The Impact of Dharma on Management PhilosophyA Comparative Study of Vishnu Smriti and Contemporary Corporate Thinking

Purpose: Management philosophy acts as a foundation for business by defining its vision, mission, and purpose and by providing guidelines for its operations. For centuries, Indian ethos has encouraged socially beneficial corporate behavior by invoking the concept of dharma. Using a historical analysis research design, this paper attempts to measure the impact of dharma on management philosophy of modern companies. Methodology: The paper uses a historical analysis research design. The paper specifies the ideal from Vishnu Smriti, a Dharmasastra text of ancient India. The contemporary management thinking is studied by analyzing the management philosophy statements of the fifty corporations comprising the NIFTY index in India. Several data analytics techniques like correlation analysis, association analysis and path analysis, have been used to measure that the impact of dharma on management philosophy. Findings: The study reveals that the impact of dharma on the management philosophy modern corporations is not so strong. The results of correlation analysis, association analysis and path analysis all showed that impact of dharma on the management philosophy of the NIFTY indexed companies is not upto the expected ideal. Practical implications: As the impact of dharma on the management philosophy of modern corporations is not strong, it is necessary for managers to understand the values guidelines provided in dharmashastra texts to develop their vision and mission statements. Such guidelines from Vishnu Smriti include treating employees and customers with respect and cultivate environmentally sustainable management practices. Originality: The originality of the paper arises from its ability to integrate the philosophy of Indian ethos in contemporary management thinking and measuring the same using well known statistical techniques.