THE
NEED
At the international
level the world is faced with many problems involving trade, security
and defence, regional conflicts, growing terrorism, disparity between
the interests of the highly developed countries and the others.
In India there
is a great deficit in the national budget, an oversized bureaucracy,
increasing violence and deterioration of law and order, problems of
education, illiteracy and juvenile delinquency, conflicts between
states, castes, creeds, and religions groups, a loss of significance
in daily lives and a great drop in moral and ethical values. It would
be hard to affirm that India is contributing significantly to the
prosperity of mankind and to the development of the world.
Many solutions
have been tried - political, social, economic and religious. But nothing
seems to have worked. Most of them have been based on western models.
The solution that India has to find for herself has to be founded
on her own peculiar genius and ethos.
Obviously we have
to work in several directions as the problem is complex. But one field
which is going to play an important role in the future is the field
of Management, because our sucess will depend a great deal on the
ability of the managers to perform.
Several hundreds
of books are written every year on the principles and practices of
management. Many more are written on reasons for success or failures
of corporations around the world. Hundreds of seminars and workshops
are held in every nook and corner of the globe debating management
issues. There exist a large number of management schools educating
young people on the basic principles of management. Thousands of companies
spend billions of dollars on holding management workshops for different
levels of managers within their organisations.
All these books
and seminars are founded on various principles and observations. Most
of these emanate from the United States of America. Most of the case
studies too are about American corporations. In India, our curriculae
in management schools has followed primarily the American structure.
Our students are expected to absorb the American principles and practices
and apply them to a totally different set of problems and cultural
backgrounds.
Japan too faced
this problem and tried to develop an indigenous model. It was dramatically
successful in the first few decades after the war. But recently the
system has come under tremendous strain mainly because the Japanese
corporations continued to be predominantly western in their approach.
In India there
is now an increasing awareness and effort by a few business corporations,
management scholars and consultants to discover and create our very
own principles based on the Indian ethos and rooted in Indian history,
mythology and spirituality. This will enable our young managers to
bring meaningful solutions to India's problems. For our solutions
have to be in sync with the psyche of the Indian people and meet with
their needs and aspirations.
And then perhaps
India will also be able to make a meaningful contribution to management
issues and problems arising all over the world.
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THE
APPROACH
Never before has
man lived in such a state of perpetual stress, of immediate success
threatened by imminent failure. This is because there has been an
immense outer growth without a commensurate inner development. We
are confronted with an evolutionary crisis between what man is and
what he can be. And the key to the problem is to be found within man
himself. This has been the approach of India down the ages.
The art and science
of modern Management is a delicate balancing of the unpredictable,
volatile and living human element with the mechanised precision of
technology. Modern industrial and commercial organisations have attained
a high level of mastery in managing the technological component of
organisations. But it is in dealing with and harnessing the human
element that the modern manager finds the greatest difficulty. Innumerable
theories, systems and strategies for managing "human resources" in
organisations are offered, tried, tested, experimented and practised
with various degrees of success, but none of them seems to have solved
the problem of "human resources development" with any decisive completeness.
It is in this
field of "man-management" that Indian spiritual philosophy and psychology
can provide the modern manager with a deep, penetrating and holistic
insight into the human dimensions of an organisation. This does not
mean that the spiritual approach has nothing to offer in other aspects
of management. There are many valuable insights of spiritual sciences,
which can provide a new and alternative system of transforming attitudes
and values in the management of non-human inputs also like materials,
capital, energy, technology and in the management of time.
For, a modern
industrial-commercial organisation is a miniature world in itself
and represents, in a small scale, all the different problems, potentialities
and facets of the contemporary human society, the dynamics of social
relations, play of human psychology, clash of politics, government
controls, creativity of human consciousness, dilemmas of human development,
lure and power of money and position, problems of environmental preservation
and energy conservation, and the difficulties of managing the breathtaking
pace of environmental changes and technological progress. The solutions
to these problems and the full manifestation of the potentialities
depend to a great extent on the quality of management. This implies
that any breakthrough in the theory and practice of management is
bound to have repercussions for the progress and well-being of the
entire human community.
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ACTIVITIES
Sri Aurobindo
Foundation For Integral Management will come up in successive
phases. In the first phase it will concentrate on seminars and workshops
for senior managers and executives. The idea is that if the leaders
can grasp and practise the fundamental principles, they will be able
to inspire their organisations to higher levels of achievement.
In the later phase
the workshops can be expanded to include other levels of management
and programmes of longer duration.
Sri Aurobindo
Foundation For Integral Management will draw upon the best of western
management skills and technology, but look at the various issues from
an Indian stand-point and with deeper values. It will emphasise that
unless an individual learns to manage himself, he cannot manage others
or the environment. It will thus seek to help the managers to develop
and express fully their inner potential.
The Centre will
therefore enlarge the scope of management workshops to include various
activities which will enrich the participant and equip him to deal
effectively with situations of stress and strain. For instance the
managers will be exposed to Indian culture, music, meditation and
Indian spiritual thought. They will learn simple yogasanas and breathing
exercises, learn more about diet and proper sleep and how to enhance
their health and fitness at all levels, including an exposure to alternative
disciplines of medicine, which have minimum side-effects and can yet
help in dealing with day to day ailments.
Sri Aurobindo
Foundation For Integral Management is a centre for both research and
training for managers and executives.
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LOCATION
AND FACILITIES
Sri Aurobindo
Foundation For Integral Management will be situated near the sea-shore
about 6km. from Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu. The architecture, the landscaping
and the entire environment will be conductive to creating peace of
mind for maximum creativity and assimilation.
The complex will
have a main Conference Hall, fully equipped with the latest facilities
and audio-visual equipment including carousel projectors, TVs/VCRs/LCDs/Film
Projectors etc. The hall will be able to seat 300 persons at a time
with possibilities of dividing the hall into work areas for 30 to
50 persons. There will also be smaller rooms for break-out sessions.
A special emphasis
will be laid on a healthy life-style. There will be 70 fully furnished
residential rooms for the participants and the faculty, a fitness
centre with a modern gym, a canteen serving wholesome food, a library
and a meditation hall. There will also be an audiotorium to stage
cultural and musical programmes.
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