First Conference of Indian Academy of Management

From http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091229/jsp/jharkhand/story_11919152.jsp">The Telegraph

CEOs harp on religion

SBI chairman O.P. Bhatt lights the ceremonial lamp at the conference on Monday. Picture by Bhola Prasad Jamshedpur, Dec. 28: The inaugural session of the first conference of Indian Academy of Management at Tata Auditorium today saw corporate honchos sharing their knowledge of religion, mythology and Bhagvad Gita which they have used for better management. XLRI hosted the first conference of Indian Academy of Management — an autonomous body founded along the lines of the US-based Academy of Management with the idea of promoting research work and studies in management and also to serve as a platform for all B-schools to share ideas. The theme of the three-day conference that began was Indian Management: Past, Present and Future. The conference saw the likes of vice-chairman of Tata Steel B. Muthuraman, O.P. Bhatt, the chairman of State Bank of India and Venugopal Dhoot, the chairman of Videocon, as speakers. All of them explained the theme by citing examples from Bhagvad Gita, Kautilya Arthashashtra and Rig Veda. “Good management can be learnt not just in B-school but in everyday life, ancient traditions, religion, art, culture and sports. What we teach in business schools today have been found in the country’s culture that dates back to 5,000 years,” said Muthuraman. He pointed out that one could find examples of leadership, motivation and performance in Gita and examples of decision making in Rig Veda. “These religious books also speaks about vasudeva kutumbakam, which means universe is one family and that is globalisation that we talk about now,” said a speaker. Dhoot quoted Bhagvad Gita and explained how management saw a heavy presence of Indian culture. At this conference, about 150 research papers and 34 concurrent sessions on various management topics will be presented. “The motto is to provide researchers and doctoral students a platform to present their papers. This platform is for sharing and encouraging ideas,” said E.S. Srinivas, the conference chairperson.