Dharma-Inspired Management: Bridging Spirituality, Ethics and Leadership

This symposium centers on Dharma as a foundational concept for enhancing management and leadership practices through spirituality-led ethics. Dharma, understood both as intrinsic moral order and as the cosmic order (?ta?), provides a holistic and integrative lens for addressing contemporary organizational challenges. Drawing from ancient scriptures and Indian philosophies, the symposium explores practical applications of Dharma principles, such as Aparigraha (non-possessiveness), which advocates mindful renunciation of material excess and the integration of indigenous wisdom to foster sustainability, ethical leadership, and global ethics. Incorporating concepts like the Purushartha Chatu??aya—the four aims of human life (Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Mok?a)—the symposium emphasizes the alignment of material pursuits with spiritual growth, fostering a sense of interconnected order that sustains professionalism, self-management, and purpose-driven leadership. Autoethnography on the profession of a Researcher and Case study on an innovative self-management model of Buurtzorg Nederland, aim to enrich the understanding of Dharma and show to potential it has to transform contemporary management practices. Through a rich dialogue on the ontology and epistemology of Dharma, the implications of ?ta? for organizational leadership, and the application of Dharma-inspired frameworks to contemporary issues, the symposium bridges ancient wisdom with modern challenges. It aims to enrich management research with ethical, sustainable, and spiritually aligned perspectives on leadership.