How global conflicts are disrupting management education and shaping future leadership

“All problems of existence are essentially problems of harmony,” Sri Aurobindo said once. The current global geopolitical tension epitomises the disharmony caused by diverse forces of life. What is essential for maintaining harmony is the integration and alignment of the forces that should otherwise exist in balance. Whether it is progress versus sustainability, human versus nature, national goals versus global peace, profit versus ethics, individual versus society, or even human body versus human spirit, an imbalance would have long-lasting and catastrophic implications on life.   

Hence, it is important to consciously make a choice that would maintain harmony in all aspects of life. An education imbued with ethos, values, and a deeper purpose has become imperative. While heutagogy, or the study of self-determined learning, is an emerging practice of learning, an important body of knowledge that has been revived to provide practical wisdom to contemporary challenges is the Indian Knowledge System (IKS).

In this VUCA world, to understand the changes needed in management education and leadership, it is pertinent to comprehend the new approach and the evolving philosophy of management.     

Heutagogy and management education   

Management education was arguably designed on the assumptions of a predictable environment. This assumption, however, no longer holds, and the curriculum essentially needs an overhaul in the turbulent world of geopolitical tensions. Where competency developed through technical-rational pedagogy remains insufficient, it is the capability and capacity developed through heutagogical practice that become relevant in today’s complex and disruptive environment. Studies on management education have called for adopting heutagogy to mould the leaders for tomorrow.   

According to heutagogy propounders, including Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon, today’s world is not a place for the inflexible or the unprepared. In the current turmoil and volatility, empowering individuals as agents of transformation is more important than creating them as fits for routine, predictable tasks.

Hence, apart from building competency through a structured pedagogical framework, management education should also imbibe the heutagogical way of building capabilities and capacities for self-determined learning and empowerment. Through this approach, an individual is made competent of asserting his/her agency for their learning paths through creative thinking, reflective reasoning, networking skills, and communication.   

Effectively, heutagogy scaffolds an ‘entrepreneurial mindset’ by projecting a positive outlook and solution-oriented approach. In view of these, what is needed in the B-schools today is a paradigm shift in the epistemological stance taken by academics. This calls for an evolution from an instructor role to coaches, enablers, motivators, and capacity builders so as to facilitate metacognition and reflexivity in their learners. And of course, this needs further facilitation from the institutional level itself.    

IKS and management education   

IKS is a body of ancient Indian wisdom. From the purview of management, the treatises on governance, statecraft, economics, and trade are particularly important. However, IKS is not just another body of knowledge alone; it also includes approaches that enable wholesome or holistic learning that emphasises personal development apart from skill acquisition. It is interesting to note that the IKS approach, promoted through NEP 2020, also broadly falls in line with the heutagogical approach.

This year at Fore School of Management, an initiative has been taken to introduce IKS through a foundational course for students and a short-term certificate course for executives. Through these, it is envisioned to develop ethical leadership and mindful management that would enable the development of a broader leadership perspective, emotional intelligence, sensitivity towards stakeholders, and sustainable decision-making. It is perceived that such capabilities developed through our heutagogic approach would certainly enhance their readiness, appeal, and resilience towards challenging organisational roles in the future.   

Decolonising our mindset and developing consciousness are essential for the transformation required in today’s world. In the Chandogya Upanishad, the concept of Tat Tva Masi essentially says that to understand the essence of the universe, one has to understand oneself. Self-awareness and self-knowledge would ultimately find pathways to bring harmony among many conflicting forces of life. Hence, while negotiating about the future of management education, what is perceived to be important and worthwhile is a leadership invested with consciousness.

Building such consciousness from a primary school level to higher education can build inner harmony among individuals, which in turn would ultimately manifest in the harmony needed in the world. Hence, it is possible to bring a hope of long-lasting peace and prosperity in the world by abiding by our ancient Indian wisdom.   

(The author is chairman, FORE School of Management, and director general, BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Views are personal.)