Doctoral Student at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India
In today’s changing world, where perspectives and frameworks are getting outmoded quickly due to the emergence of innovative products, services, practices, strategies etc., I argue that the lessons given by ancient Indian teacher Kautilya in his famous treatise Arthashastra are still relevant and valid in 21st century management practices even after 2350 years of its composition. In other words, I develop a multi-level framework based on the Kautilyan paradigm to show that it offers both micro as well as macro-level intuitions through which present-day leaders can manage both employee & group levels as well as organizational-level challenges. Scholars who applied Kautilya in contemporary contexts mostly concentrated on specific aspects of ethics, laws, economics, structure, agriculture, management etc. and did not seem to propose a holistic framework for practitioners. Also, previous attempts at analyzing Kautilya’s teachings for management purposes did not differentiate the takeaways for micro and macro levels. Through this paper, I not only address these gaps but also show how an ancient philosopher like Kautilya came up with futuristic suggestions for kings and ministers that provide a guide to today’s managers and CEOs.
