"In my lifetime, I hope to learn to ‘Read the Things of the Flesh with the Eyes of the Spirit, not the Things of the Spirit with the Eyes of the Flesh'. The flesh is constantly weakening and we know it is temporary...Why have we built a system and a way of life that are designed for something so brief as human life when we have generations to raise a civilisation? I believe the answer lies in Nature's micromanagement of the Earth, not Man's macro management of industry." Zend
Zend Jehangir Bankwala
Zend is into questioning the world we have created that blindly and carelessly privileges materialism and money...He wants to know: "If people are endowed with a 'spirit', how come we are merely focussed on developing their competencies and not their spirit (spiritual self)...Whatever rationale experts may give, the focus on competencies just allows the satisfaction of basic physical and security needs...The focus on the spirit allows self-actualisation...Isn't that how we are supposed to design work and society? Zend on Himself
Below is an excerpt (the conclusion) from his undergraduate dissertation:
The Role of Spirituality in Transforming Contemporary Management Theory and Practice: A Case Study of EntoGenex
By Zend Jehangir Bankwala
BA(Hons) Business Enterprise Development
(Year of submission: April 2012, Portsmouth Business School, UK)
Conclusions
I feel that the role of spirituality must be considered in our management theory and practice because it serves as two thirds of what constitutes as wellbeing in both Ancient East and West beliefs on a good moral life. We have damaged our economical systems by abusing it for the promise of unlimited wealth; a wealth that now every major civilisation is discovering is founded on unsustainable means. In order to repair the damage we have done to ourself and our home we have to start understanding the need for holistic thinking in all forms of economic activity. Capitalism has failed to alleviate the suffering for the majority of the world, and as we progress in time the division of wealth becomes increasingly skewed; but to what end? At what point does profiteering develop a moral conscience for the damage that it has inflicted on the environment that sustains it? Every historical abuse of the environment and each other has resulted in some conflict that has impacted the lives of many and profited a few, spirituality serves as the bridge for those who are fortunate enough to not have to suffer material poverty to understand the need to serve those who are not as fortunate. When leaders and workers understand that profit should only be secondary to their personal growth and development, the ethos of the workplace will change.
Much like what has been exhibited within the walls of EntoGenex in Malaysia, with the right values a company looking to do the right thing can attract the right people to do it. This has to do with the alignment in chanda or the desire for well being for all, with this attitude, the right attitude every challenge ceases to be one because the nature of your work will push you to grow in order to achieve the selfless desire to help.
If one is to lead a life with good moral conduct, then much like Aristotle’s view on virtue ethics, and decisions he makes will coincide within the framework of the decision maker’s values and with this he will be content. If one is to lead with deceptive or avaricious intent, then that intent will coincide with the decision maker’s decisions and in turn attract similar decisions from other people which will lead the decision maker further down a slippery path.
“Within the mainstream economic model, unlimited desires are controlled by scarcity, but is the Buddhist model they are controlled by an appreciation on moderation and the objective of well being. The resulting balance will naturally eliminate the harmful effects of economic activity” (Payutta 1992)
It is from the introduction into spirituality in the workplace can we attempt to shift our economy towards this concept of moderation and well being. Spirituality in the workplace is important because today it has become the measure of a person’s worth, and much like it is an inaccurate economic indicator when examining a nation’s contentment; it is also an inaccurate yardstick for individual happiness and development.
Conventional stakeholder theory does not consider the stakeholders as equal, and in this disequality stems more disequality internally and externally of an organisation. While there has been a change in organisational structure towards the flat latticed organisation, most corporations remain stuck in their hierachical structures. In the rigidity of the structure lies the rigidity of the management and its inabilty to harness the true potential of their human capital. In order to harness the potential of their staff they have to bridge the gap between job and being, leaving ample space for both to grow. Companies such as eBay, Google or Facebook have been built on the creativity of its people and today are regarded as new organistional models to consider. They encourage the creativity of their staff by designing the work environment to facilitate fun and stimulate belonging and identity with the compnay and their work. This is one effective model for human resource development and management, however in order to tap into the true spirtual potential of a person, one first has to be engaged through the meaning of his or her work and belief in what he or she is doing.
Today’s corporation fails to take this into consideration and instead subjugate the staff to the confines of the same monotonous tasks of which their understanding or participation is minimal. In order to build a sustainable management that reduces labour turnover and increases job satisfaction corporations have to take into consideration their duty to the environment and communtiy they extract their tradable resources from. After all their employees also reside in these communities and environment, as does every living being. Management should be seen from the perspective of guardianship; being guardian of the human potential within an organisation and with this guardianship comes the responsibility to nurture the good spirit within each and every member of staff towards true spiritual satisfaction. One that encompasses the sustainable wellbeing and management of all those within it and those who are party to it; as with the Sanskrit dictum of ‘Svarat samrat bhavati’ we should strive to turn all who pass through any organisations door into leaders who can lead the next generation of social change.
Educational Background
September 2009 – 2012
University Of Portsmouth (UK)
Completed Business Enterprise Development (B.A)(Hons.)
September 2008 – April 2009
University Of Portsmouth (UK)
International Relations and Languages(B.A)
July 2006 –June 2008
Harrow College (UK)
Completed GCE ‘A’ Level examinations in
January 2004 – June 2006
Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar (Malaysia)
Completed IGCSE examinations
(Note-Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar is an international boarding school based on the British education system. )
January 2001 – December 2004
East Spring Secondary School (Singapore)
Attended till Secondary 3 (Year 10)
January 1995 – December 2000
Qiaonan Primary School (Singapore)
Completed Primary 1 through Primary 6
University Of Portsmouth (UK)
Completed Business Enterprise Development (B.A)(Hons.)
September 2008 – April 2009
University Of Portsmouth (UK)
International Relations and Languages(B.A)
July 2006 –June 2008
Harrow College (UK)
Completed GCE ‘A’ Level examinations in
January 2004 – June 2006
Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar (Malaysia)
Completed IGCSE examinations
(Note-Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar is an international boarding school based on the British education system. )
January 2001 – December 2004
East Spring Secondary School (Singapore)
Attended till Secondary 3 (Year 10)
January 1995 – December 2000
Qiaonan Primary School (Singapore)
Completed Primary 1 through Primary 6
Present Work
Zend is working on an interesting project....designing an active community-sensitive service related to health. He will add more details on certain aspects of his project in time to come. He can be contacted here.
