Ethics from the Thirukkural and its Relevance for Contemporary Business Leadership in the Indian Context

Abstract 
Dimension of business ethics from ancient Indian times and its contemporary relevance for business leadership.  In the Indian context, during the past one decade we have witnessed an increase in number of literatures on applying ancient wisdoms especially from the Bhagavad-Gita, Ramayana and the Arthashastra in the business leadership context. However, very few works are found on business ethics from the Thirukkural and its revelance for contemporay business leadership. The Thirukkural is a well-known treatise on ethics which was authored by Thiruvallavar in the second century. It is considered to be the first work which covers ethics in Indian literature. The Authors Employed Hermeneutics, a qualitative methodology which is the interpretation of acient or classical literatures. The findings reveal that Thirukkural advocates a consciousness and a spirit centere approach to the subject of business ethics based on eternal values and moral principles that should govern the conduct of business leaders. The prospect of highlighting the Thirukkural in other areas like leadership can be considered for the near future.This paper likely to provide insights into Indian business ethics and western manager and employee, enabling them to work more effectively with Indian leaders and business partners either in india or aborad. It also has some implications for leaders for leaders in Indian context and employees who have to deal with ethical dilemmas in making their daily business decision. This paper is also expected to reinforce Thirukkural Ethics to Indian business leaders and make them more aware of the code of conduct in business. This paper start with the understanding of the concept ethics and business ethics, which is branch of ethics. The Final part of this paper explores the business ethics from the Thirukkural and its relevance for Contemporary Leadership. 
Keywords:- Indian ethics, Business ethics, leadership, Ancient wisdom, Thirukkural. 

 

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