Human Values in Management SMV 896

SMV-896 Human Values in Management

ASSIGNMENT 2

Course Coordinator: Dr. Shuchi Sinha

Submitted by (Team Name): Aanth hai tigers

Submission date: 19-01-2013

Names of all the team members SNo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Student Name Abhishek Gangwar Darshana Galande Debabrata Samal Jatin Kumar Kanagovi Ramakanth Mahesh Kumar Patidar Ravali Sindhura P Richa Chandra Student ID 2011SMF6684 2011SMT6810 2011SMT6771 2011SMF6724 2011SMF6657 2011SMF6689 2011SMT6762 2011SMT6726

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI

Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi

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Human Values in Management SMV 896 About Bhishma: Bhishma (Real Name : Devavrata ) is most respectable characters of the Mahabharata. He was the grandfather of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Bhishma is often considered as a great example of devotion and sacrifice. His name itself is an honour to him, Bhishma which means great and Pitamah which means Grandfather which combined means Great Grandsire. Birth: The legend behind Bhishma's birth is as follows once the eight Vasus ("Ashtavasus") visited Vashishta's ashram accompanied by their wives. These Ashta Vasus were the grandchildren of the Creator, Lord Brahma. One of the wives took a fancy to Kaam Dhenu, Vashishta's wish-bearing cow and asked her husband Prabhasa to steal it. Prabhasa then stole the cow with the help of the others who were all consequently cursed by Vashishta to be born on earth. Upon the Vasus appealing to Vashishta's mercy, the seven Vasus who had assisted in stealing had their curse mitigated such that they would be liberated from their human birth as soon as they were born. Early life: Bhishma was born as the youngest son of the King Shantanu of Hastinapur and Ganga. King Shantanu and Ganaga who was daughter of Lord Brahma also bore a curse given by her father because of which they had to take birth on earth. As per the Mahabharata, Shantanu saw Ganga on the banks of River Ganga and enamored by her beauty, asked her to marry him. She agreed but with the condition that Shantanu would never question her, no matter what her actions if he ever broke his promise, she would leave him forever. Shantanu readily agreed to this seemingly harmless condition and was thus married to Ganga. Eight children were born to this union, the eighth of which was Bhishma himself. The seven siblings born before him were drowned by their mother Ganga in order to break their curse as they were incarnations of the aforementioned Vasus. Shantanu silently bore the torture of watching his wife drown his offspring seven times. However, when Ganga was about to drown Bhishma, Shantanu could no longer contain his anguish and burst into protest. Ganga, aware of the eighth child's destiny to live a long life on earth, did not drown the child. However, since Shantanu had broken his promise given to her at marriage, she left Shantanu promising to return the child to him once he is grown up. He was a great warrior, archer and had a very good knowledge on Vedas, politics and Dharma. Rishi Bhargava taught him archery, Maharshi Vashisht taught him the insights of Vedas(Rigveda, AtharvaVeda, Samveda and Yajurveda). He learnt politics from Brihaspati who are considered as teacher of God and Parshuram who is considered as incarnation of Lord Vishnu taught him skills of war. He got the boon of Iccha- Mrityu- i.e. he will die at his own wish

Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi

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Human Values in Management SMV 896 He was unquenchable at the age of 16 he defeated the whole army of King Shalva and that too alone. He also vanquished the great warrior and his Guru Parshuram.

Chief Events in Different Stages of Life Incident 1: Ganga returns Devavrata (future Bhishma) to Shantanu and he makes Devavrata the crown prince. Shantanu came across Satyavati, and fell in love with her. The ferryman agreed to the marriage on condition that, Satyavatis son would inherit the throne. King Shantanu was unable to give his word on accession as his eldest son Devavrata was the heir to the throne. However, Devavrata for the sake of his father vowed lifelong celibacy to ensure that future generations borne of Satyavati would also not be challenged by his offspring. Later on, he was known as Bhishma after he took the bhishan pratigya (terrible oath).He also took oath to service to whoever sat on the throne of Hastinapur .Because of this his father granted him the boon of Iccha-Mrityu.

Incident 2: Bhishma was a great archer and a warrior. In the process of finding a bride for his half-brother the young king Vichitravirya, Bhishma cleverly abducted princesses Amba, Ambika and Ambalika of Kashi (Varanasi) from the assemblage of suitors at their swayamvara. Shalwa, the ruler of Saubala, and Amba (the eldest princess) were in love. Upon reaching Hastinapura, Amba confided in Bhishma that she wished to wed Shalwa . Bhishma allowed her. But king Shalwa refused to accept her as his wife. She then naturally approached Bhishma for marriage who refused her, citing his oath. Then Amba went into the refuge of Parshurama. Parshurama assured her as Bhishma was his disciple. Thus taking Amba, Parshurama visited Bhishma. Parshurama ordered him to marry Amba. But reminding Parshurama of his vow, Bheeshma politely refused to accept his order. Parshurama then challenged him for war. This war went for 23 days and Bhishma defeated his teacher, the mighty Parashurama. Amba became unhappy and cursed that she would perform penance and gain that power to kill Bhishma. Later she was born as Shikhandi to Drupada who was father of Draupadi.

Incident 3: Bhishma vowed he would see his fathers image in whoever sat on the throne of Hastinapur and would serve him without question. This vow ended up being the main cause of his problems later on when his nephew Dhritarashtra wished to make his own son, Duryodhana the crown prince instead of Dhritarashtras brother Pandus son Yudhishtira who was the elder to Duryodhana (was the most worthy to become king). As a result Bhishma was forced to comply with all of Dhritarashtras orders .
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Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi

Human Values in Management SMV 896 Incident 4: After Dhrithirashtra made Duryodhana the crown-prince the Pandavas should have been given an equal share, but Duryodhana did not do it due to extreme jealousy that he had for them. Pandavas sent Shri Krishna as a mediator and request for either half share of the kingdom or five major cities, but again Duryodhana refused. Karna who inspite of being Kuntis son was with Kuaravas (as Duryodhana nurtured him), speaks against Pandavas for the same. It was then when Bhishma advices Duryodhana to agree to Shri Krishna and scolds Karna as he was not from his lineage. (because he didnt know that he was actually, son of Sun God). Bhishma tried to stop the war because he knew that Pandavas were right and that the Dharma was with them.

Incident 5: It was the tenth day of the battle. Bhishma was commander- in chief. He promised a day before that he would kill one of the Pandavas. Keeping Shikhandi in front of him, Arjuna attacked Bhishma. He decided not to fight with Shikhandi, who was born a woman and to strike whom it seemed unworthy of a warrior. He knew, however, his end was near. Bhishma's body did not touch the ground, on account of the arrows sticking out all over his body. Both armies ceased fighting and all the warriors came and crowded round the great hero, who lay on his bed of arrows.

Incident 6: Bhishma lay on the 'bed of arrows' till the end of the battle. Bhishma asked Krishna why he was suffering so much. Krishna told him it was a result of his reticence and silence towards Draupadi's cheer-haran which was a maha-papam (great Sin). Bhishma, delayed his death by his own will,when he made sure that Hastinapur was in hands of worthy. He left earth at the time when sun turns northward, to depart from the world.

Values Bhishma's bhishana pratigya for his father the vow of lifelong celibacy and of service to whoever sat on the throne of his father (the throne of Hastinapur), depicts Bhishma, as a sage of sacrifice and person dedicated to rendering selfless service, a very brave and upright ascetic. Bhishma was a true Kshatriya as well as a disciplined ascetic - a rare combination. He never unnecessarily exhibited the passion and anger. A symbol of truth and duty, the benevolent Bhishma was in all senses a true human.

Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi

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Human Values in Management SMV 896 With Vashishta's curse unfolding, Bhishma saw a life full of loneliness, frustration and grief. But a steel strong character which he possessed ensured that he never shied away from his duty, and never stopped loving those dear to him.

Goal: To prevent the war Bhishma tried his best to bring reconciliation between Pandavas and Kauravas to prevent the war. Even in the Kurukshetra war while he was the general he tried his best to keep the war low key by minimising confrontation between the two camps. But his attempt went futile. Critics attribute this failure for his acceptance of commander-in- chief of the Kaurava army. It is always said a person who lives life like an average mortal are checked easily, as they are aware of their own limitations. But people, who become larger than life, are in a position to do greater harm to situations by their action. Bhishma should have rather gone into retirement.

Critics on Bhishma's acts and values Bhishma was criticized for his act of abduction of Amba, which lead to her self-immolation. This raises a question on Bhishma's self -imposed high ideals against the importance of the life of an individual. Gandhari, the princess of Gandhar was also deceived. She became aware of the fact that she is going to be married to a blind prince only after coming to Hastinapur. Here also it was Bhishma who took the initiative for this alliance. At the time of insult of Draupadi in the assembly of Kurus, Bhishma remained quiet. Was it not his responsibility as an elder of the family to prevent this heinous crime? Instead he hides behind the argument that Dharma is subtle and throws the ball in Udhishitiras court.

After the Pandavas emerged victorious in the eighteen-day Grand War in the Mahabharata, Krishna led them to Bhishma, to learn from him the art of kingship. Bhishma taught the Pandavas on peace and conflict, liberation, duties of a king, health, desire, and rebirth.

The key lessons for the corporate leadership based on the chapters Shanti Parva and Anushasan Parva from the Mahabharat epic are:

1. The duty of the Leader to fight for righteousness and the right cause. Even if this means debating against, disagreeing with or disputing his own team members at the cost of them feeling upset. Fighting for the right cause is the primary objective of a Leader, and in the end, everyone will come round to the point of view which is right and just.
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Human Values in Management SMV 896 2. If a Leader takes up a task which does not progress in the direction desired, then the Leader must not feel despondent. It is first and primary duty of a Leader to always be energetic, enthusiastic and optimistic. This is even truer when the world around him is collapsing. 3. To pursue truth, to follow the values of the organization, and to create an enabling culture which accomplishes results based on just, fair and ethical means are important activities for any Leader. 4. The welfare of his People should be the constant thought in the mind of a Leader. 5. A Leader should also himself work. A Leader must be seen by his People as one who is engaged in activities continuously. Obviously, these activities need to correspond to his stature. But nevertheless, an intelligent Leader, who does not engage himself in active work, is ineffective like a snake without venom. 6. A Leader should never ever be complacent about competition, the changing landscape around and the changing trends affecting the business that he leads. He should take into cognizance even the most insignificant of competition, trend or environmental change and analyze the impact that it may have on his business. 7. If there is chaos, and a situation of emergency, then it is perfectly all right for organizational hierarchies to collapse. It is possible that people, who are not organizationally anointed or hierarchical leaders, take up the mantle of situational leadership. In a moment of crisis, welfare of People is paramount, not organizational hierarchies. 8. Detached action where the mind is in such a state that it is neither in the state of irrational exuberance at successes nor in a desperate gloom at the times of failures is a must for happiness, and peace of mind. 9. Knowledge of Self and the Truth about ones own character and behavior are of supreme importance to a Leader. It is absolutely important for a Leader to discover for himself what drives him, and what does his moral compass or value systems say. 10. Do unto others as you would have them do to you. 11. If an action of yours is such that your People do not benefit from it, or you think you will feel ashamed if People come to know about it, then dont do it. 12. Truth, transparency and adherence to quality in ones work will lead to greater successes rather than ones position in an organizations hierarchy. Values are important and a sense of Duty towards ones responsibilities is paramount. 13. No gain without pain. To achieve true happiness, one must work hard and strive harder.
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Human Values in Management SMV 896 14. Not Being Satisfied or Dissonance with the Status Quo is the mother of all progress in this world. References http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/concepts http://grvenkatesh.com/2012/08/19/straight-from-bhishmas-mouth-leadership-nuggets-fromshanti-parva/ Bhishma Parva from Sarala MahaBharatam

Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi

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