Ethos is an English word based on a Greek word and denotes the

guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, a nation or

an ideology. Its use in rhetoric is closely based on the Greek
terminology used by Aristotle.
In tamizh samuthya panbin adipadai kooru

Ethos refers to the spirit which motivates the ideas and customs. As T.S.
Eliot wrote, "The general ethos of the people they have to govern determines
the behavior of politicians."[1] One historian noted that in the 1920s, "The
ethos of the Communist party dominated every aspect of public life in Soviet
Russia."[2]
Ethos may change in response to new ideas or forces. Ideas of economic
modernization imported from the West in the 1930s brought about in Jewish
settlements in Palestine "the abandonment of the agrarian ethos and the
reception of...the ethos of rapid development"[3].

Indian Ethos
What is Ethos :

"Ethos is culture or society and the set of beliefs, ideas, etc. about social
behavior and relationship of a person or group”

Specific norms of individual inter-personal behavior in group or social or

organizational context is the basis to define good conduct of an individual.

Indian Ethos is the way life being lead. India had a rich heritage with
abundance in all walks of life. The ability to do the right thing and, what is
more important, doing it every time is an Indian way of living.
Mind Gym brought the ethos to surface to make our lives better NOW
Mind Gym is devoted to research, training and development in the upcoming
and fascinating field of Indian Ethos and Values derived from ancient
scriptures
Indian ancient heritage and wisdom adopted by Mind Gym, help in
• Creating Immense potential, energy and talents for perfection as
human being
• Enhancing holistic approach indicating unity between
the divine, individual self and the universe.
• Opening Third Eye, Jnana Chaksu, the Eye of Wisdom, Vision,
Insight and Foresight.
• Developing Inner resources are much more powerful than outer
resources. Divine virtues are inner resources. Capital, materials and plant
& machinery are outer resources.
Values v/s Skills
1. To ‘become’, we need values… To ‘do’, we need skills.
2. ‘Becoming’ (needing values) must precede ‘doing’ (needing skills).
Values should act as the basis of the skills acquired.
3. Values are the means of perfection. Skills must have sound system of
values as the base. Otherwise, one can manipulate skills for ulterior
motives.
4. Values are internal, dealing with internal development of a person,
purifying mind and heart. Skills on the other hand only make a person
proficient. Values are the means of perfection of personality.
5. The field of values is governed by union, holism and relatedness.
More often than not, skills are used to bring about division, fragmentation
and separation.
6. Values bring about excellence and universal good. Skills see us
through mechanics of management.
7. Skills are not enduring, values are.
8. Skills change with passage of time. Policy is flexible, principles and
values are not. We have permanent fundamental values.

Indian ethos in management

R. Devarajan
The ability to do the right thing and, what is more important, doing it every
time is the noblesse oblige in the managerial milieu. It must become the done
thing, the insignia and talisman of a professional manager.

EVERY country has its own culture and character based on the social,
political and economic environment in which it operates. From that culture
springs forth the national ethos, which prescribes a code of conduct for its
citizens and creates the context for business ethics and values in that society.
Indian ethos and wisdom — a legacy and heritage from its hoary past —
envisaged a socialistic pattern of society, with an accent on
redistributionism. It has always been a champion of renunciation and
rectitude, rather than accumulation and aggrandisement.

Mahatma Gandhiji once said that it was difficult, but not impossible, to be
an honest businessman; but it was impossible to be honest, and also, amass
wealth. He advocated a simple and self-sustaining lifestyle based on the
dictum that while there was always adequate means to meet the needs of
everyone, it was not enough to meet the greed of a few.

When one looks at the current commercial scenario, following questions

arise for introspection. When financial scams and scandals are being
reported by the media almost as a weekly feature, when even the world of
sports is tainted with treachery and painted with perversion and political
skulduggery, where does one look for relief and redemption?

Is it not a fact that a substantial portion of the GDP in this country is being
systematically blocked and funnelled away into the black market and
laundered back with guile and impunity towards moral uprightness? When
will this nation be able to cultivate a critical mass of managers, who will
measure up to their full height and call a halt to this caricature of character
and corporate misdemeanour, where the ends always seem to vindicate the
means?

It is in this setting that the importance of instilling basic ethical norms in the
process and progress of a professional career in commerce takes the driving
seat. Perhaps, the curriculum of management education in India must be
reoriented to reflect its national culture and character.

Ethics and values must find a place in the art and science of management.
The ability to do the right thing and, what is more important, doing it every
time (even when no one is watching) is the noblesse oblige in the managerial
milieu. It must become the done thing, the insignia and talisman of a
professional manager.

A word of caution, however, is necessary. In our zeal and zest to realise and
rehabilitate the quintessence of Indian wisdom in the practice of modern
management, there must be no room for anyone to take a tendentious
advantage of the situation. Let there not be any let up triggered by some
vested interests to make a political mileage out of this campaign.

Like, for instance, how the doctrine of hindutva is being brandished as the
monopoly of a particular segment of the population. The secular character of
this tenet has been tarnished to suit an ideolog; to create obscurantism as
against enlightenment; and to develop an intolerance of dissent, instead of
coexistence with plurality.