This lecture was complementary to the initial lesson on Deskilling of manpower. The above video shares the same page with various business heads and CEOs of today's corporations.
"Three Monks" is a Chinese animated feature film produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. 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".
Dr. Mandi asked us to watch the video and be prepared with various insights with POV of a manager. As diligent we students are, most of us had done the homework. He then went on to probe our brains, with a microscope, bringing to the front thoughts which are present in our subconscious. We each day manage things around us, activties around us, people around us, yet it never is obvious that there are managerial principles in work at all times.
Here is a movie, which is humorous, entertaining, simple and yet teaches us a lot, in terms of management.
It highlights the following points:
Organizational point of view:
1) Deskilling of the job always gives a better output, in terms of time taken and quality of work.
2) When an organization grows, internal conflicts are unavoidable.
3) Standardization is the order of the day, for better efficiency and accuracy.
4) Teamwork improves efficiency of the organization.
5) Technological solutions are an add-on to a more structured way of problem solving.
6) Small issues should be handled at first, before they enlarge into bigger problems.
Personnel point of view:
1) There are all type of employees in an organization, with whom one must interact and work in coordination.
2) Good mangers bring out their best in the face of adversity.
3) One must be ethical during all situations, it is of utmost importance.
4) A small token of appreciation goes a long way.
5) Learn from your mistakes.
Working in the world's largest refinery, at Jamnagar, I now visualize all the above points to be true at one or more points of time. At Reliance, people are given responsibilities for major tasks, where they are critical to the chain of work, and are entrusted to perform at their maximum level output. Deskilling is a phenomenon where experts of various fields are created and they perform exceptionally well in their jobs. Reliance also talks in terms of standardizing various aspects of each job role, to execute all tasks in a systematic and efficient manner. Working in a team, is most of the time, the better way to do tasks. A team infuses confidence, knowledge, skill, motivation into the team members and they perform efficiently.
Personally, I believe that when faced with adversity, it is best to look at it as a challenge and deal with it head-on in a structured manner. It is always better to be trained in real time environments, where you deal with challenges, as these are the times when you learn the most. A manager who stands out in the face of adversity is appreciated and always known for his approach, examples are set by them which inspire other personnel in the organization.
