Third Method In Management Philosophy: Ahmet Yesevi And Spiritual Leadership

Abstract

The issue of spiritual leadership has been revealed by examining the studies done in the last thirty years. In other words, the concept of spiritual leadership was defined, and then the descriptive analysis of some parts that were thought to reveal the spiritual leadership aspect of Ahmet Yesevi in his book named Divan-ı Hikmet, respectively, at the systematic and conceptual level, were made according to the philosophy of management.

The main purpose of this study is to deal with the situation between the management philosophy formed under the influence of western culture and the management philosophy formed in the eastern culture with the leader-follower dimension and to try to compare the different points. For this reason, Ahmet Yesevi and his followers, who represent the management philosophy in eastern culture, constitute the focus of the study. For this reason, in the first part of the study, the concept of spiritual leadership, which has become popular in the West, is mentioned. Within the scope of the study, various esoteric structures were included while examining the eastern and western organizational culture. Thus, it is aimed to understand the subject in a broader framework. At the same time, for the method of the study; As a reference, his work called Divan-ı Hikmet, which is accepted by many historians as belonging to Yesevi, has been examined on the basis of its places related to the subject. From this point of view, descriptive analysis method was applied by using qualitative data analysis method. Ahmet Yesevi has revealed that the positivist and Platonist logic of the west is not sufficient on its own. He recommended the holistic (integrative) perspective to his followers, who see himself as a spiritual leader. He expressed the basic management philosophy necessary to achieve this as the balanced establishment of the relationship between reason, knowledge, love and virtue. While reason and knowledge express the outward (material) aspect of the person; love and virtue express the esoteric (spiritual) aspect of people.