My take away from the Principles Of Management course at NITIE, a memorable experience of my life.
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Sunday, 2 September 2012
POM Course - A Memorable Experience
My take away from the Principles Of Management course at NITIE, a memorable experience of my life.
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
THE THREE MONKS – PRODUCTIVITY & TEAMWORK
Introduction
It is a Chinese animated short film produced by the Shanghai
Animation Film Studio. It is also
known as The Three Buddhist Priests. It
has been shown to us in our latest lecture which brought subtle concepts of
organization management. How Teamwork and Productivity go hand in hand. So, let
us start with the story of the movie first:-
3 MONKS - PART 1
3 MONKS - PART 2
The Story
Movie starts with a little monk who lives at a Buddhist Monastery
at the top of a hill. Every day, he used to fetch water from a river at the
foothills. The first day, the little monk used to carry two pales on either
side of the stick. He used to do this in a hassle free manner thinking it as
his responsibility.
The second day,
another monk came up to stay at the Monastery. The little monk offered the left
over water to the second monk. So, the second monk decided to fetch water down
the hill but took the little monk to go along with him. Now, then lies the CONFLICT MANAGEMENT between the two, as
the little monk being shorter, tries to raise the bar up making the bucket to
slip over to the other monk’s end and the other doing the same on his end. So,
there was a conflict in deciding the responsibility of carrying the bucket
among them. Finally, the decision was made with the help of a ruler which
divided the stick in two equal parts.
The third day,
third monk joined them. After drinking
the water left at the monastery, no one was willing to go down and fetch the
water. Incidentally, a rat came to the monastery and knocked the candle holder lead
to a devastating fire in the monastery. The
three monks then united forgetting the animosity, distributed the tasks to put
out the fire by fetching water from the river, where one monk would fetch the
water from the river into the bucket, the other would pull it up through a
pulley and third monk would then receive the water for storage and handover the
second bucket. This increased the
productivity as they worked as a team.
Was there any
alternative among the monks to fetch water as a team?
As discussed in the class, they could follow any of the following
alternatives:-
a) Work could have been divided on an alternative basis,
where every monk could go down hills and fetch water in the buckets on
alternative days.
b) Make a point at the middle of the stick and keep
following the process throughout the week.
c) Divide the work into half among themselves.
But none of the points had been adopted by the monks due to
lack of Teamwork and standard practices which were not followed by them.
So, what we have
learned from the Film?
1) PRODUCTIVITY
It is an economic term defined as output per unit of input. Workplace
productivity is about how firms can utilize labour and skills, innovation,
technology and organizational structure to improve the quantity and quality of
their output. For e.g. in the above example, if two monks would have carried
one bucket instead of single monk carrying two buckets, would have increased
the productivity.
2) TEAM BUILDING
Any team would be successful if each and every team member has
mutual understanding with each other. Many organizations prefer teams to
complete certain projects or assignments that are difficult to be handled by a
single employee. When the project is under a team, it is certain to reach the
pinnacle. Taking example from the
movie, when the fire occurred, the three monks got together, shared a common
goal, forgot their dispute and worked together to save their monastery.
3) SYNERGY
Synergy is two or more things functioning together to produce a
result not independently obtainable. Have you ever witnessed a wining
sports team or a well-rehearsed orchestra and then felt the commitment and
energy the team demonstrated? What you saw was more than just teamwork – it was
team synergy, a phenomenon that occurs when a team achieves greater results
than the sum of its parts. Using learning instruments, hands-on activities, and
an interactive team simulation, teams gain a clearer sense of direction,
clarify roles and responsibilities, improve operating processes and bolster
both interpersonal and inter team relationships.
Sunday, 22 July 2012
Valley Crossing
VALLEY CROSSING
Today, I got to learn Team Management principles in the
class of Dr. Mandi. As expected he came in the class with a prop – ‘a long wooden
bar’. Initially, it was difficult to
decipher what was he going to teach using the bar but then he showed a picture
of 3 men crossing a valley with a wooden bar. Then, we got an idea of what he
was going to teach us in the class.
1. When the first person will take the first step, he will be half risky since one of his feet will be in air and other on the ground, at the same time other two people will be full safe.
2. Everybody will take one more step at this moment, first person will be fully risky and other two will be full safe. But since other two people will be holding the rod, with proper communication and trust they can cross.
3. This process will be repeated for other two persons. Every time they will be either half risky or full risky.
If we see the degree of risk for these 3 people we find that each shares equal risk when we see the task in totality:
Person
|
First Person
|
Second Person
|
Third Person
|
Steps:
|
|||
1
|
Safe
|
Safe
|
Safe
|
2
|
Half Risky
|
Safe
|
Safe
|
3
|
Fully Risky
|
Safe
|
Safe
|
4
|
Half Risky
|
Half Risky
|
Safe
|
5
|
Safe
|
Full Risky
|
Safe
|
6
|
Safe
|
Half Risky
|
Half Risky
|
7
|
Safe
|
Safe
|
Full Risky
|
8
|
Safe
|
Safe
|
Half Risky
|
9
|
Safe
|
Safe
|
Safe
|
All the 3 members have equal risk involved,
therefore confidence and trust in your team members is most important. If you lack trust,
then your team cannot achieve what you aimed.
Now, what was our learning from this exercise:-
Team Work
-
Teamwork is the ability to work as a group Teamwork is the ability to work as a group toward a common vision, even if that vision becomes extremely blurry. Vision is nothing but a SMART goal i.e. Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Timely Goal. It is always said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships”.
Goal Setting –
Valley could have not been crossed if each person A, B or C had different goals. Hence, setting a common goal is the most crucial part of an organization. Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses your acquisition of knowledge, and helps you to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the very most of your life.
Trust –
Trust among the three people crossing the valley is one of the most important attribute. As, different times, a particular person among them is vulnerable and his safety lies in the hands of the other two people. Same is the case with the organizations. The success of any organization depends upon the teamwork and the trust among them. No trust means a hostile, toxic work environment where productivity is severely limited.
Communication
-
Communication is one of the important attribute of achieving the task. Healthy communication is a source of information to the organizational members for decision-making process as it helps identifying and assessing alternative course of actions. As in this example, the three persons have to communicate continuously to cross the valley.
Effective Execution Of the Role Assignment -
A
very important role is played by the Role Assignment and the execution
of that role. Each member at every given point of time is engaged in his role.
In a moment of time, a new role is assigned to him and he has to immediately
adopt himself according the new role.
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
KHAN Academy – Transforming Classrooms
Everyone has a dream. For Salman Khan, it was of a Global
Classroom where a child from Kolkata can interact with the one in Los Angeles –
irrespective of the economical state of either of them. In order to make this
happen, Khan Academy was established. A graduate from MIT and Harvard Business
School who had been working as a Hedge Fund Manager had an inclination towards
socialization which inspired him to do something for the society.
Things always happen for a reason. This is true for Mr Khan,
who first created you tube videos for his cousins, just to make them understand
the basic concepts. But after getting the
positive feedback from them, he tried sharing the video which got a good
feedback from people. Taking it as an opportunity, he started working on the
videos, reaching out to millions of students of all
ages, across the globe with the sole purpose of making teaching more
interactive and fun.
Gradually, Khan Academy was a vital hit and became prominent
in online education industry. Now, after getting the first steps right, there
was a need for expanding the service in a better way. So, he started working on
Technological advances which made the programme more teachers friendly where they
could analyse the efficiency of each student and start working with them in the
classrooms. So, here is the innovation of a person who transformed the classrooms
from a mere silent to interactive and learning sessions. Check out the video below :-
Salman Khan showcases all qualities of a Y manager. “Dare to Think” is the what he inspires
me the most. How things get started in a small scale and in order to reach to
each and every person, how expansion took place with the help of Internet.
Moreover, keeping the software easy to use, every student can make the most out
it sitting in any place around the world.
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Experience Learning Differently
What is the cost of your one day? A surprising though but this
is the question which changed my perspective of doing an MBA. Because the
answer was 10 times for what I was thinking and moreover, I was oblivious to
the situation as this is the cost my parents are spending on me right now.
First class of our Management subject taken by Dr Mandi was
totally a remarkable experience. We were given real time examples as to how we
can use our knowledge in making simple structures, and sell them in the market.
How we can use our knowledge and earn from the same to fulfil our daily cost of
doing an MBA. The specific term we use is DHANDA. I realized that MBA is not only for earning
but is also about the Learning and contribution to the society. We should think
outside the books and break the process of “Another Brick in the Wall” in our
society. Since this class, a few lines which keep on running through my mind are:-
Socho Becho,
Becho Seekho,
Seekho Socho.
I.e. think how to sell and earn from the same in the market,
learn from the selling as how to achieve more and Think after what is being
learnt.
We were being taught that how an organization functions. How
important the efficient working of each member is for an organization. For
better understanding, we were asked to play a game of A Mighty Tower, where a
group had been asked to build a tower by keeping blocks one above the other.
For the selection, we had to invest our money in the game. When asked for the
participants, only 3 classmates chose to do so. During that stage, I had a bit
hesitation which kept pulling me to raise my hand in the class.
Then began the game and we were being taught the role of each
participant and how they resemble like an organization. It was an amazing
experience the way we were analysing the activity. As I had served in an
organization for two years, I was comparing myself with the person who was
building blocks keeping his eyes closed, as a worker. We both had same stress
level, the management people had their check on us as they were dependent upon
the delivery we were assigned, failing which the task would not be completed.
So, that makes a worker the most important role to play.
Then, there was the second person who was an intermediate
management in an organization who was helping the worker in completing the task
assigned to their team same as done in an organization. This was the manager
who has to keep the work going – no matter how tough the difficulty the workers
are facing: be it in HR or some other perspective. The third person signified
the upper management who was taking care of the other two persons in the
company. I really enjoyed the game while experiencing the real time stress
environment, the desire to finish the goal (like in this case, building a
structure of 18 blocks).
After the class, I
was motivated to think how I can use my knowledge and start earning from now
onwards instead of waiting for some people recruiting me to work in an
organization. I am very thankful to Sir Dr Mandi who made me look inside myself
and pursue to think differently- in order to work for our living from now on wards.
Aaj ki Roti, Aaj hi kamaaenge (Earn
today, for today’s food)
Behtar Parai ke liye Kamai (Earn
for Better Learning)!!
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