Integral and Holistic Approach in Management ..a plan and offering

Integral and Holistic paradigm in Management: A customized  game changer approach in HR, Marketing , Strategy, Design thinking and Supply chain Management.

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                                                                                  by            

Dr. Narendra Joshi

Background of modern management : With  the pioneering works of F.W. Taylor and F. Gilbreth who paved the foundations of the Scientific Management, there was ceaseless attempt to apply the principles of Science to the field of Management. The principles included defining a day’s work, dividing work in parts and assigning it to different persons, experiments on samples and generalization of it across globe and of course the idea of survival of the fittest.

The rise and the fall: Management grew leaps and bounds with growth in Science and Technology and assumed a coveted position in industrialized non agrarian economies with global markets to explore and exploit. However, Science itself had severe shocks in the last centuries and the fundamental tenets of reductionism and materialism were challenged and partly replaced by more humanistic elements.  After all, man hours can be counted but manpower cannot be counted by the scientific management. It is limitless and fragmented persons making fragmented products only led to adding value to products while reducing that from the human lives. The lope sided development model based on greed also threatened the future of the planet which got further aggravated with widening gulf between developed and undeveloped communities, depleting resources and conflicts in nations. Management tools though products of the most gifted brains were at the disposal of the minority of people with unlimited power and wealth, and so could not be an answer to the issues of greed, violence and stress. 

Need to give Integral dimension: So the modern management is primarily based on ideas of human beings at work for profit of a corporate and thereby assuming of automatic well being of the society. However, this assumption has many flaws and the stream of Management  will get enriched if integral thought of India and in particular that of Sri Aurobindo is applied to it in parts or in total. The correction starts from the very understanding of what human beings are and what is the purpose of their lives. Next comes the understanding of how to channelize their capacities for fulfilling them for the harmonious growth of all.  

The specific areas can be motivation theories, leadership, conflict resolution, creativity , intuitive decision making and so on. 

What is done so far :Some work is done in HR side by many institutes and individuals in management but much more is needed as human resource is the most decisive and precious resource. Very little is done in other areas. How this can be done?

What is to be done : As far as HR part is concerned Sri Aurobindo’s works like The Synthesis, Letters on Yoga and books by A.S. Dalal and other devotees as well as scholars have several treasures yet to be explored. For system design and techniques which are needed for non HR areas like Marketing, Finance, Materials, product and process design we can explore his writings on social and cultural issues.