About the Book

Management Overview

Management as in the Thirukural

The Thirukural enunciates a variety of principles indispensable to modern management. Management fundamentally consists of:

• Planning and strategy (initial and periodic).
• Organising – people and resources.
• Controls to ensure that what is planned is achieved

The Thirukural defines the job of the leader (prince or chief executive officer) as that of planning the strategy, earning revenue,preserving what has been earned and spending it wisely. What is required for management is:

• Knowledge.
• Leadership qualities to make the knowledge productive.

Thrust in Management schools

In today’s world management studies emphasise on acquiring knowledge in the areas of planning, organising and control. In management schools, we are taught various tools that are required to analyse each area and how to plan, organise and control through these tools.
In management schools, one can take up specialisation in the areas of finance, marketing, and human resource.

The Thrust in the Thirukural

The thrust of management education is on acquiring knowledge relevant to the respective field. As indicated earlier, in management schools various tools and techniques are taught. Even if one reads management books, they invariably talk about the various phases of growth of a company,what strategy to adopt at various points, sales strategy and human resources strategy. They do not talk about what is required to make all those strategies work. While thousands of people may read all these theories and strategies, only one or two are able to execute and succeed. Why? Here I found the Thirukural very lucid because it deals with some eternal fundamental principles that are elaborated here.

Though knowledge is very essential for management, knowledge alone will not enable management. There are many other fundamental aspects that enable management and which give a person the ability to achieve desired results. These fundamental characteristics are:

• Courage
• Conviction
• Determination
• Optimism
• Quickness in decisions
• Aggression
• Ability to handle defeat
• Patience
• Choosing one’s words and controlling anger
• Eloquence
• Sustained high energy levels
• Self-motivation

These are the key behavioural aspects which enable a person to succeed and make him an effective manager, that is, leader. Knowledge to some extent can be substituted.Wherever one lacks detailed knowledge one can have an assistant or consultant or advisor, but fundamental behavioural characteristics are not substitutable. These qualities are required for successful execution and hence for successful management.