Paper presented in ISTD conference at Kolkotta

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Paper 22:
Astropsychomatrix:
Application of Astrology in Human Development for
Business Excellence
Authors:
1. Dr.K. Sasidharan Principal Author & Presenter
2. Prof C S Narayanan Namboodiripad
3. Nimal C Namboodiripad

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Paper 22: Astropsychomatrix: Application of Astrology in Human
Development for
Business Excellence
Abstract:
Human resources are considered as assets by modern organizations. The
performance of human resources is a major factor in leading an organization to
excellence in business performance. Astrology is a science of predictions. And
forecasting is one thing that is very essential in planning and decision making in an
organisation. The study was initiated based on a discussion as to why people are
unhappy in their respective jobs, why the job turnover in organizations is not only
on a high presently but on the increase and whether astrology can in anyway help
in improving the situation. One of the main reasons for the problems cited was
found to be a lack of systems in evaluation and matching of the competency and
potential of new candidates as well as old employees in the process of being
promoted or transferred to posts requiring new or improved skills. Astrology is
renowned for finding out the behavioural pattern of people. The findings bear out
the fact that Astrology is very much useful in staffing including selection,
placement and even in training. This brought us to the realms of Human Resource
Planning and from there to a new model called an Astropsychomatrix. In this
model candidate undergoes a psychometric test besides the regular job interview
and then with this information as well as that from astrology a two-by-two
potential-competency matrix is prepared. Through this process we can find out the
aptitude of the candidate and give him/her a suitable position. For example,
through this process we can find out whether a person is suitable for sales,
marketing, accounting and finance etc. This study is intended as a base for further
research and has to be validated by carrying it out in an organisation and scientific
evaluation of the process undergone and results thereof studied and verified.
Key Words: Astrology, Competency, Potentiality, Skills, Psychometric Test,
Potential-Competency Matrix, Astropsychomatrix.
JEL Classification: J4
Background of the study
Modern organizations consider human resources as assets and value them. They pay well
to their employees and keep them satisfied. However, still these organizations are facing

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the threat of high rate of attrition. Now the question arises is it on account of monetary
consideration or anything else?
India is blessed to be endowed with revealed wisdom that has been passed down the
generations. Astrology is one such system that merits a study as an effective supplement in
managerial decision making. Hora in Indian astrology contains in it the science of
analysing the work qualities of a man through his horoscope. The right man on the right
place leads the organization to excellence in business performance .This study examines
how far astrology can be used to verify the suitability of a candidate for a specific job.
Objective of the study
The purpose of the study was two-fold. To find out if there is a way to reduce or contain
the phenomenon of dissatisfaction and high and increasing attrition? In what way can
astrology help in improving the situation?
Scope of the study:
In any organisation the job satisfaction of the employee is dependent on many things like
the work itself, the working environment, salary etc. As a number of studies are available
on the causes of discontent, we could not come across any study on the use of astrology
for recruitment, selection and training. We have therefore focused our study more on the
HR process such as recruitment, selection, training, promotion and transfers and how
astrology can be useful in supplementing the decision making.
Methodology of the study
Initially, the authors studied the HR system – the processes and practices in terms of
selection, placement, promotion, transfers and even training followed in different
organisations by observation, informal discussion with workers and from secondary data
as part of the system study. Numerous cases of career readings in astrology which came up
as part of consultation to one of the authors, an amateur astrologer, were analysed in
detail. Besides the observations in his own consultancy cases discussions were conducted
with his Guru on his experiences as well. Based on these conclusions the authors
conducted study among 6 samples selected different sectors and a model was formed to
provide solutions to the problem identified.
Limitations
The study was conducted based on a small sample size and was not conducted in a specific
organization. The model could not be tested in a specific organization and hence its
practical application could not be validated.
Literature Review

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Though we searched widely for collecting information about use of astrology for
recruitment, selection and transfers, we found that little studies have taken place in the
area, probably because modern HR managers did not believe in the astrology as they
considered this as a primitive form of predictions. However, we came across a web article
which argues against the use of astrology in human resource management. Quoting the
study conducted by Steven Taylor in 1998 (“Employee Resourcing”, Steven Taylor, 1998,
Personnel and Development Institute – taken over by “Human Resources Management – Practice
Manual”, Michael Amstrong, CODECS Publishing House, 2003) this article argues that “one
cannot establish the level of knowledge and professional abilities based on graphical analysis”. We
also came across a book titled “Select Right Profession through Astrology” by Choudhry V.K.
Chaudhary K.R, both post graduates in management. But we found that the book describes the
astrological prospects of a candidate when he selects a job or profession. It does not cover the
recruitment, selection, transfers and trainings of employees in an organisation. We could not find
out any other studies which were relevant to our topic of research.
Analysis and Interpretation
The study involves 6 samples selected from different sectors viz. financial services (1),
FMCG (1), consulting (1), education (2), and power (1). The result of the study and
interpretation are given in the following table:
Sl No Sector Job
Profile
Astrologic
al
Findings
Interpretation Response from the
Sample
01 Education Professor/
Principal
in College
10th
house
Mercury,
Lord of
10th
house
Jupiter is
in 11th
house.
Will be an
educationalist. Will
also be good at
writing. But won’t
be famous in
literature because
Lord of 2nd
house
moon is in 6th
house
and hence has
debility.
He agreed to the
observation and told
that he was
successful in
teaching, but was not
effective in the
literary activities.
02 Education Professor/
Principal
in
Managem
ent
Institute
Mars is
with
Saturn,
Jupiter in
2nd
House,
Venus in
8th
house,
Sun and
Mercury
is in the
10th
house
Mars is with Saturn
which is ascendant
and Jupiter in 2nd
house will be good
at writing and PR.
Venus is in 8th
house indicates
artistic talents.
Since Sun and
Mercury is in the
10th
house he will
do well
professionally and
He responded that
when he was working
in the credit
department of the
bank he was
successful, but was
not as much
successful when he
was shifted to branch
administration and
also when he became
in charge of planning
division. But he could

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he will reach
managerial post.
Also it means he
will be good in
research and
accounting. Since
Jupiter is in 9th
house from Moon
luck will be on his
side.
perform excellently
as senior inspecting
officer, senior faculty
in staff training
college. He could
also perform
excellently as teacher
in business schools
and also as corporate
trainer. He further
told that he paints
pictures and also was
an amateur theatre
artist in his village for
over 10 years.
03 Production VP in
Charge of
Technical
side
10th
house
is Mars.
Lord of
the house
is also
Mars
10th
house is Mars.
Lord of the house is
also Mars and along
with Sun is
indicative of a
electrical engineer.
Will have deep
knowledge in the
area and go up
professionally but
may not be
successful in any
other profession.
He agreed to the
findings and
commented that he
could perform
excellently in the area
where he was
specialized. In the
Technical aspects he
found his competency
and potential matched
that of the job and
that it was an area
which he had been
interested in from
childhood
04 Consulting ISO 9000
consultant
on
Occupatio
nal Health
Hazard
Sun and
Mercury
in 10th
house,
Venus in
9th
house,
Moon in
5th
house,
Mars is
with
Saturn,
and
Jupiter in
2nd
Sun and Mercury in
10th
house – is very
good for profession
especially those
needing to use the
brain. Likely to do
well in research,
accounting,
working on new
ideas etc. Not
surprisingly he has
already worked for
sometime as an
analyst in the equity
market. Since
Venus is in 9th
house he will have
He agreed with the
finding that he was
not suitable for high
pressure job. He had
to quit his job in a
leading stock broking
from, two months
after joining due to
high work pressure.
When he was
working as analyst in
the equity and
commodity desk, he
was performing well.
He also told that he
was utter failure in
marketing when he

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luck in professional
matters. But since
Moon is in 5th
house he is not the
type who will be
able to cope up in
high pressure jobs.
Since Mars is with
Saturn which is
ascendant and
Jupiter is in 2nd
house will be good
at writing – not
creative, but serious
works. Also will
have good oral
communication
skills and hence
good PR, but not
the kind which will
work in Marketing.
May be that is the
reason why he had
to shift from stock
sub broking firm
which he started to
an ISO certification
firm.
was working in the
stock broking firm.
He agreed that
though he can write,
he could not so far
publish any article or
book. He has now
joined in a consulting
firm where he found
that he would be able
to improve his
performance by
continuously
updating with
practice and training.
He told that he boss
is highly satisfied
with him.
05 FMCG Executive
in charge
of
Advertisin
g
Lord of
10th
house
Saturn in
Lagna,
Moon in
the 10th
,
Jupiter is
10th
Lord of 10th
house
Saturn is in Lagna.
Moon is also in the
10th
house. Hence
good
professionally. But
since Jupiter is in
10th
house would
have made a great
teacher if he had
been in the field
and put in some
effort. Would also
be good at writing.
He told that his
competency and
potentiality in
teaching was high.
But he would have
achieved more if
there was more
challenge in the job -
if the students were
more demanding and
inquisitive.
When he entered the
industry he identified
the area of
competence as oral
and written
communication.
Especially in making
presentations,
evaluating and

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writing creative
stuff and in PR. But
since the role is not
properly defined the
lack of clarity has at
times adversely
affected his
potentiality.
06 Financial
Services
Clerk-cum
Cashier
Jupiter
and Sun in
the 10th
house,
Mercury
in 9th
house.
Since Jupiter and
Sun is in the 10th
house will be
professionally
good. Mercury in
9th
house ensures
that she would be
working in
accounts.
She told that she was
a science graduate.
But she became a
bank clerk and she
found to be
successful in that job,
though she had not
learned accounting or
finance. She is
currently a successful
banking professional.
Findings of the study:
At the first level the researchers found that organisations can be classified into four
categories based on their function.
1. Organisations where jobs and roles were not clearly defined and written down.
2. Organisations where jobs and roles are defined, but do not focus on the skills and
competencies required for the job.
3. Organisations where jobs and roles are defined and competencies were explained
no clear analysis on the potential.
4. Now even if all these are in place there are organizations which do not put in that
extra effort to map either the competency or the potential of the employee
comprehensively.

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Absence of these leaves the employees into confusion, often leading to dissatisfaction for
both the employee and employer. It is when both the competency and potential required
for the job in an organisation is clearly defined that of the employee or job candidate
mapped and they are in congruence that employee become satisfied and loyal.
One of the reasons that the researchers decided to probe further was the problem of the
gap between potential and competency. So before we go further it is imperative that we
define what we mean by the two words.
The American Heritage Dictionary(2006) states that competency is “a: the state or quality
of being adequately or well qualified, b: specific range of skill, knowledge, or ability”
WordNet(2006) defines it as “the quality of being adequately or well qualified physically
and intellectually”. Working further on this when we mention competency we are talking
of “the capability to perform a task efficiently and effectively consistently over a period of
time.”
Potential on the other hand is “the capacity to learn and internalise the range of skill,
knowledge or ability needed to perform the task efficiently and effectively in the
immediate future”
In the current system of recruitment and selection process the candidates are assessed
based on factors like the aptitude of the prospective employees as well as their attitude and
ability to make good decisions by analyzing their academic records, psychometric tests
and asking clever questions.
Though psychometric tests are administered they may not fully divulge how hard he
works, how smart he works, and how much he makes luck. Astropsychomatrix or APM
helps in identifying whether the executive possess these.
Indian Astrology says that the mindset of the person and therefore his ‘luck’ factor on the
job depends on three factors. 1. The power and attitude inherited from forefathers through
one’s genes. 2. The environment and the work done throughout one’s life and 3. The
‘energy’ or ‘power’ brought to the world when one is born.
Developing an APM essentially consists of four steps.

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1. Firstly a comprehensive job analysis is done to find out the competency and
potential of the candidates required for the job. Based on this job descriptions and
job specifications are detailed.
2. Then the job candidate undergoes a psychometric test specially designed for each
job besides the regular job interview. Based on this a PC Matrix is created.
The matrix is a 2 x 2 matrix with Potential on one side and Competency on the other.
The First Quadrant is where the Potential of the candidate/employee is very high but the
Competency is low. A new entrant in the organisation/ job will be in this quadrant and the
competency can be developed through training since potential is high. We have placed
Sample 04 in this quadrant because he has now entered into a new profession where he is
recently qualified.
In Quadrant Two both potential as well as competency is very high. He is likely to be a
star performer already. He has just to be given the right inputs for motivation. Samples 01,
02, 03 and 06 were star performers in their respective areas. Therefore we put them in
quadrant 02.
Quadrant Three is where the competency is high but the potential is low. In such a case
there is not much scope for upward movement for the employee. He may have to be
shifted to an area where his potential is high. Sample 05 was working in area where his
potential was very high, but competency was low because of organizational problems.
Therefore, he quit the organization and took up a new assignment. He found that though
his competency was high, there was no role clarity and hence he found that his potential is
low in the area in which he is currently working. Therefore, we put him in quadrant 03.
In Quadrant Four, both Competency and Potential is low. Such persons will be a burden if
selected.
Competency
Sample 04
Quadrant I
Sample 01,
02, 03 & 06
Quadrant II
Quadrant IV Sample 05
Quadrant III
Samples Placed in the Matrix
Potential
LowPotential
Low High

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3 Analysing where the stars and planets were at the time of birth of the prospective
employee the three levels of the person can be predicted. The planetary position is
really a record of the abilities within of the person concerned. Thus a person born
with an excellent Venus becomes an outstanding artist and another with powerful
mercury becomes a scholar. The Mercury man talks cleverly and succeeds in the
sales department as well as the decision making board. A man with a powerful
mars is active and a good Saturn ensures mental and physical stamina.
Astrology is very good at predicting the future. The person has nine main periods, Dasas
and sub periods. Perhaps he has an excellent period running at the time of the interview
but his next may be bad. When he sinks the company suffers. For example at present he
has a well placed Jupiter to be followed by an afflicted Saturn for the next four-five years.
It is better if the company avoids him. The converse is also true. There was this case of a
dot com start up company in Bangalore during the boom period. It was promoted by a well
known media house and there was no reason why it should not have succeeded. But the
horoscope of the employees told its own sad tale. More than ninety percent of the
employees had a bad period at that time. Naturally the company went kaput.
4 Finally with both information the two-by-two potential-competency matrix is
verified.
The astrological predictions are basically used to add on or verify the conclusions that we
have reached through the other methods. As and when discrepancies are found in the two
it is better to do a review before coming to a conclusion on the decision. The fear in using
Astrology in making decisions is the question of whether the candidates can fudge their
horoscopes. It is well nigh impossible. A good astrologer will be able to tell what kind of
person is sitting in front of him by just looking at him and this can be used to cross check
whether the horoscope is fudged or not. One share broker the researchers found actually
uses this method for screening the clients he takes up.
Finally it is decided whether to go ahead with the candidate or not.
Conclusion
This study is intended as a base for further research and has to be validated by carrying it
out in an organisation and scientific evaluation of the process undergone and results
thereof studied and verified.
Astrology is a science and if used properly can be a great tool in the hands of the HRM
Professional. The human behaviour changes according to the changes in the position of
birth stars. Hence, it can be used with fair amount of success in most of his functions. This
study takes a look at how Astrology can be used to help out the HR Manager, especially in
the area of recruitment and selection. The Human Resource Department of companies can
consult an astrologer before they take a decision on selecting as well as placing an
employee. It will help them to avoid those who are not suitable for a position.

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References:
1. Itex, Astrology and Human Resources, Compatible or not?,
http://www.itex.ro/en/articles/astrology-and-human-resources-%E2%80%93-
compatible-or-not/.
2. Choudhury V.K, Chaudhary. K.R, Select Right Profession Through Astrology,
Sagar Publications.
3. Hora, Varahamihira, Panchangam Press, Kunnamkulam, Kerala.
4. Panakkattu Namboodiri., Prashna Margam(Mal), Mangalodayam Publications,
Thrissur, Kerala