By Dr Sivamoorthy Shanmugam                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
TODAY, 50 years ago, India's greatest legendary and                                                                                                   
nationalist leader was assassinated. This article is designed                                                                                         
and maintained in loving memory of Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi                                                                                
who was not born a saint but grew gradually into. a state of a                                                                                        
"realised being" through his study of the human condition.                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
As Dr Martin Luther King Jr aptly put it: "Gandhi was                                                                                            
inevitable. If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable.                                                                                        
He lived, thought and acted inspired by the vision of humanity                                                                                        
evolving toward a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore                                                                                           
Gandhi at our own risk."                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
In some management schools, Mahatma Gandhi is often referred                                                                                          
to as a strategist and a management teacher.                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
This article will make an assessment of some of the                                                                                                   
predicaments that confronted Mahatma Gandhi which are                                                                                                 
analogous to management problems particularly relevant to                                                                                             
South-East Asia at present.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
In the midst of the currency and stock market upheaval,                                                                                               
everyone from top policy makers and economic analysts to                                                                                              
entrepreneurs voice diagnosis and prescriptions.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
There were discussions on global standards, lack of                                                                                                   
transparency and building up its skyline before it secured its                                                                                        
long-term bottom line.                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
In the context, there is resurgence and interest in basic                                                                                             
values leadership and leader performance.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
Effective leaders should possess fundamental personal                                                                                                 
attributes and, of utmost importance, personal integrity.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
A good leader assumes a strong moral responsibility towards                                                                                           
those whom he or she leads.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
Moral authority, above all, differentiates a leader's position                                                                                        
from that of symbolic status, rank or other formal legitimacy.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
Integrity has another highly significant meaning, that is,                                                                                            
binding together of a group of team. Any team team or                                                                                                 
organisation takes its moral tone and value system from its                                                                                           
leader.                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
Mahatma's philosophy of simplicity and honesty is clearly                                                                                             
missing in the current political and economic lives.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
The predicament of a manager offering the right type of                                                                                               
leadership is analogous to that which confronted Mahatma                                                                                              
Gandhi- one of the greatest teachers the world has seen.                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
After an absence of 25 years, he returned determined to wrest                                                                                         
control of his native country from the mighty British Empire.                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
Like Mahatma Gandhi, managers are forced to face daunting                                                                                             
challenges with very limited resources. We must mobilise our                                                                                          
meagre resources as Mahatma did,- use them only towards                                                                                               
ambitious but attainable, ends and solely for tasks that                                                                                              
absolutely need doing.                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
In short, think and act strategically with a vision of future                                                                                         
direction as Mahatma led one of the biggest democracies in the                                                                                        
world to independence.                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
Gandhi returned to a country that was deeply and bitterly                                                                                             
divided between Hindu and Muslims and Sikhs, between Brahmins,                                                                                        
who belonged to the priestly caste, Kshatriyas, who were the                                                                                          
rulers and warriors, Vaisyas, the tradesmen and farmers,                                                                                              
Sundras, the labourers and Harijans, the untouchables.                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
All those different antagonistic groups had their own                                                                                                 
concerns, their own grievances and their own objectives.                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
In the same context, the core concerns of a manager in a                                                                                              
developing world differ greatly from one another and range                                                                                            
over a broad spectrum of issues.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
This is because the countries that they serve are plagued by                                                                                          
highly different and widely diverse kinds of deep-rooted and                                                                                          
parochial problems.                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
In South-East Asia, the more deeply rooted problems arose from                                                                                        
the need for equity and redistribution of economic and                                                                                                
political power from the elite minorities to the disadvantaged                                                                                        
majorities through a scheme of political and economic power                                                                                           
sharing.                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
This required designing, testing and installing management                                                                                            
systems and processes that made empowering the poor possible                                                                                          
so that they could fully participate in both the work as well                                                                                         
as the fruits of the economic growth.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
Mahatma Gandhi sought to unify all the different factions in                                                                                          
India by offering them ideas that they could all rally behind,                                                                                        
goals that they could pursue together and actions that they                                                                                           
could all execute in concert.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
Together, they paralysed the functioning of the British                                                                                               
textile mills.  Together, they marched 240 miles to the Indian                                                                                        
Ocean to make salt in defiance of the British tax laws.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
Similarly, the managers in a developing world must adapt                                                                                              
strategic policies that can enable us - despite our scarce                                                                                            
resources - to produce the competent and responsible managers                                                                                         
we need to run the key enterprises in our growing economies.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
There is an erroneous impression among many that Mahatma                                                                                              
Gandhi espoused non-violence and hence he was soft and weak.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
Nothing could be further from the truth. In his crusade for                                                                                           
Indian independence, this slight, fragile looking sparrow of a                                                                                        
man was immovable as a rock, as unstoppable as an avalanche.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
He flung his frail physic between battling mobs of Muslims and                                                                                        
Hindus in order to coerce peace from them.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
He fasted to near death in order to extort from the imperious                                                                                         
British recognition of India's right to liberty.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
In the Dharsana Salt Works incident, he demanded that his                                                                                             
followers stoically submit to the violence of the crippling,                                                                                          
killing blows of steel rods, day after day, in order to shame                                                                                         
the British into setting India free.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
As modern managers of the global village, we must be as single                                                                                        
minded, as relentless and ruthless with ourselves in the                                                                                              
pursuit of our objectives as Gandhi was.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
We must never allow limited resources to retard our constant                                                                                          
striving for excellence in all spheres of our private and                                                                                             
public sector lives.                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
When Mahatma Gandhi fell to an assassin's bullet soon after he                                                                                        
had won India its freedom, his eloquent disciple, Nehru,                                                                                              
mournfully announced to his countrymen: "The light has gone                                                                                      
out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere. Our beloved                                                                                        
leader, Bapu, the father of the nation, is no more."                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
He then went on to say: "The light has gone out, I said, and                                                                                     
yet I was wrong. In a thousand years, that light will still be                                                                                        
seen ... the world will see it ... for that light represented                                                                                         
the living, the eternal truths, reminding us of the right                                                                                             
path, drawing us from error, taking this ancient country to                                                                                           
freedom."                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
As a final tribute, I would like to quote Albert Einstein:                                                                                            
"Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as                                                                                      
this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth."                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
To this day, thousands of movements and NGOs adopt the Gandhi                                                                                         
an philosophy of non-violence which is driving the world to                                                                                           
the next millennium.