Are you Metrics Driven ?

Are You Metrics Driven? from Infinity Info Systems

My Digital CV.........

Taking a Leap of faith : Efficient use of Team

Lets look at situation at hand.Three friends were trying to cross the valley .Each one has his own ability, own physical strength and ambition to go to next place.

It may happen that all of them make it to other side but that is very unlike outcome given the difficulty of the task. But if they work as a team , they might do well for each and everyone.
Lets look at the illustration given below :

Here we can see  that all three persons has crossed the valley without much of the risk. How that is possible ?
It possible because of  Team Work.We often think that teamwork does well for any work, but that is not true. Actually its work that  demands for collective or individualistic approach .

Here we can clearly see how load sharing and risk sharing is equal in each and very individual .
This whole example is implemented in each and every organization . In every organization , they have separate teams for separate tasks like sales team, production team , marketing team, finance team etc.
Each team has to share the load and risk and they have to trust the potential of every other teams to get allign with organization's vision and mission.

Navrang Cube And Rubik cube : Which management Style your Organization follows ?

Sometimes we wonder.. how these big Organization are formed ? How they work efficiently to achieve their goals ? Lets look into something very unusual but very effective in answering these questions.


I have two types of cube 1) Navrang Cube  2) Rubik Cube.
Let me discuss each of them in details and their relation with management.

Navrang Cube 

This cube has 27 small cube. There are 9 colors ,each color a group of 3 cubes.And Whole Cube can be disassembled and again design to Whole cube.
We have to arrange this cube in such a way that all  9 colors should appear on each side.

There can be several Management related approach that  can be discussed.
1. When we were making the whole cube from 27 small cubes, firstly we have to have an purpose and then a feasible approach to achieve that purpose.This is very similar in Organization, when we have to form a team or a company, we discuss the purpose in detail. Then by looking at all the option, we choose the most suitable approach.

2. It can also be interpreted that each face is like a team and we have to have different skill set of professional to achieve the objective of the organization.It can be also said that there will be  no ego conflict because of different level of skills.

Rubik Cube

In Rubik Cube , the 27 cube are connected in such a way that Whole cube can not be disassembled.
Here we have to have each face with same colors.
1.This symbolizes to Organization whose mission and vision are very clear and they are into business for quite a long time. Like all the small cubes are connected by very strong central base, similarly in these type of organization,Every decision is taken by few very intellectual people in such a way that it binds every other team.

2.Looking at the each face of Whole cube, we can conclude that it is necessary to have people of same skill in a team so as to provide a competitive environment which automatically generates efficiency and much more productivity.


Now there is one question arises, which cube is better one ? Well, answer to this question is little tricky one. When one Organization is formed , it has to know its purpose like solving Navrang cube but as the time passes and this organization has gained a significant foot hold in the market,It has to start the process to standardization and specialization like Rubik cube.

Three Monks :: A perfect example of Today's Organisation Growth model

Before i start discussion on Three Monks, it will be good idea if you can watch the video.

Here is the Video.....

There are Three scenarios given .
Scenario 1 : Only one monk was taking care of the Temple .

Advantages : He was very skilled with his work.
                     No one to compete or compare.
                     Satisfaction was very High.
                     Every Facility was used by him only.

Disadvantages : Too much dependency was on one person, what if he gets sick ??
                         May be he was very efficient for the point, but in long term with no proper mechanism in        
                         place he will worn out and efficiency will decrease.

Scenario 2 : Two monks were taking care of the Temple .

Advantages : Work was divided between them, So less burden of work on each one of them which will
                     increase their efficiency in long term.

Disadvantages :  Competition and comparison become part of daily work .
                          No rational facility to divide the work was there initially
Scenario 3 : Divided into 2 parts
                   a). Before the Fire Disaster
                   b)  After the Fire Disaster

Before the Fire Disaster : Here also no proper rational facility was used to divide the work which results in
                                        bad competition .
                                        Bad competition resulted in lack of interest in work which automatically led to Fire
                                         Disaster.
 After the Fire Disaster : Here they did which most of the people do when thinks go completely out of hand.
                                     To survive the fire , they not only worked together but they work many times more    
                                     what they used to work.

Fire disaster has not only revolutionized them , but inspires them to make the pulley mechanism to bring water in the temple. Here everybody has the particular task to do . They actually use the assembly line of work to divide the task which helps the process of evolution.

 3 monks story takes us to Greiner's Growth model where he explains the different challenges arises at different phase of time and how Organisation overcome it.

The Zig-Zag  path represents the hurdles or bumpy ride during any particular time when things don't go according to plan. At that time , organisation improvise and innovate and try to come to a solution from where they can take a leap of success.
So that's how organisation go through Revolution and Evolution at different point in time.

One Real example that i can co-relate 3 monks is "India's  shameful exit from 2007 World Cup".
At that time , There was not communication between coach , captain and senior players which led to most disastrous world cup of  Indian History.
But after that team management, players and Board sat together and they put a thought process into their weakness and came up with better domestic structure hence the IPL.
IPL has helped young Indian player to get international  exposure which resulted in India's most successfull World Cup 2011.

Organization's success : Everything is planned

When we start any work, we always set some goals and plans to achieve them  in most desirable way.

Goal setting is actually the road map that decides where we are going.In organizational world , the clear cut goal should be described in as detail as possible.

Goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-targeted (S.M.A.R.T ) goals. Work on the theory of goal-setting suggests that an effective tool for making progress is to ensure that participants in a group with a common goal are clearly aware of what is expected from them. On a personal level, setting goals helps people work towards their own objectives—most commonly with financial or career-based goals.Goal setting features as a major component of personal development literature

It is considered an “open” theory, so as new discoveries are made it is modified. Studies have shown that specific and ambitious goals lead to a higher level of performance than easy or general goals. As long as the individual accepts the goal, has the ability to attain it, and does not have conflicting goals, there is a positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and task performance.

Goals are a form of motivation that sets the standard for self-satisfaction with performance. Achieving the goal one has set for oneself is a measure of success, and being able to meet job challenges is a way one measures success in the workplace. It has been said that "Goal setting capitalizes on the human brain's amazing powers: Our brains are problem-solving, goal-achieving machines."

SMART criteria

One very important aspect of achieving maximum goals in an Organization is to utilize its resources potential to maximum .One of theory that has been a common practice in Organization is Pygmalion effect.

The Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, is the phenomenon in which the greater the expectation placed upon people, the better they perform.The effect is named after Pygmalion , a play by George Bernard Shaw.

The one example that i remember from the movie   "Pursuit of Happiness" where  father tells his son about  the importance of self belief , expectation ,optimism when everything in his life was gone wrong.

Goal-setting theory has limitations. In an organization, a goal of a manager may not align with the goals of the organization as a whole. In such cases, the goals of an individual may come into direct conflict with the employing organization. Without aligning goals between the organization and the individual, performance may suffer.

For complex tasks, goal-setting may actually impair performance. In these situations, an individual may become preoccupied with meeting the goals, rather than performing tasks. Some evidence suggests that goal-setting can foster  unethical behavior when people do not achieve specified goals.
Some people feel that goal setting may have the drawback of inhibiting implicit learning: goal setting may encourage simple focus on an outcome without openness to exploration, understanding, or growth.

Goal Achievement is the highest priority of an Organization and every planning has to end ultimately on this.
But sometimes due to loopholes in planning or because of unavoidable reasons , goal achievement can become difficult.Here comes the concept of Jugaad Management.
Jugaad Management is applied to a creative or innovative idea providing a quick, alternative way of solving or fixing a problem. Jugaad literally means an improvised arrangement or work-around, which has to be used because of lack of resources.

Management X-Y theory:: Its all about initiate , innovate and improvise.

"My Manager does not know anything about management, he does not even know how to create a good work environment ." This statement is very common across the globe and at some point we all have said it.
We often thinks its because of a process of Management, may be that is how Management works.
But here a little more science and logic is involved when the term "Management" is used.

Let me explain the concept in detail.

There are two kinds of managers 

1) X Manager (X-Theory)

2) Y Manager (Y-Theory)

So world looks pretty simple.... X manager is bad manager and Y manger is good manager.
But one big problem is here.... in an organization there is not just managers but other people...lets call them "workers".
Their can be two kinds of workers

1) Good worker --- who likes their work, self motivated .

2) Bad worker------ who does not like their work,Lazy people.

Now we have four possible working scenario. 

Quadrant  1 – This situation can act as a slow poison to the organization.This type of work culture leads to degradation of the workers will to work hard.This might affect his performance and make him to develop an indifferent attitude towards the organizations interest and goals.

Quadrant  4 – This situation is the best one.Its workers are not lazy and are also rewarded by their managers for their hard work.The manager here is hopeful and always motivates his or her workers.These type of organizations have a very healthy work culture leading to on time target achievement by the workers.

Quadrant  2 – This case can be a major cause of concern to the organizations growth .Organizations having such scenarios are not long race players and might fail completely.

Quadrant 3 – In this case the managers might be able to motivate the workers to better performance  by giving them various incentives .This may lead to the smooth working and good performance delivery by the organization.

 Now which Quadrant is the best management ? Fairly simple to choose , the Quadrant 4.
Good manager and good worker scenario, freedom,motivation is there .The Best Management strategy possible.

But does that mean that other management strategies are not good ??The one problem that i see in this example is universal acceptance about workers behavior i.e. either they all are good or all are bad.But this is not true any group of people. there will be mix of good and bad workers.
So the Point i want to put forward is a management in not a rigid process , its a flexible process. And a manager needs to understand the variety of people in his group.A manager needs to "Initiate , Innovate and Improvise " to get best out of his workers.
As far as my personal experience goes, i have bean part of Quadrant 1 but i have with managers who were ready to improvise and made exception whenever necessary. 

I believe Management is not a  game of  "Marathon Running " but its a game of  "Chess" where each and every piece (worker)  irrespective of its stature should be handled carefully to fully utilized its ability,