Organisational development and the Hindu trinity - – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva

Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 4, No. 5, 2011 491

Organisational development and the Hindu trinity:
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva on leadership, culture and
change

Patrick Kim Cheng Low*
Faculty of Business, Economics and Policy Studies,
Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link,
Gadong BE1410, Brunei Darussalam
Fax: +673 2463017
E-mail: patrick_low2003@yahoo.com
*Corresponding author

Balakrishnan Muniapan
Human Resource Management,
School of Business and Design,
Swinburne University of Technology (Sarawak Campus),
Jalan Simpang Tiga,
Kuching 93350, Sarawak, Malaysia
Fax: +6 82 423594
E-mail: mbalakrsna@yahoo.com

Abstract: This paper uses the metaphors of the Hindu trinity – Brahma, Vishnu
and Shiva, and its relevance to organisational development (OD). It explores
roles on leadership, corporate culture and change for increasing organisational
growth and effectiveness. By employing hermeneutics, a qualitative
methodology in interpretations, the parallel roles of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva
are drawn to show key strategies and ways of creating, maintaining and
eliminating (changing) the organisational culture and organisational leadership
renewal. This paper is expected to provide a new dimension in studying OD
from the Indian philosophy and cultural perspectives.

Keywords: Hindu trinity; Indian culture; corporate culture; organisation
development metaphors; leadership and change.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Low, P.K.C. and
Muniapan, B. (2011) ‘Organisational development and the Hindu trinity:
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva on leadership, culture and change’, Int. J. Indian
Culture and Business Management, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp.491–505.

Biographical notes: Patrick Kim Cheng Low is currently working at Faculty
of Business, Economics and Policy Studies (FBEPS), Universiti Brunei
Darussalam. He is also an MD for BusinesscrAFT™ Consultancy and an
Associate of University of South Australia. He has more than 20 years of
experience in various sectors in several countries in Asia. Formerly, he was the
Associate Dean, Director of Career Services and Chair of the Management and
Marketing Department of a University in Kazakhstan. He is also the author of
several best-selling books in Marketing and Management.

Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

492 P.K.C. Low and B. Muniapan

Balakrishnan Muniapan is a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management
at the School of Business and Design, Swinburne University of Technology
(Sarawak Campus), in Kuching (Malaysia). He is also an active HRM and
Industrial Law Consultant in Malaysia and within Asia. He has more than 50
publications in journals, books and conference proceedings. He has presented
on HRM at several seminars and academic conferences within Asia, Australia
and Europe.

1 Introduction

The purpose and objectives of the paper is to relate organisational development (OD)
from the perspectives of leadership, corporate culture and organisational change with,
viz. the Hindu1 trinity2 – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Lord Brahma is the first member of
the Hindu trinity, Lord Vishnu being the second and Lord Shiva, the third. The roles
played by the Hindu trinity have a similar application in the context of OD and
organisational life cycle. It is also highly relevant for leadership, corporate culture
and change management.
Leadership roles remain one of the most relevant aspects of the organisational
context. A leader is a person who influences a group of people towards a specific result.
Leaders are also recognised by their capacity for caring for others, clear communication
and a commitment to their task or function. Leaders play important roles in forming an
effective culture (Brahma), maintaining and sustaining the culture and changing the
culture to adapt to the changing environment (Vishnu) and organisational renewal
(Shiva). An organisation’s corporate culture on the other hand is a set of values, what is
held dearly, close to our hearts (Low Kim Cheng, 2002a,b, 2005a–d, 2008). Corporate
culture, therefore, can contribute and lead to a firm’s start-up (Brahma), stability and/or
growth (Vishnu) and renewal or organisational reengineering (Shiva).
Organisations today are required to adopt a ‘new paradigm’, in leadership and culture
to be more sensitive, flexible and adaptable to the demands and expectations of
stakeholder demands to adapt to the environmental changes. A variety of driving forces
have provoked the need for organisational change and development. Increasing
telecommunications and sophisticated technologies have ‘shrunk’ the world substantially.
On the other hand, the increasing diversity of workforce has brought in a wide array of
differing values, perspectives and expectations among workers. Therefore, the need to
research and find new ways and approaches like the use of metaphors towards OD
becomes crucial to create and sustain competitive advantage.
The use of metaphors by researchers when depicting OD, leadership and corporate
culture is not uncommon. Morgan (1997) provided a number of metaphors that have been
proposed for understanding organisations. He suggested eight different metaphors, each
of which provides a different way of thinking about organisations, seeing the
organisation:
1 as a goal-seeking machine with interchangeable parts
2 as a biological organism that continually adapts to change
3 as a central brain that can respond to, and predict, change

OD and the Hindu trinity 493

4 as centering on a set of shared values and beliefs
5 as centering on power and conflict as a means, whereby individuals achieve their
own aspirations or mutual self-interest
6 as centering on norms of behaviour so that the organisation is likened to a psychic
prison
7 as flux and transformation
8 as an instrument of domination.
Metaphors can indeed be used to illustrate such a pattern or theme, and Gannon (1993,
1994, cited in Low Kim Cheng, 2002a,b) has used them to describe organisations and
cultures. Metaphors are usually situations, events or circumstances that occur in a culture
that capture and clarify its essential elements. One such example is the symphony
orchestra as the cultural metaphor for Germany. Germany is a musical nation with many
orchestras, and operates like one. In a symphony orchestra, conformity is valued, rules
are established and each person is expected to work for the overall goodness and
efficiency. Several other examples given of national cultural metaphors include the
Italian opera, French wine, Russian ballet, Japanese garden, Spanish bullfight, American
football and Turkish coffee house (Gannon, 1993, 1994, p.19). The use of metaphors to
understand organisation and cultures has, therefore, much potential, and they create new
understanding about the original objects (cultures) (Ortony, 1979, cited in Low Kim
Cheng, 2009, 2002a,b). The use of metaphors also keeps the field of OD growing,
moving and challenging, as different views and perspectives are provided in
understanding and managing organisations.

2 Organisational development

OD is a dynamic field, which keeps growing and increasingly becoming relevant in
management literature, as the nature and needs of organisations are changing
dramatically (Grieves, 2000). OD is the process of improving organisations. The process
is carefully planned and implemented to benefit the organisation, its employees and its
stakeholders. OD is increasingly becoming relevant, as today’s organisations operate in a
rapidly changing environment. Profitability, productivity, morale and quality of work life
are of concern to most organisations because they impact achievement of organisation
goals. There is an increasing trend to maximise an organisation’s investment in its
employees. Jobs that previously required physical dexterity now require more mental
effort. Organisations need to ‘work smarter’ and apply creative ideas. Consequently, one
of the most important assets for an organisation is the ability to manage change
effectively to remain competitive, and for people to remain healthy and committed
(Muniapan, 2006).
OD’s relevance is also due to the current changes in the workforce. Employees expect
more from a day’s work than simply a day’s pay. They want challenge, recognition, a
sense of accomplishment, worthwhile tasks and meaningful relationships with their
managers and co-workers. On the other hand, today’s customers demand continually
improving quality, rapid product or service delivery; fast turnaround time on changes,
competitive pricing and other features that are best achieved in complex environments by


innovative organisational practices. The effective organisation must be able to meet
today’s and tomorrow’s challenges, and therefore adaptability and responsiveness are
essential to survive and thrive (Muniapan, 2006).
OD is often referred to as the approach and response to change to increase the
organisation’s effectiveness and viability (Western, 2010). OD has received a great deal
of attention over the past several decades, as organisations face new and complex
challenges like never before. Bennis (1969, p.12 cited in Grieves, 2000) has referred OD
as a ‘response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs,
attitudes, values and structure of organisation so that they can better adapt to new
technologies, marketing and challenges and the dizzying rate of change itself’.
Beckhard on the other hand defines OD as a ‘planned effort’ involving ‘systematic
diagnosis’ of the ‘total organisation managed from the top’ to increase ‘organisational
effectiveness and health’ of the overall system (Beckhard, 1969, pp.9–10, cited in
Grieves, 2000). OD is also a ‘system-wide application of behavioural science knowledge
to the planned development and reinforcement of organisational strategies, structures and
processes for improving an organisation’s effectiveness’ (Cummings and Worley, 2006,
p.2).
The field of OD is receiving a great deal of attention now as a growing field, and has
the diversity of perspectives and approaches. The past few decades have seen an
explosion in the number of OD tools, such as process consulting, cultural change,
continuous improvement (kaizen), systems theory, system thinking and strategic thinking
to effectively explore and understand organisations, and to guide for successful change in
those organisations. As new approaches for OD are being developed from various
perspectives, the authors are relating the Hindu trinity – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in the
context of OD, focusing on the leadership, culture and change perspectives.
This religious metaphor is aptly chosen, because at the end of the day certain values
have to be religiously or ritualistically perpetuated; and at that, in fact, be strongly
adhered. That certain values, the authors are referring to, are the company’s success
values (Low Kim Cheng, 2005c) as well as ethical values. However, of the values that
make up an organisation’s culture, ethical values are now considered among the most
important (Daft, 2004). Widespread corporate scandals, missing or embezzled funds and
charges of insider trading have blanketed the newspapers and the media in recent years.
Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are also under scrutiny from the public as never before.
Corporations, even some small companies are putting emphasis on ethics to restore that
vital trust among their stakeholders, particularly customers and the communities. Ethical
values set standards of what is good or bad in conduct and decision-making (Daft, 2004).

3 The Hindu trinity

Over the decades, we have witnessed a tremendous growth of literatures relating to the
philosophy, transpersonal psychology, meditation, yoga, Vedanta3, Islam, Christianity,
Buddhism, Taoism and many other philosophical schools of thought in management
(Kale and Shrivastava, 2003 cited in Muniapan, 2006). There is also a increasing number
of literature on the Indian philosophy and organisational management from authors, such
as Chakraborty (1993, 1995, 1999), Chakraborty and Chakraborty (2008), Sharma (1996,
1998, 1999, 2002, 2003), Krishnan (2001, 2003), Kejriwal and Krishnan (2004), Satpathy
(2006, 2007), Muniapan (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010), Muniapan and Dass (2008, 2009),


Muniapan and Satpathy (2010), Satpathy and Muniapan (2008), Roka (2006), Parashar
(2008) and others. These scholars have made studies based on the Vedic literatures,4
Upanisads, Ramayana,5 the Bhagavad-Gita6 (a part of Mahabharata7) and the
Arthashastra of Kautilya.8 Except for the earlier studies by Low Kim Cheng (2008) on
leadership and corporate culture from Hindu trinity, and another study by Low Kim
Cheng (2010) on ‘Successfully Negotiating in Asia’, applying the Hindu trinity in the
form of the Brahma Negotiator, the Vishnu Negotiator and the Shiva Negotiator as well
as the Kathakali Negotiator, there has not been any management and OD literature related
to the Hindu trinity.
The Hindu trinity consists of Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. Lord
Brahma is the first member of the Hindu trinity as the creator (builder). The trinity
represents the three fundamental powers of nature, which are manifested in the world,
viz. creation, destruction and maintenance. These powers exist perpetually as the
creation, maintenance and destruction is going on all the time. They are inseparable, as
the creation and destruction are like two sides of a coin. Maintenance on the other hand is
an integral part of the processes of creation and destruction. Life in this world is a
manifestation of the three principles of creation, sustenance and destruction. In fact, these
three are interconnected. The apparent destruction is only an essential forerunner to
creation.
Lord Brahma is traditionally accepted in the Indian context as the creator of the entire
universe. Creation requires creativity and creativity requires knowledge and wisdom,
therefore the consort of Lord Brahma is Saraswati Devi, who is the goddess of learning.
In the Devi Mahatmya9 (an ancient Hindu text), Saraswati Devi is in the trinity of Maha
Kali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati. One of the earliest iconographic descriptions
of Brahma is that of the four-faced god seated on a lotus. The Lord Brahma has in his
four hands a water pot (kamandalu), a manuscript (Vedas), a sacrificial implement
(sruva) and a rosary (mala). He wears the hide of a black antelope, and his vehicle is a
swan (hamsa). The four faces of Brahma represent the four Vedas. They also symbolise
the functioning of the inner personality (antahkarana), which consists of thoughts. They
are the mind (manas), the intellect (buddhi), ego (ahamkara) and conditioned
consciousness (chitta). They represent the four ways in which thoughts function. They
are the manifestations of the unmanifest consciousness (Rudra Centre, 2007).
Lord Vishnu is the preserver of the universe and presiding deity of peace (manager,
leader). The Vedas and the Vedic literatures refer Lord Vishnu as the eternal, all-
pervading spirit and the source of all sources. Lord Vishnu is often seen in human form,
sleeping on the great serpent Ananta Shesha and floating on the Causal Ocean, Universal
Ocean and Milk Ocean. Lord Vishnu’s role is to protect humans and to restore order to
the world. His presence is found in every object and force in creation, and some Hindus
recognise him as the divine being from which all things come. Lord Vishnu appears in a
number of Hindu texts, including the Rig Veda10, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
To perform his role as a preserver, Lord Vishnu had ten principal avatars or
incarnations (10th avatar, Kalki yet to come) of which Lord Rama and Lord Krishna are
the most important. The first, Matsya, was a fish; the second avatar was Kurma; the third
as Varaha, the boar; the fourth avatar, the man lion Narashimha; Lord Vishnu appeared
on earth a fifth time as Vamana, the dwarf; the sixth avatar was Parasurama; Lord
Vishnu’s most popular and well-known avatars were Lord Rama and Lord Krishna, the
great heroes of the epics the Ramayana and Mahabharata; the ninth avatar of Lord
Vishnu was the Buddha, who founded the Buddhist faith. Lord Vishnu’s 10th avatar,


Kalki, has not yet arrived on earth. Management and the preservation of the universe
requires plenty of wealth and resources, therefore the consort of Lord Vishnu is Lakshmi
Devi, the goddess of wealth.
Lord Shiva is the destroyer (rejuvenator). Lord Shiva is married to the Sakthi Devi.
Sakthi Devi represents perishable matter (prakriti). Lord Shiva’s marriage with Sakthi
Devi signifies that the power of destruction has no meaning without its association with
perishable matter. Destruction manifests itself only when there is perishable matter. Lord
Shiva sits in a meditative pose against the white background of the snow-capped
Himalayas in Mount Kailasa. His posture symbolises perfect inner harmony and poise,
experienced by a man of realisation. He maintains perfect serenity, equanimity and
tranquility in all environments and circumstances. The snow-white background of Lord
Shiva symbolises the absolute purity of mind (Rudra Centre, 2007).

4 How corporate culture begins

Corporate culture is the total sum of the values, customs, traditions and meanings that
make an organisational unique. Corporate culture is often called ‘the character of an
organisation’, since it embodies the vision of the company’s founders (Montana and
Charnov, 2008). Corporate culture is also considered to be the web of tacit
understandings, boundaries, common language and shared expectations maintained over
time by organisational members. According to Bodley (1996), there are several ways of
looking at studying corporate culture and these include:
1 Historical: culture is social heritage or tradition that is passed on to future
generations.
2 Behavioural: culture is shared, learned human behaviour, a way of life.
3 Normative: culture is ideals, values or rules for living.
4 Functional: culture is the way people solve problems of adapting to the environment
and living together.
5 Mental: culture is a complex of ideas or learned habits for social control.
6 Structural: culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols or
behaviours.
7 Symbolic: culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by an
organisation.
Culture starts with leadership, is reinforced with the accumulated learning of the
organisational members and is a powerful set of forces that determine human behaviour.
Once a corporate culture is formed and in place, there are practices within the
organisation that act to maintain it by giving employees a set of similar experiences.
The corporate culture is then maintained and reinforced through selection process,
performance evaluation criteria, reward practices, training and career development
activities, and promotion procedures ensure that those hired fit in with the culture, reward
those who support it.
An organisation’s culture goes deeper than the words used in its mission statement
and a strong culture is essential for organisational growth. In Hindu trinity, the creation


role of Lord Brahma’s act is critical for organisational growth. Good visioning, mission
and values need to be created and practised. A leader can uncover a compelling vision
with its attendant values, and he articulates this vision that is appealing and motivating to
employees. In every organisation, leadership needs renewal and successors must come
to replace the present leaders.
Good corporate leaders visualise well, have good visions and they also plan well.
Planning includes anticipating potential problems or opportunities the organisation may
face. Here, we can perhaps apply what McDaniel and Gitman (2008, pp.237–241) have
advocated, that is:
1 Strategic planning, creating long-range (one to five years) broad goals for the
organisation and determining what resources will be needed to achieve these goals.
2 Tactical planning (normally less than a year), this begins with implementing the
strategic plans.
3 Operational planning, creating specific standards, methods, policies and procedures
that is used in specific areas of the organisation.
4 Contingency planning, identifying alternative courses of actions for very unusual
crisis situations.
In Hinduism, it is said, an individual’s subtle body is made up of his mind and intellect,
that is, his entire thoughts. A person’s subtle body is responsible for the creation of his
gross body and also the world that he experiences. The individual’s thoughts determine
the type of physical body he possesses. The same thoughts are also responsible for the
kind of world and universe that the individual experiences around him. As the thoughts
merge, so is the world. If a person possesses good thoughts, he sees a good world. If an
individual’s thoughts are bad, he sees a bad world (Rudra Centre, 2007).
From the start, the company’s code of conduct should be initiated and created; and
training courses in ethics are taught. Strict ethical standards and ethical values need to be
prioritised.
Organisational members learn the corporate culture and core success/ethical values to
some extent by observing what leaders pay attention to, measure and control (DuBrin,
2007). Monkeys see, monkeys do; organisational members follow the river (the leader)
and it will lead to the sea (the leaders’ key values and the corporate values). More
specifically, they look up to their leaders and imitate their examples; the corporate leaders
become their role models in line with what Low Kim Cheng (2002a,b, 2006a,b, 2009,
p.139) has highlighted: ‘if the stick is crooked, the shadow cannot be straight’.
An organisation’s leaders, its founders, the CEOs and their philosophies, values,
examples and stories are strong influences on the formation and conditioning of corporate
culture (Low Kim Cheng, 2002a,b, 2009; Weiss, 1996). It is said that the core values –
‘long-lasting beliefs about what is worthwhile and desirable’ (Nahavandi, 2009, p.117) of
the company’s founders have been responsible for the organisational growth. These
values can be lasting, they last long after the leaders have gone, and are, in fact,
critical in building clocks (Collins and Porras, 1997, cited in Low Kim Cheng,
2006a,b). That is to say, interestingly, visionary leaders, whose ideas live on long after
they are gone, build strong companies or institutions. Similar to the Brahmanic drift: ‘as
the thoughts merge, so is the world’, these core values act as a compass in growing
companies and businesses. They also account for the success as well as the higher


performance of organisations and nations (Low Kim Cheng, 2005d, 2006a,b). A
company – with its core values in place (‘intensely held’ and ‘widely shared’) – has a
strong corporate culture, and a strong corporate culture like Walmart’s gives the company
direction (Robbins, 2005, p.488).
It is also important to recruit like-minded people, hiring people whose personal
ideologies (values) are congruent with that of the organisation (Zachary and Kuzuhara,
2005). In Low Kim Cheng (2005d) study (citing Cherrington, 1991; Dessler, 2005;
Stewart, 2004; Wells and Schminke, 2001), he has highlighted that the simplest way,
ethically speaking, to improve an organisation is to select carefully and hire more ethical
people. Here, proper selection and screening of employees is critical, as these are good
human resources management practices. The applicant’s references need to be thoroughly
checked. Yet another critical but practical guideline in creating corporate culture entails
the corporate leaders and managers to creatively identify specific types of cultural
elements, such as symbols, stories and rituals that communicate and reinforce the
company’s culture in a compelling way (Zachary and Kuzuhara, 2005).
Leaders should also inspire, bring about invention and create or trigger growth.
Innovation, new product development and new markets are thus needed for
organisational growth. At times, some companies can also ‘empower their managers to
go out and recruit, hire and develop other people who will buy-in to the culture and act
to support it’ (Zachary and Kuzuhara, 2005, p.244).

5 Sustaining and keeping the culture alive

The core values of the company’s founders which permeated through, being practised,
and adopted, as the corporate values need to be preserved. Here, the Lord Vishnu
principle is to be applied. Lord Vishnu plays the role of maintenance. The company’s
core values need to be preserved. Values and practices that promote high performance
and integrity are promoted; an excellent corporate culture is attained through hiring,
training and promoting people who endorse the corporate values. Lord Vishnu principle
must come into being; institutionalisation must take place.
The core values, once taken roots, serve to supply and encourage some form of
stability. For example, in Thailand, several Buddhist factions are calling for Buddhism to
be enshrined as the state religion. They want some form of stability, ‘claim(ing) that such
a move is necessary to preserve Thailand’s character and prevent the encroachment of
foreign mores’. ‘The Thai people just copy Western culture,’ says university professor
and Buddhist activist Dhirawit Pinyonatthagarn. ‘Our values are under threat.’ (Caryl,
2008, p.21; also cited in Low Kim Cheng, 2008).
Also as seen in the Singapore Civil Service, among other key values, the value of
integrity is upkept, and that value is responsible for Singapore’s good corporate
governance climate. The economically prosperous island – Republic of Singapore enjoys
an ‘efficient and honest civil service that promptly attended to the needs of its citizens’
(Ganesan, 2002, p.53); in Singapore, everything was on the table with clear rules
(Thurow, 1996, cited in Low Kim Cheng, 2009, 2002a,b; Schein, 1996, p.169).
Further, there is a feeling of stability in the sense of organisational identity provided
by these core values or corporate culture. Interestingly, Walt Disney is able to attract,
develop and retain top-quality employees because of the firm’s stability and the pride of
identity that go with being part of the Disney team (Ivancevich et al., 2008).


Just like the peace-loving Lord Vishnu, the Preserver or Sustainer of life with his
steadfast principles of order, righteousness and truth (About.com: Hinduism, 2008b), so
also is the way in which the corporate culture, its core values are to be preserved. When
the preservation of these values is good for the company’s organisational growth and
progress, it is critical that the corporate leaders work proactively, up-keeping parts of the
past and respecting the past yet relevantly adapt to the present. Focusing on the core
elements (ethical values) that should not change overtime, they adapt the existing values
and ideologies to meet current challenges and crises (Zachary and Kuzuhara, 2005).
Lord Vishnu is often shown as reclining on a Sheshanaga – the coiled, many-headed
snake floating on cosmic waters that depicts the peaceful universe. This pose represents
the calm and patience in the face of fear and worries that the poisonous snake depicts
(About.com: Hinduism, 2008a). The message here is that corporate leaders should not let
fear overpower them and disturb their peace. Organisations, more critically, need to let go
gracefully; Zachary and Kuzuhara (2005, p.244) speak of company founders and CEOs,
as the keepers of the culture, ensure that the culture lives on after they have long been
gone. They should plan, engaging in succession planning in order to have the time needed
to identify and groom replacement(s) to support or upkeep the culture in future.
For employees, they go through the socialisation process, and part of the socialisation
process consists of the rites of passage, ceremonies that reinforce the organisation’s core
values (Zachary and Kuzuhara, 2005; Weiss, 1996). These rites include:
1 The ‘passage’ rites which assist transition employees into new roles and statuses. For
example, induction and basic training in the USA Army or the Republic of
Singapore’s basic military training, national service.
2 The ‘enhancement’ rites which strengthen the employees’ bond by acknowledging
status – such as Mary Kay Awards Ceremonies, and the company-held annual
meetings or dinners honouring their high performers.
3 The ‘renewal’ rites such as training, retreats and award trips help to revitalise and
maintain the employees’ identity with the company.
4 The ‘integration’ rites – including promotion ceremonies, Christmas parties and
other ongoing programmes and activities – continue the process of cementing the
employees’ loyalty to the company.
Mentoring can also take place. In most companies, mentoring is used as a means to grow
and groom leaders (Ivancevich et al., 2008). New employees can obtain valuable career
and psychosocial influences from a variety of individuals – managers, peers, trainers,
coaches and contacts.

6 Eliminating or minimising bad corporate practices

As the Hindi proverb goes ‘mare bina swarg nahi milta’, meaning, ‘without death, there
can be no heaven’. By eliminating bad practices, new values and practices can be put into
place and be nurtured.
Lord Shiva plays the role of destruction. Lord Shiva Principle – that of destroying or
eliminating bad practices within the firm must be applied and come into the picture. Bad
practices, such as absenteeism, turnover and low job satisfaction that may weaken the


organisation (vis-à-vis the competition) need to be weeded out. Work flows are studied,
and bureaucratic obstacles or paperwork blocks are eliminated or reduced. Service
recovery audits with checklists are put in place to eliminate bad customer
service practices while promoting values of service excellence (Low Kim Cheng,
2002a, 2006a).
Certain knowledge management strategies and techniques too may be deployed. The
corporate culture, know-how and experiences of the company is systematically
documented, applied and transmitted to the employees. To promote information and
value sharing, dialogue among the corporate members is fostered; and shared facilities
and informal learning encouraged. Much information and value sharing is likely to occur
in a snack lounge, corporate information resource center or in the company’s intranet
communication systems.
Additionally, corporate leaders do not hire those who do not endorse the company’s
values or if the latter are employed, are not promoted so that after some time, they leave
the company.
One of the key strategic ways is ‘to structure to influence subcultural formation’
(Zachary and Kuzuhara, 2005, p.244); the aim here is to reduce the emergence and
influence of subcultures in the organisation, as they may weaken the culture of the overall
organisation. A subculture is an ideology that exists in one part of the organisation that is
somewhat different from the organisation’s culture. For example, a company’s sales
division may be more collaborative, quality conscious and willing to take risks than the
overall culture of the company which is collaborative and quality conscious, but averse to
risks.
Next, cross-training can also be deployed to eliminate or minimise subcultures within
the organisation; members are cross-trained so that everyone can perform a wide range of
jobs across different functional units. Besides, ‘alignment’ is made by emphasising
managers of specific units to ensure that their goals, strategies and cultures are consistent
or aligned with those of the overall company (Zachary and Kuzuhara, 2005, p.244).
Corporate leaders and managers also need to conduct culture audits. Such an audit is
a systematic and formal process in which elements of the company’s culture are assessed
through surveys and interviews with managers and individual contributors with the
purpose to locate and reduce cultural disparities (Zachary and Kuzuhara, 2005). This
process indeed helps management identify potential inconsistencies in its culture that
need to be addressed. A case in point, one of the company’s core values may emphasise
on teamwork and collaboration, but the compensation system and job design may show
an emphasis on individual contributions and performance.
It is critical at this point to highlight that the Lord Shiva Principle – that of destroying
or eliminating bad practices within the firm must be applied and come into the picture.
Corporate culture can indeed be seen as the key tool against corporate fraud. True,
internal controls may provide the structural hardware, but corporate culture and the
leader’s influence can serve as the employees’ personal ‘heart-ware’. Low Kim Cheng
(2005a) study shows that a substantial proportion of corporate leaders (48% of his study’s
sampling) perceived the importance of leadership and corporate culture as the way to
make their companies ethical or fraud-free.


7 Conclusion

Organisations, just like any living entities go through various stages, such as birth
(startup), growth, maturity, decline, renewal or death. Each of these phases presents
different leadership challenges that one must deal with. The first challenge for leaders
who wish to develop their organisations (OD) is to understand what phase of the
organisational life cycle one is in. They need to identify which roles they are playing –
Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva (Hindu trinity) in improving their organisational effectiveness.
In the OD process, the organisations can basically go through the cycle of life and death,
but by applying the Hindu trinity way, corporate leaders can eliminate or get rid of bad
practices while nurturing (religiously practise) good (success and ethical) values and
practices for OD. These are the benefits of the understanding the OD, leadership culture
and change by way of the Hindu trinity and its analogies presented. The significance of
this paper is the presentation of the OD, leadership culture and change from an ancient
philosophy, which today requires intelligent interpretation and re-interpretation to apply
in the modern context. Future studies are expected to be made on other dimensions of
organisational management based on the concept of Hindu trinity on the roles of Brahma,
Vishnu and Shiva.

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the reviewers for their suggestions and comments on the
earlier version of this article.

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Notes
1
The word Hindu or Hinduism, known as Hindu Dharma in some modern Indian languages is the
religion originated from the Indian subcontinent. In contemporary usage, Hinduism is also
referred to as sanatana dharma, which means eternal religion. See ‘The Concise Oxford
Dictionary of World Religions’, Ed. John Bowker, Oxford University Press, 2000; The term can
be traced to late 19th century Hindu reform movement (Zavos, 2001; see also Baird, 1987).
2
The concept of trinity in the Indian philosophical context also refers to Trimurti (or three faces of
Divine) performing the three cosmic functions, namely creation, preservation and or dissolution.
In other words, they are GOD (Generator Operator Destroyer).
3
The word Vedanta is a compound of Veda ‘knowledge’ and anta ‘end, conclusion’, translating to
the culmination of the Vedas. See Radhakrishnan and Moore (1957). Princeton paperback 12th
edition, 1989, p.3.
4
The Vedic literatures are vast and composed of many books. However, Sri Madhvacharya, one of
the principal teachers of the Vedic philosophy, while commenting on the Vedanta-sutra (2.1.6),
quotes from the Bhavisya Purana as follows: rg-yajuh-samartharvas ca bharatam
pancaratrakam, mala-ramayanam caiva veda ity eva sabdita, puranani ca yaniha vaisnavani vido
viduh – ‘The Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, Atharva Veda, Mahabharata, Pancarata and the
original Ramayana are all considered Vedic literatures…. The supplements like the Puranas are
also Vedic literatures’. We may also include the Upanisads and commentaries of great teachers
who have guided the course of Vedic thought for centuries.
5
The Ramayana was written by Sri Valmiki Muni and contains 24,000 verses in seven kandas
(books). The Ramayana is about a Raghuvamsa prince, Rama of Ayodhya, whose wife Sita is
abducted by demon Ravana. The Ramayana provides the essence of the Vedas.
6
The Bhagavad-Gita is a philosophical dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna before the
commencement of the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas in Kurukshetra, India more than
5000 years ago. It is a part of Bhisma Parva of the Mahabharata.

7
The Mahabharata is one of the two major ancient Sanskrit epcis of India, the other being the
Ramayana. The Bhagavad-Gita contains in Bhisma Parva of the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata
was composed by Sri Vyasa Muni and written by Sri Ganesa. The full version contains more than
100,000 verses, making it around four times longer than the Bible and seven times longer than the
Illiad and the Odyssey combined.
8
Kautilya is also called Chanakya or Visnugupta was the adviser of Chandragupta Maurya.
Kautilya was a statesman and philosopher who wrote a classic treatise on polity, Arthashastra a
compilation of almost everything that had been written in India up to his time on artha (property,
economics or material success).
9
Devi Mahatmya is known as Chandi in West Bengal and as Durga Sapthasathi in the northern
parts of India. It consists of Chapters 74 to 86 of the Markandeya Purana and has 700 stanzas. It is
the base and the root of the religion of the Saktas, a branch of Hinduism.
10
The Rig-Veda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is counted among
the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism, known as the Vedas. Some of its verses are still
recited as Hindu prayers at religious functions and other occasions, putting these among the
world’s oldest religious texts in continued use.

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