So what do we get to learn from the three monks movie as Managers??

There is an old 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". This proverb inspired director Jingda Xu to make one of the most appreciated movie in 1980 under Shanghai Animation Film Studio - 'The Three Monks'.

This short animated movie of about 20 minutes, teaches many management lessons to the world without speaking out a single dialogue. The ability of the movie to speak out aloud, makes it worth many awards it has already been honored with. Prof. Mandi brings out this epic into his class and imparts the lessons of management.

Let us analyse the movie categorically-

First Monk: Short in height and generous enough to take care of the leaning creature such as tortoise and dying plant in the monastery. He presents you a classic scenario of self reliance where he himself is assigned of all responsibilities. In absence of any assistance, he himself carry 2 buckets of water on a daily basis, managing them through a fulcrum setup. He fetches 2 buckets of water everyday which is more than sufficient to meet his and monastery's need. But this gives him fatigue and satisfaction, as he is the one utilising the resources himself.

Second Monk Joins the First In Monastery: Tall and a generous creature joins the first monk on the hilltop monastery. But soon differences creeps in between the two for fetching the water from the river flowing at the basin of the hill. They try to sort it out amicably and design the fulcrum to carry 1 bucket on fulcrum. But due to difference in their heights, it fails. But, through proper measurement, they soon find a way out to fetch water.

Third Monk Joins The Party: A third FAT monk soon joins the previous two in monastery. Owing to his heavy appearance, he consumes all the water to quench his thirst. This enrages the first two monks and they assign him the work to fetch water. Third monk does so just to consume the whole water himself. Finally, all the three monks stops fetching water owing to clashes among them. 

Thus we come across a scenario where none of the three monks are ready to fetch the water from the river down the hill though everybody is thirsty. This not only rifts the harmony of the monastery apart but also starts affecting their concentration. Consequently this benefits a rat who comes to scrounge and knocks the candle-holder resulting in a devastating fire in the monastery.

As a result of the arson, three of them unite and fetches water together to save the heritage they possess. This incident enlightens their wisdom and finally they come together and invent a pulley mechanism to fetch water. They also practice division of work among them which optimizes their work and thus they live happily after.

Let us study in detail the management lessons imparted by this short movie-

1. Working in Team
           The movie brings out the importance of working in team/as a group aloud. A work might be done individualistically but as a group it can be done more proficiently without burdening any single individual. Importance of every individual matters in the group to envision the completion of any task.

2. Labor Division
          Working in a group does not produces result until it is accompanied by the proper distribution of work. Improper distribution of work may lead to differences and rifts among team members, resulting in the loss of concentration and productivity. Division of work after proper talent recognition is as important as getting the job done.

3. Accountability
          Once the work has been assigned to a particular individual, then they must take the responsibility to the fullest. Their accountability ensures the completion of a quality work on time, with little scope for errors and mishaps.

4. Handling crisis
           Hard times often brings the best out of an individual. A calm composure and rational behavior is all what is required to handle any damn situation. Working as a group eases out the burden if one is stuck in some difficulty.

5. Creativity/Innovation
         'Necessity is the mother of invention.'-A very vague statement to make but very true to its meaning. If one is not satisfied with the existing monotonous approach of doing things, then the only way out is to invent or innovate a new one. One should always strive for the betterment of the process.

Finally, one should let go the monetary interests while working in a team. A team can never achieve on individualistic approach. It has to put in efforts as one single unit, then only it can expect the desired outcomes. 

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Theory x ('authoritarian management' style)

• The average person dislikes work and will avoid it he/she can.
• Therefore most people must be forced with the threat of punishment to work towards organisational objectives.
• sThe average person prefers to be directed; to avoid responsibility; is relatively unambitious, and wants security above all else.

Theory y ('participative management' style)

• Effort in work is as natural as work and play.
• People will apply self-control and self-direction in the pursuit of organisational objectives, without external control or the threat of punishment.
• Commitment to objectives is a function of rewards associated with their achievement.
• People usually accept and often seek responsibility.
• The capacity to use a high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in solving organisational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population.
• In industry the intellectual potential of the average person is only partly utilised.

Theory Y Managers assume NOT LAZY workers as NOT LAZY and make them work
The implications of such management are:

• Workers are given good roles and responsibilities and expected to deliver the same.
• Workers try to bring up their ideas and innovations on the common platform which are respected and discussed.
• Workers feel secured and comfortable. The personal satisfaction and monetary rewards make employees happy.
• Such practices develop Theory X principles in the workers itself and they practice the same when they reach top management.

What type of Manager you should be depends upon the environment you are working. But the research says the type Y managers are successful because they don't force their workers and are ever encouraging. this practice is now being followed in most of the industry and it is yielding results.

Learning from this:

According to Theory X, managers believe workers

•dislike work

•lack ambition

•are irresponsible

•are resistant to change

•prefer to be led

According to Theory Y, managers believe workers

•are willing to work

•are capable of self control

•accept responsibility

•are imaginative and creative

•self-directed

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3 idiots.......

Together we can.....

The above lines are aptly signified by the Valley crossing activity performed in Prof. Mandi's class. An activity which tells us to support the weakest link to make the strongest chain. This activity helps us learn the importance of roles each member plays in achieving the most difficult targets.

Why Team work is important?

Well its one thing to create a team but quite an another to create teamwork in the workplace. Just its one thing to join a team, quite another to perform as a team member. To put it in simple words, teams doesn’t work without teamwork. Creating a culture where teamwork is valued, and collaboration encouraged, is a good way for businesses, sports teams, medical facilities, and really, most all human endeavors to increase the overall chances of mutual ongoing success. There are no two human beings that have the same experiences in their lives, and it is the sum of experience that “makes the man”. Just as you can never know precisely how a given situation will actually end, you can also never know how any teams endeavors will culminate either. All that can be done is to gather your team, and assign a project. Allow the leadership to come forward naturally, (usually they are quite easy to spot-vocal and opinionated) decide who should be named formally the teams leader, and begin your bigger journey.

ACTIVITY

This simple task gives lots of learning about management principles.

First of all it involves planning – This task appears simple but execution of this require carefully thought out strategy which includes assigning  roles to individuals, setting the target and proper co-ordination between the team members.

Team work – This task shows how things can be achieved through proper team work. This task in very difficult if there is only one individual but through a team of three this can be easily done. So this is all about team work 

Contribution from every individual – There is no social loafing in this case. Each and every individual has to play its part, if they have to achieve the target.

Synchronization - This is the most important principle required in proper implementation of this task. To cross the valley each and every step of all the three individuals should be properly synchronised. The speed of moving should also be in synchronism.

Other skills involved in the task

The technical skill is to able to perform the actual task .i.e. lifting the pole on the shoulder and carrying the 50% weight of one of the person and 50% weight of the pole and crossing the valley one by one with similar process of one person hanging by the pole and the others carrying the pole on their shoulders.


The conceptual skills are required to understand the aim of the whole team ,how to reach that goal ,what are the impending problems that they may come across.Planning and organizing the role of each and every person of the team is needed to reach the goal.In this case proper coordination and synchronization of the steps are very essential.For this they need a lot of planning,practise and power.


Human skills or interpersonal skills are essential to understand the psyche of each and every individual to perform the task better because ultimately it is the human beings who will be crossing the valley not any trained machines..A human being will be working with other human being who will have emotions....