3 Monks

Three Monks  is a Chinese animated feature film produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. After the cultural revolution and the fall of the political Gang of Four in 1976, the film was one of the first animations created as part of the rebirth period. It is also referred to as The Three Buddhist Priests.

The film is based on the ancient Chinese proverb "One monk will shoulder two buckets of water, two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to fetch water." The film does not contain any dialogues, allowing it to be watched by any culture, and a different music instrument was used to signify each monk.

SUMMARY

A young monk lives a simple life in a temple on top of a hill. He has one daily task of hauling two buckets of water up the hill. He tries to share the job with another monk, but the carry pole is only long enough for one bucket. The arrival of a third monk prompts everyone to expect that someone else will take on the chore. Consequently, no one fetches water though everybody is thirsty. At night, a rat comes to scrounge and then knocks the candleholder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple. The three monks finally unite together and make a concerted effort to put out the fire. Since then they understand the old saying "unity is strength" and begin to live a harmonious life. The temple never lacks water again.

WHATS IN IT

Method 1: One monk fetches the water

The monk fetches the water faithfully and regularly every day. As his needs are limited he doesn’t mind carrying two buckets with a stick on his shoulders.

Method 2: Two monks fetch the water

When the second monk moves in then the first monk thinks of distributing his work. Initially they both fight over how to carry water but later on they find a solution. They find a pole and jointly fetch a single bucket of water every day. Although they work as a team but it seems as if they are not satisfied with each other.

Method 3: Three monks work as a team to fetch out water

When the third monk moves in, both monks try to delegate entire work to the newcomer. Infact, third monk fetches the water once but he consumes all by himself. After arguing with each other constantly over whose turn it is to fetch the water, nobody goes to fetch the water. No water gets fetched even after they all are thirsty. 

MANAGEMENT LESSONS

Innovation 

Transition from method 2 to method 3 is innovation.  When the monastery is on fire they realise that it is better to think in terms of team goals rather than individualistic goals. The monk at the bottom fills the buckets, the middle monk works on pulley system and the third monk at the top douses the fire with water in the bucket. This shows difficult situation inspires ingenious solutions.

Teamwork 

The Three monks allow personal pride to interfere with the performance of daily tasks, each believing that the other two should be the ones to go downhill to fetch water. When a fire breaks out, however, they understand how silly they have been and work together to save the temple. So, from this we learn that in an organization and in a team, its important to take personal vanity out of the equation and to perform the duty at hand so that there is no regret later. A Manager has to take a note of this and check for any signs of work-delegation to others in his team.

Continuous Improvement

Method 1 and Method 2 are the examples of using old techniques but continuous improvements over time. It leads to better efficiency and process improvement.

Productivity

Method 2 brings us to an old debate Individual Vs Team Productivity. As per productivity analysis method 2 is more productive than method 1. To make it clearer, here is a table illustrating the productivity statistics in either case. Assuming 1 Man uses 1 unit of energy to lift 1 bucket. 

Event	Output (No. of buckets)	Input(Worker Energy units)	Productivity = Output/Input
1 Man – 2 buckets	2	2	1
2 Men – 1 bucket	1	0.5	2

AWARDS

• 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.
• Won four international awards including a Silver Bear for Short Film at the 32nd Berlin Film Festival in 1982.

CONCLUSION

From the above video analysis, we have come to the following conclusion :

• The productivity increases with the increase in the number of persons 
• There is more than 100% increase in the production with 100% increase in resources with good co-ordination
• One monk carrying water everyday will become boring after a while but two monks carrying water will not be boring and productivity will not be hampered
• Disputes and conflicts are bound to arise but they need to be minimized so as to make the most out of the available resources
• Team work and coordination is the key to success

Valley Crossing & Goal Setting

Management is often included as a factor of production along with machines, materials, and money. The size of management can range from one person in a small organization to hundreds or thousands of managers in multinational companies. In large organizations the board of directors formulates the policy which is then implemented by the chief executive officer. Some business analysts and financiers accord the highest importance to the quality and experience of the managers in evaluating an organizations current and future worth.

Learning this management through games is always fun.  So lets learn management through

a Valley Crossing Exercise. 

THE PROBLEM

The problem is that 3 people have to cross a valley and the only resource they have is a rod. The width of the valley is such that it is longer than a step a person can take but shorter than 2 steps a person can take.

THE SOLUTION

1.      When the first person will take the first step, he will be half risky since one of his feet will be in air and other on the ground, at the same time other two people will be full safe.


2.      Everybody will take one more step at this moment, first person will be fully risky and other two will be full safe. But since other two people will be holding the rod, with proper communication and trust they can cross.


3. This process will be repeated for other two persons. Every time they will be either half risky or full risky.

Persons	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Step
1	Safe	Safe	Safe
2	Half Risky
3	Full Risky
4	Half Risky	Half Risky
5		Full Risky
6		Half Risky	Half Risky
7			Full Risky
8			Half Risky
9	Safe	Safe	Safe

SO WHATS IN IT FOR US


Teamwork :


Just as the valley could not have been crossed individually, but rather as a team, in the same way in any organization optimal efficiency cannot be achieved in isolation. Every member of the team has to work together. What better example to give than that of the Indian army , who have won many a battle as a team, in the army the importance of team work and team spirit is stressed upon right from the joining days.




Goal setting: 

Can you imagine that the valley could have been crossed if each person had a different goal. Had person A wanted lunch, person B sleep and only person see , to cross the valley , it would have been very difficult to cross the valley, therefore it is of utmost important in any organization to define clearly, as to what the goal is and ensure that each person works in concordance with the laid objectives. Management by objectives is precisely which  is of paramount importance.




Communication :




Communication is perhaps the most important aspect to achieve anything, in this example , all three have to communicate continuously to achieve this task. In an organization it is very important for every level of management , and within those levels to communicate with each other. concepts like JIT, kanban would not have achieved their full potential without solving the communication bottlenecks.



Trust:

Trust for three people crossing the valley is very important , as at different times, a particular person becomes very vulnerable and his safety lies in the hands of the other 2 people . so is the case for any small or large, significant or mundane activity in any organization. As the success in any endevour of the of the organization hugely depends on teamwork, trust among the members is important for coordinating effectively to achieve the objectives of the organization. An example where trust is paramount is medicine , the relation between the doctor and patient is fully based on trust.

Goal Setting : The SMART Criteria

Specific

The first term stresses the need for a specific goal over and against a more general one. This means the goal is clear and unambiguous; without vagaries and platitudes. To make goals specific, they must tell a team exactly what is expected, why is it important, who’s involved, where is it going to happen and which attributes are important.

A specific goal will usually answer the five "W" questions:

• What: What do I want to accomplish?

• Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

• Who: Who is involved?

• Where: Identify a location.

• Which: Identify requirements and constraints.

Measurable

The second term stresses the need for concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of the goal. The thought behind this is that if a goal is not measurable, it is not possible to know whether a team is making progress toward successful completion. Measuring progress is supposed to help a team stay on track, reach its target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs it on to continued effort required to reach the ultimate goal.

A measurable goal will usually answer questions such as:

• How much?
• How many?

How will I know when it is accomplished

Attainable

The third term stresses the importance of goals that are realistic and attainable. While an attainable goal may stretch a team in order to achieve it, the goal is not extreme. That is, the goals are neither out of reach nor below standard performance, as these may be considered meaningless. When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. The theory states that an attainable goal may cause goal-setters to identify previously overlooked opportunities to bring themselves closer to the achievement of their goals.

An attainable goal will usually answer the question:

• How: How can the goal be accomplished?

Relevant

The fourth term stresses the importance of choosing goals that matter. A Bank Manager's goal to "Make 50 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by 2:00pm." may be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Time-Bound, but lacks Relevance. Many times you will need support to accomplish a goal: resources, a champion voice, someone to knock down obstacles. Goals that are relevant to your boss, your team, your organization will receive that needed support.

Relevant goals (when met) drive the team, department, and organization forward. A goal that supports or is in alignment with other goals would be considered a relevant goal.

A relevant goal can answer yes to these questions:

• Does this seem worthwhile?

• Is this the right time?

• Does this match our other efforts/needs?

• Are you the right person?

Time Bound

The fifth term stresses the importance of grounding goals within a time frame, giving them a target date. A commitment to a deadline helps a team focus their efforts on completion of the goal on or before the due date. This part of the S.M.A.R.T. goal criteria is intended to prevent goals from being overtaken by the day-to-day crises that invariably arise in an organization. A time-bound goal is intended to establish a sense of urgency.

A time-bound goal will usually answer the question:

• When?
• What can I do 6 months from now?
• What can I do 6 weeks from now?
• What can I do today?