Digital CV

Please have a look at my digital CV-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L4jSlk5uw8

Magnet as a manager

In today's class Prof Dr. Mandi brought couple of magnets. He asked students to discuss about what you can see & learn from them. We started discussing scientific properties but then the professor explained us the hidden principles of management in it. 

Magnet can be viewed as a symbolization of a leader. Leader, like magnet has very string influential & attractive power. This type of manager can get the best out of his/her subordinates. These managers have very good relationship with workers & he/she has great understanding about their strengths & weaknesses.

Like a magnet aligns innate magnetic forces in metallic atoms, a manager aligns human forces to get work done. In effect an organization is a force that is aligned. 

This leads to an important concept in Organizational Management - Management By Objective (MBO). It goes beyond setting annual objectives for organizational units to setting performance goals for individual employees.

Behind the principle of Management by Objectives (MBO) is for employees to have a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities expected of them. Then they can understand how their activities relate to the achievement of the organization's goal. It also places importance on fulfilling the personal goals of each employee.

Some of the important features and advantages of MBO are:

1. Motivation – Employees should be involved in the whole process of goal setting and increasing employee empowerment. This increases employee job satisfaction and commitment.

2. Participation: As a general rule, the greater the participation of both managers and employees in the setting of goals, the more likely the goals will be achieved. 

3. Clarity of goals- Goals set for each employee should be SMART way. Clarity of goals ensure that work is done in a particular directions & with a purpose.
Everybody will be having a common goal for whole organization. It implies a directive principle of management.

4. Better communication and coordination – Frequent interactions between superiors and subordinates helps to maintain harmonious relationships within the organization and also to solve many problems.

5. Higher commitment - As subordinates set goal for themselves, they tend to have a higher commitment to objectives they set for themselves than those imposed on them by another person.

6. Autonomy in implementation of plans: Once the objectives have been agreed upon, the individual enjoys a wide discretion in choosing the means for achieving them, without being second-guessed by higher-ranking managers.

7. Performance Review: Managers and employees will periodically meet to review progress towards objectives. During the review, they decide what problems exist and they can each do to resolve them.

Great work by Dr. Muhammad Yunus - Grameen Bank

In the class Prof. Dr. Mandi discusses about a great personality in the class. Person was Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the father of concept of Grameen Bank.

Here is the video for your reference - 

The video is of a speech delivered by him at the Emory university and it tells us how this concept originated, how it was implemented and how it has been transforming millions of lives worldwide. 

Before getting into details of work let’s have a brief introduction and know about background of Dr. Muhammad Yunus . He earned a doctorate in economics from Vanderbilt University in the United States. He was inspired during the Bangladesh famine of 1974 to make a small loan of US$27 to a group of 42 families as start-up money so that they could make items for sale, without the burdens of high interest under predatory lending. And this is how the concept of Grameen Bank was conceived.

Grameen Bank’s goals were to fight poverty and increase the standard of living of the poorest people in Bangladesh.

Bank’s Model-

Acción International launched the first micro-credit organization in Recife, Brazil, although several others followed, such as Bank Rakyat in Indonesia and BancoSolin Bolivia. The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh is only one of these initiatives. Dr. Mohammed Yunus started lending money out of his own pocket to nearby villagers in order to support their crafts’ businesses. He later supported the craftsmen to get a traditional bank loan by acting as their guarantor. Yunus realized that his experiment resulted in substantially higher standards of living for borrowers, and that the majority of villagers repaid their loans. To expand his lending system, Yunus created the “Grameen Bank Project” in 1976 and turned it into a financial institution in 1983.

The Bank’s lending system, based on the functioning of market-based credit institutions, was adapted to break down barriers that had previously prevented access to credit by the poorest people. The Bank provided small amounts of credit at low interest rates without the need for paperwork or the provision of collateral. Instead, the Bank required group-lending with joint liability. Five people had to associate in order to receive a loan. Each person in the group would be responsible for the repayment of each others’ loans. If one person in the group did not pay, the other four would not be able to receive further loans. The delivery system for the loans and payments also differed from that of regular financial institutions. Instead of having to travel to a branch to do business, eight groups of five people met with a bank officer every week for a village “centre meeting,” where payments were processed and loans handed out.

These are some key contributions of the bank-

• The Bank addressed some structural determinants of poverty that were major impediments to rural economic development.
• The Bank also addressed the lack of investment by financial institutions in rural areas as well as the restricted access to financial services by poor people which hampered development in these areas. 
• Women also benefited from the establishment of microfinance in Bangladesh. The Bank targeted female lenders, and therefore improved their economic and social status. More than 96% of Yunus’ borrowers are women.

The key learnings from this class were how a person motivated to bring about change in the society can work in a field he/she is completely unknown with. It is an inspirational example indeed. 

Another takeaway is the clarity of objective. Since the Grameen Bank had clear objectives of bringing people out of abject poverty, it chose an altogether different path than the conventional banks. And the success behind this great initiative can be attributed to the vision that Prof. Muhammad Yunus had and the efforts that were in line with his vision.

Problem solving and decision making

Problem solving and decision-making are important skills for business and life. Problem-solving often involves decision-making, and decision-making is especially important for management and leadership. Decision-making is more natural to certain personalities, so these people should focus more on improving the quality of their decisions. Good decision-making requires a mixture of skills: creative development and identification of options, clarity of judgement, firmness of decision, and effective implementation. 

Lets look into the types of problems-
1) Urgent vs important-
First task for any manager is to classify problems as Urgent and Important. This is necessary to know the priority of problems and hence resources can be allocated and work can be started upon urgent problems.

2) Structured vs unstructured problems-

Structured problems-

These kinds of problems are familiar, straightforward, and clear with respect to the information needed to resolve them. Managers can expect this type of problems, and they can plan ahead and develop specific ways to deal with them, or even can take action to prevent their occurrence.

Unstructured problems-

These types of problems do not have any clear format or defined structure. They often involve ambiguities and information deficiencies. They occur quite unexpectedly. They often require lateral thinking to solve them.

Steps to solve a problem-

1. Analyze the situation-

Manager should first prioritize the problem and agree on the problem at hand. SWOT analysis can be used for this purpose.

2. Understand the problem-

Next step for a manager is to analyse the problem. For this he needs to gather all necessary information and to analyse and process it. It often begins with the appearance of   problem symptoms which signal the presence of a performance deficiency or opportunity. 

3. Analyze possible solutions & select the best one-

Manager along with his team need to solve the problem using various approaches and thus arrive at probable solutions. For this they need to gather more information & analyze the same. After that pros and cons need to be identified for every solution. More the team members more will be the solutions and more chances of arriving at best solution to the problem. 

Common errors in this stage include selecting a particular solution too quickly, and choosing an alternative that has damaging side effects. Criteria for evaluating alternatives: Benefits, Cost, Timeliness, Acceptability, Ethical Soundness.

4. Decide implementation strategy-

After solution is finalized, manager needs to make a plan to implement that solution. Managers need the ability and willingness to implement the decision. Difficulties at this stage often can trace to the lack-of-participation error, or the failure to involve those whose support is necessary. 

Organizational Structures

In today's class Prof Dr. Mandi brought pyramid in the class. This blog is about managerial lessons that can be learnt through pyramid.

The thing he brought was few structures having equal no. & same size of balls attached to it. Now we joined the structures & then it looked like an organizational pyramid. The pyramidal shape of a company's organizational chart reflects a hierarchy. Executives are at the top of the chart; middle management follows; and workers are at the bottom. 

Students’ replies about the structure were-
All the balls are of same size. So everyone has same importance on the structure.
It is symmetrical so everyone can change their roles as per requirement.

The base layer or the worker class is providing support to the whole thing. So it can’t be ignored & have to be strong for company’s progress.

An organizational structure consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims. It can also be considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which individuals see their organization and its environment.

Types of organizational structure-

1) Functional Structure-

• This type of structure brings together all employees engaged to perform a specialized set of tasks.
• For example as shown in the above diagram, organization has different functional departments such as sales, HR, engineering, finance. Finance VP is responsible for all financial activities of am organization.

Advantages- 

• It leads to operational efficiency within that group.
• It is best suited as a producer of standardized goods and services at large volume and low cost.
• Coordination and specialization of tasks are centralized in a functional structure, which makes producing a limited amount of products or services efficient and predictable.
• Efficiency can be realized as functional organizations integrate their activities vertically so that products are sold and distributed quickly and at low cost. To give an example, a small business could make components used in production of its products instead of buying them.

Disadvantages-

• It may lead to a lack of communication between the functional groups within an organization, making the organization slow and inflexible.
• It makes difficult to judge performance of various departments because the question arises as to who should be blamed when a product fails.

2) Divisional/Product Structure-

It groups each organizational function into a division. Each division within a divisional structure contains all the necessary resources and functions within it.

Divisions can further be categorized as given below-

a) Geographical basis-

In today’s fast world, there has been increasing need for an organization to be located close to their customers to quickly understand changes in the consumer behavior. Hence divisions are made geographically.

b) Product basis-

As shown in the image, the categorization has been done on the basis of broad category of products. Each division may have its own sales, engineering and marketing departments.

Another example, an automobile company with a divisional structure might have one division for SUVs, another division for subcompact cars, and another division for sedans.

3) Matrix Structure-

It groups employees by both function and product. This structure combines the best of both separate structures. This type of organization frequently uses teams of employees to accomplish work, in order to take advantage of the strengths, as well as make up for the weaknesses. 

As an example consider a company that produces two products, "product a" and "product b". Using the matrix structure, this company would organize functions within the company as follows: "product a" sales department, "product a" customer service department, "product a" accounting, "product b" sales department, "product b" customer service department, "product b" accounting department. 

Matrix structure is among the purest of organizational structures, a simple lattice emulating order and regularity demonstrated in nature.

Starbucks is one of the numerous large organizations that successfully developed the matrix structure supporting their focused strategy. Its design combines functional and product based divisions, with employees reporting to two heads. Creating a team spirit, the company empowers employees to make their own decisions and train them to develop both hard and soft skills.

Business structures can also be described in terms of whether the organization is tall or flat. This characteristic refers to how many layers of management there are in an organization. 

A tall structure is hierarchical and has different levels of management. Decision making tends to be centralized with management in tall organizations.

A flat structure is common in small companies (entrepreneurial start-ups, university spin offs). Decision making is less centralized and employees have better communication as all are at the same level.

Choice of an organizational structure depends upon an organization's size, number of facilities located in different geographic areas & marketing strategy.

Valley Crossing: The power of Teamwork

In this blog I am going to explain the lessons learnt through valley crossing activity which was conducted by Prof. Dr. T. Prasad in the class. There is a valley which cannot be crossed by an individual alone because it is two steps wide. The activity showed us how the valley can be crossed by all three people using innovative thinking if they come together and a pole of sufficient length is provided to them.

This is a schematic of valley crossing activity-

Here is a snapshot of our valley crossing activity-

Now let’s look at step by step process of valley crossing-

This situation is very similar to what happens in an organization. In an organization group of individuals is formed & goal is set beyond the reach of any one person and to attain that they need resources which are the pole and innovative thinking in our activity.

Some lessons which I learnt through this activity-

1) Goal Statement-

 Goal provides a sense of purpose behind any task. Here the goal was clearly defined as “Crossing the Valley” so all team members were focussed and used their energy in attainment of that goal. Some organizations define their goals vaguely so even though employees are hard working, the team fails to achieve the goal.

2) Innovative Thinking-

Innovation is at the heart of any organization for long term sustainability, more so in contemporary world where technology is causing sweeping changes in people’s priority and preferences. In the Valley Crossing activity the team showed innovation by finding out a method of using a pole to cross the valley.

3) Load Distribution-In the activity two people shared the load of third person who was at risk. In an organization it is important that all employees are on equal footing and share the responsibility for the optimum performance of the company. This would ensure that pride and ego issues do not creep up. 

4) Unity of direction-

It means that all people in the team should be clear about the way they want to achieve the goal. This is important to prevent any undue wastage of organizations energy and resources on unimportant or unrelated activities.

  5) Proper Communication-

In an organization, inefficient communication can lead to disastrous results such as delayed delivery or even loss of order for the company. In our valley crossing activity if there would have not been a proper communication, it would have led to loss of life.

      6) Synchronization-

      Synchronization is the sequence of events which are to be followed together or one after the other. In the valley crossing example, due to synchronization the team members could ensure that the gap between them would be maintained equal to width of the valley. Similarly for managers it is important to let their team know the time frame in which a certain task has to be completed and accordingly when related activities should be completed by employees.

7) Trust & Dependability-

Organization is a group of people and without trust and dependability it is impossible for people to work together. In the activity all members of the team were in danger of falling in the valley.  It was the trust and dependability which pushed them to go through. Manager should foster trust and dependability among his team members to attain great results.




Thank you for reading! Please bless me with your valuable comments!

Three Monks : Many managerial lessons

This post is about very famous Chinese animated film produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio & has won many accolades. The film has many lessons for managers. Please go through this short film for better understanding of its learnings.

Summary of the story-

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 candle-holder, 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.

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 teaches us various aspects that impact the performance, productivity of employees in an organization, in turn impacting the growth of an organization.

Below is an analysis based on the film-

	One monk	Two monks	Three monks
How do they do it?
Tools involved	A stick and two buckets of water	A stick and a bucket of water	A Pulley, two buckets of water and a rope
Efforts put in	Maximum	Lesser	Least
Efficieny	Least	More	Maximum

Now let’s understand managerial lessons in the film:

1. Productivity & Efficiency - Productivity is a measure of how well an operation system functions. In previous post I have explained about this important equation:

Excellence = Effectiveness X Efficiency

The film talks about the importance of efficiency. Efficiency can be described by productivity ratio which is Total output / Total input.

One of the important functions of a manager is to optimize the process, improve the work design and try to aim for the most efficient process.  Managers should always come up with innovative solutions to improve efficiency. 

2. Teamwork & Cooperation:

We saw that even with increase in the number of monks the productivity came down drastically due to lack of cooperation.

Without Cooperation: One monk fetches two buckets of water, two monks fetch one bucket of water and three monks fetch no water at all.

With cooperation: Three monks increased the efficiency of the process to a level previously unattainable.

In a team, a member may try to avoid responsibility and expect from others. Manager should understand and inculcate the importance of teamwork and how cooperation and sharing of load can help improving productivity.

3. Participative Management: It is the practice of empowering employees to participate in organizational decision making. As in case of a movie, while dividing the load of the bucket one monk did the scaling and the other did marking. It involves both the parties in decision making and avoids any conflicts that may arise at some later point of time.

These were some of my learnings from the film. I would love to hear your comments.