Excellence in the context of business management has largely remained unexplored so far with researchers shying away from studying it minutely. In this book, the author, an Emeritus Fellow of the All India Council for Technical Education (AITEC), tries to fathom this unexplored area and propounds a new Indian theory based on Indian cultural and social ethos.
This study is divided into five chapters, including the last chapter which carries the summary of the author'sresearch findings. The first chapter is devoted to the genesis of excellence, both in the Indian and the Western contexts. ?Excellence? is a ?quality?, a ?merit?, a ?virtue?, or ?a property? of a particular object, including human beings. The ?virtue? or ?quality? is that of being ?superior to others? or ?surpassing others?. It denotes virtue, merit or quality that is matchless. ?Excellence? can be better understood if compared to ?brilliance? or ?perfection.? M.V. Kamath writes, ?Excellence is something beyond perfection.? Perfection is ?being?, whereas excellence is ?doing?. J.R.D. Tata had said, ?If you aim at perfection, you may achieve excellence. Perfection is simply unattainable.?
According to Hindu classics, success is termed as preya whereas excellence is shreya: the former is transitory; the latter is lasting. After the Mahabharata war, Yudhisthira, the oldest Pandava got dethroned and Saint Narada told Yudhisthira, ?You have won the great war because of your powers, the graces of Lord Krishna and the impact of Dharma (followed by you).? This conversation points out that success needs your own powers, God'sgrace and the observance of the tenets of Dharma.
Here needs have to be satisfied to act as motivators and include physiological needs, safety needs, a sense of belonging, esteem needs and self-actualisation needs. Higher order needs arise when the lower order needs are fulfilled The Indian context is based on nishkam karma as enunciated in the Bhagwad Gita.
This is a book which may help you to achieve excellence the Indian way.
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