Three Monks!!!

Plot

The story of three monks enlightens us with the theory of efficient team work. Story starts with a  young monk lives on hill top understands his individual responsibility and fetches water from river flowing downhill. On the next day when new monk joins and there lit up the conflict regarding the distribution of workload. In movie it is shown that initially single monk used to bring 2 buckets of water in a single trip. However when the second one joins him in the task, they started bringing only a single bucket of water. Here not only the volume of water that is the productivity decreases but also a problem of workload distribution pops up. So they solve this problem by measuring the stick and then tying the knot in exact middle in order to equally distribute the bucket load. Next day, when third monk joins in, it further more encourages conflict within the team members. Consequently, no one takes their own responsibility but expect others to do their work.

 On that day, no one fetch the water and they consume all the leftover water with them. When they were sound asleep, a rat tumbles the candle holder and curtain catches fire and soon it went out of control.  They tried to bring water from river but it was of no use and their house turns to ashes. 

Finally, the three monks were united with that incidence and make a concerted effort to bring in water as a team.

Lessons to learn from the Story

Objective measurement

To avoid the variety in subjective interpretation of quantifying terms such as "green", "hot", "large", "considerable", and "negligible", managers strive, where possible, to eliminate human senses by the use of standardized measuring tools like meter sticks, stopwatches, thermometers. This eliminates much of the perceptive variability of individual observers. The results of measurements are expressed on a numerical scale of standard units so that everybody else understands them the same way. The end result should be same whether one person or another person do same activity.

Inter-dependency

The extent to which a group’s work requires its member to interact with one another. In final solution of problem of carrying water to house uphill, the process is highly interdependent as compared to earlier ways of carrying water. Interdependency improves the productivity with much less effort of the system as can be seen in the movie. The same concept is applied to assembly lines wherein each forward step is highly dependent upon previous step.

Theory Z Managers

Theory Z represents a humanistic approach to management. Theory Z managers exhibit a strong, homogeneous set of cultural values characterized by homogeneity of values, beliefs, and objectives. They emphasize upon complete socialization of members to achieve congruence of individual and group goals. They rely on informal methods of control, but do measure performance through formal mechanisms. In present case monks are influenced by theory Z, wherein they are motivated by sense of beliefs and values towards their home and God.

Productivity

Productivity is an objective as well as scientific concept. It is a measure of ability to produce desired result. More specifically, productivity is the measure of how specified resources are managed to accomplish timely objectives as stated in terms of quantity and quality. Productivity may also be defined as an index that measures output (goods and services) relative to the input (labor, materials, energy, etc., used to produce the output). In our example of monk story the productivity can be different in following manner:

Methods	Effort	Productivity	Synergy
Three monks carrying 2 bucket individually	3b	6 buckets	No synergy
Two monks carrying 1 bucket and one monk carrying 2 bucket	b/2+b/2+b	3 buckets	Low Synergy
Three monks carrying two bucket for equal distance	b	2 buckets	Low synergy
Using Pulley system for carrying water	Lowest Possible Effort	Highest Productivity	High Synergy with high interdependency

Conclusion

This is ironical to a normal thought process of productivity getting increased as a result of increase in workforce. No doubt that productivity is going to increase, but it is increased at the cost of mutual understanding and proper planning by taking help of scientific approach.

Theory of Pygmalion effect and S.M.A.R.T goals

“High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.” — Charles Kettering

Successful managers have high expectations, both of themselves and their team. These expectations are powerful, because they’re the frames in which people fit reality. We often see what we expect, rather than what is actually occurring.

Social psychologists have referred to this as the self-fulfilling prophecy or the Pygmalion effect. In Greek mythology, the sculptor Pygmalion carved a statue of a beautiful woman, fell in love with the statue and brought it to life by the strength of his perceptions. Many managers play Pygmalion-like roles in developing people. In addition, great managers tend to not give up on people, because doing so means giving up on themselves, their judgment, and their ability to get the best out of others.

Key Ideas:

·         The Pygmalion Effect explains that people tend to perform up to the level that others expect of them.

·         This effect explains why our relationships are usually self-fulfilling prophecies. Once you set expectations for somebody, that person will tend to live up to that expectation, whether it’s good or bad.

·         The Pygmalion Effect doesn’t justify having unrealistic expectations of other people. Expecting miracles is a recipe for frustration on both ends.

·         The paradox of the Pygmalion Effect is that having high expectations of people will produce better results, but it’s also more likely you’ll be disappointed. If you’re assessing someone, remember to judge as objectively as possible.

Illustration

Knowingly or unknowingly you might also have been the part of Pygmalion effect in your respective organization. I would like to highlight my manager’s way of getting out the work done without disturbing the equilibrium. Once my team was in crisis when one resource went on a urgency leave. Being a small team contingency was a major problem during crisis situation. As it was a client facing project it was indeed important to maintain the same level of support. So for those 2 weeks period my manager handed over to me of handling the additional responsibility of that resource by inculcating the faith of ‘you can do it’. Expectations were high but it was feasible if dedicated efforts were poured into it. And the result was apparent because as a team we were able to pull it off a daunting task without any major hiccups. With this exercise feeling of handling the project in someone’s absence was built and in later point of time it became an easy task.

High expectation kept us motivated to slog hard and finish it spectacularly. However manager should remain cautious. There is a fine line between realistic high expectation and unrealistic target. Unrealistic target brings in frustration and affects productivity.

Things considered while setting SMART goal

Specific – The first criterion stresses the need for a specific goal over rather than a more general one.

      Measurable – The second criterion stresses the need for concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of the goal.

         Attainable – The third criterion stresses the importance of goals that are realistic and attainable

         Realistic – The third criterion stresses the importance of goals that are realistic and attainable

         Timely – The fifth criterion stresses the importance of grounding goals within a time frame, giving them a target date.

So what we had discussed in tower building exercise can be followed closely by looking to these attributes of smart goals. Team building tower with blind fold dared to set a goal. Their initial bid was of building the tower with 22 blocks but they ended with a tower having 24 blocks.

Now if you combine the aspects of Pygmalion effect and SMART goals together then the things which are distinctive are as follows:

• As a manager, you have to keep the morale of a team high by motivating and inculcating the faith of ‘you can do it’.
• At the same time, care has to be taken that expectations set are realistic and attainable within the given time frame.

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Thank you.