Three Monks Vedio and Team Dynamics

                                         THREE MONKS Getting Water:

All organizations rest on team work. Teams and Team work is explained at its best here by means of a three monks film vedio. 

In our session of Principles of Organization Management, we were shown a vedio film to illustrate more on team and team work. The Vedio started with one monk. He decided to get water to the monastery. With a stick on his shoulder having 2 buckets, one at front and other at back, he went to river side to draw water. He returned back with water in both the buckets. After some time one more monk joined him.

 Next Day, both the monks decided to bring water together. They arranged to hang a common stick on their shoulders with single bucket in between. They went to the river side to bring water. Second monk being taller tried to push the bucket more on first monk’s side. First monk tried doing the same. Here came the problem of unequal division of work. Even though both monks were good at heart,they fought for a small work. First monk saved bird in his journey and the second one saved butterfly. But when they were working together, somehow team dynamics did’nt work between them. We conclude that universal human nature is always positive.

Solution to the problem of equal division of work: 

Several alternatives were suggested in our class for the equal division of work.They are:

• ·         One person carry water one day and the other carry water the next day.i.e. they take turns in doing so.
• ·         Every day they carry two buckets each as the first monk used to carry earlier.

After much brainstorming, the solution remained the same i.e. two people carry one bucket daily.As this solution had its advantages.

The work would be equally divided between the two.Effort will be less,leading to satisfaction from work. This is a very important concept which helps in retaining employees in an organization thus reducing the attrition rate.The Productivity would be higher in this case.

The Vedio continued and the two monks decided to measure the length of the rod and tie the bucket in between for equal load sharing.They started to measure by hands. But that division turned out to be baised because of difference in length of palm of each monk. So, they agreed upon measuring by scale. In this case both worked together to reach to a mid point of rod, one measured the rod and other holded the position for perfection in measurement. We conclude that Measurement of work need to be scientific and objective. This contributes more towards work satisfaction.

Here comes the third monk in the picture.On arrival of the third monk,the two monks rested and thought he will bring water.Biut to their surprise, the third monk drank water brought by the two monks. Here comes another concept: Teams follow a certain  norms. Norms refer to assumptions and exceptations about how their members would behave. Here the third monk joined the team of 2 monks and was expected to help them in the water carrying activity. 

Continuing in the video, fire broke out and all the three monks irrespective of the tensions between them worked together to bring water as much as possible and were able to blow off the fire.

There was need for a system in which nobody could sleep. Things had to change in due course of time.

Thus a method was devised in which one pulley system was set up. One monk filled bucket from the river. the second pulled up the bucket and third one carried the bucket to monastery. Thus this method was highly efficient as compared to others as:

• ·         There was a continuous feedback and instantaneous communication
• ·         Nobody was idle
• ·         Effort was negligible as compared to the other two
• ·         The task was highly dependant on three of them

This is the kind of modern management that we witness in organizations today.We witnessed the changing group dynamics with the change in method of work.This is what our managers do.They devise methods for maximum productivity and improved work satisfaction.