Spirituality in Management: Towards Management by Higher Consciousness

Abstract

In this chapter I have classified 100 years of management thought into four stages of development. During the first stage, science in management (SIM) was the dominant paradigm beginning with Taylor’s ‘scientific management’. With the path-breaking publication of Human Side of Management in the 1960s, the human dimension received recognition and thus management thought entered the second stage of its evolution and development. During the 1990s due to concerns such as environmental sensitivity, good governance and need for ethics in management, management thought entered its third stage of development, namely, the importance of ethics and values in managerial decision-making. Now with ‘new-age concerns’ of stress, work-life balance and wellness, management thought is entering its fourth stage of evolution: spirituality in management (SpIM). These four stages of evolution and development of management thought also broadly correspond to the evolution of human consciousness from ‘matter’ to ‘heart-mind’ and ‘spiritual consciousness’ corresponding to the body-heart-spirit (BHS) perspective of human beings. This chapter presents the idea of management by higher consciousness (MBHC) based on joining of heart and spirit (JHS) through the Inner Search for Realization of Oneness-Nirvana (ISRON) approach to the exploration of consciousness rooted in Indian spiritual traditions.