Spiritual Organisational Leadership: An Integrative Framework of Indian Philosophical Wisdom and Contemporary Leadership Theory for the Armed Forces

Abstract

Leadership in the military in the twenty-first century is carried out amidst the dynamics of hybrid warfare, technological disruptions, and enduring psychological stress, and still the most widely used theories of military leadership in the world are managerial in nature and Western-oriented. This conceptual paper aims at offering the Spiritual Organisational Leadership (SOL) theory that integrates the spiritual and contemplative knowledge of Indian philosophy through its constructs such as Dharma, Nishkama Karma, Samatvam, Sthitaprajna, and Lokasangraha with modern-day leadership theories of Transformational, Ethical, Authentic, Servant, and Spiritual Leadership along with Emotional Intelligence and Workplace Spirituality. The Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Arthashastra of Kautilya, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and Swami Vivekananda have been used in order to show how internal transformation is necessary for sustainable external leadership. A six-dimensional framework of leadership is developed, in which the self-mastery and ethical awareness of leaders lead to meaningful work, organisational commitment, unit cohesion and mission accomplishment. Further, a conceptual model of outcomes of SOL, seventeen propositions, and methodology are offered for testing the propositions in the future using Structural Equation Modelling. Though the propositions put forward here have not been empirically tested, the model presented could help the Indian defence establishments to develop indigenous leadership theories in addition to contributing to the literature on spirituality in organisations by expanding the concept of workplace spirituality to military organisations.