From Battlefields to Boardrooms to Shaping Doctoral Scholars Across Continents…
Prof (Dr) (Capt) Vikas Rai Bhatnagar is rapidly emerging as one of the most distinctive scholar-practitioners in management education, uniquely positioned to enrich doctoral and executive programmes in premier business schools across the world.
From Battlefields to Boardrooms
A decorated veteran of the Indian Army, Bhatnagar carries forward the discipline, courage, and mission‑orientation of military leadership into the classroom and boardroom.
After transitioning to industry, he led human resources and organizational transformation across leading multinationals such as General Electric, Bayer, Aventis, and Dr. Reddy’s, before serving as Chief Human Resource Officer at Spark Minda and Shree Cement, giving him a rare, holistic perspective on strategy, people, and performance.
Shaping Doctoral Scholars Across Continents
In Oct-Nov 2025, Bhatnagar impactfully aught Grounded Theory and Action Research to executive PhD scholars of IIM Sambalpur in its dual degree collaboration with IAE Bordeaux University, where his methodological clarity and pedagogical innovations contributed to transforming practitioner‑leaders into rigorous scholar‑researchers.
Building on this success, IPAG Business School, France, has now engaged him to teach Doctorate of Business Administration scholars in the XLRI–IPAG dual degree programme, reflecting growing recognition of his capability to integrate research methods, leadership practice, and global perspectives in a manner deeply relevant to doctoral scholars.
Scholar of Humanizing Organizations
Bhatnagar’s research programme is anchored in a compelling question: How can organizations become engines of human flourishing while sustaining superior performance?
He has presented a stream of influential work at the Academy of Management (AOM), including his empirical paper on “Towards Humanizing Organizations – Employing State‑like Employee Strengths for Triggering Voice” (2021) and his pioneering “Theory of Profitable Humanization” (2022), which advance the idea of the “employeeholder” and human‑centric organizations that are both ethically grounded and strategically competitive.
Bridging Consciousness, Dharma, and Leadership Practice
Drawing from psychology, sociology, systems thinking, and Eastern and Western philosophy, he has developed a consciousness-propelled leadership framework published by Springer (Germany) and has contributed a widely cited chapter on “Viewing Organizations as Enablers of Happiness” published by Sage (UK).
AACSB Insights has repeatedly published his articles on themes such as Dharmic leadership, conscious leadership, personalized and transformational education, and holistic employee engagement, signalling his stature as a thought leader who can help business schools reimagine their purpose in society.
Why Global Business Schools Seek His Engagement
- As a seasoned action researcher, Bhatnagar designs and leads systemic interventions in real organizations, enabling doctoral and DBA scholars to learn research as a powerful lever for transformation rather than a purely academic exercise
- His Gallup Strengths Coach certification, Harvard strategic leadership training, and extensive work on strengths-based leadership and engagement equip him to craft learning experiences that are simultaneously intellectually rigorous, personally developmental, and organizationally impactful.
- Having served as a full Professor and Chairperson of the doctoral programme at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, and now as CEO of Hyperspace Action Research Services (HARS), he understands how to architect research-driven curricula that align with AACSB and other global quality benchmarks while remaining contextually grounded in emerging markets.
For business schools seeking to differentiate their doctoral, DBA, and executive offerings, engaging Prof (Dr) (Capt) Vikas Rai Bhatnagar means bringing into the classroom a rare combination of scholar, strategist, and soldier—someone who not only studies humanizing organizations, but has led and transformed them in some of the most demanding contexts in the world.