Context:
The story of the three Buddhist Monks is an anime film directed by A Da. The film has got many recognitions including:
- Won the outstanding film award at China's Ministry of Culture.
- Won the Best animated film prize at the first Golden Rooster Awards in 1981.
It is a short and beautiful movie with a wonderful message. A must watch for managers and practitioners who try to implement working-teams in an organization without looking at the other side of the picture.
Film:
Learnings:
The movie throws light on some important concepts of management. As usual I will try to analyse some of these concepts based on the video.
1) Productivity - It is a measure of how well an operations system functions. In previous posts we have come across the important equation:
Excellence = Efficiency X Effectiveness
We have also seen in much detail the importance of effectiveness and also the role of manager in improving the effectiveness of the system. This video completely on the other hand talks about the importance of efficiency. Efficiency can be described by productivity ratio which is Total output/ Total input.
Different processes have different efficiency levels. One of the important functions of a manager is to optimize the process, improve the work design and try to aim for the most efficient process.
We see that even during the fire, when all the monks were doing extra effort, their efficiency level is not at par with the final solution. This it is important for managers to be thought leaders and try to come up with innovative solutions to improve efficiency.
2) Design of Operations systems: So how do we increase the productivity of a system. One of the most important tool is the designing the operation systems. It includes finding answers to 4 main questions:
It is a continuous process of optimizing the work so that maximum efficiency can be derived out of it. So Now that we know the importance of efficiency and a brief idea about how to improve efficiency, let us look at the third part of the puzzle - Team work.
3) Teamwork
Thus we see a totally new phenomenon that as the number of people increase, the productivity has come down drastically. This is the core learning from this story also:
Without Cooperation, 1 monk can fetch 2 buckets of water, 2 monks can fetch 1 bucket of water and 3 monks will fetch no water at all.
With cooperation, 3 monks can increase the efficiency of the process to a level previously unattainable. (Innovation, creativity etc plays an important part).
Thus every manager who profess the importance of team work should also look at the flip side and the negative effects by having an imbalanced team. Pick two top class Singles tennis players, put them in a team and contest against the number one seeded doubles team. Even though individually the latter is weaker, they can beat the superior opposition thanks to coordination and team work.
These are some of my observations regarding the video. I would love to hear your comments/suggestions/criticisms. Also please rate this post for feedback purpose.
Great article. Mathematically speaking 3 monks without co-operation carry 0 buckets and with co-operation can carry a minimum of 6 buckets. I think the same example of team work can also be seen In Football, where Chelsea being the underdogs managed to beat Barcelona which happened to be the greatest team this generation has ever produced.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very nice example which you have taken.
ReplyDeleteLet us look at some scenarios:
1) An amazing player is signed but completely fails in the team. E.g. Fernando Torres in Chelsea. Thus care should be taken to sign players who gel well with the team. Individual ability is only second to team cohesiveness.
2) Barcelona can be actually considered as an example of amazing team work beating individual performance. The whole team is one cohesive unit. Even if you look at the strengths of their best players like Xavi, Iniesta etc (I care to leave Messi out since he is good in everything), their greatest ability is passing(fostering teamwork) rather than abilities like pace, strength etc (fostering individual performance).
3) Yes there are instances when individuals are motivated to perform beyond their abilities just like the way the monks worked during the fire. But it will not generate long lasting results which is paramount in business. E.g. Chelsea did beat Barcelona in the semis but if we look at the stats for the previous 5 years, there is no competition regarding which is the better team.
High performance with Best people is one way.
DeleteThe other option is average people producing higher performance with teamwork. ( this is more Japanese way of doing things )
The issue is how to ensure high performance through using the BEST people and also Teamwork..This is a rare combination... greagt
Motivation comes later on. Before that we need work system.. This film is about the system of working where .. comfortable, efficient work systems is drawn so that people will work.. ofcourse they need to be motivated..
ReplyDelete2. 3 Monks ... NO buckets of water is WRONG... It is many buckets of water.. as fun, and play.. dr mandi
Dear Dr. Prasad,
ReplyDelete"One monk will shoulder two buckets of water, two will share the load,but add a third and no one will fetch the water"
This is actually an ancient Chinese proverb. The film was based on this proverb.
Even in the movie, we are seeing that no effectively no buckets of water is gained after the third monk joins in. This was what I was referring to.
Regards,
Alen
this one is different and (i admit) more insightful than all others...
ReplyDelete