Digital CV

3 Idiots Crossing the Valey

TeamWork??

The process of working together with a group of people in order to achieve a goal.

The team work is often a crucial part of a business as it is often necessary for colleagues to work well together, trying for the best in any circumstances. Team work often means people will try to cooperate, using their individual skills and providing constructive feedbacks, despite any personal conflicts between the individual.

Why Team work is important?

Well its one thing to create a team but quite an another to create teamwork in the workplace. Just its one thing to join a team, quite another to perform as a team member. To put it in simple words, teams doesn’t work without teamwork.

What is teamwork?

There are several ways to define team work but for some color why not think as French do. The French have an excellent term for team work “espirt de corps       ”. This means a sense of unity, of enthusiasm for common interest and responsibilities.

Let’s have a look at the below picture

We can see that there are three people crossing the valley without much of a trouble. It has been possible only due to teamwork had made this impossible task possible. This is the beauty of team work, the MAGIC works in this way.

We have the following observations:-

1.       All three members have equal distribution of different kinds of situation :

High Risk 01 times

Half Risks 02 times

Fully Safe 02 times

2.       All three members have the same role in terms of effort and risk. Nobody was overloaded or relaxed.

3.       Communication and feedback is essential while working in a team.

4.       Every member is indispensable in completing the task.

5.       There were equal instances when one needed each other.

Five Stages of team work

Pshychologist bruce teckman came up with five key stages through which team moves. They are

1.       Forming

2.       Storming

3.       Norming

4.       Performing

5.       Adjourning 

The Tower Building Exercise

Tower Building Exercise

Goal Setting

What is it?

“The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.” - Jim Rohn.

Goal Setting forms an integral part of all the practices carried out in organisations in today's world. Goals represent in a quantitative/qualitative form the various expectations managers have of their subordinates. It's an effective tool for making progress within the organisation as well as helping the organisation itself to grow. Which is why managers at all levels in the industry are aware of the importance of effective goal setting to propel their organisation to the top and make the workplace a better place to live.

Here is a nice link on how goal setting happens.

Why do we need it?

Organisations need to flourish, need to grow. The sole means of doing so is the presence of employees who are happy and motivated enough to work. The onus is on the managers to ensure that the employees working under them remain motivated to the level to help the organisation to excel. A very important point to be highlighted here is that there are no good or bad employees - it is the managers who have the responsibility of driving their team and getting the best out of their employees(More on this here). Goal setting is a means to achieve that end.

How to do it?

Goal setting is often done following the SMART criteria whereby objectives are set keeping the following in mind:

1. S-Specific - Goals mentioned were clearly chalked out and the expectations properly set to us.
2. M-Measurable -  No form of ambiguity in terms of measurement exists in the goal being set. In our goal set, we would have clearly stated goals like "2 Certifications mandatory in Java/J2EE". This way, we knew exactly the level we had to reach.
3. A-Attainable - Goals were set keeping in mind the level of potential of each individual as well as the expectations of the organisation from the individuals. In our goal sheet, all goals were properly planned and only the attainable ones were then retained.
4. R-Relevant - This I believe is one of the most important components of goal setting. All our goals were chosen on things that matter. Those things which were beneficial to the organisation and to the team find place as my goal.
5. T-Timely - All goals set for me had a target date as they were put forth on a quarterly basis and targets had to be strictly met in that period. Established a proper sense of urgency and responsibility in me, depsite the day-to-day hurdles which existed.

What to do?

As elementary as it might sound here, the goal setting process is an elaborate process and something that has baffled managers for quite some time in an effort to get it right. With the mix of different company policies and a mix of employees from different strata and backgrounds, there is no single uniform flowchart that can be followed in an effort to set the right goals.

Positioning your Goal Set

Legend:
A - Attained/Past Performance

B - Achieved Performance

C - Goal Set

D - Potential

Aligning to the above diagram, in TCS, it was believed employees had enormous potential to excel and help the organisation to prosper. The goal set designing was done keeping this in mind always. Goals would be set by the management keeping in mind my past performance and the level till which I was expected to scale upto. So in the First Quarter(denoted by I above), I would be set a goal of "Resolve 10 tickets on a daily basis". This would be done keeping in mind that in the past I had solved only "6 tickets on a daily basis". The goal set would ideally have a pull effect and help to inspire me to achieve greater heights. Automatically, due to the challenge imposed in front of me, I would pull up my socks and try to attain the goal. Here is where the manager comes into play. He would effectively help me to attain the goal set and thus realise my potential. My new achieved performance would then settle at say "8 tickets on a daily basis". Effectively, the ambitious efforts of my manager had helped me to attain a higher level of performance! Going ahead, in the Second Quarter(denoted by II above), my goals were scaled up to "resolve 15 tickets on a daily basis" and thus again, it bore the same effect.

Thus what we observe here is how effectively, the manager has been able to utilise the potential of his employee and through successive iterations, scaled him up to be a better performer and a better contributor towards the success of the organisation. I had seen this personally in my work where it made me a better and effective employee over the days.

Tower Building - Lessons in Goal Setting

The tower building exercise was held in the class to demonstrate several management qualities and attributes, one being the importance of goal setting.  I will discuss not what the exercise is, but the learning we had out of it in its due course.

The goal setting in this case was to set the number of blocks that a person can put one over the other. Section A students estimated that 30 blocks could be put one over the other and they achieved 28. However the importance here is if the goals were set on the lines of the S.M.A.R.T. approach as discussed above and the lessons from it.

1. Specific - The goal set was well-defined and clear to all. 
2. Measurable - A quantifiable quantity was set as the goal.
3. Achievable - This is the most important part of the goal setting exercise. Since the historical performance was 27 blocks, the team had to set a higher goal to motivate and inspire themselves to perform better. A higher goal of say 30 blocks here would have pushed up the performance of the team as the expectations would have been clear and maybe in that case,  the team's performance would have also scaled up beyond 27 blocks, thus achieving excellence.
4. Relevant - Pertaining to the tower building exercise, the goal was absolutely relevant.
5. Timely - A specific time period was indeed set for them to achieve the goal.

A second part of the exercise illustrated another important trait of goal setting. The student was blindfolded and then the rest were asked to estimate the number of blocks he could arrange. The fact that he was blindfolded resulted in the class average of estimation going down, with only one student believing that he could exceed his previously achieved performance. A handful believed he could reach the same heights whereas majority back-folded on their previously decided number. In an organisation, for a healthy growth, it is important that we scale up on the previously achieved performance, no matter what the situation is. A good management always overcomes situations at hand and uses it for their own good. That is what was required here, that the budding managers set a higher goal for greater performance.

Interesting to note here is the Pygmalion Effect, often used as a tool to explain the principles of organisation and management. Following the same case here, management needed to put greater expectations and needed to invest enhanced confidence in their employees to achieve better performance. To inspire the student to reach beyond his previously achieved 17 blocks, the rest had to act as good managers and set a higher target. That is what will distinguish the best from the rest. And make excellent organisations grow and prosper even further.

Management Lessons from the Story of "The 3 Monks"

Before I proceed to explain the management lessons learnt from the 3 monks’ story, I suggest you watch the video.

The movie is based on the 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".  The plot of the movie involved the problem of fetching water by three monks . The movie illustrates the process of evolving the best possible method to do this work and we get to learn important organization management lessons.

   A.  Efficient Utilization of Resources

In most organizations, resources are not the problem. The problem is the utilization of the resources in order to achieve high process efficiency and productivity. When the number of monks in the story increased from 2 to 3, it appeared as if the process to bring water was over manpowered and nobody took the ownership.Even when the number of monks were increased to 2, they faced initial difficulty to carry out the process until they came out with a solution.

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

Importance of Manpower Planning

1. Key to managerial functions- The four managerial functions, i.e., planning, organizing, directing and controlling are based upon the manpower. Human resources help in the implementation of all these managerial activities. Therefore, staffing becomes a key to all managerial functions.
2. Efficient utilization- Efficient management of personnels becomes an important function in the industrialization world of today. Seting of large scale enterprises require management of large scale manpower. It can be effectively done through staffing function.
3. Motivation- Staffing function not only includes putting right men on right job, but it also comprises of motivational programmes, i.e., incentive plans to be framed for further participation and employment of employees in a concern. Therefore, all types of incentive plans becomes an integral part of staffing function.
4. Better human relations- A concern can stabilize itself if human relations develop and are strong. Human relations become strong trough effective control, clear communication, effective supervision and leadership in a concern. Staffing function also looks after training and development of the work force which leads to co-operation and better human relations.
5. Higher productivity- Productivity level increases when resources are utilized in best possible manner. higher productivity is a result of minimum wastage of time, money, efforts and energies. This is possible through the staffing and it's related activities ( Performance appraisal, training and development, remuneration)

Need of Manpower Planning

Manpower Planning is a two-phased process because manpower planning not only analyses the current human resources but also makes manpower forecasts and thereby draw employment programmes. Manpower Planning is advantageous to firm in following manner:

1. Shortages and surpluses can be identified so that quick action can be taken wherever required.
2. All the recruitment and selection programmes are based on manpower planning.
3. It also helps to reduce the labour cost as excess staff can be identified and thereby overstaffing can be avoided.
4. It also helps to identify the available talents in a concern and accordingly training programmes can be chalked out to develop those talents.
5. It helps in growth and diversification of business. Through manpower planning, human resources can be readily available and they can be utilized in best manner.
6. It helps the organization to realize the importance of manpower management which ultimately helps in the stability of a concern.

 B. Continuous Improvement & Breakthrough Innovation:

The two monks, when faced with the challenge to balance the bucket due to difference in their heights, came up with the solution to mark the stick in proportion to their height. This not only eased the operating procedure, but it also aided in faster execution of the process and brought higher effectiveness.In a day to day work, we might also face circumstances, where execution becomes difficult or we are forced to bring in changes for improvement. Therefore, daily work management for continuous improvement becomes essential . A major portion of our daily work should be devoted to making these small but useful contribution towards improvement.

In the story, the three monks devised the pulley methodology to draw water and transfer it to the temple. This brought out a drastic improvement in their process and saved a lot of time and effort. This can be classified as a breakthrough improvement. Similarly, in an organization, when there is the requirement of a major shift in operating procedures, the senior management must encourage innovations and bring about breakthrough improvements.

C.                      Prevention Better than Cure

The three monks never took ownership to fill the jar with water, which could perhaps have mitigated the magnitude of the damage caused due to the fire. The mouse was also allowed in the monastery ignoring the possible damages. Similarly, most of the employees in an organization are busy in fire fighting and focus less on preventive measures. Occurrence Prevention rather than Recurrence Prevention should be the focus area of an organization. Each system, process and be thoroughly investigated to eliminate any possible failure mode and make it robust.SDCA/PDCA cycle have to be followed at each level of management to prevent future failures.

X or Y !! Which one are you?

The XY theory of management was put forward in 1960 in a book entitled “The Human Side of Enterprise” by an American social psychologist named Douglas McGregor. Although more recent studies of management may show that this theory is a little inflexible it is still referred to regularly in the field of management.

Basically McGregor believed that there are 2 fundamental approaches to managing people i.e. X and Y. Many managers tend towards X and achieve poor results whereas those who use theory Y allow people to grow and develop; thus, achieving better performance. The two styles are also known as: the authoritarian style (X) and the participant style (Y) and they may be described as follows:

Theory X (The Authoritarian manager)

• This manager views employees from the standpoint that they dislike work and will avoid it if they can.
• Following on from the above reasoning the manager believes that people must be coerced to work towards company goals under the threat of punishment.
• They believe that the average person wishes to avoid responsibility and prefers to be directed and that they are unambitious and see their main priority to be security.

Example-  A Punch in Machine or the time clock in an organization. You have to punch in/out partly because the management thinks you'll arrive late and leave early if you don't.

Theory Y. The Participant Style manager.

• This manager believes that effort in work is as natural as work and play.
• They believe that it is unnecessary to apply external control or punishments to force people to work and that they will exercise self-control and self-direction towards company goals.
• The employee will work towards objectives in order to receive the reward and satisfaction of achieving that objective.
  This manager feels that employees usually accept and will indeed seek responsibility.
• They take the viewpoint that most of the population and not just a ‘chosen’ few have the abilities needed to solve organisational problems i.e. imagination, creativity, ingenuity etc.
• Their thought is that generally, in industry, the intellectual potential of the average person is only partially used.

Example - An example is an artist on contract to produce art. You tell the artist what you want done but you leave it to him/her when and how to do it as long as they produce what you want within your timeline. 

Workers

Like the managers, the workers in the organization can be classified as “Lazy” and “Not Lazy”.

So the combinations of managers and workers stated above give rise to a 2X2 matrix and the different situations are explained below.

 With a Manager in Y category a lazy worker can be motivated and with due course of time improve his efficiency ; whereas with a X category manager, a “Not Lazy” worker will get demotivated and the organization may find it hard to retain him

Other Ideas

Leader Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

Sahin proposed the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory. What LMX theory basically points out against McGregor theory is that “leaders develop unique relationships with different subordinates and that the quality of these relationships is a determinant of how each subordinate will be treated”. Hence a manager can belong to both X and Y Category depending upon the relationship he shares with his subordinate.

Theory Z

Theory Z is often referred to as the 'Japanese' management style, proposed by William Ouchi. Theory Z essentially advocates a combination of all that's best about theory Y and modern Japanese management, which places a large amount of freedom and trust with workers, and assumes that workers have a strong loyalty and interest in team-working and the organisation.

Theory Z also places more reliance on the attitude and responsibilities of the workers, whereas Mcgregor's XY theory is mainly focused on management and motivation from the manager's and organisation's perspective.

Personal Experience

I got the opportunity to work with a manager who belonged to the Y Category. He gave me ample freedom to execute my ideas, yet was supportive and helped me whenever I was stuck in my assignments. . He himself was dedicated towards his work without any supervision and his style of managing all activities inspired me a lot.

Day Zero

17 June, 2013 - 09:00 AM. It was the first class at NITIE on a rainy day. Some 70 odd students of section A of the new batch were awaiting the Communication Skills class to begin. Mr Mehta, the faculty for the course, was on leave and a replacement meant our first lecture of management would be delivered by Dr Prasad, more popularly known as Dr Mandi – Our professor for the subject “Principles of Organization Management”. He came inside and took us by surprise with his unusual style. Took out toys & balls from his bag & distributed them to the students in the class. All of us were still figuring out what exactly was going on in the class when Dr saab started. “Mai poora desi aadmi hai”!!!After a quick intro, he stressed upon the use of technology in modern day education and persuaded us to write blogs on what we study, which will help spread the knowledge beyond the boundaries of the classroom.

Further, he made some precarious calculation (of which m still not convinced.. :-P) that each of us were spending about Rs 2500/- per day for our education here and it is high time we must earn whatever proportion of that amount we can within this student life. Soon the classroom was buzzing with the chants of “Aaj ki Roti Aaj Kamayenge”. By the time he left the classroom, I was sure his methodologies were certainly not “Desi” ;-)

After a class on marketing management, It was Dr Mandi again in the post lunch period. It started with Flloyd’s song “Another Brick in the Wall”. “Socho – Becho, Becho – Sikho, Sikho – Socho “ is his mantra for life and no doubt he has gained popularity for his practical approach towards leaning. No notes,no books but still learning – is how I can sum up his teaching techniques. All in all, a happening start to the subject and my stay here at NITIE...:-) :-)