I am thankful to the President and Members of the Organising Committee of the World Management Congress for inviting me to address this important congregation of management thinkers, administrators and scholars.

I congratulate the organizers for choosing an important theme "Beginning the Management Decade: 2010 to 2020" with sub themes "Preparing for the Management Decade" and "Implications of the Management Decade" for deliberations.

The world has made rapid progress in the last 60 years as never before in recorded history. And, yet, over a billion people are living below poverty line. They are facing acute shortage of food, subjected to ailments, and worse.

Side by side, we have developed sophisticated life styles and indulge in a wide choice of consumer goods and use sophisticated land, sea and air transport.

Both these phenomena pose formidable challenges and call for varying approaches and commitments. The leaders and managers have to develop a commitment for reaching out to the poor and the deprived with a view to give them sustainable livelihood and a life of dignity. Similarly, to meet the demands of global market, we have to develop and acquire skills of systematic and methodical management.

In my student days, it used to be frequently argued that management is an art. Today, management has acquired significant scientific aspects in both the instruments that it uses and attitude that it fosters. It is also an important profession. Obviously, management has become a combination of art, science and profession.

Today, management is one of the most important areas of human activity as it is concerned with getting things done. By becoming a useful element in the operation of business endeavours and especially in providing a dynamic force in guiding enterprises in useful activities, management makes a significant social contribution. Consumers’ needs are met, youth get employment, suppliers find markets for their materials and governments have fresh sources of direct and indirect taxation.

As a social force, management inspires people, knits them together and creates conditions for the optimum use of resources. A nation’s progress and prosperity depends largely upon the competence of its managers. We no longer talk only about capital and labour, we also talk of management. As to Peter Drucker rightly says, “the emergence of management as a distinct and leading institution is a pivotal event in social history”.

Management provides to society what would otherwise remain only potentialities. The challenge of present economic order lies largely in efficient management. It is upon the vision and skill with which managerial functions are carried out that helps contribute to the power, prestige and economic wellbeing of a country. The former President of USA, Roosevelt had appropriately once remarked that a Government without good management is like a house built on sand.

The techniques of management are of great relevance for protection of our mother earth. If human society is to endure, we need to learn a way of life that could be sustained by our eco-system. We must learn to rely on resources that are renewable.

We should work on new pollution control technologies as the answer to our polluted waters and skies. There is urgent need for using proper management techniques for natural resources conservation and management.

In the Indian context, it, however, took us 50 years to reach the one-trillion dollar level of Gross Domestic Product. Hopefully, in the second decade of this century we will double that. The present is the time to work, progress and shine. Of course, the opportunities bring along challenges. It would be important not only to be sensitive to both the physical and social environment, but also take conscious steps as managers to promote our national interests.

If we are going to compete with the rest of the world, we need a new work culture. This work culture cannot come if top managers do not set an example for the workers. It cannot come if the workers feel that they are being exploited. It cannot come if they find that the CEO of the Company is paid 10 million rupees in a year, while they are subjected to all kinds of indignities when they ask for a raise of Rs.200 per month.

India has a large number of excellent institutions of management and technology. Thanks to them, a growing class of Indian Managers is commanding respect both within the country and outside. Training is necessary for making a good manager. I do, however, believe that there are born managers as well. When such born managers acquire professional efficiency and knowledge they truly become outstanding. Born managers with social commitments, national values and global concerns, flower into extraordinary leaders in their field of activity.

Thanks to Information Communication Technology (ICT) revolution, the Indian managers have acquired new levels of proficiency. In my writings and speeches, I have called it a ‘new civilizational encounter’. In this new civilization encounter, our leaders and managers have to ensure that the youth of India are given access not only to mobile telephone facilities but also to the Internet. Towards this, - broadband facilities have to reach every village and the town in the country. Otherwise, like the old Brahmanic system, where everyone was subjected to rituals, the sacred knowledge (the Vedas and the Upanishads) were the exclusive preserves of the Brahmins. Likewise, the rich and the city dwellers will have access to knowledge that the Internet provides, the youth in the village will have only mobile telephones and no access to knowledge. The future of India depends on making information that the Internet provides reach everyone. This is a big challenge before our managers as well as our leaders.

Education is at the centre of these. Fortunately, education is in the news in India. The enactment of the Right to Education is truly historic in our history. For centuries people of certain castes and women in particular were denied access to education. Our leaders in the freedom struggle rejected this deplorable tradition and we have made a decisive break with this past. We are keen to secure education to every Indian.

A good education empowers people to take responsibility for their own lives and for improving the lives of those around them. Modern technology and the forces of globalization have reduced distances and increased connectivity. The content and quality of education have enormous potential to make an important contribution to our individual well-being and to strengthening of our nation.

The growth and development of tomorrow’s India depends on today’s action and if we fail in our quest to educate our children and equip them with needed skills then problems of poverty and over-population will continue to persist. It is our strength that the youth of India, both urban and rural, are optimistic about their future. They no longer blame providence for their shortcomings but want to work hard to secure jobs and to lead a life of dignity.

Action is needed in several areas. Good infrastructures, shortage of trained and quality teachers, and curriculum that help students to apply themselves fully to their educational requirements are some of the issues that need to be addressed.

Now, the need is to take up these tasks in a mission mode ensuring that all the stakeholders, particularly, the policy makers, teachers, parents, educationists, NGOs work in a concerted fashion channelizing their energies and resources to accomplish this task.

The great advantage of management lies in is capacity to solve problems by encouraging learning and innovation based on open circulation of useful knowledge.

Good managers must believe in the law of continual progress. They must not sit on their past achievements alone.

Good managers must develop quality of humility. This is not to be confused with the docile meekness or submission. Humility is antidote of arrogant pride. It is the quality of being aware of one’s own and other’s limits. People, who are humble, try to discard their illusions. They dislike vanity and dishonesty. They try to look at the problems with a view to solve it by learning not only from books, their superiors and colleagues but also from the common people.

In the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Trust no future however pleasant” but our future does look bright. What we need is to work together and with earnestness at local, national and global levels.

I am sure that the Vice Chancellors and the Professors of management and allied disciplines of different universities present here will design a programme of action for managers based on their knowledge and right motivation objectives. 

With these words, I have great pleasure in inaugurating the 2009 World Management Congress.

JAI HIND