Le 3 The Story of Three Monks : Management Lessons

Learning Principles of Management through Animated Movie : Three Monks

Graphics coupled with good audio enhances the impact of the Educational medium . Nothing better than teaching Principles of Organization Management through an educational movie . 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 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 learning organization management lessons midway .

Following are the management lessons learnt :-

1. Teamwork does enhances the efficiency in the working of task  .

2.  Disputes tend to arise when there are more than one person involved .

3. Scientific and objectives measurements and instruments should be used to resolve the conflict .

4. The most efficient method to solve a problem evolves over a period of time .

5. Teamwork and team interest should take precedence over the personal interest .

6. Experiences in crisis management comes handy to come up with new innovative methods to solve  a problems .

7 Attitude of each team member determines the fate of the task  and decides for the success rate .

8. Synergistic roles :   Individual sums become bigger than what was there individually .

Application of the Three Monk Story in The real world Scenario 

1. Some very common problems faced during teamwork are :-

 All   three monks had problem initially due to their conflicting opinions . But their diverse personality attributes helped in resolving them which eventually helped in coming to solution to the problem of water  collection  .

There is no team without disputes !

a) Individual differences in work styles.

b) Ill-defined problems.
c) Personality conflicts.
d)Conflicts with other deadlines or priorities

e)Lack of motivation.

f)Lack of team organization or progress.

2. Attribute for  Efficient Teamwork

a)  Synergy

Teamwork + Innovation + brainstorming

 The creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.A team uses its membership  resources to the fullest and thereby achieves through collective action far more than could be achieved otherwise

b) Team work >>>>>>> Individual work 

• More resources for problem solving.
• Improved creativity and innovation.
• Improved quality of decision making.
• Greater commitments to tasks.
• Higher motivation through collective action.
• Better control and work discipline.

c) Cohesiveness

Unity is Strength 

• The degree to which members are attracted to and motivated to remain part of a team.
• Can be beneficial if paired with positive performance norms.

Characteristics of high-performing teams:

Teamwork Aye !!!

• A clear and elevating goal.
• A task-driven, results-oriented structure.
• Competent and committed members who work hard.
• A collaborative climate.
• High standards of excellence.
• External support and recognition.
• Strong and principled leadership

Importance of Motivation

Motivation - : An inferred process within an animal or an individual that causes that organism to move towards a goal

A leader has to keep team's motivation levels high .

Motivational strategies

•    Find new skills
•    Develop & train them
•    Get feedback on their performance
•    Expand their ability to work
•    Rotate their work

Hawthorne Effect 

The Hawthorne Effect refers to the way that workplace efficiency, performance and productivity can often be improved by introducing and measuring any change to working practice. It doesn't matter whether you change from one system to another , productivity will definitely go up . 

The Hawthorne effect explains that a subject will improve or modify an aspect of their behavior in response to the fact they are being studied or watched and not in response to any part of the actual study.