of organizational values that can be observed to perform adequate assessments and goals for each individual that connects somehow with the organization.

Since each person has different backgrounds, beliefs and attitudes towards different subjects, the guidelines must be provided by the company or institution in order to maintain a desirable work environment. In most cases, a company’s values are a reflection of its founder’s beliefs and principles.

Traditionally, work ethic has been understood as a value based on hard work and diligence. Capitalists, for example, believe in the necessity of working hard and in consequential ability of enhancing one’s character. Socialists suggest that a concept of “hard work” is deluding the working class into being loyal workers of the elite; and working hard, in itself, is not necessarily an honorable thing, but simply a way to create greater wealth for those at the summit of the economic pyramid.

These values have been challenged and characterized as submissive to social convention and authority, and not meaningful in and of itself, but only if a positive result accrues. An alternative perception suggests that the work ethic is now subverted in a broader, and readily marketed-to society. This perspective has given us the phrase “work smart”.

Levels

Stakeholder Level

At the stakeholder level, ethical work practices extend to customers, vendors, stockholders and the communities in which the company operates. What the stakeholders see, the public sees and companies seen by the general public as being unethical can lose customers and market share. Brand name integrity builds brand name value. Employees within the company can build positive relationships with people outside the company by interacting with them and transacting business ethically and responsibly. When stakeholders gain a sense of trust in the company, customers keep company back.

Compliance Level

At the compliance level, ethical work practices help the company to stay within the law. Working against compliance laws can cost you your job, and can cost your company money if fines are incurred. Company leaders must make sure employees adhere to the principles defined by its ethics program. Employees found to work against these principles must be held accountable. Taking action to stop unethical business practices shows the rest of the workforce that ethics do matter. Compliance not only keeps the business legal it is also promotes sustainable business by proving value to stakeholders.

Employee Level

At the employee level, ethical work practices build a positive environment founded on trust. Distrust in the workplace causes stress. Energy that should be applied to work is applied to coping with anxiety, instead. You work better when you can trust that your colleagues will work with you ethically. Your company also works better when ethical values drive all of its work. Employees, not brick and mortar, establish a company’s brand image.

Ethics Policies

Ethics policies guide employees to do the right thing at each level. Not every employee has the same expectations about how work gets done. Written policies clarify the company’s expectations and get everyone moving in the same direction. Ideally, procedures or guidelines are also available to help answer specific questions. If you’re in purchasing, for example, guidelines and rules should be available to help you understand what transactions are OK between you and vendors such as whether you should accept gifts.

Dimensions

They are:

• Meta-Ethics (Ethics about Ethics)
• Prescriptive Ethics (Normative Ethics); Which is again divided into Deontological Ethics, Teleological Ethics, and Virtue Ethics.
• Descriptive Ethics (Comparative Ethics)
• Applied Ethics; Again, divided into Bio-ethics, Cyber Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Personal Ethics, Professional Ethics, Public Ethics, International Ethics and so on.

Steps

1. Practice punctuality

Develop the habit of being on time or early for all appointments. Getting to class ahead of schedule gives you the opportunity to talk with your professor or get mentally prepared by reviewing notes. If you’re taking classes online, stick with your study schedule, hitting the books at the time you planned.

2. Develop professionalism

Professionalism goes beyond a crisp white shirt and tie. It includes your attitude, values, and demeanor. Practice being positive and cordial. Refrain from gossip. Be respectful of others. Develop a reputation of integrity, which means being honest, just, and consistent in what you say and do.

3. Cultivate self-discipline

Anything worthwhile achieving takes discipline staying focused on the long-term goal and not being side-tracked by short-term gratification. Train yourself to be persistent and to follow through on projects. Strive for excellence in your assignments.

4. Use time wisely

You might have heard it from your grandmother, but Benjamin Franklin was actually the first to say, “Never leave that ‘till tomorrow which you can do today.” It’s age-old advice, but far from outdated. Complete assignments on time. Ban procrastination from your life, keeping in mind something else Franklin, said: “Time is Money”

5. Stay balanced

Having a good work ethic does not mean keeping your eyes glued to your computer monitor. It includes knowing how to take care of yourself. Getting proper sleep. Eating right. Taking time to relax and recharge. Keeping your priorities in life clear helps you maintain the proper perspective at work.

Ethos is a set of beliefs, ideas, etc., about social behaviour and relationship of a person or group. Indian Ethos is all about what can be termed as “National ethos”. Indian ethos refers to the principles of self-management and governance of society, entity or a system by wisdom as revealed and brought-forth by great scriptures like Veda, Upanishads, Gita, Mahabharata, Bible and Quran. This wisdom evolved through the old practices of Indian mystics, philosophers and religious ‘Gurus’, and is now found to have profound implications for self-management and good governance of a stormy society and business environment, or even a politically divided world.

According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “Ethos are the moral ideas and attitudes that belong to a particular group or society”.

Features

1. Balance or Equilibrium: Balance or equilibrium is a stable state of Indian thought, i.e., balance between desire and desire lessness, spiritual and secular values, subjective and materialistic world.
2. Divinity of Human Being: Indian ethos focuses on the existence of human being as truth. There is nothing more perfect than the supreme soul.
3. Balance of Personal and Work Life: Indian ethos focuses on the concept that if you are good then the world is also good for you. So, every individual should have an effective management and balance of personal and work life in the organisation.
4. Importance to Character: The Indian ethos gives much importance to character not to the knowledge. It is the character, which is the real power and wealth.
5. Cosmic or Pure Consciousness: The divine element, which is an inner part of an individual, is a part of cosmic or pure consciousness. It gives a base for mutual trust, cooperative, teamwork and common good.
6. Whole-Man Approach: Indian ethos is based on Indian scripture like-Shruties of Gita and Upanishad and Smruties of Puranas. Indian thought provides the whole-man approach through knowledge of creation, cosmos and internal relation between spiritual and materialistic life.
7. Duty and Responsibility: Indian ethos rarely talks of rights and prevails ages. It always emphasises only on the duties and responsibilities of human beings.
8. Work in Worship: Indian ethos works with the fact that all work is worthy and honourable. ‘Work is worship’ is the guiding principle for all effort as advocated in the Indian ethos.
9. Excellence at Work: According to Indian ethos, total quality management can be assured through excellence at work, through self-motivation and self-development.
10. Knowledge: Indian ethos deals with two types of knowledge:

• Knowledge of creation
• Knowledge of creator

Need and Relevance of Indian Ethos

• Elucidate Motivation: Concept of motivation can be explained holistically by Indian ethos. Considering motivations as internal, every human being has the same divine atman with immense potentialities within. Vedanta brings infinite expansions of the mind, breaks down all the barriers and brings out the God in man. Motivation is to be internal and not external. Such motivation involves the inner beauty and does not promote any greed in an individual to have more and more in return for his work.
• Maintain Holistic Universe: Modern science has accepted that in this holistic universe, all minds and matters are interconnected at a deeper level. The basic unity of life cannot be broken. Love, sacrifice therefore emerges as the only means for a meaningful living. On the basis of this holistic vision, Indians have developed work ethos of life. This helps in living life to the fullest.
• Welfare: Indian ethos teaches welfare of all (yagna spirit). “Atmano Mokharth Jagat Hitay Cha” (serve your personal interest but do not forget others). This philosophy is needed in modern times.
• Evenness of Mind: Indian ethos helps in evenness of mind. Means are equally important as the ends. Thus, society acceptable values are to be followed in determining the objectives as well as in the process of achieving these objectives.
• Unique Work Culture: Indian ethos helps in development of unique work culture. Work is considered as duty or Sadhana and there is no difference between Karma(work) and Dharma(religion). The term Dharma does not indicate any particular religion. Dharma is a duty to be performed in a given situation. Thus, Dharma is possible through Karma only.
• Provides Concentration: Vedanta provides the ways and means of controlling the mind. It helps to concentrate, increase efficiency, productivity and prosperity. It is not religion of resignation and retirement. One cannot renounce their action. As the Gita says “You have to be a man of action, do not run away from your action or Karma but the same should be according to your Dharma”. The second aspect, is while doing the Karma; do not be tempted by worldly pleasures, materialism and the results. One has to be man of action, working in a spirit of renunciation. Renunciation does not mean living a life of isolation or living in a forest. One has to face the world and should not run away from your action. Do not get attached to anything.
• Self-Development: Integrated human personality of self-developed manager can assure best and competent management of any enterprise, involving collective works and efforts. The refined or higher consciousness will adopt holistic attitude. It will bring out the divine in man. It will achieve perfection or excellence in whatsoever sector of work. One shall achieve peace, harmony and prosperity within and without, i.e., in the internal world and in the external world simultaneously.
• Establishes Value System: Many of the present ills are the results of decline in our value system and loss of character. Forces of intense competition in the technology driven era of globalisation have taken a heavy toll of traditional values. People need to re-imbibe the sanatan values of honesty, integrity, compassion, care and cooperation.

There is again a need to establish conduct, based on truth and non-violence, peace, and harmony. One needs to promote a secular ethos that entails ‘sarva dharm-sambhav’. That alone will promote enshrined in our ancient maxim of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’. That will be India’s unique contribution towards enrichment of content of globalisation which today has its focus only on trade and commerce.

History

Formally, the body knowledge which derives its solution from the rich and huge Indian system of ethos is known as Indian Ethos in Management (IEM). Indian ethos is more vital to modern management than any other management theory for simple reason that it takes into account a ‘whole’ man approach (mentioned earlier) rather than approaching “man” in a partial fashion. Each and every situation can be met effectively if one takes time to reflect over it. Reflection with a tranquil mind helps in drawing out solutions from within. Such guidance from within helps a manager look at the perceived problem situation in a creative manner. It leads to a more coherent and complete understanding.

The silent ideas and thoughts of Indian Ethos in Management revealed by Indian’s ancient scriptures are:

• Archet Dana Manabhyam: Worship people not only with material things but also by showing respect to their enterprising divinity within.
• Atmano Mokshartham Jagat Hitaya Cha: All work is an opportunity for doing well to the world and thus gaining materially and spiritually in our lives.
• Atmana Vindyate Viryam: Strength and inspiration for excelling in work comes from the Divine, God within, through prayer, spiritual reading and unselfish work.
• Yadishi Bhavana Yasya Siddhi Bhavati Tadrishi: As we think, so we succeed, so we become. Attention to means, ensure the end.
• Yogah Karmashu Kaushalam, Samatvam Yoga Uchyate: He who works with calm and even mind achieves the most.
• Parasparam Bhavatantah Shreyah Param Bhavapsyathah: By mutual cooperation, respect and fellow felling, all of us enjoy the highest good both material and spiritual.
• Paraspar Devo Bhava: Regard the other person as a divine being. All of us have the same consciousness though our packages and containers are different.
• Tesham Sukhm Tesham Shanti Shaswati: Infinite happiness and infinite peace come to them who see the Divine in all beings.

Principles Practiced by Indian Companies

• Subtle, intangible subject and gross tangible objects are equally important. One must develop one’s third eye, Jnana Chakshu, the eye of wisdom, visions, insight and foresight.
• Holistic approach indicating unity between the Divine (the Divine means perfection in knowledge, wisdom and power), individual self and the universe.
• Inner resources are much more powerful than outer resources. Divine virtues are inner resources. Capital, materials and plant and machinery are outer resources.
• Immense potential, energy and talents for perfection, as a human being has the spirit within his heart.
• Yogah karmasu kaushalam, which means excellence at work through self-motivation and self-development with devotion and without attachment.
• Karma yoga (selfless work) offers double benefits, private benefit in the form of self-purification and public benefit.
• Cooperation is a powerful instrument for team work and success in any enterprise involving collective work.

Requisites

• Humanising the Organisation: Looking at the three aspects of humane organisations, i.e., inter personal relations, man-machine equation where man is the prime concern and inner management through mental and spiritual growth of individuals.
• Management Attitude: Top management having firm belief in value-oriented holistic management. Profit is earned through service and satisfaction of all stakeholders employees, customers, shareholders and citizens. Fulfillment of social responsibility must be ensured.
• Interiorising Management: Self-management or management by consciousness. When the soul manages the other four members of the human being, namely, the body, mind, intellect and the heart, the conflict these four have amongst themselves can be resolved. This is called management by consciousness. The objective of self management is to first know and manage oneself and then manage others.
• Brain-Stilling: For rational and enduring decisions, silent mind is a necessity. A perfect Mounum(calm mind enjoying tranquillity) is necessary. Brain-stilling or meditative silence is the most reliable method to discover solutions to problems which seem to be difficult to tackle by reason and intellect, because through this, one can come into contact with the inner mind or higher consciousness, called Chetana.
• Self-Introspection: Embark upon self-study, self analysis and selfcriticism to locate areas of friction and disharmony, a self examination of one’s own feelings, thoughts, emotions, sensations and passions and a desire to reduce and subdue the ego.
• Stepping-back (For a While): Never decide anything, never speak a word and never throw yourself into action without stepping-back. The stepping-back from a situation for a while enables one to control and master a situation.
• Role of Intuition: Intuition is the act of coming to direct knowledge or certainty without reasoning or inferring. It is immediate cognition by the inner mind and when fully developed, is efficient and effective for taking prompt and sound decisions. Intuition skills enable one to cope with confidence the fluctuating environment and rapid changes. Faith is a prerequisite to develop and realise the power of intuition.
• Self-Dynamising Meditation: A dynamic meditation helps in transformation of lower consciousness into higher consciousness and hence is called transforming meditation. Through meditation, one reaches a higher level of consciousness with a silent and calm mind, which offers guidance in the form of intuitions to tackle a multitude of problems. This is called consciousness approach to management.

Elements

1. Focus on the permanent: In real life fashions change, concepts change, situations change, environments change, however, certain things do not change. These are the values of the good, truth and beautiful. The recent experience in the 90s and the early part of this century shows, that the world is re-discovering the principle of ‘honesty is the best policy’. After all, honesty is linked to truth and that is the first principle which perhaps underlines human existence.
2. Quest for Perfection: It has been immortalised in the shloka:

“Om poornamada poornamidam poornathpurana mudachyate poornasya poornamadaya poornameva vashistate”

Out of perfection comes perfection. This quest for perfection ultimately, is the quest for quality. When it comes to quality, the concepts like total quality management, etc., have only once again underlined this principle of the fact that quality products and services cannot come out of an organisation unless the principle of quality pervades every function of that organisation.

3. Joy in Performing One’s Function: It was Deming who said that ’quality’ is the pride, which an artisan takes in his craft. It is the pride which an artist takes in his art. If one is enjoying what one is doing, automatically, he is bound to do extremely well; and while excellence becomes a by-product or a spin of the benefit of happiness, it also leads to success. After all, every excellent organisation has excellent morale.

Excellence, in terms of enjoyment through doing is the third aspect of Indian ethos. It is found that this aspect is not only restricted to India, but is universally applicable.

Role

Indian Ethos in Management refers to the values and practices that the culture of India (Bharatheeya Sanskriti) can contribute to service, leadership and management. These values and practices are rooted in Sanathana Dharma (the eternal essence), and have been influenced by various strands of Indian philosophy.

Indian ethos for management means the application of principles of management as revealed in our ancient wisdom brought forth in our sacred books like our Gita, Upanishads, Bible and Kuran.

The ancient Indian Education was basically aimed at personal growth of individual. Our education system is the oldest in the world and is having some qualities which are not there anywhere else in the world and we are proud of this. The aim of ancient Indian Education System was not only to give theoretical knowledge but to make an individual humble so that he can get ‘Mukti’. The ultimate aim of human society of that age was the achievement of absolute i.e. ‘Brahma’ it was prevailing in the entire visible world. A man should engage himself in ‘Karmopasna’ i.e. work is worship and thus purity his inner senses and gain the absolute. The main aim of all the education during ancient period was to make the student useful and pious member of society. This was the second aim of education. This was achieved by proper development of moral feelings. It was believed that mere intellectual knowledge was not enough to become a learned fellow; in addition, the student must be pure in his life, thoughts and habits. This was the third main characteristic of Hindu Educational System. This was realized by encouraging self- confidence, fostering self-respect and self-restraint. Graduate students were highly inspired during convocation address to be useful member of the society. A graduate student was not to lead a self-centered life rather he was constantly remained of his obligations to the society. Social life in villages was very stable and well-ordered as education transformed people and made them conscious of their social duties and civic responsibilities. During the ancient period, Aryans evolved a peculiar system for promoting the progress of different art forms and professions. In the society, a particular caste was restricted to a particular occupation. Eventually, this system has resulted in general progress and happiness of society. In the ancient system of education this was one of the most important aims. People were very much conscious of their culture.

• Inward considerations: Indian ethos focuses on ‘if a person is good then the whole world is good’. Any organization which follows the above ethical thought automatically get converted into an ethical organization with less conflicts and hindrances.
• Creates strong relation: Organizations following Indian ethos consider humanity as supreme. This provides a strong bond with internal as well as external customers, resulting in an improved performance.
• Avoids unethical aspects: As Indian ethos is a principle derived from Upanishads, Bhagwat Gita and Puranas, where the performance is always ethical
• Improves performance: Indian ethos impacts the performance of business by emphasising on the concept like sacrificing individual desires in favour of social benefits, preferring long-term benefits.
• Balanced values: Indian ethos promotes a person to live a life of materialism and spirituality by maintaining a balance between spiritual values and secular values.
• Improves quality: Self-motivation and self-development helps a lot in development of business and its quality
• Develops self-reliability
• Helps in problem solving

Basic Principles of Indian Ethos for Management (IEM):

1. Immense potential, energy and talents for perfection as human being has the spirit within his heart.
2. Holistic approach indicating unity between the Divine (the Divine means perfection in knowledge, wisdom and power), individual self and the universe.
3. Subtle, intangible subject and gross tangible objects are equally important. One must develop one’s Third Eye, Jnana Chaksu, the Eye of Wisdom, Vision, Insight and Foresight. Inner resources are much more powerful than outer resources. Divine virtues are inner resources. Capital, materials and plant & machinery are outer resources.
4. Karma Yoga (selfless work) offers double benefits, private benefit in the form of self Purification and public benefit.
5. Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam: Excellence at work through self-motivation and

Self development with devotion and without attachment. Co-operation is a powerful instrument for team work and success in any enterprise involving collective work. Principles of IEM are universally applicable. IEM can help develop an effective and holistic management pattern which will assure all round growth in productivity, marketing and profitability. This will help in synchronizing private and public benefits and encourage individuals to lead an enriched quality of life together with worldly achievements. The best form of management has to be holistic and value driven which is the objective of IEM.

• Abraham: Leaders embrace the unknown

God approaches Abraham in Genesis 12 and tells him to “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.” In other words, Abraham is instructed to leave his comfort zone and march onward into uncertainty. As business leaders, that’s a hot topic: managing risk and uncertainty. Great leaders embrace that uncertainty, because they know the truth: the promised land awaits them on the other side.

• Noah: Leaders do what’s right even if they are alone

In Genesis 6, God is despairing over the wickedness that has overtaken humanity. Reluctantly, he decides to wipe out the human race and start from scratch. Noah, however, is the only one who has not been corrupted. You know the story. God tells him to build an ark that will save him, his family, and a whole host of animal life. As he is boarding the ark, God says to him, “for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.” Literally the whole world was doing what was wrong. But did that deter Noah from doing what was right? Not a chance.

• Joseph: Leaders endure in spite of circumstances

The story of Joseph beginning in Genesis 37 is powerful. The guy had a pretty tough life. He was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. His father was told that he was killed by a wild animal. He was framed by his boss’s wife because he refused to sleep with her and was thrown into prison. He interpreted the dream of a prisoner who was released and restored to his position, but the guy forgot about him. In the end, though, Joseph became the leader of all Egypt–second only to the Pharaoh himself. When there is a famine, he is then able to save his family from starvation. He tells his brothers when he sees them again that, though they meant harm, God orchestrated the events to put Joseph in a position to save them. Leaders have a vision that sustains them through difficult times.

• Joshua: Leaders rule by example rather than command

In Joshua 24, after leading his people into a new land, Joshua offers the Israelites the option to either A) serve the God who they had always served, the one who had brought them into the land or B) serve the gods of the surrounding lands. “But as for me and my house,” he says, “we will service the Lord.” The people answer in unison that they will pledge their allegiance to God. Because they believe in Joshua’s leadership, they follow Joshua’s example. He doesn’t have to threaten them; he merely inspires them by his example.

4. Moses: Leaders stick up for their people

Yes, it’s true. God has to be very convincing in order to get Moses to take action in Exodus 3. He at first gives excuse after excuse as to why he isn’t the right guy for the job. When he finally does answer his calling, though, Charlton Heston–err, I mean Moses, approaches Pharaoh and boldly passes on the iconic message: “Let my people go.” The Israelites, Moses’ native people, had been enslaved by Egypt and Moses was the one enlisted to lead them to freedom. When the time came, Moses was willing to step up and lead.

• David: Leaders are not afraid of giants

Everybody knows this story. In 1 Samuel 17, the Israelites are being defeated by the Philistines and their 9-foot tall giant Goliath. Goliath taunts the Israelites and challenges them to send him one man and, if that man should defeat him, the Philistines would become their servants. David, a small shepherd boy who will not even fit into the armor he is provided, volunteers. When Goliath mocks him, David says, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, whom you have taunted.” With that, he takes a stone, slings it at Goliaths forehead, and knocks the giant to the ground–dead. In other words, you can face any challenge as long as you have conviction and strength of resolve on your side.

• Daniel: Leaders maintain their resolve without regard for consequences

Many of us know the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. Daniel, in Daniel 6, is a highly esteemed government official whose colleagues become jealous. Seeking to get rid of him and knowing that he is a religious man, his colleagues convince the king to enact a decree saying that prayer can be made to no god except for the king. Once the decree is made, Daniel continues on praying and giving thanks to his God just like he always did. When he is caught, his colleagues tell their king and he is forced to throw Daniel into the den of lions. The next morning, the king finds Daniel alive. The lions had not harmed him. The point? Daniel’s faith in his God is what made him great in first place. Knowing this, he would not recant regardless of what happened to him. Great leaders follow this example and maintain steadfast in their convictions regardless of what happens.

• Isaiah: Leaders rise to the occasion

In a vision Isaiah has in Isaiah 6, God asks who he should send as a prophet to His people. Isaiah responds, “Here am I. Send me!” Leaders don’t wait to see if anyone else is going to step up when something needs done. They take initiative. They are first to raise their hands. First to stand. First to speak up. First to make decisions. Leaders shun inaction and are always ready to take the plunge at a moment’s notice.

• John the Baptist: Leaders aren’t afraid to call out the phonies

John the Baptist, in Matthew 3, is baptizing people and preaching about the coming of Jesus. When a pretentious, self-righteous group of religious officials comes for baptism, he calls them out for what they are: “a brood of vipers.” Leaders aren’t afraid to call it like it is. Whether they are suppliers, employees, or even customers, leaders have what it takes to be brutally honest with the people they come in contact with.

• Peter: Leaders recover from failure

Peter, the most well-known disciple of Jesus, denies even knowing Him three times while Jesus is being crucified. Jesus had predicted he would do it, though Peter insisted he would never deny Jesus even to the death. When the rooster crows (what Jesus said would happen), Peter realizes what he had done and weeps bitterly. In Acts 2, we see Peter giving the first sermon after Jesus’s ascension into heaven to a crowd of thousands of people when he had previously denied Jesus in front of just a few days earlier. Leaders don’t become discouraged when they fail. They don’t wallow in self-pity and give up due to the mishap. They pick themselves back up and continue on. Leaders do better next time.

• Jesus: Leaders are servants

One of the most powerful images in the life of Jesus is when he washes his disciples’ feet in John 13. When he is finished, he says to them, “You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Jesus, of course, isn’t talking about feet. He’s talking about servant-leadership. Great leaders focus on serving those who follow them. Great leaders wash their people’s feet.

• Paul: Leaders are passionate for what they believe in

Paul, throughout his life recorded in Acts, is a very zealous individual. As a Pharisee, he violently opposes the spread of Christianity, going out of his way to see Christians killed and imprisoned. When Jesus appears to him in Acts 9 and changes his mind, he becomes equally adamant about the truth of Christianity. Paul travels across all of the known world, spreading the message about Jesus and establishing churches everywhere he went. Leaders are driven by a sense of purpose. Leaders have a fire lit under them and feel compelled to accomplish their objectives. There is no place for apathy in the life of a leader. Leaders always care…and care deeply.