Hewlett Packard :Organization Culture Analysis

                                                            Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is the collective behavior of humans that are part of an organization, it is also formed by values, visions, norms, working language, systems, and symbols, it includes beliefs and habits. It is also the pattern of such collective behaviors and assumptions that are taught to new organizational members as a way of perceiving, and even thinking and feeling. Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders.

Ravasi and Schultz (2006) state that organizational culture is a set of shared mental assumptions that guide interpretation and action in organizations by defining appropriate behavior for various situations.

Schein (2009), Deal & Kennedy (2000), Kotter (1992) and many others state that organizations often have very differing cultures as well as subcultures.

Culture as Root Metaphor takes the perspective that culture is something the organization is. Culture is basic, but with personal experiences people can view it a little differently. This view of an organization is created through communication and symbols, or competing metaphors.

The organizational communication perspective on culture views culture in three different ways:

• Traditionalism: Views culture through objective things such as stories, rituals, and symbols
• Interpretivism: Views culture through a network of shared meanings (organization members sharing subjective meanings)
• Critical-Interpretivism: Views culture through a network of shared meanings as well as the power struggles created by a similar network of competing meanings.

Seven primary characteristics capturing Organizational Culture:

1>Innovation & Risk taking 

2>Attention to detail  

3>Outcome orientation 

4>People orientation 

5>Team orientation 

6>Aggressiveness 

7>Stability 

Hewlett Packard :

HP is an American multinational hardware and software corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. It provides products, technologies, software, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health and education sectors.

The company was founded in a one car garage in Palo Alto by William  Hewlett and Dave Packard. HP is the world's leading PC manufacturer.

The founders stated (in 1950s !!!) "The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined efforts of  each individual  in the organization working towards common objectives."

Culture :  the HP way

From the beginning the two founders have developed a management style which had never occurred in a large company before. They coined a new type of corporate culture which was to be called "the HP way."

HP always renounced the "hire and fire" mentality, which meant to employ many workers for a single big order and to dismiss them afterwards. Instead, the company offered its employees "almost perfect job security.") Even in 1974, when the U.S. economy was in a profound crisis and many people were unemployed, HP avoided layoffs by a four-day workweek, which was a unique measure in corporate America.

The two founders trusted in the "individual's own motivation to work") and treated their employees as family members; hence the custom to call each other by the first name - even the two chiefs were only known as Bill and Dave.

The HP workers were participated in the company with stock options and were even paid additional premiums when HP was successful - today known as profit sharing. These measures served to identify the employees with their work and to encourage them.

Moreover, the HP way included extensive employment benefits such as scholarships for the employee's children.

At the end of the 1950s Bill and Dave decided to write down the company's objectives, which were to serve as guidelines for "all decision-making by HP people,") since the company had grown ever larger. With some changes, those objectives are still valid today. They cover as follows: "Profit, Customers, Fields of Interest, Growth, Our People, Management, and Citizenship.") And these objectives are to be achieved through teamwork.

HP's strategies nowadays comprise mainly the "Management by Objectives", "Management by Wandering around" meaning informal communication within the company, and "Total Quality Control" which aims at producing highly qualified products.)

The HP way is seen as model for corporate culture in many countries.

The roots of many subsequent companies are located in HP, e.g. Steve Wozniak, who worked at HP and later co-founded Apple. This has led to the establishment of a new corporate culture in Silicon Valley and many firms have tried to imitate the HP way and ad opted measures such as stock options, innovative work rules, teamwork, and profit sharing.

Organization Culture:

The organization culture of Hewlett-Packard is also known as “The H-P Way”. Within the context of “The H-P Way”, the employees of the organization together with the management are expected to follow a saying “Don’t Be Evil”. The H-P Way is supposedly to be honest in all its operations and in all of the information coming out from the business organization. But, one cannot remove the fact that not all information are going out and being spread out to the whole world. It is for those with the information power to keep a secret what they know and for the whole world to find out. This is what happened to Hewlett-Packard (HP) that caused a catastrophe in the whole world. It was said that the organization is not being honest and good at all. Thus, it resulted to the whole world staying in the dark that made them look really evil.

HP Culture at Crossroads:

The turbulent period«.1990s· 



Competitionincreased.



Operationsexpanded(83productdivisionsatmultiple locations) 



Hewlett retired in 1987, followed by Packard in 1993

Impacted Organizational Culture

Laying off employees

Carly Fiorina was appointed as the CEO in 1999 

The Compaq Episode: 

Hewlett-Packard, founded in Palo Alto in 1939, has long been famed for the "HP way," its much-touted corporate culture which fosters innovation by giving employees autonomy and opportunities for professional growth. Compaq’s image is very different: Newsweek, while terming HP "literally the original high-tech garage startup," describes Compaq’s 1982 origins as "reflecting the giddy period when PCs were busting out." BusinessWeek notes that Compaq has been viewed as "a mere purveyor of hardware" and that the employees it will be contributing to the deal will be mostly lower-paid computer-repair people. The merger announcement led Slate.com to wonder: "If HP Swallows Compaq, Is It Still HP?"

Can a mega-company absorb another mega-company and still run things the way it used to? Should it even try? How large does corporate culture loom in the high-tech sector, or in any industry? Is there one type of culture that holds the key to success? And how important is the smooth blending of two distinct corporate environments to the success of a merger or acquisition?

Culture clashes can be a surprisingly large stumbling block in creating profitable mergers, adds Hanson. She cites a recent study sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management and conducted by Towers Perrin that was titled "Making Mergers Work." In the study, HR professionals listed "incompatible cultures" as among the biggest obstacles to success in mergers and acquisitions. "The companies may go in and do due diligence, look at all the financial matters, but it’s really the cultural and people issues that can mean the demise of a successful merger."

With the merger, HP reportedly aims to move away from products to focus more on providing services. Will its corporate culture, in addition to successfully absorbing Compaq, need to undergo a paradigm shift? Most of the professors agreed that HP would have to thoroughly transform itself to make it in the service sector - an effort not necessarily facilitated by the merger. "I’m not quite sure how this merger will help them get into services," says Rothbard. "HP tried to buy PricewaterhouseCoopers last year explicitly to get their expertise in services. One reason the deal fell through may have been HP’s realization that PwC’s business was so different from theirs that it would be really hard to implement. Maybe they are hoping with Compaq and a new economy of scale, they can grow in the services area in a more incremental way."

"Innovation in product is not the same thing as delivering services," Cappelli says. "There are competencies and capabilities you need to be a service-sector, customer-service-oriented organization. It requires more sales emphasis, for one thing. That’s not necessarily the most obvious fit with the competencies HP has had before." Guillen agrees. "A typical plant manager has very different problems confronting him or her during the day than a manager of a service operation, who has to think about ways to increase customer loyalty, create bundles of services to offer and so forth. The world of manufacturing is so different from the world of customer relationships, that it seems the leadership style and culture need to change as well."

Theory X vs Theory Y

MOTIVATION THEORIES:

Motivation, as defined by Pritchard and Ashwood, is the process used to allocate energy to maximize the satisfaction of needs.It is the psychological feature that drives a person towards his or her goals and also keeps him or her directed towards that goal.

Douglas Mcgregor published a book "The Human Side of Enterprise"  at MIT Sloan school of Management in 1960s. which  stated  two theories of motivation.From then directors,managers and CEOs have been using these theories to have a better understanding  about organizational behavior ,human resource development,organizational communication,organizational development,etc.

These two theories were Theory X and Theory Y.There are basic differences between the two styles of management thought 


Theory X:

In theory X, the management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can and that they dislike work  normally. Due to  this, management believes that workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. The management needs  to extract  work by  incentivising ,forcing,threatening  the employees of being penalised if they dont work.A hierarchical structure is needed with narrow span of control at each and every level. 

Theory X Managers:

Michael J. Papa told  that  if the organizational goals are to be met, theory X managers rely heavily on threat and coercion to gain their employees' compliance.
The managers think that the employees are totally for money in the organization and not for anything else.They tend to blame the workers always.The reason of their failures may be something other which they do not want to see.
The major flaw of this management style is that it may  cause diseconomies of scale  in large businesses.

Theory Y:

In this theory,management assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and exercise self-control.They  believe that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties.They also believe that if they are given a chance,they will try to showcase their creative abilities and innovate something new to improve their productivity.

Theory Y Managers:

The manager's role with the  workers of Theory Y type  is to help them achieve their potential.This is the case in which the employees are emotionally mature and think positively of their work.Thus, they can be positively appoached by the managers for problem solving leading to improved results compared to alternative approach of authoritarian measures. 


Theory X  vs  Theory Y:

  
Conclusion:

Theory X and Theory Y relates to Maslow's hierarchy of needs in how human behavior and motivation is the main priority in the workplace in order to maximize output. In relations to Theory Y the organization is trying to create the most symbiotic relationship between the managers and workers which relates to Self Actualization and Esteem. For Self Actualization the manager needs to promote the optimum workplace through morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts. It can relate to Esteem when the manager is trying to promote self esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, and respect by others.

ONGC Analysis

                                         
                                                        Sudhir Vasudeva,ONGC CMD

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) (NSE: ONGC, BSE: 500312) is an Indian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Dehradun, India. It is one of the largest Asia-based oil and gas exploration and production companies, and produces around 77% of India's crude oil (equivalent to around 30% of the country's total demand) and around 81% of its natural gas.[2] It is one of the largest publicly traded companies by market capitalization in India.[3] ONGC has been ranked 357th in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest corporations for the year 2012.[1] It is also among the Top 250 Global Energy Company by Platts.[4]
ONGC was founded on 14 August 1956 by the Indian state, which currently holds a 74.14% equity stake. It is involved in exploring for and exploiting hydrocarbons in 26 sedimentary basins of India, and owns and operates over 11,000 kilometers of pipelines in the country. Its international subsidiary ONGC Videsh currently has projects in 15 countries.



VISION:


To be a World-Class Oil and Gas Company
integrated in Energy business
with dominant Indian leadership
and Global presence.

NEW VISION:

GIVEN BY HON'BLE EX-PRESIDENT OF INDIA DR. APJ ABDUL KALAM 

“I would suggest ONGC to give world leadership in management of energy source, exploration of energy sources, diversification of energy sources, technology in Underground Coal Gasification, and above all, finding new ways of tapping energy wherever it is, to meet the ever-growing demand of the country.” 


STRATEGIC VISION: 2001-2020 

Focusing on core business of E&P, ONGC has set strategic objectives of :

• Doubling reserves (i.e. accreting 6 billion tonnes of O+OEG) by 2020; out of this 4 billion tonnes are targeted from the Deep-waters.
• Improving average recovery from 28 per cent to 40 per cent.
• Tie-up 20 MMTPA of equity Hydrocarbon from abroad.
• The focus of management will be to monetise the assets as well as to assetise the money. 




MISSION OF ONGC:

 •Dedicated to excellence by leveraging competitive advantages in R&D and technologywith involved 
  people.
•Imbibe high standards of business ethics and organizational values.
•Abiding commitment to health, safety and environment to enrich quality of Community life.
•Foster a culture of trust, openness and mutual concern to make working a stimulating &challenging    experience for our people.
•Strive for customer delight through quality products and services.
•Integrated in Energy Business.
•Focus on domestic and international oil & gas exploration and production businessopportunities.
•Providing value linkages in other sectors of energy business.
•Creating growth opportunities and maximize shareholder value.
•Retain dominant position in Indian Petroleum sector and enhance India's energyavailability.


The vision of ONGC is difficult to achieve,glamorous.Thus it perfectly connects with the people of India.

OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPANY:

•To maximize production of hydrocarbon, self reliance in technology, promotingindigenous efforts to achieve
  self reliance in technology, promoting indigenous efforts toachieve in all related equipment, material and
  services.
•Assist in conservation of oil, more efficient use energy and development of alternate source of energy.
•Environmental protection.
•Observe 100% safety in work.



BRIEF HISTORY:


ONGC was set up under the visionary leadership of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, going against the wisdom of the then multinational oil companies operating in the country, who had almost written India off as a “Hydrocarbon Barren” country. Pandit Nehru reposed faith in Shri Keshav Dev Malviya who laid the foundation of ONGC in the form of Oil and Gas division, under Geological Survey of India, in 1955. A few months later, it was converted into an Oil and Natural Gas Directorate. The Directorate was converted into Commission and christened Oil & Natural Gas Commission on 14th August 1956. In 1994, Oil and Natural Gas Commission was converted in to a Corporation, and in 1997 it was recognized as one of the Navratnas by the Government of India. Subsequently, it has been conferred with Maharatna status in the year 2010.

Over 50 years of its existence ONGC has crossed many a milestones to realize the energy dreams of India. The journey of ONGC, over these years, has been a tale of conviction, courage and commitment. ONGCs’ superlative efforts have resulted in converting earlier frontier areas into new hydrocarbon provinces. From a modest beginning, ONGC has grown to be one of the largest E&P companies in the world in terms of reserves and production.

ONGC as an integrated Oil & Gas Corporate has developed in-house capability in all aspects of exploration and production business i.e., Acquisition, Processing & Interpretation (API) of Seismic data, drilling, work-over and well stimulation operations, engineering & construction, production, processing, refining, transportation, marketing, applied R&D and training, etc.

Today, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) is, the leader in Exploration & Production (E&P) activities in India having 72% contribution to India’s total production of crude oil and 48% of natural gas. ONGC has established more than 7 Billion Tonnes of in-place hydrocarbon reserves in the country. In fact, six out of seven producing basins in India have been discovered by ONGC. ONGC produces more than 1.27 million Barrels of Oil Equivalent (BOE) per day. It also contributes over three million tonnes per annum of Value-Added-Products including LPG, C2 - C3, Naphtha, MS, HSD, Aviation Fuel, SKO etc.

ORGANIZATIONAL  STRUCTURE:

The structure is a strictly hierarchical  organization with strictly defined roles and there is a unity of command which it makes it one of the most efficient companies of the country and best Mahanavaratna PSU.

Policies:

HR Vision

"To build and nurture a world class Human capital for leadership in energy business". 

HR Mission

"To adopt and continuously innovate best-in-class HR practices to support business leaders through engaged, empowered and enthused employees".

This shows that the company nurtures best practices within the company environment and promotes  innovation and the management is able to motivate the  employees to  perform their best.

No. of employees:

ONGC has 33,000 employees on its rolls. Of this number, 24,000 work across the company’s various offices, while 9,000 are employed on rigs.

PRODUCTS:


1.Crude Oil.
2.Natural Gas.
3.Liquefied petroleum Gas.
4.Natural Gasoline.
5.Ethane/Propane.
6.Achromatic Naphtha.
7.Superior Kerosene Oil 



SERVICES: 

1. Chief Drilling Services, Mumbai 
2. Chief Well Services, Mumbai 
3. Chief Geo- Physical Services, Dehradun 
4. Chief Logging Services, Baroda 
5. Chief Engineering Services, Mumbai 
6. Chief Offshore Logistics, Mumbai 
7. Chief Technical Services, Mumbai 
8. Chief Info-com Services, New Delhi 
9. Chief Corporate Planning, New Delhi 
10. Chief Human Resource Development, Dehradun 
11. Chief Employee Relations, Dehradun 
12. Chief Security, Dehradun 
13. Company Secretary, New Delhi 
14. Chief Marketing, New Delhi 
15. Chief Corporate Affairs &Co-ordination, New Delhi 
16. Chief Corporate Communication, New Delhi 
17. Chief Material Management, Dehradun 
18. Chief Technical Services, Dehradun 
19. Chief Health, Safety & Environment, Mumbai 
20. Chief Legal, New Delhi 
21. Chief Medical, Dehradun 
22. Chief Internal audit, New Delhi 
23. Chief Commercial, New Delhi 
24. Chief Exploration & Development, Dehradun 



ONGC HYDROCARBON VALUE CHAIN:

SWOT ANALYSIS OF ONGC WITH RESPECT OF THE OIL SECTORS:

Strengths

 State owned

One of the biggest advantages & strength of the company is that it is state owned. Thisled the company have great infrastructure with the governments support. The policymaking also becomes easier due to the same reason. Moreover any undue and sustained pressure creates due impact on the government as well.

Growing demographics

ONGC went to global fields through its subsidiary, ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL). ONGChas made major investments in Vietnam, Sakhalin and Sudan and earned its firsthydrocarbon revenue from its investment in Vietnam.

Top Technology

ONGC is the technological advancements that were implemented over the last few years.The advancements were substantial and improved the company's ability to extract thegreatest amount of oil and gas.

Hard Industry for Competitor to enter

The oil sector is an industry wherein not many competitors can enter owing to the scaleand government intervention.

Strive to be environmentally friendly

The Company has in its guiding principles to cut down emission and become naturefriendly in due course of time.

Strong Infrastructure

The company implemented some well needed improvements to the infrastructure andcreated a strength for the company.

Weaknesses:

State-owned

Because of Huge govt. Of India control on ONGC many important decisions are beingtaken by govt. of India and sometime it proved to be fatal for example govt's poor decisions have come in way e.g. In case of APKO oilfields acquisition , government blocked the deal which later went to Chinese CNOOC. This resulted in loss of face of ONGC in international market.

Ever changing laws

The ever changing laws pose a big threat to the company. The Company is bleeding dueto the rising crude oil prices in the international market but the government has its own priorities.

Opportunities:

Possible Mergers with Smaller Companies

ONGC has always great opportunities to get into mergers & acquisitions with companies across the globe.

Finding Alternative Fuels before competitor

It may itself get into the research operations in terms of finding alternative fuels before itscompetitors

Expanding into more areas

The company has great opportunities to expand in offshore locations

Grow their hold in the energy market 

The Company can become more aggressive in locating new oil-fields across the globe.

Threats:

•The company may be facing some real threat from alternative fuels in the next decade or so.

•Corrupt Government may not have the company's best interest in mind.

•Could fall behind technology with the everything changing so quickly this day and age.
•Security of personnel and property especially crude oil continues to be a cause of concernin  certain areas.
•In some exploration campaign company involves high technology, which means high risk.

Corporate  Social  Responsibility:


The mission of ONGC stated that the company would have an "abiding commitment to health, safety, and environment to enrich quality of community life."And this mission was reflected in its CSR activities. CSR at ONGC began as a philanthropic activity where the company contributed to several socio-economic developmental programs like building schools and hospitals, developing agriculture and cottage industry, building infrastructure facilities, etc., around its areas of operation on an ad hoc basis...

•ONGC is spearheading the United Nations Global Compact - World's biggest corporate citizenship initiative to bring Industry, UN bodies, NGOs, Civil societies and corporate on the same platform. 

•During the year, your Company has undertaken various CSR projects at its work centres and corporate level.




•ONGC's CSR programs at the corporate level focused on disaster relief management and water management projects. 


•ONGC and the Global Compact Program
The concept of 'global compact' was initiated by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July 2000. The idea was to form an international corporate citizenship network for the advancement of universal social and environmental principles.

ONGC  all over India:

ONGC Videsh:

ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) is the international arm of ONGC. It was rechristened on 15 June 1989. It currently has 14 oil and projects across 15 countries. It's share of oil and gas production was 8.753 MMT of O+OEG in 2011-12 as against 0.253 MMT of O+OEG in 2002-03. OVL’s overseas cumulative investment has crossed USD 14 billion.
OVL currently has presence in 33 E&P projects in 15 countries, namely ; Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, Iran, Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, Russia, Myanmar, Colombia, Nigeria and Kazakhstan.

Some of the leading alliance partners of OVL are BP, CNPC, Ecopetrol, ENI, Exxon, Statoil Hydro, PDVSA, Petrobras, Petronas , Petrovietnam, Repsol, Rosneft, Shell, Sinopec, Total and TPOC.

ONGC Group of Companies:

1.ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL)

2.Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL)

3.ONGC Nile Ganga BV (ONG BV)

4.ONGC Mittal Energy Limted (OMEL)

5.ONGC Mittal Energy Services Limited (OMESL)

6.ONGC Tripura Power Company Pvt.Ltd. (OTPCL)

7. Kakinada Refinery & Petrochemicals Limited (KRPL) 

8.Kakinada SEZ Limited 

9.Mangalore SEZ Limited 

10.Dahej SEZ Limited 

11.Rajasthan Refinery Limited (RRL) 

Revenue Break-up:

Employee management ::Treating employees like customers

Companies should have a similar approach to employees and customers. A company shouldstrive to retain an employee in the same way it tries to retain a customer.

ONGC is an organization which is a pride for the nation, the reason being its excellence in its performance. The reason behind this is its strategies outside as well as inside the organization.ONGC is a firm which knows how to deal with the internal as well as the external environmentof its functioning.If we deeply look into its smooth running work environment, then we would find the initiativesthis giant corporation has taken for the well being of its people. ONGC is committed to its valueand promise of creating a healthy work environment for its employees, which facilitates their growth, builds up their confidence, and fosters in its employees a sense of belonging as well as job satisfaction.A lot has already being done here at ONGC, many are in process and much more is planned, for the valuable employees of the renowned ONGC.

ONGC is a firm which believes that the non-financial benefits are as much important as the financial ones, and hence has thoughtfully kept a balance between both, as both are greatmotivating factors. Therefore, like any other employee friendly organization, ONGC too has twotypes of motivating factors:-

-financial benefits

-non financial benefits.


PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM AT ONGC:

Performance appraisal report is an index of an employee’s work performance over a given period of time. It is crucial for his or her career growth as it indicates the strengths, weaknesses,training needs, nature of job being performed and problems faced in work situation.The objectives of the performance appraisal system at ONGC are:
•To set norms and targets of work performance, as well as, to monitor the work progressof employees.
•To facilitate placement of employees in accordance with their suitability for differenttypes of assignments.
•To provide an objective basis for determination of merit, efficiency and suitability for the purpose of promotion.
•To identify areas requiring exposure for training and development.

The performance appraisal system seeks to evaluate:
•The work performance of an employee on the present job in relation to the expectedlevels of performance, both qualitative and quantitative.
•The extent of development achieved by the employee during the period under review.
•Evaluation of behavioural attributes, attitudes and abilities.
•Evaluation of potentials for assuming higher responsibility.The appraisal covers:
•Performance during the period from 1st April to 31st march of every year.
•All regular employees of the company.a) Non Executives. b) Executives


Awards:

ONGC shines bright at the Petrofed Oil & Gas Industry Awards 2011

Continuing on its rich patch of recognition, ONGC swept the Petrofed Oil & Gas Industry Awards 2011 by taking home 3 prestigious awards in the categories of "Environmental Sustainability: Company of the Year", "Human  Resource Management: Company of the Year" and "Innovator of the Year: Team (Won by IOGPT)". 

Future prospects:

ONGC has planned a Rs 77.5 billion revamp of onshore pipelines and installations and approved a Rs 23.5 billion investment in Assam. It registered five oil and gas discoveries on the East Coast and Northeast in May 2007. ONGC aims to produce 25 million metric standard cubic meters per day of gas from the Krishna Godavari basin by 2012-2013 from the estimated available 6 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves. It signed a feedstock supply agreement with Brahmaptura Cracker and Polymer (BCPL) for the Assam gas cracker plant being set up in Lepetkata, Dibrugarh and a memorandum of understanding with British Pertoleum to jointly undertake oil and gas exploration and production projects in India and abroad. An agreement with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) enables its Tatipaka refinery and MRPL (subsidiary) to supply petroleum products to HPCL. 

References:

  1>www.ongcindia.com
  2>www.ongcreports.com
  3>www.moneycontrol.com
  4>Annual Reports

THREE MONKS FILM

Have you seen the video of the three monks?Here is the video!!!Please go through it !!!Its very interesting.

The whole story is of three monks in a monastery.It depicts how they evolved one by one slowly  and tried out different methods in their day to day work of  bringing water to the monastery .

There are three scenarios:

1st scenario:

In this case,the first monk goes down the hill with two empty  buckets  at the two sides of  the stick  and fills it with water and carries it back uphil to the monastery.

2nd scenario:

In the second case ,  there are two monks carrying a single bucket downhill by holding a stick from two sides with the bucket hanging in the middle.Then they fill it with water and  bring it uphill.

3rd sccenario:


Here,there are three monks  using pulley  and rope to lift the water from below and each of them doing a specific job i.e. one of them filling water  and tying it to the rope ,other one lifting the bucket with the help of a rope and deattaches the rope and the third one takes it to the monastery ,empties it and brings it back to the second person.

INNOVATION:


The transformation of the first method to the second method shows continuous innovation and the third method shows drastic innovation.


Continuous innovation does need  fundamental change in the dynamics of  the process ,it updates or enhances the existing one whereas Drastic innovation is the complete out of the box thinking that can altogether add a new dimension to the overall efficiency.




Similarly in a business scenario,continuous and drastic innovation can spur an organization towards success by integrating business,organizational,process,technology,marketing and product innovation.




                                     


Theory X and Theory Y :


Here ,it is proved that monks are like  theory X employees as they did  not want to work when others are present displaying lazy and lacklustre attitude.They will only work when there is someone with a stick in his hand in front of them.Similar thing happened in this story when there was disastrous fire in the temple,it led to a dangerous situation which gave them a virtual kick in their back to bring water.



TEAMWORK:


The  interpretation of the story espouses the virtue of teamwork and organizational planning.Without these virtues they looked like a lost lot.


Synergy is what helps all the members of the team to use their potential to the fullest and  display a result which  is more than the sum of  the potential of all the members.


It fetches far greater output than all the individual outputs summed  up because teamwork leads to more creativity,more dedication and motivation and growth of superior decision making ability.

This was the case when all of them had put a determined effort to stop the fire.They came up with a creative idea of using a pulley and rope to lift water to such a height from below without  much effort .The scientific management came into play as they were able to find out the best technical method possible to do the work with the limited resources.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

When there were three monks,each of them expected that some or the other would bring the water but atlast none of them turned up.But when there was fire in the temple ,all of them together devised a plan to extinguish it selflessly.This shows that when in danger ,people tend to understand that unity is strength and it also leads to springing up of new innovative ideas.




Name:Arup Shankar Mitra
Roll-219
IM-19 Sec -A

TOWER BUILDING EXERCISE

INTRODUCTION

Tower building  exercise  was  a new learning   for me. The first class of Dr. Mandi was  ice-breaker for us.One of the students named Aditya was picked up from 70 of us by Dr. Prasad and asked to play a game of building a tower which involved putting one cube over the other and achieving the maximum height as much as possible till all the cubes would fall down .This was similar to a game I have watched in the youtube.Here is an example similar to our exercise :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6mlk7Hui4E.

GOAL SETTING &  POTENTIAL

Dr Prasad asked Aditya to predict that  how many cubes he would be able to put one over the other before the tower falls down.He guessed   that  the he would be able build a tower with 10 blocks approximately.
Then sir asked the whole class to predict the result.
Some of the students said it would  be more than 17 ,some said that it would be 10 and some predicted that it would be in between those two figures.As a whole the prediction of the students was between 10-30.


But to the astonishment of everyone ,Aditya could build a tower of 17 cubes which even he did not thought of before starting to build the tower.Thus we can see that goal setting is a difficult proposition in human life.We  sometimes underestimate our ownselves.It is very difficult to know our  ownself.This is the responsibility of  a manager in an organization  to show the path to its employees and motivate him to unleash his excellence.This incident reminds me of  the great Hindu epic Ramayana where Veer Hanuman had to be reminded of his greatness and unlimited power everytime whenever he used to face any dire circumstances. 


“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” -Arthur C Clarke


This tower of 17 blocks build by Aditya was  considered as  a historical data and students were asked to assess their goals.


1>The students whose prediction was below 17 were asked to reassess their goals as their goals set were less than the achievable performance whereas in reality it should be the opposite i.e. goal set should be more than the achievable performance.


2>The students who had set their goals more than 17 were like the employees  in an organization who are constantly trying to bridge the gap between the goals set and the performance.  

PYGMALION EFFECT  & MOTIVATION

In another class Dr Prasad has conducted a similar session  of building the tower by  a blind folded  guy  with two other boys helping him in his act.So he asked us what could be the result in that case.Most of the people in our class answered that it would be less thatn 17 ,i.e. approximately 10 to 12 but some also predicted it to be more than 17.

But again it turned out to be more ,the result was 17.


This type of behaviour is not appreciated in any organization. During the time of adverse conditions like recession , a company should not scale down its production citing down turn as an excuse rather it should  keep the goal  same as it was earlier.Rather it should try  to reinvent itself in new forms like what Apple did during the recent recession.
Similarly,the students who  lowered their  targets fall into the category of those employees who shy away during downturn.
The students who kept their target same were the people who wanted to stive for the best result possible even if it means being non-sensical in the eyes of   others.

We learnt another lesson here that even we need to recognize others' potential  and try to showcase them so that he or she may come into limelight and deliver the best.This is known as pygmalion effect.In an organization , if a manager can give some  responsibility to the employee and  allow him take  charge  of the situation ,then the pygmalion effect will surely come into effect and the employee will be able to perform beyond expectations.


"Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he shall become as he can and should be."                                                                                             - Johanne Wolfgang von Gerte


There should not be any gap between the target proposed by the manager and the target proposed by the employee.The manager should take the initiative to  pursuade the worker and make him perform to his full  potential.


In our case the guy who was blindfolded was like the employee,the guy who was helping him was like the middle mangement poeple who are in constant touch with the employees in their day to day act  and the guy who was allowed to intervene only a limited number of times was like the higher management in an organization.
That's why Aristotle quoted  


"WE ARE WHAT WE REPEATEDLY DO.EXCELLENCE ,THEREFORE,IS   NOT AN ACT BUT A HABIT."
                                                                                                         -ARISTOTLE



GOAL CHART

A - Past Performance

B - Achieved Performance 

C - Goal Set

D - Potential

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION  &  GOALS

If the performance reflects a gap between the goal mutually agreed upon between the manager and the goal achieved then it  is a lack of thoughtfulness of  the employee that has lead to such a situation.
There is a clear lack of ambition and lack of coordination with the management.

 The need of  management control arises in this case.The authority has to guide the employee and  extract him out of the darkness.This will include planning,organisation ,analysis  and  leading ,controlling and coordinating the work process.

EXCELLENCE

If the tower build  by the student is less than the historical  data .i.e. less than what he achieved earlier ,it means there is a a gap between the goals achieved and the goals which is possible to achieved going by his potential.

EXCELLENCE  = EFFICIENCY  *   EFFECTIVENESS

MANGERIAL EXCELLENCE = MANAGERIAL  EFFICIENCY *  MANAGERIAL  EFFECTIVENESS

The manager and the worker should work together to bring about the change in the organization ,to bring  excellence in the organization.

Tower building needs efficiency as putting one cube above the other being blindfolded is not easy but it has to be made easy by  sheer passion, committment and concentration.Thus efficiency plays a vital role in this case.

The guys who will be helping and coordinating the act needs to show effectiveness as they need to give the right direction at the right time to the blindfolded guy.This is like a manager who has to take  effeective  decisions for the fast progress of the project in hand.

Therefore,an efficient worker and an effective manager ,together,can build a long tower  which will be pushing the limits  and going  beyond the horizon.


                                                                             

Arup Shankar Mitra


IM-19  Sec-A


Roll-219