Learnings of Principles of Organization Management(POM) @ NITIE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxHvuraPITI&feature=youtu.be

POM Exam

This was a very different morning in NITIE. I sensed a nervous which was similar to which I used experienced till 4 years before. I had entered NITIE’s exam hall to give my very first POM exam. This was an exam in which I had to answer on my experiences rather along with just studies. Secondly when its related to Dr.Mandi you can always expect surprises. I got even more nervous when I saw my friend Rahul Ghosh Roy sitting beside me.He was the most tensed person in the class.

The paper was distributed to each one of us.Finally the paper landed in my hands and a quick glance brought a smile to my face. I had studied the syllabus and was happy to see most of the questions in my zone.
Time management was not a major worry for a lot of people as everyone was well prepared. The major issue in an exam is the preparation and the time management. Since most of the people had read the concepts well, so the other factor was not a big issue.
We had to share the examination hall with Section C who had their Financial Accounting Mid-Term but unlike us they had the issue of time management. The paper was a little lengthy as they say and they found it difficult to finish it in time.

We as students were writing answers , not from the books, but from the engaging discussions we had inside the classroom as well as the brainstorming we have to do in our blogs, and the learnings from the quiz. In my opinion exams are a means of testing knowledge as well as a rigorous test of our managing skills too, be it time management, pressure handling, of a test of knowledge, exams push us to our limits.  

The paper had a variety of questions almost engulfing the whole syllabus. From managerial skills to Hawthorne experiments, the paper had everything taught in the classes. Everyone took less than 1 hour to finish the paper and we could all see smiling faces post exam. They had this satisfaction that the hard work put in the preparation has finally reaped benefits.

Theory X and Theory Y

Douglas McGregor, a  management professor , first talked about two theories called Theory X and Theory Y. He identified an approach of creating an environment within which employees are motivated via authoritative, direction and control or integration and self-control, and called it Theory X and Theory Y.

THEORY X
Theory X is something which emphasizes on productivity. It says that “management must counteract an inherent human tendency to avoid work”. Theory X is a style that changed the way of looking at the business.

The managers who assume that the people working under them are lazy and are bound to avoid work if they get a chance. The only way to make people work is by threat and use of power. More often than not this theory does not allow employees to gel amongst themselves and know each other.

Following are the assumption made by Theory X style of management :

·                     An average employee intrinsically does not like work and tries to escape it whenever possible

·                     The employee does not want to work, and hence ,he must be persuaded, compelled, or warned with punishment so as to achieve organizational goals.

·                     Many employees rank job security on top, and do not have much aspiration/ ambition

·                     Employees generally do not take responsibilities

·                     Employees resist change

·                     An average employee needs a direction from his superior

THEORY Y

Theory Y is an optimistic management which “assumes that people will exercise self-direction and self-control towards the achievement of organizational objectives to the level that they are committed to those objectives.

This management style assumes that the employees are self motivated and are ambitious. A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work. This allows employees to learn from one another and have a positive attitude towards work.

 Following are the assumptions made by Theory Y style of management:

·                     Employees can perceive their job as relaxing and normal. They exercise their physical and mental efforts in an inherent manner in their jobs

·                     Employees may not require only threat, external control and coercion to work, but they can use self-direction and self-control if they are dedicated and sincere to achieve the organizational objectives

·                     If the job is rewarding and satisfying, then it will result in employees’ loyalty and commitment to organization

·                     An average employee can learn to admit and recognize the responsibility. In fact, he can even learn to obtain responsibility

·                     The employees have skills and capabilities. Their logical capabilities should be fully utilized. In other words, the creativity, resourcefulness and innovative potentiality of the employees can be utilized to solve organizational problems

Though these theories are very basic in nature, they provide a platform for future generations of management theorists and practitioners to understand the changing dynamics of human behavior. Taken too literally, Theories X and Y seem to represent unrealistic extremes. Most employees (including managers) fall somewhere in between these poles.

The Three Monks

The Story

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. Then one day another monk joins him. He tries to share the job with another monk, but the carry pole is only long enough for one bucket.So they both share the load. 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 candleholder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple. The three monks finally unite together and make a concerted effort to put out the fire. Since then they understand the old saying "unity is strength" and device a method which leads to equal load sharing between the three of them and they begin to live a harmonious life. The temple never lacks water again.
Analyzing the story

First Case

In the first situation as shown the task is being done only by one monk and understandably the task is bound to have lower efficiency as the team consists of only one member which can prove to be a bottleneck in face of any crisis. Moreover any innovation in the method of getting water may require more manpower and hence cannot be applied in this situation.
Learning
The presence of a single member contributes to the unity of direction in doing the job which is also a vital factor in any organization.

Second case

In second case the work load has been divided into two equal parts but one important factor to be considered here is the coordination between the two members in the team. The root cause for their difference of opinion is that there is no 'standards' or rules for completing the task in a coordinated manner. This is later sorted out when the first monk draws a scale and makes a fair ruling.
Learning
This principle is also very important with regards to any organization as there is a need to a unity of direction and proper distribution of work for the organization to march towards its goals.Another thing which needs to be highlighted is that the increase in manpower leads to increase in efficiency as the work-load on one person is reduced.

Third Case

Intially noone gets water and all of though they are feeling thirst. But finally the fire induces a need to get the water and out of the need arises unity and and they work together and get water quickly with less efforts.
Learning
In this particular case is a perfect example of social loafing in an organization where people start exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone. Moreover the lack of proper coordination between the members in the team results in complete organizational failure.

Finally we see that how the work-load is reduced with the help implementation of innovative methods and proper coordination. Thus the management of any company should focus on technological advancement so as to increase efficiency.

Valley Crossing and and Human Tower Exercises

A new day, new lecture, and all of us in the same sleepy mode. But then, shortly arrived our very dear Dr.Mandi. The 'Socho becho' professor made us switch to socho mode without even speaking a single word. Known for his unconventional way of teaching, this time he had entered a class with a bamboo in his hand. We then went to brain storming mode wondering what would we do with it.And finally he revealed what actually had to be with that bamboo. We had to cross a "valley".

Valley Crossing Activity

The task is to cross a deep valley. Now this may seem exciting and adventurous, but this feeling would change after realizing that there are no ropes to cross the valley. It has to be done using a bamboo. Now enters a different parameter her called ‘risk’ and it seems a difficult and dangerous task to begin with.
There are three main protagonists who have a bamboo strong enough to take the weight of each of them at a time. The three Protagonists devise a plan. They stand in a straight line, resting the bamboo on their shoulders. Step by step they negotiate the hurdles coming their way. Helping each other out in the times of need and finally conquering the valley.

Human Tower Exercise

Then, there was another exercise was more dynamic than the Valley crossing exercise where number of persons crossing the valley was kept constant. This activity was also excercised in class by 5 guys. They pushed the limit and built a human tower with 5 people, and made sure that load was distributed as evenly as possible among the participating members - this was very important learning from this exercise.

We all had fun while there activities were being performed, but the actual fun was in the learning from these activities. The biggest learing was "Teamwork".Having a talented individual can produce results only partly. For a complete solution/success, we need strong teams. That is why Organisations prefer a Team worker to an individual contributor with no team spirit even if the latter one is much more talented. Even if one person is so capable that he can perform all the tasks individually, an Organisation should not let him, because it will reduce reliability, flexibility and sustainability.

The first benefit I observed out of the exercise is that even if the task was very difficult if done alone, in a team everyone supports everybody else and if done effectively it could be made very smooth (increasing efficiency) hence achieving excellence. Distribution of load among the team members is another advantage. Valley in the exercise could represent difficult stage in one’s life; two persons at the two ends of the valley could represent friends and family. Similar analogy could be drawn to one’s professional career.

Team work is the main cornerstone on which this exercise stands. Each and every team member is in a position of danger when he/she is in the middle of the valley. That is when the other member shows confidence in you and takes you to safety.  This is how the organisation works in a nutshell. They cooperate with each other in order to achieve the desired goal.

When a team is selected for a project in a company, manager puts utmost focus on the assignment of the task; this is important keeping in mind that everyone has different skill sets. This is also applicable when a new person is assimilated in the team, in the beginning other team members would have to bear more load just like two persons at the two ends of valley had to bear more load when the middle person was crossing the valley. Risk minimization is another major outcome out of teamwork. We as humans are prone to making mistakes, and mistakes can be minimized when working in a team. Why a new person joins a company, he/she is assigned a mentor/supervisor to due to this reason.

With team effort, we can overcome all the hurdles and all the difficulties. Together we work and together we share the victory.

Its a fact that it is easier to capture learning in brain from pictures in mind than from words. And then there here we are having learning through activities, that won't let us forget these things for a long time.Thank you Dr. Mandi for teaching us in such innovative manners.

khan Academy:The Global Classroom.

Introduction to Khan Academy

I would like to begin it by introducing something about Khan Academy. Being a non-profit, the organization targeted at revolutionizing the education system of the world by innovate teaching methods by means of its website www.khanacademy.org which is a video channel. Khan Academy was started by Salman Khan in 2008  a graduate of MIT   and Harvard business school has brought an educational revolution. In April 2012, Salman Khan was listed among the Time 100 Most Influential People for 2012.Khan Academy has been continuously improving and growing in aspects of education and business.

Need for a change in the present education system

The present educational system is marks oriented and resembles a horse race. Institutes and students are more marks driven. Everyone strives to excel .Even in classrooms the teachings follow more of an exam focused approach .In this process students loose grip on the fundamentals of subject which creates lots of doubts in students minds. But, a recorded classroom lecture helps us to revisit the lecture umpteen times till all our doubts get solved . Also some of the students get stuck at a particular concept and find it difficult to regain focus going by pace of the lecture.  Khan academy is the perfect solution to such problem.

About the great work

The website has thousands of video lectures covering all possible subjects. By providing an innovative solution to the degrading educational system, he has shown the path to not only the young and budding  but also the old mature minds who feel too shy to start learning. The knowledge is all available at one's home and is only a click away and without even costing a single penny.

Unique style and charm

 There is a sense of familiarity in his teaching style, he has not completely done away with the traditional type of teaching. The black background and the paint tools just retain the original sanctity of the classroom. The perfect combination of orthodox and innovative style of teaching has hit the bull's eye. Even the Prominent B-schools of the world seems to  have taken a cue from Khan academy by starting satellite classrooms. The lectures of khan academy are very well conceived and straight in content and description. The lectures start from clearing the fundamentals. The series of lectures helps developing a holistic view of a subject.

Solution to all problems faced

In country like India where quality education is restricted to few good institutes, the Teacher- student ratio is very low. It is getting difficult for most of the students to get quality education. For such problems, Khan Academy is the solution. It is the new global classroom where students from all over the world can get educated on their own. Its only motive is to spread quality education to as many students possible, globally by inducing strong fundamentals and a creative problem solving approach.

Kudos to the selfless work by Mr.Salman Khan .

pom session 1 and 2

This is my first blog ever and here I would like to share my experience about the 1^st two sessions conducted by Dr.Mandi( Professor for "Principles of Organization and Management"). I am firstly thankful to him as, if he had not made blogging compulsory I might not have entered this domain even now.

1^st Session

I, coming from a corporate background, just as the session was about to begin there were few quick thoughts that ran through my mind  about some of  the HR policies in my company and I was  all geared up to correlate the knowledge I get in the lecture with whatever I have noticed  in my work. But surprisingly there was no lecture on anything related to the subject. And instead, a video was played (Pink floyd ‘s another brick in the wall). It is a satire on the current education system. I had loved that video but was still wondering why it’s been played then.  Slowly I was realizing that , this subject will not be taught in the conventional way and it would be done in a different manner.

Then we were shared with some knowledge on Mandi , Dhanda. And immediately I was left with some mixed feelings. I was surprised to see how products were made based on simple principles of mathematics and physics, was amazed to see how business and money is made out of such products, and also started feeling guilty that inspite of so many opportunities around us, I am not doing anything productive.

This session was not actually related to the subject yet we were enlightened with some precious knowledge and information on the opportunities present around us. We also were shown a video on Mandi. The way our seniors sold the products deserves all appreciation. They knew their motive, they targeted the right customers and they hit the bull’s eye perfectly. Walked out of the class with a positive attitude and looking forward to be associated with mandi and hopefully even dhanda. And then learnt a very interesting caption “Socho Bhecho, Behcho Seeko, Seekho Socho”.

2^nd Session   

            From the learning of 1^st session I entered the class with an open mind and was ready for more surprises. And it started off with Dr.Mandi sharing his view about entrepreneurship. There was a wonderful comparison about the managers being only automobile wheels and the organization being the actual vehicle. We were then told about then introduced to S.M.A.R.T goals ( Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time bound). These were new to me and had some understanding about them that these attributes contribute a lot to the success of an organization.

And then Sir had noticed that, it was post lunch we started feeling sleepy, he decided to make us play a game of cubes(a single cube tower had to be built). And 3 of our batch mates started playing it after an intense auction to enter the game. I was seeing it only as a game but was bit confused when three of them were assigned different roles. And then everything started falling in place. The comparisons that were made, like one being the head of an organization, other being the higher management and the third being the employee were surprising. Each and every action made by each of them was compared with the organizational behavior. And as sir was saying, I could relate most of them with what I had noticed in my previous workplace. Like the behavior of management, the way they treat the employees, take care of them, keep them satisfied through appraisals and increments. Behavior of the employees, how they follow their managers instructions and work accordingly. I could important features which contribute to organization’s success like, goal oriented approach, teamwork, effective communication in the game.  All this which initially started off as a game was a part of learning. And learnt all the new things without feeling sleepy even for a second and infact was very excited when the tower was being built. This was all nothing but learning in an unconventional manner which was full of fun. Had a very nice and important learning from this session about organizational behavior. Hope to have more such sessions in future.