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