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.

Did I deliver? If yes, the do let me know your feedback.

Thank you.

Art of Working - In Management

After watching the trailer in first lecture it was time to start with the real action. The magic box which Dr. Mandi carries always has something new and attractive to offer. 

And this time it was the cubes which he removed from his box. His actions always incept the curiosity in mind regarding what would be our new learning. He began this with throwing these cubes around the classroom. 







Now it was the time to know the task. The task was of building the tower with these cubes in 2 ways.

1.       Open eyed way

2.       Blindfolded way

And the one who build the tallest tower would be the winner. Now since the theme line is “learn and earn”, Dr. Mandi in his own style started auctioning this tower by making students to quote their tower's height cube count and the money they are going to put on stake for participating in this task. So eventually we got our 2 highest bidders who decided to go ahead in building the tower by bidding the whopping amount of Rs 500.

Team structure was as below:

Team 1: Rajat had to build the tower with an open eye.

Team 2: It had 3 guys(Pranesh, Rishi and Kshaf into it) out of which Pranesh was blind folded who only can build the tower whereas Kshaf and Rishi  have to instruct him in building the tower.

Task started with lot of zeal and excitement to know the end result.

Rajat in action

Team 1 had quoted the blocks of 15 cubes tower and he went ahead in breaking his own quotation by building the tower of 22 blocks. At that moment he was safe since he was successful in achieving his own undermine target. 

Rishi helping Pranesh to build the tower

Team 2 were the under dogs. Having a blind-folded person to build the tower was never easybut these guys did a fabulous task of building the tower of 24 cubes. I must say that, theirs were a total group activity where they had distributed their role clearly and had executed it effectively. This is how the task was ended.

So what were the learning from these 2 approach?? Let’s conceptualize this simple looking task into a theory perhaps the management theory.

The work which Team 1 did is craft management and what Team 2 had done is New Management.

 Refer the below table to understand the significance of both theories.

Elements	Craft Management	Modern Management
Risk	Risk of failure is high as it was an one man show	Relatively less as it up to the rational thinking of the manager making the decision
Work	Need to be done by single person.	Work is divided on levels. Top Management: For making decision and conveying it to down stream Middle Management: Setting process and getting the work done from lower management Lower Management: Following the convention set by authorities.
Productivity	Decreases –  Pressure lies on single person	Increases – Work load is shared effectively
Skills	High –  Onus lies entirely on a single person	Onus is distributed and so are the skills. Skills vary upon the domain.

In this way, the managerial theory was explained!!

Keep watching this space for more fundeys. 

Thank you. :)

First Lecture of POM

Day 2 of academics and all students were set for BAU activity of going through the lectures. Apparently for me, it was another day to get acclimatized to this new environment as sitting for continuous 2 hours was still no less than daunting task. Also, being caught while sleeping in the last lecture of Day 1, compelled me to break the shackles of boredom which was trying to create space in my mind. Considering all this Day 1 drama of mine, the first lecture of day 2 intrinsically became significant for me.

On paper, the lecture was supposed to be on Business communication but something else was served in plate. Yes, there was an entry of a professor who straight away went onto the dias and sat down folding the legs. It might sound weird but for me it was one of the best ice breakers I have ever seen. Having sat on the floor, that professor invited his students to join him to sit on the floor and all the students went ahead. For few minutes, I started pondering to know who this professor is and then he does his introduction in this way “ I am professor Mandi aur mein aapko dhanda seekhata”. Creator of a most sought after event MANDI was going to be our POM’s lecturer.  

 So making us to sit on floor, speaking with us in rustic Hindi helped in to clear off day 1 apprehension as these made me to get acclimatized easily. His way of teaching the class was practical rather than theoretical. And it was visible in his approach of demonstrating the toys which had scientific concept behind it. Concept of Mandi event was enough to get inclined towards this subject. It was one of its kind – Getting into market and selling the goods like those toys.This helps student like us to understand people expectations from industry, skills required to convince customer to make them purchase the product. These are the street smartness which would be acquired through such kind of event.

All in all, the dish offered was delightful as it had something new to learn in different way. And it is indeed reflected through this blog as this happens to be my maiden blog. :)

Happy Reading... :)