My Learnings...

The Monk who sold his Ferrari

It was a nice departure from the normal text-book study method, and that's true about the whole POM course here in NITIE. In fact, that's what an MBA education should be, because a picture is worth a thousand words. Coming back to the movie...

It is about three Chinese monks who live in a monastery on the top of the mountain. It's really fun to watch.

Background

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." If you watch the film, you'll notice that the film does not contain any dialogues, allowing it to be watched by any culture, and a different music instrument signifies each monk. It was released in 1980.

 Different solutions were given by us as Dr. Mandi had paused the video in the middle.They are as follows:

• 2 monks - 1 bucket
• One Monk - 1 Day
• Half way - 1 monk & other half - other monk 
• Get a motor connect to a pipe.
• Put a middle mark on the stick
• Monastery should shift to ground.
• & many more....

And the whole point here is that we have to look into the efficiency of the system as a whole.

	1 monk	2 monk
Output	2 basket	1 basket
Input	say 100 - theoretical	50 - theoretical
	200 - actual	50 - actual
Productivity	1/100	1/50

Now moving on to the interpretations for the same .


Objective Measurement:

The use of scale is the one of the best moves as this is scientific way of doing things.If the organisation has to achieve the best results then it is the necessary pre-requisite to quantify it and there should be no subjective measurement.

Instant Feedback and Communication:

As we progress through the video we can see that in method : 1 there is no communication to method : 3 there is maximum communication.

High Interdependence: 

As we had seen in method 1: that there is no interdependence so the productivity is minimum to method : 3 wherein the productivity is maximum where the interdependence is maximum. So it can be concluded that the more interdependent the organisation is the more risky it hence maximum profitability is achieved.

Realisation of self:

Three different characters are working towards the same goal i.e to save every soul . So as we progress through the video we get to know how the three characters evolved as they change the method of working .

 Work changes increases productivity:

The use of scale,mid point identification, reduction in work tools,innovation,modern assembly line show that even small changes can bring unexpected results in production and productivity.

Innovative methods improve Philosophy of work force :

The way new methods adopted by any company affects the philosophy of the workers or the employees working for it.Be it a small change like providing snacks/lunch or be it a bigger change like improvement in oresent working methods. 

I must tell you that this film won a few awards too:

• Won the outstanding film award at China's Ministry of Culture.

• Won the Best animated film prize at the first Golden Rooster Awards in 1981.

• Won four international awards including a Silver Bear for Short Film at the 32nd Berlin Film Festival in 1982.

Cross the valley to reach the Ally

The valley crossing problem as given by Dr. Mandi resembles the case faced by every organisation and that too in much complex,intriguing and interdependent form.

Lets look into the valley crossing problem which will give us the insight in how the things work in any organisation and how every link is important to achieve the goal as set by the organisation.If one of the link fails,the whole connected system can collapse.So what is important is the teamwork which bind the system through different and connected links.

An organisation works primarily on the concept of “TEAMWORK”. All employees, as a part of organisation, work together to achieve a common goal.

A team is a group of people with various complementary skills,working together towards a common vision. Members of a team operate with high degree of trust,accountability and interdependence.

                                                          

A list of learning through this simple yet complex activity of valley crossing are:

Equally Responsible roles: Every role which a individual in the team is possessing is equally responsible.In a team every person shares a similar role but not the same role i.e there is no differentiation of of work between the persons doing the valley crossing.The responsibility and similarity of job can be seen from the table as below:

Step	State of 1st Person	State of 2nd person	State of 3rd person
1.	Safe	Safe	Safe
2.	Half-Risky	Safe	Safe
3.	Full-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

Instantaneous communication and feedback: for a team to be efficient the communication should be instantaneous otherwise the links i.e. the teamworkers don’t get enough time to act to make the system efficient.

Safety: Safety of every member is important and should not be compromised at any cost.If the employee feels sale while working for the organisation ,he gives the maximum to achieve the goal of the organisation.

Interlocking roles : The more interlocked the employess are the more interdependent the organisation is . And when the interdependency is maximum the profits are maximum. The team generates performance greater than the sum of performance of its individual members.

Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people uttain uncommon results.

Members help other team members realize their true potential.

Management by objectives:

              Goal: To cross the valley with the help of the log.

              Objectives: To achieve this we have to divide our work and do it safely and efficiently. This has to be achieved in nine different steps.

'Let’s do it' is more powerful than : 'I do it' or 'You do it'.

  

LE02-Khan Academy - Revisit your Fundamentals

Wow, surprised to see that Dr. Mandi this time sent us a mail which inspires everyone to realise his dream. A MIT and a Harvard’s Graduate sacrificing his job for a dream in which he can help every citizen of the globe. That is the vision of Salman Khan, founder of  Khan Academy , a initiative started to help his cousin through interactive session has now a global mission. It shows that how a continuous determined effort can make you achieve what you want. 

                                 Salman Khan at Rice University's 2012 commencement

Different types of learning are:

• Vision & Mission Statement- Every human being in this world has a vision .It can vary from ‘getting two meals a day’ to ‘providing employment to every human being’. Vision stament must be impossible to achieve and should look rosy and glamorous.As is the case with Salman Khan,who has vision To build fundamental concepts ,in every field of education, for every human on globe in an innovative manner.This vision is almost impossible but has a deeper meaning connected to it. 

• 
  

  Long term gain potential- Any idea which your mind has should always serve a purpose which has long term benefit .By looking at company say Apple,which believes in innovation and that innovation helped the company to reach newer heights everytime.And also look at Khan Academy has a long term gain potential of diversing the content in different languages and for different subjects and Salman Khan , the founder of Khan Academy, has taken the pain by quitting the job to achieve the gain.

  
  

  Live as if you were to die tomorrow,learn as if you were to live forever.

• Bounded Responsibility - Initially when Salman Khan thought to start his 'not for profit' organization he faced limited amount of resources like funds etc. and he had to make optimal decision of how to run his business.Same is the case faced by every manager at some time or the other and he has to make rational decisions within boundaries.
  

  
  

  
  

• Most Difficult thing in this world- Abundance of opportunities :  A lot of opportunities are freely floating in the pool of business world . so the biggest challenge before a entrepreneur is to categorize those opportunities according to the needs and demands of the present world and give his level best to fulfil those as seen in the case of Salman Khan.

• Positivity- one of the most important ingredients to success of an entrepreneur is the aura of positivity around him. Take any of the top executives of big companies, they are filled with so much of positive vibes about the success of their business houses that they are bound to succeed in any decision they take for their company. This effect is also known as ‘Pygmalion effect’ i.e. what you think or believe that happens.
  

  Positive revolutions will not be caused by generals and politicians,but by INNOVATORS LIKE US

• Content – It is the foundation of every business model .  Strategy, finances, human resource are all the secondary things to look upon. If the content of Khan Academy was not up to the mark it would  bound to cease.

Content is where the rubber hits the road.

• Use of technology - In traditional approach of teaching, teacher – student relationship is limited, so all round development of student is difficult. But the use of technology by Khan Academy has opened the realm of knowledge to every student by watching presentation, solving tutorials and analysing results. At the same time it is helpful for the teachers to concentrate on those students who are lagging behind by looking at their respective graphs.  So if any business has to flourish in present times it has to take use of technology to reach to the masses.

• End goal – The Organization must have the end goal in their mind. Like in the case of Khan Academy, Salman Khan wants happy and productive people.

LE01

LECTURE-1

Background realities/Previous Perspective:

After four years of working in a Maharatna public sector company, NTPC, I got to know the nature or characteristics of people who are actually working i.e. the lower management in an organisation .But they are actually the ones who do the work which is assigned to them by middle management which in turn is given to them by higher management. So the actual planning is done by higher management executed by the lower and middle management acts as a facilitator of work. So if any of the link does not work well then the work gets hampered.

My new life in MBA comes with a different opportunity which I am doing for the first time in life i.e. ‘Writing Blogs ‘ and never had thought that a B-School can harness your capabilities and develop them in more refined way.

Learning through captions & exercises

1)Socho beccho,beccho seekho,seekho socho

As rightly said by Dr. Mundi that “think, sell and learn and apply that learning to think in more refined way and the cycle continues”. In my experience at NTPC ,I developed a whole new system to monitor the project assigned to me but I never thought to brainstorm and find out the shortcomings in my monitoring system . LEARNING : So now I got to know that if one has to remain updated and competitive he has to innovate from his previous learning.

2)Aaj ki roti aaj hi kamayenge(Earn your today’s bread ,today itself)

When I was doing my job in NTPC,I  receive my salary at the end of the month and that made me a risk-averse person and I never broke my cocoon to see the world outside and harness the capabilities available with it .LEARNING: But after my first lecture I have learned that every person can earn his bread and butter while doing any activity possible in this world , its just that you have to be a risk taker and should have a open mind to grasp anything which comes your way .

3)Tower building Exercise

Dr. Mundi has given a task of block  building one over the other but with some constraints like the person(lower management) has to be blind folded and complete the task from the non-dominant hand. Middle management(performed by me) has to direct the lower management in setting the block one over the other. Upper management person has to look into the business growth and direct the middle management person at few different times. We three as a team performed in co-ordination and stacked a record 18 cubes .

LEARNING: As a middle management persons I have to be positive, have faith in lower management person, direct him in a way so that he should be most productive, take care of his needs while he is giving his 100 %. One more point which I have learned is that market or the audience is supportive of the company if they are directly/indirectly getting a profit in any terms like monetary,recognitive etc.