Kautilya’s Arthashastra and Perspectives on Organizational Management

Balakrishnan Muniapan

doi:10.5539/ass.v4n1p30

Abstract

This paper explores the Arthashastra of Kaultilya, an ancient Indian literature (4th Century B.C.); and it’s perspectives on organizational management today. Chinmayananda (2003) asserted that from time to time there is a need to look and re-look at the ancient literatures and provide intelligent interpretation and re-interpretation to apply effectively in the context of modern management. The methodology used for this purpose is called hermeneutics; which is a study, understanding and interpretation of ancient text. It is one of the qualitative research methodology used in social science. The foundations of management in organization are revealed from the Arthashastra, which can provide guidance to present managers and leaders of organizations. In his Arthashastra, Kautilya takes an inside-out approach to management, which is self management first before management of every other thing. He advised the future organizational managers and leaders to firstly conquer the enemies within such as desires, anger, greed, arrogance, infatuation, envy, pride or ego and foolhardiness, as it is often said that one who conquers the self, conquers all. The prospects of analysis of Kautilya’s Arthashastra in other areas of organizational management such as strategic management, human resource management and financial management can be considered for future research.

Highlights

The interest in the field of history, philosophy and culture especially in the context of Asian management is growing as the number of articles on philosophy and related areas in management journal are increasing (Kale and Shrivastava, 2003)
Research works in analyzing ancient works such as the Kautilya’s Arthashastra in the context of modern management practices is limited
It is important to look at this ancient management text, as Chinmayananda (2003) asserted that from time to time there is a need to look and re-look at the ancient literatures and provide intelligent interpretation and re-interpretation to apply effectively in the context of modern management

Summary

Introduction

The interest in the field of history, philosophy and culture especially in the context of Asian management is growing as the number of articles on philosophy and related areas in management journal are increasing (Kale and Shrivastava, 2003). A careful analysis of many of the western management theories and concepts reveals that it has been in practice in Asian countries especially in India and in China for centuries. These practices were not in the context of organizational management but in the context of state or political governance. Several ancient Indian classics such as the Valmiki Ramayana, the Mahabharata (includes the Bhagavad-Gita), the Puranas, etc offers several management lessons which can be useful even in the modern context Many of these literatures are more than 5000 years ago and were written in Sanskrit. In this paper the Arthashastra by Kautilya ( known as Chanakya or Vishnugupta), originally written in Sanskrit is explored in the context of organizational management

Kautilya’s Arthashastra

The broad purpose of this paper

Methodology

Management and Kautilya’s Arthashastra

Conclusion