The three monks!

The three monks_LE 04:

 

An old Chinese proverb goes “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 proverb is based on a story of three monks, video of which can be seen at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rolBiHfWokY

This is an excellent video clip portraying what can be termed as the simplest psychology of human behaviour. The three cases shown in the video clip are:

1.     Single monk (read under staffed): A single person is there for executing entire job! He has no other option but completing all the work by himself. In this case, his work comprises of fetching water from a far off place.

2.     Two monks (read Optimum staffed): In addition to our existing monk, a new monk comes into picture! Delighted to see a helping hand coming his way, our first monk thinks of distributing the work! However, the pole holding the buckets of water can be used optimally by 2 ppl of the same height (which is not the case here)!

3.     Three monks ( read Over staffed): and then, to their utter relief, comes a third monk! Overjoyed by the mere thought of delegating the entire work towards the newcomer, our monks are unaware of the fact that this monk is more than a match for them. Tired of delegating the work from here to there, they all sit down and nobody goes to fetch water, even though they are all thirsty!

At one of those thirsty moments, a rat comes into the temple room and unfortunately, happens to ignite a fire in the room!

Now to extinguish fire, you need water! Like any other skilled team of professionals, we see all the three monks working together and WITH each other in bringing the water up the hill and extinguishing the fire...

Now what do we learn from here???

In a normal situation, when there was no emergency at work, employees were sitting idle trying to dispose of their work from one channel to another. But as soon as fire breaks out, irrespective of their assigned job, each and every member comes out in full rigour to fight the battle and ultimately win it!

Now having said this, if you have ever worked in an organization, can you recall any incidents like this??

Not amiable initially, no bonding.... but taking less than a minute to stand up together as ONE entity and fight!

Well, I am recalling many such incidents and now, all that helps me realize are:

·        Organizational culture: A lot depends upon the culture of the organization one is working at.

·        Passion about the organization in the employees’ mind

·        Innovative thinking in tough times

·        One for all... all for one!

When I tried to determine which method was the best way to get the job done, I realized that all the methods had scope of modifications. However, the second case, that is when 2 monks are sharing the job, comes closest to the solution I have arrived... it ensures:

·        Optimum utilization of resources

·        Easy operating practices

·        Measurable standards of work in terms of quality and quantity.