Field before framework
Learners encounter people, place and constraint before deciding which managerial lens is useful.
Experiential leadership · B-school field pedagogy
Karma Yoga for B-Schoolsservice becomes a rigorous management laboratory.
A field-learning architecture for management education, where student teams listen, frame, co-design, deliver, measure, hand over and reflect with community partners.
- Programme
- Karma Yoga
- Pathway
- For B-Schools
- Learning mode
- Field immersion · Community co-design
- Faculty
- Prof. S. K. Palhan · Dr. Swapnil Sahoo
Worth asking
Before serving, question the meaning of help.
Who defined this problem—you, or the community living it?
If it photographs well but changes nothing, is it still help?
Who keeps it running after your team leaves the village?
Pathway 01 · Field pedagogy
Karma Yoga for B-Schools
Designed for management education, this pathway turns community engagement into a rigorous field laboratory. Student teams move from listening and problem framing to co-design, delivery, measurement, handover and reflection.
“The classroom travels to the community—and returns with better questions.”
Service as practice
Teams plan, coordinate, adapt and take responsibility for work whose consequences are real.
Evidence after action
Outputs, outcomes, partner feedback, limits and handover matter more than a polished activity story.
01 / Learning promise
Learn to lead with communities—not merely for them.
Karma Yoga treats the field as a serious management laboratory. Learners move from empathy to diagnosis, from co-design to disciplined execution, and from visible activity to defensible evidence of value.
Dignity before solution
Community members are partners with agency and knowledge. Listening, informed consent and local priorities come before the team’s preferred idea.[1][2]
Evidence before narrative
Teams distinguish outputs from outcomes and pair stories with baseline signals, observation, participation data and stakeholder feedback.[2][3][4]
Handover before exit
A responsible intervention must be safe, maintainable and locally owned after the student team leaves the field.[1][3][4]
02 / Field learning loop
Listen. Co-design. Deliver. Learn.
The work is deliberately iterative. What students hear on any visit may reopen the problem, change the intervention or stop an idea that is unsafe, unwanted or unlikely to last.
Prepare
Orient
Understand purpose, partners, roles, safeguarding and the field covenant.
Discover
Listen
Observe assets and constraints; hear stakeholder priorities without prescribing.
Diagnose
Frame
Convert observations into a precise, evidence-backed problem worth solving.
Create
Co-design
Generate alternatives with users and select against need, feasibility and dignity.
Prototype
Build
Make the smallest safe version that can reveal what the team still does not know.
Act
Deliver
Coordinate people, resources and partner expectations through self-managed teams.
Assure
Measure
Compare baseline and endline signals; invite feedback and document limitations.
Transfer
Reflect
Hand over ownership, defend the evidence and translate field learning into leadership practice.
03 / Learning outcomes
What learners should be able to do.
- LO-1
Demonstrate stakeholder empathy by listening, observing and reframing a societal challenge with—not for—the people affected.
- LO-2
Apply structured problem solving to generate, compare and adapt feasible interventions under real resource constraints.
- LO-3
Lead a self-managed team through role clarity, ethical decisions, partner coordination, execution and course correction.
- LO-4
Evaluate outputs, outcomes and limitations using multiple forms of evidence, then give an honest account of what the team learned.
04 / Complete session sequence
How each stage builds on the last.
Open any stage to inspect its question, coverage, learning activity and evidence of completion.
01Prepare · Orientation
Service, dignity and the field covenant
Prepare · Orientation
Service, dignity and the field covenant
Topics & lenses
- Karma Yoga as experiential leadership
- Community assets, power and reciprocity
- Roles, conduct, consent and safeguarding
Learning in action
- Interpret the partner and Karmabhoomi brief
- Map team strengths, assumptions and risks
- Draft a shared field charter and escalation protocol
Evidence / output
Signed team charter, role map and ethical field protocol.
02Discover · First field visit
Listen before solving
Discover · First field visit
Listen before solving
Topics & lenses
- Asset-based observation
- Stakeholder and influence mapping
- Baseline signals and respectful inquiry
Learning in action
- Use an observation and listening guide
- Separate statements, observations and interpretations
- Validate the emerging need with the partner
Evidence / output
Field note, asset map, stakeholder map and provisional baseline.
03Diagnose · Problem framing
From symptoms to a solvable challenge
Diagnose · Problem framing
From symptoms to a solvable challenge
Driving question
Which problem is consequential, evidenced and within the team’s responsible reach?[2]
Topics & lenses
- Root causes versus visible symptoms
- Flowering of Ideas and mind mapping
- Problem boundaries, assumptions and success signals
Learning in action
- Build a cause-and-effect map
- Write and stress-test alternative problem statements
- Define what the team will not claim or attempt
Evidence / output
Approved problem frame with evidence, assumptions and success criteria.
04Create · Project approval
Co-design the intervention
Create · Project approval
Co-design the intervention
Driving question
Which option best balances user voice, impact, feasibility, safety and continuity?[1][2]
Topics & lenses
- Divergent and convergent idea generation
- Feasibility, desirability and responsibility
- Partner ownership and implementation risk
Learning in action
- Generate multiple alternatives before selecting
- Score options with community-informed criteria
- Run a pre-mortem and agree a stop/change rule
Evidence / output
Project canvas, option matrix, risk register and partner-approved action plan.
05Prototype · Frugal Play Lab
Build for inclusion under constraint
Prototype · Frugal Play Lab
Build for inclusion under constraint
Driving question
Can a low-cost learning aid be useful, joyful, safe, repairable and dignified?[5][6]
Topics & lenses
- Learner need for ages 6–14
- Inclusive play, material safety and repairability
- Prototype economics: ₹250 ceiling; pathway to ₹100 per unit at scale
Learning in action
- Generate ten ideas and shortlist three
- Build a minimum viable prototype and safety-check it
- Test responsibly, iterate and design the handover
Evidence / output
Working prototype, build guide, cost sheet, safety gate and ethical implementation plan.
06Act · Field implementation
Execute through a self-managed team
Act · Field implementation
Execute through a self-managed team
Topics & lenses
- Role clarity and partner coordination
- Resource, time and expectation management
- Decision logs, course correction and escalation
Learning in action
- Deliver the approved intervention with partner participation
- Record decisions, deviations and reasons
- Conduct an end-of-visit team and partner check-in
Evidence / output
Implementation log, resource record and consent-compliant evidence pack.
07Assure · Impact and continuity
Measure what changed; design what remains
Assure · Impact and continuity
Measure what changed; design what remains
Topics & lenses
- Outputs, outcomes and contribution
- Baseline/endline, engagement and stakeholder feedback
- Maintenance, ownership and responsible exit
Learning in action
- Triangulate observations with simple quantitative and qualitative signals
- Invite partner critique and document unintended effects
- Run a handover and maintenance readiness review
Evidence / output
Impact dashboard, limitations note and signed handover/continuity plan.
08Transfer · Reflection
Turn field evidence into leadership learning
Transfer · Reflection
Turn field evidence into leadership learning
Driving question
How did the experience change the team’s judgment, behaviour and view of impact?[2]
Topics & lenses
- Evidence-based storytelling
- Team, peer and faculty feedback
- Empathy, ethical judgment and responsible leadership
Learning in action
- Present the intervention, results, limitations and next questions
- Conduct a structured after-action review
- Write an individual reflection linking field choices to managerial practice
Evidence / output
Final evidence deck, partner feedback, peer review and individual reflection log.
05 / Practice studios
Practice produces work that can be reviewed.
Each studio asks learners to take a concrete action and submit evidence of what they did.
Community listening lab
Teams practise observation, stakeholder interviews and asset mapping before any intervention is approved.
Evidence · Field note + validated problem frame
Frugal Play Lab
A low-cost inclusive toy challenge makes safety, dignity, unit economics and repairability visible design constraints.
Evidence · Prototype + safety gate + build guide
Field delivery room
Self-managed teams coordinate partners, resources and changing conditions while maintaining a decision trail.
Evidence · Implementation log + partner check-in
Impact & handover clinic
Teams triangulate results, surface limitations and transfer ownership rather than treating the final visit as an exit.
Evidence · Impact dashboard + continuity plan
06 / Evidence of learning
Assessment built around the work.
Learners are assessed through preparation, action, reflection and evidence from several tasks—not a single test.
10%
Understanding the problem
Depth of listening, stakeholder insight, evidence quality and precision of the approved problem frame.
Method · Field note + problem brief
10%
Creativity
Range and originality of alternatives, fit with user need and intelligent use of constraints.
Method · Option set + prototype
10%
Planning
Role clarity, feasibility, risk management, measurement logic and partner-approved implementation plan.
Method · Project canvas + risk register
70%
Execution
Quality and ethics of delivery, adaptability, teamwork, field evidence, partner feedback, handover and reflective learning.
Method · Evidence bundle + presentation
07 / Safeguards & integrity
Clear boundaries for responsible work.
Clear boundaries protect people, learning quality and the legitimacy of the evidence produced.
- G-01
Consent and child safeguarding
No learner testing, personal data, photography or identifiable storytelling without appropriate permission and faculty/partner safeguards.[5]
- G-02
Safety gate before field use
Any toy, device or physical activity must pass a documented risk review; unsafe prototypes do not proceed to community testing.[6]
- G-03
Data minimisation
Collect only evidence needed for learning and impact review; protect identities and separate observation from interpretation.
- G-04
Partner voice and honest attribution
Name contributions accurately, report limits and unintended effects, and never turn community engagement into performative content.[2]
- G-05
Responsible use of AI
AI may support synthesis and ideation, but it cannot replace field listening, fabricate evidence or author an unexamined reflection.[2]
- G-06
Handover, repair and ownership
Every intervention must identify who can operate, maintain, repair or discontinue it after the team’s final visit.[1]
08 / References
Research behind the design.
- [1]Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon (n.d.). Karma Yoga: Experiential Learning Through Service. Great Lakes Institute of Management.
- [2]AACSB International (2026). Global Standards for Business Education. AACSB International.
- [3]United Nations (2015). Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
- [4]United Nations (2015). Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
- [5]UNICEF and the LEGO Foundation (n.d.). Learning Through Play. UNICEF.
- [6]Bureau of Indian Standards (2019). IS 9873 (Part 1): Safety of Toys—Safety Aspects Related to Mechanical and Physical Properties. Bureau of Indian Standards.