Navrang and the Principles of Scientific Management

Objective:The Objective of this blog is to learn the principles of Scientific management by carrying out a task on a detachable Rubik's cube- NAVARANG

This was one of the most interesting class by Dr. Mandi, he explained to us some principles of scientific management by following a step by step approach.

The class started with Dr Mandi presenting before us some blocks,which were required to be joined together to form a cube similar to Rubik's cube. There were certain conditions for making this cube:

• There were 27 blocks in all, they were to be arranged in form of a cube of 3*3*3 fashion
• Each face of the cube should contain 9 different colours, i.e. none should be repeated and hence the name 'NAVARANG' which in hindi means 'Nine different Colours'.

Multiple students were called upon, but the result was same, they were not able to achieve the Goal!It was then Dr Mandi took over and explained to us that in order to achieve any goal, we must have a purpose and we should carry out the tasks to achieve the purpose in an arranged form. he reminded us one of the four statement of Frederick theory of scientific management:i.e. we shoulld use a well defined scientific method to carry out any job and we should figure out a way which gives us maximum utilization and efficiency.With this, Dr. Mandi gave us an algorithm to solve this puzzle, he demonstrated the solution of this puzzle by first segregating the blocks in 3 each(each having same colour). Thus total nine groups of colours were formed. He then gave us a well defined way of arranging the cubes which can be learnt by watching the below mentioned video:

To carry out this exercise, Dr. Mandi called out for two volunteers which were asked to carry out the above mentioned task. With no definite plan, both students started making the cube, but even after multiple trials they were not able to make cube containing 9 different colours on every face. The result was a disaster.

"Replace working by "rule of thumb," or simple habit and common sense, and instead use the scientific method to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform specific tasks."

After a demonstration by himself, he called upon some volunteers to perform the task again.

This time, with a well defined scientific method, the students were able to build navarang and that too with speed and accuracy.
Thus, we got a live case study of Taylors scientific management principles, thanks to Dr. Mandi and his new experiment with cube called 'Navarang'.

Management Jargons discussed in POM Lecture.

Objective:The Objective of this blog is to explain the different management jargons which were discussed during our lecture of Principle of Organisational Management.

It was a different kind of lecture wherein various management jargons were discussed and students shared their opinions about them. Lets discuss these jargons one by one.

Theory Z:

Theory Z, proposed by Dr. William Ouchi focuses on increasing employee loyalty by providing stable employment with a strong focus on the overall well-being of the employee. This theory assumes that employees are disciplined, can be trusted to do thier job, and want to build happy and intimate working relationships with their subordinates, peers and superiors. They value a working environment where family, cultures, traditions and social institutions are regarded as equally important as the work itself.

According to Ouchi, Theory Z management style leads to high productivity, high employee morale and satisfaction. Ouchi’s Theory Z is often referred to as the ‘Japanese’ management style as well.

Transformational Leadership:

Transformational Leadership enhances the motivation, morale, and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. These include connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to the project and the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them and makes them interested; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with tasks that enhance their performance.

Informal Organisation:

It is the interlocking social structure that governs how people work together in practice. It is the aggregate of, norms, personal and professional connections through which work gets done and relationships are built among people who share a common organizational affiliation or cluster of affiliations. It consists of a dynamic set of personal relationships, social networks, communities of common interest, and emotional sources of motivation. The informal organization evolves, and the complex social dynamics of its members

Intrinsic reward:

Intrinsic reward fulfills employee’s intrinsic factors or motivators and thus motivates him.Examples include; giving challenging task, involving in decision making process, giving a higher rank in hierarchy etc all these rewards do not required to have increased salary as well and employee may be working at higher management rank without an increase in the salary and still more motivated.

Extrinsic reward:

Extrinsic reward fulfills employees extrinsic factors or hygiene factors and thus do not let him start thinking about leaving the company. Examples include; pay rise, bonuses, paid leaves, annual recreational plans etc. 

7 S model:

The McKinsey 7S Framework is a management model developed by well-known business consultants Robert H. Waterman, Jr.and Tom Peters (who also developed the MBWA-- "Management By Walking Around" motif, and authored In Search of Excellence) in the 1980s. This was a strategic vision for groups, to include businesses, business units, and teams. The 7S are structure, strategy, systems, skills, style, staff and shared values.

We can understand this model better by watching this video:

 
Rational model of decision making:

he rational planning model is the process of realizing a problem, establishing and evaluating planning criteria, creating alternatives, implementing alternatives, and monitoring progress of the alternatives. It is used in designing neighborhoods, cities, and regions. The rational planning model is central in the development of modern urban planning and transportation planning. The very similar rational decision-making model, as it is called in organizational behavior, is a process for making logically sound decisions.This multi-step model and aims to be logical and follow the orderly path from problem identification through solution.
Job rotation and Job design:


Contingency approach:

Contingency approach, also known as situational approach, is a concept in management stating that there is no one universally applicable set of management principles (rules) by which to manage organizations. Organizations are individually different, face different situations (contingency variables), and require different ways of managing. Contingency approaches remain less common than change management approaches.

Forcefield theory:

Force Field Analysis is a useful decision-making technique. It helps you make a decision by analyzing the forces for and against a change, and it helps you communicate the reasoning behind your decision. You can use it for two purposes: to decide whether to go ahead with the change; and to increase your chances of success, by strengthening the forces supporting change and weakening those against it.

 
I hope i was able to explain the basic management jargons clearly. Please share your valuable feedback in comments section.

Session by NITIE's illustrious alumni Mr. Amit Shah

Objective: The Objective of this Blog is to share my experiences from an interactive session with AMIT SHAH(Executive VP & Country Head, Corporate Branding, Marketing and Strategic Communication at YES Bank)

I would like to thank Dr. Prasad a.k.a Dr. Mandi for organising the inspirational address by our illustrious alumni.

The session began with an introductory note, soon after which Mr. Amit asked us about our expectations from the session. Students shared their expectations about various issues pertaining to a typical B-School life. 

Mr. Shah divided the queries into two clusters, 'The issues which are in one's control' and 'Issues which are not in one's control', lets have a look at them:

He emphasised that one should concentrate their energy and efforts in the first area wherein the 'issues are in one's control' as one can work on those to improve the final outcome. However, concentrating on issues under second heading, which are not under one's control, leads to more frustrations as these factors are driven by external affects. 

Mr Amit also elaborated on how everyone in our batch is equally competant, we all cleared CAT with almost similar percentiles, but the situation at summer or final placement is diiferent. He explained the situation by giving a quote "You don't pick a potato by choice, its more by chance". Hence, in a cluster of equally competant people, its heavily a matter of chance that some people get better placements than others.

To break this barrier, one has to stand out of the crowd, its an ongoing WAR FOR TALENT and one needs to consistently perform well to achieve the best of the lot.

However, one needs to understand that everything doesn't goes as per the plan. So, he/she needs to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. there should always be a plan 'B'. A person should be able to survive the jitters which comes along and should perform with the best of his/her ability.

To prepare for the best, one should realise that there are ample amount of opportunities which are available for everyone, so make the best use of the two years of this course and come out with flying colours. Mr. Amit shah shared some simple tips:

• Do Different things: One can only stand out of the crowd if he/she does different things. For a B-school life, one should clear different certifications like Six sigma, CFA, PMP, ITIL etc which realte to one's domain.
• Be Consistent: One should be consistent in whatever one does, only a consistent effort can guarentee a way to success.

So is there any predefined secret to success? Might be, might not be, its all a sum of different parts. to be successfull one needs to have:

• Competencies: Behavioural traits, eg. people leadership and entreprenuership
• Knowledge and skills: having varied knowledge in different areas.
• Delivery:Ability to hit and exceed set targets: meeting revenue goals, client service objectives.

But to achieve success, all these parts have to be interlinked by "Aspiration", without aspiration to succeed, one cannot achieve his/her goal. To sum up:

 

 

 Sharing his experience of studying at NITIE, Mr. Amit shah said that all the three factors of "Competencies", "Knowledge and skills" and "Delivery" are available at NITIE. he described it in the below mentioned way:

 

 Clearing the doubts of students regarding the job profile which they will get in future, Mr. Amit shah mentioned that there are two types of jobs in the industry: "Revenue Generating" and "Supporting", each one of us have to be a part of one of these job roles in one or other time of our career.

 

 Moving on, he emphasised on the need to evaluate one self regularly, he categorised the evaluation criteria into four dimensions, 'Thought', 'Influence', 'Adaptability', 'Delivery'. Every job role requires a mix of these factors and one should aspire to aquire them accordingly.

Finally, he concluded the session by giving a quote "Just play to a plan, a philosophy and to your strengths"

Three Idiots crossing the valley.

Objective: The Objective of this Blog is to analyse the Management Lessons learnt from the story "Three Idiots crossing the valley".

Every manager knows the power of Teamwork. In fact the very existence of a manager can be attributed to the phenomenon of 'Teams'. If human beings had long decided to do every task individually, the world would have been a totally different place. The Valley Crossing exercise purely focussed on learning this phenomenon called 'Teamwork'.

Explanation of valley crossing through this picture:

Learnings from this exercise:

1) Concept of Super Teams & Self Manager Teams: Super Teams or High performance teams is a concept which has been successfully adopted by many big corporations like GE, Krafts food, Boeing etc. It can be defined as a group of 3 to 30 workers drawn from different areas of a corporation to solve problems faced daily. The valley crossing exercise had many characteristics of a super team like:

• Participative leadership – different from the tradition approach of a authoritarian team leader.

• Open and clear communication – Communication is the key to crossing valley effectively.

• Mutual trust – Every person needed to trust each other completely especially when their feet was off the ground.

• Managing conflict – dealing with conflict openly and transparently and not allowing grudges to build up and destroy team morale

• Clear goals – The goals were clear, defined and each member in the team fully understood the gravity of the problem.

• Defined roles and responsibilities – each team member understands what they must do (and what they must not do) to demonstrate their commitment to the team and to support team success. Furthermore the roles and  responsibilities keep on changing depending on the situation. 

• Coordinative relationship – the bonds between the team members allow them to seamlessly coordinate their work to achieve both efficiency and effectiveness

• Positive atmosphere – an overall team culture that is open, transparent, positive, future-focused and able to deliver success.

2) Task Interdependence - It is the extent to which a group's work requires its members to interact with one another. We see that in the valley crossing exercise it is of utmost importance to be interdependent on each other so as to mitigate the risk and achieve the task at hand. This also has brings lot of perspectives to the Team performance in reality. What I have observed is that the interdependence increases as we go higher up the corporate ladder. As a worker or low level employee, we can usually get away with completing the task without much interdependence (even though effectively using the team's collective strength may increase productivity). But as we go to strategic level, it is almost impossible to go about a task without the expertise/skill/opinion of your team mates.  Thus Interdependence and its effective usage is crucial for a manager.

A video showing the Valley Crossing exercise which happened in NITIE.

3) The Flip side: Quite often we come across people who get their tasks done by their team mates. One of the flip side of team work is that our efforts may go unrecognised or even worse credited to the wrong person. In a competitive and performance oriented environment like ours, it is important to see through these ploys. Some of the good work practises that I have found in good team players in my previous organization includes:

• Pro actively helping members in need.
• Properly communicating the work done to superiors.
• Pro actively using the teams strength for overcoming problems.
• Effective participation in meetings and team events etc.

These are some of the learnings from this exercise.