IIMs look to teach management skills derived from Indian scriptures

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) has decided to take a leaf from the books of ancient India as it is introducing courses that curate management learnings from the ancient Indian philosophy and Indian ethos. These credit-based elective courses are in tandem with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, read a report in The Economic Times.

“For introducing new courses relevant to Indian business philosophy, our programme review committee is currently looking at how to adapt our syllabus in line with NEP 2020,” said Bharat Bhaskar, the director of IIM-Ahmedabad.

Through its new programme that offers online learning to any student (even those who do not go to the university) IIM-Ahmedabad has introduced new courses that cover Indian philosopy, ancient Indian economy and management.

“Content on Indian Thought in Management and Gandhian leadership is being introduced through courses, seminars and symposiums in the new year," said Debashis Chatterjee, director, IIM-Kozhikode,” as the institution has introduced a new course—‘Workplace wellbeing through karma yoga’ this year.

“Workplace wellbeing is a growing challenge for organisations across the world. This course offers basic concepts from Indian wisdom to elucidate why and how karma yoga can be practiced for enhanced personal and organisational productivity,” Chatterjee added.

IIM-Indore has curated a course called ‘Extreme Outdoor’ which is a 4-credit programme that even involves trekking as a part of its plan during which students will be encouraged to hold discussions.

“This course is conceptualised to explore decision-making and interpersonal dynamics in challenging situations,” said director Himanshu Rai who also teaches a course on negotiation that is based on excerpts from the Mahabharata.

IIM-Indore has introduced courses like ‘Mithila Art for Managers’ and ‘Art and Science of Yoga’ to help students reduce stress and improve wellbeing. This year onwards, IIM-Indore has also increased the credits of their rural engagement programme to enable students to understand rural economy and village life.

IIM-Raipur is currently curating a course called the ‘Indian Philosophy’ which it plans to introduce in the upcoming academic year. At present, Indian Philosophy is being taught in the form of a workshop of about 8-9 hours. “This will then be floated as a half-credit course in the coming year - 15 hours of classroom teaching and about 50 hours of outside class work by the students,” the director Ram Kumar Kakani said.

IIM-Nagpur director Bhimaraya Metri said that their institute is planning to introduce three “out-of-the-box” courses—‘Life Management’, ‘Science of Happiness’ and management lessons from eminent personalities like Vikram Sarabhai.

Drawing lessons from Kautiliya’s Arthashastra, IIM-Sirmaur is introducing a programme on learnings from Indian heritage, mythology, and philosophy.

Upon graduating from these institutes, students are expected to be equipped with management skills that are derived from ancient Indian scriptures.