Reflections of Servant Leadership from Great Epics of India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61841/rm171v80Keywords:
Servant Leadership, Epic Values, Personal Values, Great Epics of IndiaAbstract
The leadership styles as per the Western research are charismatic, benevolent, democratic, transactional, transformational, participative, free-reign, laissez-faire, etc. The basic models are drawn from the corporate fields and setups where individuals come together, work, and contribute to the accomplishment of common objectives. Many studies identified the servant leadership style to be the more reliable and result-oriented style in organizational arenas. But the reflections of servant leadership are encrypted in the famous epics of India. The qualities of characters such as Krishna from Mahabharata, Rama from Ramayana, Bharatha from Ramayana, and the role of the Pandavas in Mahabharata during their period of exile stand as examples of the servant leadership style. The present study makes an attempt to find out whether these replications of servant leadership values drawn from the great epics are represented by managers at workplaces. The results indicate that there are no significant reflections of great epics on the specific values drawn from them by the managers, but there is a significant impact of epic values on their personal values. These further have their influence on the servant leadership values of the managers in organizations. The socio-demographic factors have no significant influence on the managers’ epic values but have a significant impact on the managers’ personal values. The present research has immense scope for future research on great epics of India from which many corporate culture and value-based inputs can be drawn. It is expected that these popular epics extend many opportunities and guidelines for managers in decision-making and ethical dilemmas and create the best corporate cultures in the business world.
Downloads
References
[1] Balmuniapan, Krishna. A, 2007, Transformational Leadership Style demonstrated by Sri Rama in Valmiki
Ramayana, International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 1, 1 / 2, 104 -115.
[2] Bala Krishna Muniyapan, Mohan Das, 2009, An Indian Leadership Perspective from Literature Works of
Poet Kannadasan, International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2, 3, 326-340.
[3] Battacharya, Subhashesh, 2014, Leadership Styles from Mahabharata and its Relevance Today, Indian
Journal of Higher Education, 5, 1, 41-43.
[4] Digvijaysingh Thakore, 2013, Servant Leadership, International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences,
7, 23-32.
[5] Harsha Verma, 2013, Leadership and Dharma: The Indian Epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and their
significance for Leadership Today, In Fictional Leaders, Palgrave Macmillan, London.
[6] Kumar Alok, 2014, The participation – Direction Debate in Leadership: Insights from Ramayana, Indian
Journal of Industrial Relations, 49, 4, 701-706.
[7] Prasad L Kaipa, 2014, Making wise decision: Leadership Lessons from Mahabharata, Journal of
Management Development, 33, 8 / 9, 835-846.
[8] Prema Ramachandran, 2016, The Multifaceted Leadership Model from Ramayana, 3D IBA Journal of Management and Leadership, 8, 1, 52-64.
[9] Subhash Sharma, 2002, Corporate Rishi Leadership Model: An Indian Model of Corporate Development
and Ethical Leadership, HRD in Asia: Trends & Challenges, Udai Pareek, Aahad M. Osman Gani, S.
Ramanarayan & T.V. Rao (eds), Oxford & IBH, New Delhi, 291-296.
[10] Khatri, Puja, and Yukti Ahuja Sharma. "A Study of Leadership Behavior Exhibited by Management
Students." International Journal of Business Management & Research (IJBMR) 4.3 (2014):1-10
[11] Gopal, R., and RIMA GHOSE Chowdhury. "An Exploration of Impact of Leadership Styles and Employee
Commitment." International Journal of Human Resources Management (IJHRM) 3.2 (2014): 23-32.
[12] Chinyere, Ndukwe, Ikechukwu Ogeze Ukeje, and Johnpaul Chukwujindu Onele. "Leadership Styles and
the Politics of Institutional Management of State-owned Universities in Nigeria: Empirical Evidence from
EBSU, South-eastern Geo-political Zone, Nigeria." International Journal of Humanities and Social
Sciences (IJHSS) 4.6 (2015): 91-102.
[13] George, Jithin Mathew, and D.A.V.E. Hinkes. "The Best Leadership Style For Self-Managed Teams.”
International Journal of Business and General Management (IJBGM) 5.3 (2016):1-6
[14] Widiawati, Nani. "Epistemology of Islamic Political Leadership in the Al-Farabi Emanation System."
International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (IJHSS) 8.5 (2019):25–36
[15] Cipadung, AH Nasution, and Bandung Cibiru. "The Influence of the Regent Leadership Style on the
Employee Performance in the Bandung Local Government." International Journal of Human Resource
Management and Research (IJHRMR) 7.6 (2017):7-24
[16] Adongo, Christine Amonde, Emiliana Wanjiku Wanjama, and Josphat Kwasira. "Impediments to Women
Participation in Labor Union Leadership in Nakuru County, Kenya." International Journal of Environment,
Ecology, Family and Urban Studies (IJEEFUS) 3.4 (2013):31-36
[17] Nirmala, R., and R. KrishnaGopal. "Perceived role of business school in developing leadership in students." International Journal of Research in Business Management (IMPACT: IJRBM) 3.8 (2015):33-46.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 AUTHOR
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
