Delivering Performance with Fun (Tower Building Game Goal Setting)

Tower building is a funny game, at first side it appears a wonderful way to produce a childish but Unchaa (high) tower trying to compete in the class. But this activity can lead to such valuable lessons in management can only become evident in POM classroom.

Our class through the last two sessions has been trying to build towers sometimes blindfolded, sometimes as a huge team without any proper strategy. but now was a time to be SMART. I highlight the word smart as something needed to change for becoming the highest tower building class of IM sections till now.

So we had to arrive from building towers to S.M.A.R.T. goals. Goals are an observable and measurable end result having one or more objectives to be achieved within a more or less fixed time frame. This is what our class was asked to achieve and for this we had to fill relevant task values for four different aspects. These are as below:

1. Goal Set
2. Goal Achieved
3. Goal (History)
4. Potential

Everyone had initially different values for all these four paramaters but as S.M.A.R.T. goals come into picture we realized that for a progressive organization goals should be set as a spiral curve

The reason for spiral selection is the property of a spiral which allows it to emanate from a central point getting progressively farther away as it evolves out. Now for performance has a direct relationship with goal set and goal achieved which should complement each other and show as a reliable paramater for further improvements.

Goal set and goal achieved work in a zigzag ladder function in todays organizations where Goal achieved elevates Goal set which in turn impacts positively on Goals achieved and so on. This is what the companies look from managers in todays corporate environment, a person who can deliver performance by juggling with these two paramaters efficiently.

Combining these perspectives can help easily to establish a relationship between Goal set, Potential, Goal achieved and Goal (History). i.e. Goal set > Potential > Goal achieved > Goal History.

This philosophy was applied in the classroom to build a tower of 28 blocks something of an achievement considering earlier record was 27. So the lesson to take is ambitions, goals should be set higher to potential so as to motivate people move towards performance in a spiral fashion and this only can lead to High Performance... Delivered.

Tower Building and Understanding 3 E's

“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because    this is our life.” 
- Steve Jobs

Every organization strives for excellence but only a few are able to achieve it. This competitive advantage called Excellence depends on two major paramaters that is Effectiveness and Efficiency. Together Excellence, Efficiency and Effectiveness form the three E's business strive for to remain ahead in a competitive market such as today.

Effectiveness is the vision behind a idea, process and is accomplished only by some in the organisations. For eg. Mr. Ratan Tata had a vision, goal when he proposed the entry of Nano. It was the idea of empowering each person in India with four wheeler which inspired such a model and it gained immediate acceptability and market in customer mindset.

At the same time efficiency is the process of optimized utilization of resources to gain maximum productivity be it in terms of speed or money. This is the aspect most managers are found to be striving for within organizations.

Combination of these two gives rise to Excellence which in mathematical terms can be thought as a multiplying relationship

Excellence = Effectiveness * Efficiency

Some powerful examples to explain this can be the rise and sustainability of FlipKart and Mumbai Dabawallas. Both the business process models are best examples of excellence and had effectiveness in the form of ideas such as delivering value in the form of e commerce or food to customers at their door steps and offices. Also the efficiency in the systems have made delivering value on time and at low cost possible at such large scale.

Both the E's can be considered to be catering to stakeholders of its own kind. Effectiveness serves business, shareholders, investors. Efficiency on the  other hand serves customers. But what about the hidden E that is Enjoyable. 

This fourth E is often neglected by organizations since processes that are effective and efficient but not enjoyable can ultimately effect in less customer orientation. Also the business looses on social responsibility as unhappy workers do not tend to be good citizens.

This is a phenomenon also discussed in 'Modern Times', a short film depicting Charlie Chaplin as a worker in a assembly line . Youtube link for the film is as below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGNYyG8F7WY

Now these 4E's can also be used to make distinction between Craftsmanship and modern management.

A craftsmen is person with lower goals and has no process to attain scale or excellence, his business process is highly dependent on skills of one worker. But the workers satisfaction level is extremely high. Now this implies process lacked vision or goal which implies effectiveness. Also since the process involves the skills of just one person completing all the minor tasks this leads to lack of efficiency though the process is enjoyable for worker to participate in.

But in case of modern management there are several processes that run parallel to each other and gives emphasis on developing dexterity in which the whole process is highly dependent on each component. Also techniques such as deskilling are implemented to give emphasis on process rather than people. Now this implies their is a vision to give emphasis on process which means effectiveness. Also tasks being fragmented to many minor tasks leads to efficiency since speed and efficiency improves if a task is done again and again. Considering the hidden E it can be present in a positive or negative way depending on the process model and consideration this. For eg. A worker could be rotated periodically to help him overcome monotony.

This thinking was demonstrated in class with a practical in which students were asked to come forward and build a tower from simple cubes. A student came forward and was asked to set a target for himself. The class expectation was extremely low 8- 10 and the student himself expected 10 only. But in the process he was able to build up 17 block tower.

Now in another demonstration 8 students came forward to do the same task but the only difference this time was that the one making the tower was to be blindfolded and others were to just give suggestion. The tower thus made was only of 7 blocks. The tower builder was asked to explain why such low height of tower and he told that it became confusing for him to listen to so many persons without any strategy and hierarchy.

First demonstration shows craftsman is always prone to set low targets and in the process loose competitive advantage as his process can not attain excellence which could have been towers of great height and also scaling up of his process for larger customer base was extremely difficult.

Second demonstration shows that given a business process without effectiveness, strategy attainability of process goals is not possible.

The combination of the two shows that to attain excellence one should be able to combine effectiveness (strategy, goals, acceptability, market) with efficiency (cost effectiveness, time efficient).

Hope this blog has given you a clear understanding of the 3 E's which are highly useful in team building and business process development.

Any improvements are most welcome.

Theory X and Theory Y

X and Y on first glace appear just some mathematical variables but the X and Y in this blog relates to theory of human motivation created and developed by Douglas McGregor at the MIT Sloan School of Management in the 1960s that have been used in human resource management, organizational behavior  organizational communication and organizational development.

X and Y are names given to atitudes of managers rather than worker behavior. Variables are chosen so as to prevent perceptions and focusing on task at hand. Theory X managers are managers with a negative attitude who lack faith in workers, think them as lazy with an incentive for only money. Theory Y managers on the other hand are managers with a positive attitude who have faith in workers, think them as hardworking, creative and self motivated.

For an video explanation to theory X and theory Y please visit the link as below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qm_3saEo7o

Now in any organization we always find a set of lazy and another set of really competitive and hardworking workers. At the same time we also find both theory X and theory Y type of managers. Now this gives us four particular situations worth giving a thought to and understanding its implication. Let me put forward these situations in a ordered way:

1. Combination of Theory X managers with Lazy Workers: This is a situation in which worker is not interested in doing a job and is lazy. Also the manager is not interested in understanding the problem of the worker and hence the only way to get work done is by controlling and monitoring each task of the worker. This is a field raw for distrust and leads to highly tensed work environment for workers which leads to low satisfaction among most employees. Also the productivity of the team is heavily impacted and the effort needed to get any task done is enormous.

2. Combination of Theory X managers with Self Motivated, Good Workers: This is a situation in which worker is very competitive and assumes full responsibility of the various tasks he is working on. But the manager is still negative in his perception and considers workers as lazy and never appreciates their efforts. This leads to an uncooperative team in which worker looses his motivation with time and is dangerous since attaining of goals in team are to be well directed and this situation creates a set of workers ready to ignore manager since the negative atitude of manager forces multiple perceptions in workers about organizational goals.

3. Combination of Theory Y managers with Lazy workers: Worker in such case is again not interested in performing his job. But the manager has a positive atitude and believes in potential of worker. He understands that 'Business is all about people, You trust them and they will trust you back'. This combination is a raw platform in which manager tries to understand workers problem and provide solution accordingly. This may lead to two cases one in which worker improves his performance watching the trust of the manager which satisfies the basic need of self recognition in him. Also the habitual lazy worker may use this as a point of advantage for avoiding work. This overall is the best platform to test the managers mettle. He through his positive attitude and close coordination can create a highly result oriented team which from an organisations point of view is a great thing.

4. Combination of Theory Y managers with Self motivated, Good Workers: This is an ideal situation which one rarely finds in a organization. In such kind of atmosphere workers are ready to take the full responsibility of their work, are creative and have high job satisfaction levels. But the manager has little to prove in terms of improving productivity and culture.

I have come in contact with different managers while working in a manufacturing unit and have seen the implementation and effect of these combinations. For eg I had one very senior manager who used a combination of these methodologies. For all lazy workers can not be improved by positive attitude and require control at managerial level where each of the task given to them is closely observed and looked after with distrust since many critical equipments and processes are at stake. Since a manufacturing system is run in shifts in some combinations workers are highly motivated and such teams are given high levels of freedom but still sometimes a particular good worker is sidelined strategically for remaining in control over the plant activities. Now this is a particular situation where the manager uses combination 2 to keep control but the important thing to realize is that such control should not prolong for long since it will give rise to dangerous situation of attrition in the process and finding replacement for manufacturing equipments is not an easy task.

I personally believe that I fall in the category of theory Y managers since during my work experience I have managed many workers which fall in both the category. I always tried to gain an understanding of the reasons for   the lack of performance of a worker and helped create an atmosphere of trust by discussing the bigger picture of plant process and technicalities with them. Sometimes I would appreciate even the minor work done by lazy worker just to motivate them and let them be aware of my rising expectation and trust for them. I actually have got great result from the process and have been able to manage and develop seriously damaged team to successful result oriented team.

I as a student of PGDIM and my experience in a manufacturing unit can clearly relate to the application  of this theory in real practice, just that I was unaware of the technicalities of calling this as Theory X and Theory Y. I am sure people with experience can clearly relate with the same, and for others not presently working or working without access to management education I hope this blog serves as the platform to convey meaningful information which can be utilized by you in your fields.

Do write if you find application of this theory relevant and please don't forget to tell me the results of your experimentation within these combination. Any suggestions on new combination is welcome as it will improve my domain knowledge too. Do give your valuable inputs on suggesting improvements to the blog.

INSIGHTFUL CLASSROOM @ 'Tare Zameen Par'

All of us remember the entrance of Aamir Khan in the movie 'Tare Zameen Par'. It was as if something magical, challenging conventions, processes had emerged out of nowhere. For those of you who might have missed it please watch before proceeding.....

First class in the reputed campus of NITIE and enters Dr. T. Prasad also famous as Dr. Mandy in the campus. There is nothing aamir khan like in this man (at least in appearance) just that he is 'super enthu wala prof' with globe shaped balls in his one hand and colorful toys in another. Within moments the balls and the toys were flying all around in the classroom, perfect way to have fun for the first timers but soon the whole class was to realize that they were nothing but a bunch of beggars lucky to find someone ready to pay their expenses. The average cost of not doing a job and spending at an post graduate programme was very high (varying from 2000 to 4500 in the batch).

The takeaway from this is not that the batch is stupid to join the programe but that batch is lucky enough to get this education and now should utilize this opportunity effectively not just to benefit themselves but the society. One should be himself benefitted was made clear by the naara 'Aaj ki roti aaj hi kamayenge' which was reiterated in a vow taking fashion in the classroom. Also a brainchild of Profesor Prasad  Blog writing was put forward as this will be beneficial for thousands who don' t have access to premier education platforms such as NITIE. Every student under his guidance is supposed to write blogs for learning in every classroom as part of curriculum. Initially the idea appears like ' O teri ki kahan fas gaye'. But soon I realized what he was proposing was a sustainable way to educate others, improve oneself and also an opportunity to monetize these blogs in the direction of Naara'Aaj ki roti aaj hi kamayenge'.

With this example he wanted to make us think of alternate models in short our own dhandha's if we could come up with (during stay at the campus since it is known universally that about 50 % of time we have would remain un utilized) as it would be a proud moment to have another entrepreneur coming up of NITIE.

Now was the time to collect the toys and think of selling the stuff to potential buyers in a real world. Initially the task appeared tough but given some thought and understanding of product with application of engineering concepts showed these products as great selling stuff. For eg. the simple colorful butterfly had a circular hole in its center wherein a pen could be stuck and used to explain principle of center of mass and gravity. The whole idea behind this was another slogan 'Socho Becho Becho Seekho Seekho Socho Socho Becho'. This idea and its practical application as seen in the classroom are really appreciable and NITIE has pioneered the concept in form of events such as Mandi which has already found huge crowd of enthusiasts among newcomers at NITIE.

The unique approach and fun filled atmosphere created by Dr. T. Prasad is going to be highly beneficial for the entire society as everyone can write passionately about the field of their interests and this would make available knowledge to everyone which would form an equitable society. I through this blog would like to communicate all my readers to write blogs in their field of interest and also give their valuable suggestions for improvements that can be made to this blog.

Also people interested in POM (Principles of Organization and Management) should follow the blog and make use of any information that they can take away from here. I end paying my utmost respect to my new professor, hope I can extract as much utility as possible from this post graduate program.