Recently, Mr.Ratan Tata announced in public that by next year, that is 2011, he will retire from active business. Prof. Narayan Murthy of INFOSYS has made similar announcement although he has been mentoring INFOSYS. Both the prestigious organizations are busy with exercise on “Succession Planning”. It is obvious that the process is not easy. It will be interesting to read the guidelines suggested by Arya Chanakya in his treatise on “Political Economics – Kautilya’s Arthashastra”.
Arya Chanakya has dealt with the subject of succession planning for king. While referring to internal aspects of a stable and prosperous kingdom, Arya Chanakya has covered guidelines for selecting / developing and protecting the successor under the title “Rajadharma” in Chapter 17th and 18th of book 1
The eldest son/daughter of the king is a natural choice for succession provided he/she fulfills the criteria. However, there is a clear reference that succession need not be by inheritance. The elder son and rest of brothers have a natural right for succession, Arya Chanakya has advised that the activities of eldest son should be observed and closely watched right from birth. If king has only one son, he should be kept under observation all the time. If he has more than one son, all of them should be assigned tasks to prove credentials and capability.
Arya Chanakya has classified sons into three categories. The first category as intelligent, who are capable of learning the basic concepts of duties and responsibilities, logic economics etc. who can put those principles in practice. The second category consists of those who learn but cannot put learnings in practice. The third category is the one who hate the principles of governance and find themselves in difficult situations. If the king has only one son from the point of view of smooth succession, the king should convince his son for having a grandson to take care of eventuality, If a king has a daughter, king should convince her to have grandson from his daughter.
On analyzing dynasties that ruled various kingdoms on continents including Indian sub-continent, we find several examples of smooth succession that resulted in rule of those dynasties over a long period of time. Mauryan empire that was led by Chandragupta Maurya under the advice of Arya Chanakya, ruled Indian sub-continent for three generations upto King Ashoka. (Moghul emperors, Nehru dynasties, House of Tatas, Birlas, Mafatlals)
While describing behaviour of the successor, Arya Chanakya has given certain guidelines for the nominated prince or successor. Even if the king asks the prince or successor to take up the task that may not be worthy of his status, the prince should accept the task and ensure success. However, the task where life is in danger or where there is possibility of revolt from the constituency, the prince could make an exception and resist the appointment. If he is appointed on meaningful task, the prince should accept the challenges, fulfill the task with assistance from able hands and pass on the benefits to the king. In case prince is not able to get an able assistant, he should try and show results by various means to prove his capability.
Arya Chanakya has also discussed at length the issue of announcement of a successor that is critical in Succession Planning for smooth transition. There are specific guidelines about the announcement where the king is sick. He mentions when the news should be made public and how the news about sickness should be conveyed amongst the members. While discussing Succession Planning, Arya Chanakya has given a warning that some of the disgruntle of elements of kingdom in the empire could rise and revolt to take advantage of opportunity. Kautilya says that in order to have smooth transition, the Ministers should choose a Prince who is not just senior but the one who is capable of handling the responsibility of stability and growth in the long-term interest of the kingdom.
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