Dr. A. Jagan Mohan Reddy is a Gold Medalist in Economics with an M. Phil Degree from JNU, New Delhi. He has more than two decades of industry experience. For the last 16 years he is in the teaching-cum-research line. Though he teaches Human Research Management, his passion is to synchronise ancient wisdom with modern management.
A motivational speaker, Dr. Reddy loves mentoring and counselling, having switched over to teaching from industry out of passion. Produced two Ph. D's so far and a few more are in pipe line.
He has published more than 100 articles, apart from presenting several papers at the national and international seminars and conferences.
There is a continuing debate whether leaders are born or made. While the jury is still out on the subject, modern management theory and the example of countless number of reputable business enterprises suggest that any level of innate readership can be nurtured with right values and tools.
Every business manager can be empowered to tap into the reservoir of his natural skills to succeed in business and in life. Where this tapping takes place with the larger interest of society in mind, the empowerment acquires an added strength as though it is blessed by an invisible power. Swami Vivekananda had famously said that the more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.
Our traditional wisdom offers innumerable guidelines for leading such a purposeful life. Tattvaloka, the Splendour of Truth, in its nearly four decades of publishing, seeks to highlight such ancient wisdom in every issue for the benefit of those in managerial positions and therefore in a position to bring good to the wider society.
This book contains a selection of such articles that has appeared in various issues of Tattvaloka between 2006 and 2013. These deal with subjects, such as Spirituality in Workplace and Enhancing the Human Potential through better HR practices, and more importantly, the art of Self-management: how a disciplined and self-motivated manager can be a great asset for the organisation he works for as well as for the larger society. The author has drawn several references from Itihasas and Puranas with practical examples of corporate enterprises in India and abroad.
The author, Dr. A. Jagan Mohan Reddy, is a Senior Faculty member at the Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad teaching HR and Talent Management, and has over two decades of experience. A Gold Medalist in Economics with an M. Phil Degree from JNU, New Delhi, he was a faculty at the IMT- Ghaziabad before moving to Hyderabad.
Tattvaloka believes that the book will be a good addition to the management literature that seeks to highlight the role of Emotional Intelligence and inner power in the pursuit of purusharthas in the competitive world.
I am happy to write this Foreword for many reasons. First, the book brings together two important streams of human knowledge-Spirituality; and Management. Of these two, Spirituality is universally relevant, irrespective of one's field of work-politics, administration, judiciary, military, medicine, law, business or academics. In the modern national and global economy, Management has emerged as a vital resource for productivity, competitiveness and jobs. So, it is important that this growing group of professionals apply, their management techniques, with a spiritual, ethical, value-based approach.
Secondly, the book is being published by the Spiritual magazine, Tatvaloka, Splendour of Truth. The magazine is published by one of the venerated centres founded by Adi Sankara, the great Indian philosopher of the 8th Century. The four-decade old English edition has had global distribution. Recently, it launched a Hindi edition, to reach a much larger domestic audience. The editors have brought together a number of articles, published in it, over the years, into this book.
Thirdly, the author, Dr. Jagan Mohan Reddy is part of a growing number of Indian and foreign management teachers, who bring together these two subjects of Spirituality and Management. When myself and some colleagues in Management, began talking about this link, in the 1970's, there was an understandable skepticism. From the initial preoccupation with volumes, costs, profit, etc., businesses and managers have realised the need to ensure the satisfaction of multiple stakeholders-customers, shareholders, employees, partners, public and the government. This raises questions of tradeoff and balance. Such decisions and actions improve with the application of spiritual principles, in addition to management concepts. I have known Dr. Reddy over the last three decades. He has taken a keen interest in this link, and contributed to many conferences and publications. This book is a valuable addition to the growing literature of Values in Management.
One well known model to help people perform better, in any field, is to blend KSA-Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes. All the three require sustained effort to learn, retain, update and utilize. Of the three, Knowledge is relatively easier to acquire. It is the starting point of any profession, including Management. The next capability required is in relevant Skills. These can be acquired through training and experience. The most difficult is the cultivation of the right Attitudes. Behind our attitudes are the more fundamental Values. Ideally, the inculcation of values should begin at a very early age, at school. Picking up some wrong values due to unfortunate circumstances and associations, and changing them later, becomes harder. But, of course, not impossible. Spiritual principles help in this process. Indian spiritually has much to offer. Dr Reddy draws on this vast treasury of values.
The workplace organization has been evolving towards adding a spiritual dimension. Management literature traces this growth over the last century and more. Initially, it was "mechanistic", a human analogue of machines. The gradual awareness of the human dimension made it more "organic", as a living organism. Motivational strategies improved from authority and coercion, to higher rewards for better work. The best in humans comes out when the motivation is based more on values and inspirational leadership by example.
Human capital is unique. It is different from other forms of capital such as physical and financial. It is the only capital which has the potential to appreciate. It is not condemned to depreciate with usage, and the sheer passage of time. The impacts of any existing levels of Knowledge and Skills in a manager are enhanced by spiritual Values. Capability can be used for good; or ill. Every senior can enhance human capital, for his own team, and for the organization, by coaching, counselling, communication example. While knowledge and skills have a higher rate of obsolescence, values are more enduring. Dr. Reddy's stress on values is well taken.
If every employee became better at self-management, the leadership can focus more on customer, market, competition, strategies and investments. The first step for this is for every manager to be a role model of self-management to his juniors. High IQ, Intelligence Quotient, by itself does not make a manager effective. Industry has recognised, for long, that EQ, Emotional Quotient, is also needed. This becomes even more important at middle management levels. More recently there is awareness of the need for SQ, Spiritual Quotient. Dr. Reddy deals with aspects of EQ and SQ in the third section of the book.
Worldwide, there have been rising people's expectations of "Good Governance", from elected governments, on the one hand, and "Good Corporate Governance" from companies, on the other. These gained more urgency following the global financial crisis of 2008. They have recently become even more strident as part of the backlash against globalization, inequality, high unemployment, climate change, etc. Top managements and boards need to build institutions, with sound values, for responsible and sustainable development.
Dr. Reddy's articles cover all the above issues, by showing how to improve management effectiveness, by adding the spiritual dimension. I wish the book all success. Managements, trainers and executives can take benefit from it.
Contents
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Vedas (1386)
Upanishads (652)
Puranas (836)
Ramayana (832)
Mahabharata (271)
Dharmasastras (162)
Vedanta (279)
Gita (1005)
Goddess (437)
Bhakti (231)
Saints (1112)
Gods (1302)
Shiva (299)
Journal (131)
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