Research Journal of Management Sciences _____________________________________________ISSN 2319–1171 Vol. 5(1), 5-8 January (2016) Res. J. Management Sci. International Science Congress Association 5 Spiritually Empowered Youth for Business Opportunities and Challenges Motwani R.K. Department of Management Studies, Government Engineering College, Ajmer, INDIA motwanirk@rediffmail.comAvailable online at: www.isca.in, www.isca.me Received 30th July 2015, revised 25th December 2015, accepted 5th January 2016 AbstractSpirituality and business are taken as two distinctive areas of human life. Business, at one hand, demands monetary outlook towards activities while spirituality is related to ascetic practices in life. Nurturing the two different and distinctive dimensions of human life together in a personality may be felt difficult and unacceptable to some thinkers due the possibility of overshadow effect of spirituality on the essential professional passion to avail business opportunities and face the challenges of rapidly changing business world. The youth in business world today is expected to be empowered with academic, technical and professional skills. Introduction of spirituality in the ideology of empowering youth can bring miraculous results in terms of ability of young entrepreneurs to see the opportunities and challenges in different perspectives and keep them undistracted and adhered in observing their dharma as entrepreneur. This combined nurturing among young entrepreneurs may show better results as the desired qualities of a successful entrepreneur can be better shaped and refined through spirituality as a practical psychology. The feature of the present youth to be passionate about manifestation of their business dreams is sufficient enough to accept this apparently impossible combination as spirituality is all about values for ultimate satisfaction. Thus, implementation of the learning from spirituality can ensure the business youth the ultimate satisfaction in their ventures and bring out more empowered youth for business opportunities and challenges. Keywords: Spirituality, young entrepreneurs, empowering youth, business opportunities, business challenges. Introduction The youth in business world today is expected to be empowered with academic, technical and professional skills. Introduction of spirituality in the ideology of empowering youth can bring miraculous results in terms of ability of young entrepreneurs to see the opportunities and challenges in different perspectives and keep them undistracted and adhered in observing their dharma as entrepreneur. This combined nurturing among young entrepreneurs may show better results as the desired qualities of a successful entrepreneur can be better shaped and refined through spirituality as a practical psychology. Desired attributes of Young Entrepreneurs The youth is expected to be resilience as the entrepreneurship is full of challenges some of which could be foreseen and some are unpredictable. Agility is another characteristic which every young and new entrepreneur should possess to be able to be quick and graceful. It is an intellectual ability to think and draw conclusions quickly. Patience is also vital as the realising the dream of becoming successful businessman is not a cake walk and has many ups and downs which need to be dealt very calmly and without getting impatient about results. Trust is yet another attribute which every young entrepreneur should possess. Trust on oneself and the trust on one’s team are the two dimensions and both play very critical role in success. Being passionate about one’s venture does not let one go casual in decisions and helps in keeping very high morale throughout the way to achieving goals. These attributes are directly related to personality and can be developed through training as well. Spiritual Empowerment Empowerment refers to building confidence, understanding, and insight. It may, in wider meaning, include developing personal skills and shaping personality traits for a defined objective. It does not only strengthen the common sense but also emotional maturity. Spiritual empowerment is an additional dimension in being empowered that ensures power to gain from spiritual understanding. It helps in knowing one’s state in a situation and to feel contended and powerful within at any moment of time. Spiritual empowerment enables one to keep the situation under one’s control rather that getting ruled by the situations. This sort of empowerment may be derived and developed through learning from scriptures that are known for their practical teaching and words of wisdom. Youth Empowerment in Indian (Bhartiya)Scriptures Bhartiya scriptures, particularlyShrimad Bhagwad Gita,are the richest source of bringing spirituality into Karmas and thus, some of the sholkas (verses) from Gita have been used to submit the idea behind empowering youth spiritually for business opportunities and challenges. Executional excellence is at its best when individuals are able to discover their true self in the process of doing work. Lord Shri Krishna articulates four Research Journal of Management Sciences _________________________________________________________ISSN 2319–1171Vol. 5(1), 5-8, January (2016) Res. J. Management Sci. International Science Congress Association 6 aspects of action viz., one has right to work, one has no control over results, one has no control on the roots of the causes of results and there is no choice to be inactiveThe first and foremost advice to young entrepreneursis to become active as inaction shall drive them to indecisive status of mind. Action (doing karma) is always superior to inaction.  \n \r \n \n \n \r \n \n \n \r \n \n \n \r \n \n  \n!  \n!  \n!  \n!Niyatamkuru karma twam karma jyaayohyakarmanah;Shareerayaatraapi cha tenaprasiddhyedakarmanah. (Verse 3.8) “Perform your obligatory duty because action is superior to inaction. Even one’s body cannot be maintained without work / action.” Further, all these actions (karmas) should be unattached to what you are thriving for. This leads to a status where the youth is free from fear of being unsuccessful. The moment one is free from fear of results and does only what is required for his supreme entrepreneurial goal, he gets objectivity into his decision making, which in one of the essential characteristic of empowered youth for better business decisions. "  #!$ \n "  #!$ \n "  #!$ \n "  #!$ \n %# \n! &'!%# \n! &'!%# \n! &'!%# \n! &'!Tasmaadasaktahsatatamkaaryam karma samaachara; Asaktohyaacharan karma paramaapnotipoorushah. (Verse 3.19) “Therefore, always perform your duty as it should be performed without any attachment to the results, this way one reaches the supreme goal of life” Spiritual empowerment of youth does not stop at advising him to be active and free from fear of results but it further elaborates the characteristics of a good action. Lord Krishna explains that the action that is free from all likes and dislikes and done without love, hatred with no desire of beingrewarded, is the best type of action. ()*+,'!- ()*+,'!- ()*+,'!- ()*+,'!- %./& \n001 2 %./& \n001 2 %./& \n001 2 %./& \n001 2 Niyatamsangarahitamaraagadweshatahkritam; Aphalaprepsunaa karma yattatsaattwikamuchyate. (Verse18.23) “Obligatory duty performed without any attachment and desire for the reward, is declared to be Sattwic, i.e. in the mode of goodness.” Thus, all decisions and their executions in enterprise should be unattached, away of love and fear and should be done with no desire to be rewarded. It also explains the characteristics of a good karta (entrepreneur). Being non-egoistic, firm, enthusiastic and unaffected by results are the key characteristics of a good entrepreneur. 2 3\r  4  5  ! 2 3\r  4  5  ! 2 3\r  4  5  ! 2 3\r  4  5  !6767 \n!\n1 86767 \n!\n1 86767 \n!\n1 86767 \n!\n1 8Muktasango’nahamvaadidhrityutsaahasamanvitah; Siddhyasiddhyornirvikaarahkartaasaattwikauchyate. (Verse18.26) “The person, who is free from attachment, non-egotistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm, and unaffected byresults is called Sattwic, i.e. pure and good.” The youth is expected to be quick and graceful enough to decide the path of the action and goal. He should know what is to be done and what is not to be done. He must know where he should act fearlessly and where he should be concern. Such intellect is desired in a young entrepreneur to be capable of availing business opportunities and face challenges.  -0  -0 \n9:: -0  -0 \n9:: -0  -0 \n9:: -0  -0 \n9::; = 0;.89;馀?\n1 @; = 0;.89;馀?\n1 @; = 0;.89;馀?\n1 @; = 0;.89;馀?\n1 @Pravrittim cha nivrittim cha karyaakaaryebhayaabhaye; Bandhammoksham cha yaavettibuddhihsaapaarthasaattwikee. (Verse18.30) “That intellect is said to be Sattwic, i.e. pure and good that understands the path of work and renunciation, ehether action is right or wrong, state of fearfulness and fearlessness, bondage and liberation.” Youth is also expected to unwavering firmness to restrain the functions of the senses, mind, life-force and soul. This quality in firmness drive them towards complete trust on themselves and their karmas (action) 4  !AB)C)D4  !AB)C)D4  !AB)C)D4  !AB)C)D: EF:G-!?\n1 @EF:G-!?\n1 @EF:G-!?\n1 @EF:G-!?\n1 @Dhrityaayayaadhaarayatemanahpraanendriyakriyaah; Yogenaavyabhichaarinyaadhritihsaapaarthasaattwikee. (Verse18.33) “That firmness or willpower is Sattwic, i.e. in the mode of goodness, which restrains the functions of the mind, the life- forces and the senses.” Spirituality also advises on how to attain perfection, i.e. ensuring all desirable attributes in oneself. It explains how a selflessly devoted karta (entrepreneur) can attain perfection. " "  \nH:!�/:!" "  \nH:!�/:!" "  \nH:!�/:!" "  \nH:!�/:!"  \n!�?  I\n"  \n!.41;Ý ?  I\n"  \n!.41;Ý ?  I\n"  \n!.41;Ý ?  I\nSweswekarmanyabhiratahsamsiddhimlabhatenarah; Swakarmaniratahsiddhimyathaavindatitacchrinu. (Verse18.45) “One attains the perfection by devotion to one’s own duty. Now listen, how one attains perfection while engaged in one’s duty.” Research Journal of Management Sciences _________________________________________________________ISSN 2319–1171Vol. 5(1), 5-8, January (2016) Res. J. Management Sci. International Science Congress Association 7 !J:\n  \n  !J:\n  \n  !J:\n  \n  !J:\n  \n  "  \n L\n�   !"  \n L\n.41;Ý    !"  \n L\n.41;Ý    !"  \n L\n.41;Ý    !Yatahpravrittirbhootaanaamyenasarvamidamtatam; Swakarmanaatamabhyarchyasiddhimvindatimaanavah. (Verse18.46) “One attains perfection by worshipping the Supreme Powerfrom whom all beings have evolved and by whom all this is pervadedthrough performing one’s duty dedicated to that Supreme.” Accordingly, one who has been behind the entire universe worships through performing one’s duties i.e. justifiable actions under the circumstances attains the perfection. Objectives The objective of the present study is to understand whether spiritual inputs / learning affect the personal attributes of youth willing to become entrepreneur. Resilience, agility, patience, trust and passion were the shortlisted personal attributes to be studied. Few verses referred above from Shrimad Bhagawat Gita were selected with a view to enable the respondents to understand and practice the spiritual approach for better personality traits as entrepreneur. Methodology A group of fifteen students of management discipline interested and keen to start their own enterprise after completion of course were discussed the different dimensions of being empowered viz. academic, professional, technological, emotional etc. They were scored onfive personality attributes, i.e. resilience, agility, patience, trust and passionout of five after such discussion. The same group of students than were given and discussed the selected verses referred in the paper. They were again assessed on the same five attributes after few days of practicing the learning from selected verses. The results were compiled and tested usingt-test. The null hypothesis “no significant difference in the ability of budding entrepreneurs was found after adding spirituality as additional dimension of their empowerment” was laid down for the purposes of testing. Results and Discussion The respondents were asked to score themselves for five desirable attributes of a good entrepreneur before and after incorporating spiritual learning in their personality for business perspectives. H is one sided (left tailed test), hence the rejection region at 5% significance level with (n-1) = 14 degrees of freedom is 1.761. : µ = µ2; : µ µ2; N = 15 The test results rejected the hypothesis for all five attributes under study and showed that there was a noticeable difference in the score of the respondents on different desired attributes of a successful entrepreneur. Increase of 0.53, 0.40, 0.47, 0.27 and 0.27 in the mean score on resilience, agility, patience, trust and passion respectively was recorded, which was found significant by applied test as the ‘t’values for all attributes were found beyond the acceptable range. The resilience and agility were found to be the most improved attributes after introducing spiritual learning as a dimension of their empowerment to all of the respondents while patience improved among most of the respondents. Trust and passion were the attributes that recorded the lesser improvement which may be because the youth are already very much self-confident and passionate about their dreams. Table–1 Results of StudyS. No. Attribute Mean score before introducing spiritual component Mean score after introducing spiritual component ‘t’ value 1 Resilience 3.07 3.60 -4.000 2 Agility 2.80 3.20 -3.055 3 Patience 2.53 3.00 -3.500 4 Trust 3.00 3.27 -2.256 5 Passion 3.53 3.80 -2.256 Research Journal of Management Sciences _________________________________________________________ISSN 2319–1171Vol. 5(1), 5-8, January (2016) Res. J. Management Sci. International Science Congress Association 8 Conclusion The findings of the statistical test affirm that introduction of spirituality as a dimension of empowering youth positively results in their personality development as an entrepreneur. The feature of the present youth to be passionate about manifestation of their business dreams is sufficient enough to accept this apparently impossible combination as spirituality is all about values for ultimate satisfaction. Though spirituality and business are taken as two distinctive areas of human life as business, at one hand, demands monetary outlook towards activities while spirituality is related to ascetic practices in life, nurturing the two different and distinctive dimensions of human life together in a personality may bring out more empowered youth for business opportunities and challenges. References 1.Mahadevan B. (2012). 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