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.

Learn Concepts of Management in Dr. Mandi's style...

It was Dr Mandi's 2nd lecture and the class was eager to see what new  he would teach through his innovative activities. This time it were the work management concepts.

As before, it was an eventful lecture where principles of work were taught with the help of an activity.

Activity was to build a tower of wooden blocks.

He asked the class to predict how many blocks could be arranged one over the other before it would fall .The estimates ranged from 15-19.

Then he asked us to bid  for the activity.
The person with the highest bid got to perform the activity. He started building the tower and was able to compile 22 blocks before they collapsed.

Then the next task. He again asked us to estimate how many blocks could be arranged but by a blindfolded person. The value falled to 8-14.

Again the bidding was done.
Finally a team of three was formed for a little role play,  one member of the team was blindfolded, other was there to give instructions, and third one to supervise them. They had the target to build the tower of more than 22 blocks so as to beat the other person and win their money.

Bidding was to add to the motivation of the team. With the instructions of his team mate, the blindfolded person could assemble 24 blocks one over the other.

The whole activity was to teach the pros and cons of the Old Management Concept (OMC) and the  New Management Concept.(NMC)".We learned how work, skill ,satisfaction and output differs in both.

Learning was the pros and cons of  both the concepts. How span of work, skill , satisfaction and output differs in both.

Work gets divided into elements in More Than One Person approach. So here work gets enlarged & each task becomes simpler without much need of skill for it.

Also learnt about the hierarchy of the organization. The hierarchy should not be very high as it leads to confusion. The middle management is the one which is usually removed in such scenarios.

The single block building activity was able to teach so many concepts and that too in manner where everyone enjoyed. Looking forward to many such activities to learn in a similar manner.

New lessons in a new Manner...

Time changes... Life changes...

I experienced the same on reaching the campus of NITIE on 13th of this month.

The green lush campus, NITIE sarovar and the 96 stairs from hostel to academic block welcomed me.

 After working for more than 2 years in corporate world it was a great feeling to be back to college.

New college, new people, new professors with their own ways of teaching. Very true for Dr. T. Prasad, a person with a dynamic personality and his unique ways of teaching.

It was time for the lecture of  Principles of Organization & Management  & it started with our professor, Dr. T. Prasad (popularly known as Dr. Mandi) settling himself onto the floor.

A situation which landed us all in a confusion...
There came a  sotto voce asking us to be seated on the floor or chairs as we wish.

Whole class grabbed the opportunity and soon a MBA class got converted to a 'GURUKUL'

 Dr. Mandi, is popular by this name because of his association with an event of NITIE called 'Mandi' where NITIEans take to the streets of Mumbai.

 

'Mandi' is done with various purpose. Firstly to give practical scenarios to the classroom concepts of Marketing, Principles of Management, and Business Economics. Secondly to add new dimension in the lives of children deprived of education.

 It is done with the help of toys which is based on the concept of 'study while you play'. The entire amount collected is donated to the NGO Navnirmiti which provides the event with toys (for sale) in the first place.

Stress Ball with Map

Dr. Mandi uses this concept not only at the  time of event but also in his lectures. During his first lecture with us, he showed us a small rubber ball with globe on it and explained how we can market this product as it is a very small globe which would cost nominal. Also the children can use it to play.
He has ample such examples to teach concepts of management in a practical manner. He also used  Newton’s Cradle.

Newton's Cradle

He believes in 'aaj ka khana aaj hi kamao' (i.e. One should earn one's todays' bread today only). He motivated the class to try to atleast earn Rs.25 when we are spending  Rs.2500 per day for being here.
He has his own peculiar way of talking in which he calls business as 'dhanda' and believes a manager should think what he has gained from what he has already spent. He also believes that one should do this but in an ethical manner.

In short the lecture educated us about 'Mandi' and few concepts of management in a very interactive manner.