Introduction
This piece of writing came out of a clash of thoughts in my head that occoured in a recently concluded management conference. The theme was "Dynamics of modern management - Is service centric strategy the solution?". Well whatever the solution that may have been discussed and debated, what struck me was that "service" is used as a management strategy in today's world to gain and retain customers.
On the other hand my background at the Sri Sathya Sai Institutions had given me a different idea about service. To put it in a nutshell - "Service is a way to God". Numerous discourses and various activities like "Gram seva" reinforced the fact that service is a noble action that pleases God and decreases the distance between Him (gender neutral) and us.
The clash of thoughts occoured for I failed to understand how can I use such a noble action for business profits? Moreover how can I integrate the noble idea of service given by Bhagwan Baba to get business profits?
Research Questions
Since "service" is a buzzword across disciplines and domains, I could not help but define two research question that will help me in conceptualizing "service" that can be used both by spiritual and commercial practitioners.
Question1: What is the basic framework of service that can be used for spiritual progress and business profits?
Question2: What is the definition of service?
Methodology
The methodology I used for arriving at the framework is "situation-analysis" or what we call in IIM lingo as the "case study". However I will like to add that I have taken only those cases that have occoured in front of Bhagwan Baba and am governed by the principle of bounded rationality. The objective I repeat is not to praise individuals but learn from a situation objectively and decode a variable that can help us in decoding service.
The Case Study
This is an oft-repeated story in Prasanthinilayam. It was in 1991 that the Super-speciality hospital was to be built and numerous people were contributing in lakhs. One fine evening Swami walks into the portico with a small envelope. He tears it open to find a letter and a 100 ruppees note. He reads the letter which was written by a primary school child explaining Him that he had saved the money after washing his own clothes without giving to dhobi and decreasing his other kiddish expenditure only to contribute something in His noble mission. Bhagwan lovingly accepted the little act of service and the hospital today is a reality (many doubted its feasibility!).
Conceptualizing Service
1- The first variable that can be instantly decoded is action. Many students would have been sitting there that day appreciating Bhagwan's mission. Among them a few would be thinking of how to contribute in the same. But only one little boy(there may be many but this one came to limelight) thought of doing something, however insignificant it may appear.
2- The next variable that can be decoded is spontaneity. Bhagwan never asks anything nor is Rs. 100 a significant addition in building that huge edifice. Yet what moved and caught Bhagwan's attention (who is the customer in this case!) is the spontaneous reaction of the little boy. Make the customer feel that you are with him / her in thick and thin and will try your level best in meeting his / her expectation. For that spontaneous reaction one needs to tune oneself to the customers' wavelength. Watch out for the need and be quick to respond however insignificant it may appear. Remember many customers watch the process in the service and not the final product. If the process satisfies them, they are yours for lifetime.
3- The last variable that I can decode from the case study is transformation. This I will analyse in both the spiritual and commercial utility. Spiritually transformation means transformation of attitude. Swami says that in the end, you are not serving anyone but yourself and one has to realize that. So the feeling of "give-take" has to be replaced by feeling of "brotherhood". From transaction one has to move to union. From a commercial perspective, it takes a beautiful meaning. It gives the enterprise a chance to analyse the gap between the customer's actual satisfaction and desired satisfaction. Transformation is closing of the gap, and service is the process of closing the same. Moreover, transformation also leads to next step in service where the existing customers become part of the enterprise and helpin increasing the client base (again from transaction it leads to union!).
Definition of service
Having conceptualized service, I now make an attempt to give an operational definition of the same. Before that I want to extend the above dimensions I decoded a step higher.
Action, I argue is a product of head and hand. Similarly spontaneity is an outcome of a sensitive heart. Hence I define service as "An effective coordination of head, heart and hand for the ultimate goal of mutual transformation".
Conclusion
Here I made a small attempt to scientifically and rationally decode the dimensions of service out of a real life example. This was made to operationalize the concept of service in order to facilitate the usage of the same by managers and spiritulists in their endeavour to please their "customers".
