According to Adler, the more the three perceptions coincide and harmonise, the stronger will be the personality; and with a harmonious personality, there will be a corresponding decrease in conflict and controversy between an individual and his environment. What happens in the case of corporates is quite similar to this phenomenon.

The greater the identity and homogeneity between the external view of a company and its own self-image, the stronger will be the company's presence and penetration in the market. When the external environment and the internal culture reinforce and reciprocate the value system in each other, it is easier for a company to consolidate its standing in society.

In the global marketplace, the ultimate arbiter of success is the brand position and preference. In the history of a commodity, after a company begins to manufacture and market it, and in due course of time, when the product is solicited and sought after everywhere on account of its excellence, such a product grows and graduates into the status of a brand.

And the tallest position a brand can ever reach is made possible when a company embraces and incorporates the concept of Corporate Religion — which principle was enunciated by Joseph Kunde in his book, which he wrote in Danish in 1997. The English translation appeared in 2000. Kunde says: "I use the word religion because it means binding together in a belief. I don't think it is possible to have any meaningful vision of the future without believing in something. Believing in yourself, believing in your dreams."

Marketing a brand is different from selling a product in the bazaar. A brand is characterised by its creed, faith, and following. When a brand progresses to the top slot in the market, the company is identified with its excellence and reputation. Everyone closely connected with the company — its management, employees, customers, and suppliers — is recognised in society by the brand image as an ambassador and talisman.

The frenzy and fever generated by a brand is often no less than the fanaticism and religiosity symbolic of a spiritual sect. It is then and thus that a corporate religion is born, which is the summum bonum of a corporate brand strategy. Such days are gone when technical superiority alone could sell a product. Consumers are not robots. Confronted with plenty and diversity of products in the market, the consumer's choice is increasingly informed by belief. His belief and faith in the inherent merit of a brand will influence his preference. Consumers do not get this belief out of thin air. They need to know the people behind the product; they want to know the philosophy of the company; and they want to know the icon and corporate religion, which guide and govern the company.

In the emerging commercial scenario, it is the corporate ethos behind a product and the emotional and non-material attributes associated with it, which will create an impact and a market for it.

Emotional perspectives are fast replacing the physical characteristics, as the reigning influence with customers. While the physical characteristics of a product are invariably taken for granted, it is the ethical and psychological quotients qualifying a commodity which will influence, entertain, and retain a customer.

Corporate religion is a new way and wave of thinking. Already in most developed economies, products have ceased to be the main communication highway. It is communicating the vision, the mission, and the values of a company which determines its viability, or vulnerability in the market. And to do this effectively, the new generation of managers will require an ability to interact with people.

They must develop a competency to formulate and reformulate corporate strategies and — even more important than that — to communicate them in a clear, simple, and forceful tongue into every corner and crevice, both inside and outside the company; those who become adept in this art alone will be the eventual winners in this game. Corporate religion will be the new way of focussing a company's goals. It is a holistic concept under which the company will be run by a spiritual dimension within a temporal framework — where virtues will override numbers.

The band of values adumbrated by a company will make its customers sit up and take cognisance of the emotional and qualitative quotients aligned with its brands. A new rule will begin to apply, and a new paradigm will come into play in business management — that there will be no more rules, and no more paradigms. Every company will evolve and create its own rules through its own philosophy, which will be its corporate religion.

Traditional management tools such as financial and bureaucratic regimen have their roots in the past, whereas progress is firmly focussed on the future. Managers who have an obsession for financial management often drown themselves in a sea of statistics. Spiritual management seems to be the sole [soul?] and singular saving grace in the situation, since it contains the promise of a plausible protection against the complexity of modern technology and market change.

Behind almost every major multinational stands a charismatic founder figure who has driven the enterprise from day one by his dynamism and determination. When he is still around, no one is in doubt about the efficacy of the leadership. As long as he is physically present in the company, nobody else sets the agenda. But in due course of time, as the organization prospers and expands, the distance between the founder and his following increases; his thinking becomes fossilised and even a sense of complacency seems to descend on him.

Invariably, when this happens there is no successor of the same calibre waiting in the wings to take over. An administrative chief is no substitute for an entrepreneurial genius. As focus and vision begin to diminish from the top, there comes a void in the corporate psychic energy, which may soon percolate down the line. To forestall such a crisis, the second-generation management must climb into the cockpit, even when the founder is around, active, and available to direct the destiny of the company.

The founding father's role must be confined to establishing a firm foundation for the company's futuristic growth, while the next tier of management must be geared to take care of the company's current performance. The mere presence of a corporate culture will not per se provide an effective and enduring management. The future will arrive only when an organisation continues to be driven forward, with a clear and conspicuous slot for the spiritual dimension on its agenda. Corporate religion must not be viewed with awe and askance as some mystic or esoteric objective. It must be seen as a simple and plain message, which can walk down the company corridors to reach even its most pedestrian employee; a concept which is easy to comprehend and easier to implement by every member in the organisation.

Its essence is to bring back and rehabilitate the human factor into the dehumanised mechanical system, typical of the massive multinationals. Every employee must be inspired to ask and answer the question, "What is it that I have done today to enhance and uplift the soul and spirit of my company?" It is such a sense of belonging and esprit de corps, which the corporate religion seeks to promote and perpetuate.

(The author is a Chennai-based freelance writer.)

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu Business Line