LECTURE 01

Insight into “Principles of Management”, Our Session at NITIE:

In our First Class of “Principles of Management”, I was in the midst of the plethora of my thoughts about the subject. Our professor Dr. T Prasad walked inside the class with some material in his hand. I wondered what would be the agenda of our class. 

Activity Demonstration and Its correlation with real world:

Our class started with a small activity. In the activity, we were asked to build upon a tower with wooden cubes, one upon the other. The challenge was to build the longest tower. Each one of us was asked about the height of tower which we could build, in terms of number of cubes. We all had to run some sort of statistics in our heads to reach to a number. About 40% of us came out with the number 15, about 30 % of us came out with the number 20 and a small number of people said 25, 30.Somehow 15-20 seemed to be the feasible height of the tower. Several Questions arose in my mind during the course of this activity which were answered subsequently.

Can a tower be constructed with height of 30 or more?

Correlation. There came into picture the assumption about the feasibility of the task at hand. We all as managers would have to develop vision to foresee the task feasibility.

We were asked to raise hands for building the tower with the height we predicted and to bid for it in terms of money. 

Correlation. Then came the idea of Bidding in open market and making investment, where many competitors are ready to do the same task.

 In our task, three people had bid maximum money for a tower of height 18 and thus were given the opportunity to take up the task. It very well correlated with the bidding for projects in open markets whether it’s the IT industry or any other. In real life scenarios also, people loose projects by very small margins.

Correlation. Correlating the documents for bids stating the terms and conditions in our industry. 

What should be the rules for performing this activity??

The rules were as follows:

• The activity would comprise of 3 people.
• The First person who will build the tower will be blind-folded.
• The Second Person assisting him will not touch him but will have to guide him verbally.
• The third person will supervise the activity and will pitch in only 5 times at maximum.
•  

What roles were each of the participants playing in the activity??

Correlation. These three people assumed the roles of “Engineer”, “Team leader” and “Manager” respectively. The First person was making the tower as per the instructions of the Team Leader. The Team work of both was being viewed by the Third person - the manager.

Just as Project managers are concerned about the welfare of their men at work, the Second person gave proper breaks to the First person in between the activity. This kept him motivated during the activity.

Correlation. Work Culture of a company helps in delivering Zero defect Solution as well as reduces the attrition rate and adds to the company’s brand image.

Rest of us assumed the roles of the “Customers”. We were competitors at the beginning of the session but later we behaved as consumers. We all wanted the tower to be built. 

Correlation. In real life scenario also, Consumer always wants the Project to succeed.

Public was enthusiastic for the whole duration of the activity. 

What lessons did I learn from this activity??

When the activity was successfully completed, I realized that It is not difficult to achieve a target if we put in our right efforts at the right time. At this moment, even achieving the target of 30 (height of tower) did not seem unachievable. As a manager we need vision to foresee the future.

Also, Learnt the mantra of “SOCHO BHECHO, BECHO SEEKHO, SEEKHO SOCHO”. Lots to learn in the upcoming sessions, it’s a mere beginning!