Research Methodology It is a qualitative research and I would be proceeding through Grounded Theory.

The intent of grounded theory is to move beyond description and to generate or

discover a theory, an abstract analytical schema of a process. A key idea is that this
theory-development does not come "off the shelf," but rather is generated or
"grounded" in data from participants who have experienced the process. Thus,
grounded theory is a qualitative research design in which the inquirer generates a
general explanation (a theory) of a process, action, or interaction shaped by the views
of a large number of participants. (Strauss & Corbin, 1998)
The two popular approaches to grounded theory are the systematic procedures of
Strauss and Corbin (1990, 1998) and the constructivist approach of
Charmaz (2005, 2006).
Here if I see my research scenario, I can relate it with Grounded Theory. Here, I am
trying to analyse the decision-making of characters and in various situations in
Mahabharata after that I would relate those decision-making styles, situations and
their conclusions with present day corporate scenarios. Through this relation I would
be able to suggest how a person should behave in certain circumstances.
I would be going through the valuable literature available on Mahabharata and the
episodes of Mahabharata TV serial by B R Chopra.
First I would choose certain characters who influenced the war at most and who can
be related with the business leaders of present time. The first name in this category is
Bhishma Pitamah, then Duryodhana, Karna, Kunti and so on. I would be studying
these characters, the decisions they made, ethical or other dilemmas in their life and
how they reacted in those situations.
After this I would analyse some independent incidents also where various characters
were involved and some decisive actions were taken.
I would be relating this data with the various incidents observed in present business
scenarios. These incidents would be showing the importance of decision-making and
Dilemmas in decision-making.

Data Analysis -

Character of Bhishma Pitamah:

Bhishma ( Devavrata or Bhishma Pitamah) was son of Kuru king Shantanu.
He was blessed with wish-long life and had sworn to serve the kuru empires ruling
king. Bhishma has been portrayed as a very strong character in Mahabharata for his
loyalty to kuru kingdom and his bravery.
Here I am analyzing various incidents of Bhishmas life where he took revolutionary
decisions, which changed the path of history.
A] Vow of Bhishma (Bhishma Pritgya)
Although his decision was based on his love to his father and full of sacrifice and
considered as an example of strong will power but it is criticized also.
There is a story behind this Vow, which played an important role in the war of
Mahabharata. Bhishma had taken this vow to fulfil the desire of his father Shantanu.
Shantanu wanted to marry a fishermans daughter but her father put a condition the
king should promise to make the son born of his daughter become shantanus
successor. While Shantanu had already announced that Devavratha would be his
successor as a king. When Devavratha came to know all this he took a vow right then
and there that he would himself place the future son of Shantanu and Satyavathi on
the hereditary throne as the successor the Shantanu.
He also took a vow that he would not marry at all so that there is no fear that his son
might demand for the throne.
This decision of Bhishma is influenced with Anchoring bias.
Anchoring bias says It is a tendency to fixate on initial information as a starting
point. Once set, we then fail to adequately adjust for subsequent information. The
anchoring bias occurs because our minds appear to give a disproportionate amount of
emphasis to the first information they receive. So initial impressions, ideas, prices,
and estimates carry undue weight relative to information received later.
Same we can see here also. When Devavrata came to know his fathers condition, he
was not able to think anything else. He didnt want to analyse or consider any other
factor or future consequences. Even his father opposed him for his decision but
Devavratha was stick to his decision.
B] Loyalty towards throne
There are few incidents where Bhishma was struggling with ethical dilemmas in his
decisions. Some incidents are as below
a) Amba incident
Bhishmas half brother Vichitriyavirya grew up and Bhishma took responsibility to
find a bride for him. He went to the Swyamvara of Amba (daughter of king of kashi)

and abducted her. She was in love with another king Salva who tried to stop Bhishma
but Bhishma defeated him. But Vichitriyavirya didnt accept Amba because she was
in love with Salva and Salva also didnt accept her further as he had lost her in war.
Now if we analyse this situation, we find Bhishma was responsible for spoiling the
life of Amba. He did it out of his loyalty and duties towards throne but he his this
decision was not at all beneficial for anyone. His decision-making was flawed
because of dilemmas he was having. If Bhishma had followed the approaches to
Ethical standards, he would not have gone wrong.
b) Gandhari incident Second example we can see of Gandhari. She was also
deceived by Bhishma. She became aware of the fact that she is going to get married to
blind prince only after coming to Hastinapur after marriage. Bhishma played key role
in it. Again he was showing biases in his decisions and acts. Bhishma was serving to
the kingdom but at the same time was doing injustice to Gandhari.
c) Insult of Draupadi- At the time of insult of Draupadi in the assembly of Kurus,
Bhishma remained quiet. Was it not his responsibility as an elder of the family to
prevent this heinous crime? Instead he hides behind the argument that Dharma is
subtle and throws the ball in Udhishitiras court.

d) Role during the Great war During the preparation of the Great War, his
attempts of stopping the war seem to be half hearted. Why did he accept the position
of the commander-in- chief of the Kaurava army? He should have gone into
retirement. He had lived a long life, served and protected the kingdom and race of
Kurus for many years.
AnalysisAll these incidents clearly show that Bhishma was in dilemma between serving the
kingdom or do justice. He was struggling between what is ethical and what is his duty.
These types of incidents are very common in todays corporate scenarios where
employee has to show his loyalty towards his organization, in spite of knowing that
this is not ethically correct to society and people.
For example - Mission statements, evaluation systems and organizational cultures that
focus on profit as the organizations sole objective. In this case employee has to
follow the norms of company, which are set by others while he actually doesnt find
himself aligned with those values and culture.

Character of Duryodhana:
Duryodhana was the first son of Dhritarashtra. The meaning of Duryodhana is the one
who is very difficult to conquer; it also means the one who misuses wealth. He was
the eldest of the Kauravas and perpetually fighting with the Pandavas for power and
position, particularly Bhima. His childhood was influenced with his uncle Shakuni
and later on it becomes the reason of war between Kauravas and Pandavas. Here I

would try to analyse the character of Duryodhana with the help of some incidents and
major decisions he made during the whole journey.
Decision-Making Style On analysing the various incidents of Mahabharata, It can
be said that Duryodhana had Bounded Rationality in Considering Alternatives
decision-making style.
It is difficult for individuals to identify and consider every possible alternative available to them. Realistically speaking, people are limited by their ability to interpret,
process, and act on information. This is called bounded rationality.
In the process of decision-making, Duryodhana didnt consider all the alternatives of
handling Pandavas. He made very limited estimations and calculations. He was not
able to interpret and process all the signals and his short sightedness became the
reason of their defeat.
Biases in Duryodhanas decision-making:
Overconfidence bias Duryodhanas decisions were full of overconfidence bias.
When we are given factual questions and asked to judge the probability that our
answers are correct, we tend to be far too optimistic. This is known as the
overconfidence bias.
Duryodhana always underestimated Pandavas and the power of Shri Krishna.
His decisions were flawed with different kind of biases and the one, which is present
very evidently, is over confidence bias. Duryodhana was very much optimistic about
his win over Pandavas and underestimated their power. He had assumed that with help
of his huge army he would be able to defeat Pandavas within a week. His all the
estimations went wrong. It ended for 18 long days in which Kauravas lost their all the
generals and army. Duryodhana lost all his brothers as well as his own life.
Duryodhana
In present scenario, many corporate managers are having this bias. They overestimate
their capabilities and take huge responsibilities and when they arent able to deliver
outcomes, they go through depression and burnout.

Confirmation Bias Duryodhana kept himself surrounded with the people and
situations, which confirmed his beliefs. His uncle Shakuni was the person who
provided him instances and examples, which made Duryodhanas believes stronger.
For Example His army was full of wise people like Bhishma, Drona, Kripacharya
but he was not interested in their advices. He was always looking towards Shakuni,
Shalya and Ashwathama for taking help in his decisions.
Intuitive Decision- making When Duryodhana met Karna, He was not completely
aware of Karnas powers but still he made decision to make Karna
as Anga Pradeshs king. It was his intuitive decision making which benefitted him.

If we analyse Duryodhana in present scenario, we find that he was a successful CEO,

had the power, knowledge, drive and dynamism to get whatever he wants and
eliminated the enemies (competitors) with disdain. But his poor decision-making,
short sightedness, disrespect for the seniors in the team, disregard for ethical
behaviour and practices, poor interpersonal relationship with his subordinates all cost
him a lot.
Character of Kunti:
Kunti was the mother of Pandavas. She shows very strong personality as a woman.
Her decisions were well estimated and judged. Here I am putting
an incident, where Kunti faced ethical dilemma and tried to do justice with the
situation.
Example - When Kunti was serving exile with her sons, she was staying in a village.
That village was cursed with a devil who used to eat one person from the village
daily. Villagers had decided to go one by one voluntarily and serve themselves as food
for devil. When Kunti came to know this, she sent her son Bheema to the devil.
Bheema killed the devil and saved the whole village from this curse.
Analysis - Here Kunti was in dilemma that she should send her son to the devil or not.
On one side she was obliged of villagers as they were helping her and were providing
place to stay on the other side sending Bheema to devil was too dangerous. This was
kind of ethical dilemma for Kunti. She handled it very well.
Here her decision-making shows Utilitarian Approach to Ethical Decisions
Which says- Behaviour is judged in terms of its effects on the welfare of everyone. A
moral act produces the greatest good for the greatest number.

Character of Karna:
Some examples of dilemmas in Karnas life are as follows
1. He always wanted to know who his real parents were. Adhiratha and Radha had
been great to him, but its just not the same. He had a great amount of love and respect
for Adhiratha and Radha with all of his heart. But Adhiratha wanted him to follow in
his footsteps and become a charioteer like him, but he had no interest in that. He did
not want to be the one driving the chariot. He wanted to be the one fighting on it.
2. He somehow had managed to gain the friendship of the great Duryodhana. He had
given him so much, including making him the king of Anga because of him. By being
a king, he allowed him to participate in the tournament hosted by Drona, the Pandavas
guru. In the challenge He beats Arjuna, a Pandava, in a duel.
3. In swayamvara for Draupadi, she did not even let him participate because he was
the son of a charioteer! He was excellent at shooting a bow and arrow and could have
easily won her hand! Of course Arjuna -his enemy from year before - ended up
winning, though, and he shared Draupadi with his four other brothers!

4. Krishna reveals karna who are his real parents. Karna thinks that how could Kunti
have given him up, but kept Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Sahadeva, and Nakula? Was
he not good enough for her? What made them so great that she chose to keep them
and abandon him? Krishna wants him to desert Duryodhana and fight with the
Pandavas. He remains loyal to Duryodhana. He doesnt claim Kunti as her mother nor
he claims the Pandavas as his brothers. From here on, He is loyal to Duryodhana only.
These are the incidents, which influenced Karnas whole life and were responsible for
his decision also.
Karnas decision-making style is influenced with some biases.
First bias is Anchoring Bias Karna is very much obliged to Duryodhana for the
favours he bestowed on him. He had anchored to those initial favours and his further
all decisions were completely influenced with that anchor. He knew that Duryodhana
is not a right person and he is not doing justice with Pandavas but still he supports
him throughout the war.