Management Concepts From The Valley Crossing Exercise

Different Stages while crossing the Valley :

Persons	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Step
1	Safe	Safe	Safe
2	Half Risky,
3	Full Risky,
4	Half Risky,	Half Risky,
5		Full Risky,
6		Half Risky,	Half Risky,
7			Full Risky,
8			Half Risky,
9	Safe	Safe	Safe

Safe - Both the legs of the person have full support
Half Risky – One leg in the air and the other leg has support
Full risky - Both the legs are in the air without any support
Half risky – One leg is in the air and the other leg has support
Safe - Both the legs have full support

Lessons Learnt :

1. Structuring the Task :

• Role A = Role B = Role C : All roles are equal and there is no differenciation between the responsibilities of any two persons.
• For all the 3 members, the task is designed to be - Easy, Lighter, Clear and Systematic 
• All three are equally responsible in their contributions for the overall task completion.

2. Structuring Team Roles :

• Roles of all three members are similar but not same; and equivalent in terms of total effort & risk.
• All 3 member Roles have equal distribution of 
• Risky situations (1); 
• Half risky situations (2); 
• No risk situations (2)
• All roles are designed for equally strong persons and there is no weaker or stronger requirement in any specific role.
• Communication and feedback across the 3 members was instantaneous.
• Interdependence among the 3 members was maximised and made crucial.

The roles are interlocking, with highest levels of interaction among the members, with instantaneous feedback being exchange and without any scope for social loafing.

3. Preparation and Execution :

All the 3  members are systematically trained for all the steps and, while crossing, they communicate and coordinate with each other through a various kinds of sounds and other signals.

4. Team Excellence :

Team excellence comes through proper designing of team tasks, correctly assigning team roles, and preparation and execution of the tasks. Thus, excellence is designed by the managers.

Three Monks... A small clipping with big teachings...

Introduction to the movie :

Three Monks (Chinese: 三个和尚, San ge he shang) is a Chinese animated feature film produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. After the cultural revolution and the fall of the political Gang of Four in 1976, the film was one of the first animations created as part of the rebirth period. It is also referred to as The Three Buddhist Priests.


The film is based on the ancient Chinese proverb "One monk will shoulder two buckets of water, two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to fetch water."




A little background of the movie

 

 

A young monk lives a simple life in a temple on top of a hill. He has one daily task of hauling two buckets of water up the hill. He tries to share the job with another monk, but the carry pole is only long enough for one bucket. The arrival of a third monk prompts everyone to expect that someone else will take on the chore. Consequently, no one fetches water though everybody is thirsty. At night, a rat comes to scrounge and then knocks the candleholder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple. The three monks finally unite together and make a concerted effort to put out the fire. Since then they understand the old saying "unity is strength" and begin to live a harmonious life. The temple never lacks water again.

 

 

Analysis from the movie

 

The film tells a simplest story with simplest lines and a simplest form. There is no dubbed voice. Even the background music is reduced to the occasional sound of wooden fish. But it is this simplicity that makes people unwilling to miss a single scene. When we review the Three Monks after seeing numerous Japanese, Korean, European and American cartoons, we will be shocked. We will even smugly say, look at our Chinese “silent movie”. Maybe, only Chinese water-and-ink painting has such a magic to depict a figure with distinct personality with just a few strokes. The film is based on a folk proverb. It has national features, a complete scene of mountain, water and temple drawn with traditional painting skills, and figures with strong characters. Although it is meant to reason things out, the film is humorous and void of rigid sermon.

 

Lessons to be learnt :

1. Teamwork always enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of any task :

 

At first, the Three Monks succumb to their personal pride which interferes with the performance of daily tasks, each of them believing that the other two should be the ones to go downhill to fetch water. When a fire breaks out, however, they understand how silly they have been and work together to save the temple. From this, it is evident that in an organization and in a team, its important to take personal ego out of the equation and to perform the duty at hand for the greater good.

2.  Disputes are almost unavoidable :

 

When the third monk goes downhill to fetch water for the first time, he comes back only to drink the water all by himself, exhibiting a selfish tendency. This does not help in the goal of having water stored at all times. This only leads to further animosity among the three and the task never gets completed. Similarly, in an organization, selfish motives must be detected and discouraged for the good of the many. All members of a  team working together towards a common goal is the best practice of work.

3.Problem Solution:

Complex Problems, Simple Solutions - This should be the motto of decision making for any manager in any organization. When the first two monks were trying to push the weight of the bucket towards each other, we in the class were asked to give a possible solution to the problem. A simple solution was suggested that they should mark the middle of the stick so that they do not fight.

Alternate solutions were also suggested :

•     One person getting water one day
•     Two persons more bucket
•     Two sticks, four buckets
•     Divide the work in half
•     Get a motor and connect a pipe
•     Attitude problem - Brain wash

In an organisation, such out of the box, yet rational thinking is required to resolve conflicts fairly and logically.

 

Event	Output (No. of buckets)	Input(Worker Energy units)	Productivity = Output/Input
1 Man – 2 buckets	2	2	1
2 Men – 1 bucket	1	0.5	2

 

 

4.  Synergy : The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts :

To put out the fire each monk panicked and tried his best to run down to the river and bring the up a bucket full of water. But this process was long, tiring and had too many inefficiencies inherent to it. So, it was ineffective as well.

However, a coordinated effort by all three was very effective in dousing the fire.

 

 5. Productivity :

Productivity is Important. Productivity is about how well an organization converts resource inputs into goods or services. Workplace productivity is about how firms can utilize labor and skills, innovation, technology and organizational structure to improve the quantity and quality of their output.

Basically it's about exploring all the ways that can make a working environment more effective & efficient.

Why is productivity important?

• Basis for improvements in real incomes and economic well-being.

• Monetary policy (inflationary pressures)

• Fiscal policy (financing of health, education, welfare)

• Slow productivity growth = conflicting demands for distribution of income more likely

Goal Setting... SMART Goals.

The third lecture of Dr. Mandi comprised of the concepts of  Goal Setting in an organization. The procedure which has to be followed by every employee of an organization. For an effective manager these are the parameters to judge his teams.

The Goals defined by a manager should be as follows:


SMART GOALS :

S : Strategic, Sustainable, Significant
M: Meaningful, Motivational, Manageable
A: Assignable, Appropriate, Acceptable
R: Result-based, Results-oriented, Resourced, Realistic^[4], Reasonable
T:  Trackable, Tangible, Timely

One has to be very clear with the task to be performed. Initially people were willing to build a stack of 19 blocks but eventually when the hurdles were explained a lot of them were not willing to do more than 14. The hurdles and uncertainties in the process of management was pictured and everyone has to be prepared to face them with perfection. The attainable figure of around 20 blocks seemed realistic to everyone as we moved along. The timely execution of the activity is also very important.

 

We have to understand that the workers are very important and need to be taken care of. The management has to ensure that the workers are properly treated which would pave the way for a smoother process. During the activity, the worker was motivated by the management tby awarding at each step. The support of the management gave him the desired mental support and the activity was successfully completed.

 

Pygmalion Effect

 



Pygmalion was a sculptor who lived in Cyprus. Women who lived on Cyprus didn't stay virtuous, so Pygmalion decided to live alone and made a perfect sculpture, Galatea. During the Aphrodite feast, thanks to Pygmalion`s prayers, the sculpture turned into a real person. This was called The Pygmalion effect.

The Pygmalion effect shows that if we want something enough, we'll get it. It is named after the scholar who demonstrated it. It is also called "Rosenthal Effect" and is quoted when we refer to The power of affirmation and The power of praise.

The Pygmalion effect is also an important instrument in management theory. It is the phenomenon in which the greater the expectation placed upon people, the better they perform. It makes managers be aware, that the success of their employees depends not only on qualification, personal qualities or working environment. Manager always has to believe in his people and expect them to achieve the best results. In such case the subordinates will always feel this trust and demonstrate their best skills and abilities in their work.

 

The learning from the lecture was :

 

How important is goal setting procedure, how goals should be set , the expectation from the employees and its effect on them and motivation factor for the employees and its role in achieving the targets.