Much has been said and written about the Chaturvarnas as per manusmrithi - the four class divisions in the society - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras. Though, of late, this has been discussed with the point of view of all that was wrong about Indian society, and that it promoted class system, a closer look will show you that this was where modern management originated. Much before the western management scholars functionally divided an organization, Indian society had discovered it. The whole society was divided into 4 distinct classes based on the Aptitude of the people for a particular type of job. Let us apply the above concept to an organization.
In an Organization, Brahamins can be those in research and development, think tanks and corporate planning. The Kshatriyas are those who do the marketing, sales, investor relations, benchmarking and obviously those in physical security and espionage. The Vaisyas are naturally the finance, logistics and trade-related operations guys. Reinforcing all are the Sudras who are service providers ranging from the receptionist (call centers), toilet cleaner (contractors), IT service provider, drivers, workers to bureaucrat and politician, i.e. anyone with intangible contributions to a business value chain. Each one according to his Aptitude for a particular kind of work and each one has to be in consonance with the organizations goals and targets. All are important cogs in the wheel and very vital to organizations survival and growth. Each has a core competency, that when in synergy with others, produces a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts.
Our wise forefathers knew the importance of specialization and handing over a particular task to a person with the aptitude and the core competency in that area. It is why India was so prosperous those days.
