Most of you must have seen the famous Chinese three monks
short film.
If not I am attaching it below. It is a short
and interesting film.
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."
The
story goes like this.
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 candle holder, leading to
a devastating fire in the temple. The three monks finally unite together and
make a concerted effort to put out the fire.
There
are quite a few interesting observations from the film in management perspective.
One Monk.
- When only one monk was to do the task, he was doing it diligently day and day out.
- The effort and time required was more since he was the only one and has to carry two buckets.
- He was carrying the other required activities as well like praying and filling the water in the pot.
Two monks.
- When the second monk came, positive behavior at the start was followed by the negative behavior. Initially the first monk greeted the second monk with a bow and water.But as time progressed things turned bitter on the ground that who will fill the water.
- They decided to do it together. But there was reluctance to take the responsibility.Each one wanted to shift the bucket to the side of other.It is a common problem faced in management world where no one wants to take responsibility. To cope with this management has rating and appraisal system so that it acts as incentive to some extent .
- Reduction in output as the pole was short and can hold only one bucket.This signifies that the current process was not fit for two people and hence as compared to one ,when two were employed output got reduced.
- Mutually they decided to bring about slight improvement in process.They agreed to mark a point in between so that bucket remains there and load get shared equally.Though output was less but there was reduction in effort.
Three Monks
- Initially they made the third monk to fill the water but soon monk 3 realized that he is the only one doing the work, so he also stopped working.
- Things got stalled completely.This signifies the situation where the process in place was not fit for three people and since it was overcrowded now, this brought about a complete stop to work.
- Reduction in character as they stopped performing the task such as praying and filling water in pot.In fact when the quench for water peaked they even drank the water in the pot.
Three monks and the crisis.
- They brought about the crisis as the place was set to fire .It is very obvious situation in management wherein if employees stop abiding to their responsibility the crisis is never far away.
- They finally united and bring about the end to fire .This shows that if employees work in tandem then any crisis can be brought to halt.
Three monks and the pulley system .
- They improved on the current process and installed the pulley system .Continuous process improvement is the most significant part of good management .This is the essence of kaizen theory as well .
- Process was fit for the three monks and they participated equally.This is known as Participative Management. Number of people employed is in sync with process and every one participates to almost equal extent based on the role.
- Deskilled – they were deskilled since no one was doing the complete work.But it also calls for specialization in one skill. So everyone here is specialist in his or her own skill and does only that.This brings in expertise, perfection and ease of doing the work .
- Reduction in effort.
- Increase in output.
- Significant Increase in efficiency because of increase in output and reduction in effort.
- Synergy and team work.Improved process also brings in synergy and harmony in the team.Team work becomes an important area and calls for keen eye from management as to how to improve it further by various team building activities.
In nutshell , right process is the most significant factor in any organisation where employee base is large .
Easing the process with the proper use of technology and enabling efficient team work is what drives an organisation towards success .
Happy reading...
