Navrang Puzzle and the learnings

The class started with the Prof. Mandi giving us a unique puzzle to solve. 
It was similar in looks to Rubik cube but had 9 different colours, with 3 pieces having the same colour. Unlike a standard Rubik's Cube, the Navrang Puzzle could be dismantled and reassembled. 

 

Unlike every other puzzle , this puzzle had its  own rule like-

1.As there are 9 different colours, with 3 cubes having the same colour , these 9 pieces of different colours should fall on one side with no 2 pieces of same colour falling one same side.

  

So fascinated were all of us, that everybody wanted to get their hands on the Navrang puzzle. We were challenged to find an algorithm or method to reassemble the Puzzle in order to reach the intended objective. After a few minutes of efforts none of us could actually come up with a proper solution.

But then, Prof. himself solved it within a minute and then what followed was the analysis of this could have been done and how it is related to modern organizations. We learned 2 important concepts here -


1. Unity of Objective

According to the Unity of Objectives, every individual and every process in an organization should aim to fulfill the a common objectives, which is nothing but the objective of the Organisation. Unity of objective focuses on the below points:

  

·                     A common understanding of the situation;

·                     A common vision or goals for the reconstruction and stabilization mission;

·                     Coordination of efforts to ensure continued coherency;

·                     Common measures of progress and ability to change course if necessary.

Stay tuned. lots more to come!

The initiative that we took as a part of the Principles of Management curriculum will be continued with other learnings and experiences.

Organisational Structure

Organisational structure and design (In development)

Organisational structure

 The formal arrangement of jobs within an organisation.

Organisational design

 A process involving decisions about six key elements:

1.             „ Work specialization

2.             „ Departmentalization

3.             „ Chain of command

4.             „ Span of control

5.             „ Centralization and Decentralization

6.             „ Formalization

1. Work specialization

 The degree to which tasks in the organisation are divided into separate jobs with each step completed by a different person. However, Over specialization can result in human dis-economies from boredom, fatigue, stress, poor quality, increased absenteeism, and higher turnover.

2. Departmentalization by type

·                     Functional: Grouping jobs by functions performed

·                     Product: Grouping jobs by product line

·                     Geographic: Grouping jobs on the basis of territory or geography

·                     Process: Grouping jobs on the basis of product or customer flow

·                     Customer: Grouping jobs by type of customer and needs

3. Chain of Command

The continuous line of authority that extends from upper levels of an organisation to the lowest levels of the organisation and clarifies who reports to who.

·                     Authority

 The rights inherent in a managerial position to tell people what to do and to expect them to do it.

·                     Responsibility

 The obligation or expectation to perform.

·                     Unity of command

 The concept that a person should have one boss and should report only to that person.

4. Span of control


 The number of employees who can be effectively and efficiently supervised by a manager.

  Width of span is affected by:

1.               Skills and abilities of the manager

2.               Employee characteristics

3.               Characteristics of the work being done

4.               Similarity of tasks

5.               Complexity of tasks

6.               Physical proximity of subordinates

7.               Standardization of tasks

5. Centralization and Decentralization

Centralization

  The degree to which decision-making is concentrated at a single point in the organisations.

  Organisations in which top managers make all the decisions and lower-level employees simply carry out those orders.

·                     Environment is stable.

·                     Lower-level managers are not as capable or experienced at making decisions as upper-level managers.

·                     Lower-level managers do not want to have a say in decisions.

·                     Decisions are significant.

·                     Organisation is facing a crisis or the risk of company failure.

·                     Company is large.

·                     Effective implementation of company strategies depends on managers retaining say over what happens.

Decentralization

  Organisations in which decision-making is pushed down to the managers who are closest to the action.

·                     Environment is complex, uncertain.

·                     Lower-level managers are capable and experienced at making decisions.

·                     Lower-level managers want a voice in decisions.

·                     Decisions are relatively minor.

·                     Corporate culture is open to allowing managers to have a say in what happens.

·                     Company is geographically dispersed.

·                     Effective implementation of company strategies depends on managers having involvement and flexibility to make decisions.

6. Formalization

·                     The degree to which jobs within the organisation are standardized and the extent to which employee behavior is guided by rules and procedures.

·                     Highly formalized jobs offer little discretion over what is to be done.

·                     Low formalization means fewer constraints on how employees do their work.

Theory X and Y

Douglas murray Mcgregor, a management professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the author of The Human Side of enterprise, gave the theory X and Y in which he  identified an approach of creating an environment within which employees are motivated via authority, direction and control or integration and self-control.

According to theory X, management assumes that the employees are lazy and don’t want to do work. In this system of management, the chance of employees actually willing to work is taken as nil and a requirement of closely supervising them at all times is felt. Management never questions itself but blames the employees for anything wrong and accordingly apply the so-called “get the work done” management techniques.

According to theory Y, management assumes that the employees are driven, ambitious and they know their responsibilities well. Employees are supposedly like to give back to the company and want to remain at the fore-front of problem solving. Management tries to bring out the best of the employees who are supposedly hindered by policies practiced by management.

Depending upon these two theories, we can have four possible scenarios in an organisation which are:

Type I	Lazy Employee	Theory X Manager
Type II	Good Employee	Theory X Manager
Type III	Lazy Employee	Theory Y Manager
Type IV	Good Employee	Theory Y Manager

Type I Scenario

According to my work-experiences, this situation leads to improper goal-setting and inappropriate action-plan, even worse execution and many delays in delivery of product. Although the employees are already lazy but upon that management does nothing to motivate them and ultimately it creates problems for both management and employees.

  

Type II Scenario

I have personal experience of this scenario. One of my seniors used to think of my team as unskilled-laborers and treat us without any consideration and thought to our structure of thought and problem-understanding capability. This led us to a difficult situation where we can't even communicate with our seniors because here even though we were hard-working and motivated, the perceptions of management dissuaded us from performing and demotivated us which lead to company’s loss of valuable resources, as our productivity went down because of undeserved destructive criticism and ultimately productivity of entire unit went down.

Type III Scenario

In this situation, even though employees are lazy, management thinks positive of them, tries to motivate them and always tries to bring them at par. Here, the positive attitude and beliefs of management are really put to test and their determination shapes the future of organisation.

Type IV Scenario

This situation is like a win-win for everybody. Both management and employees want to grow and take themselves to higher levels, it can be termed as the ideal condition for the organisation as far as internal environment is concerned as here everybody is motivated.

Taking all the four scenarios together, for the management to be of theory Y type is superficial but it has to become like that if it wants to get best out of the employees. 

TEAM WORK

Every manager knows the power of Teamwork. In fact the very existence of a manager can be attributed to the phenomenon of 'Teams'. If human beings had long decided to do every task individually, the world would have been a totally different place. The Valley Crossing exercise purely focussed on learning this phenomenon called 'Teamwork'.

VALLEY CROSSING

Task: Three persons should cross the valley using a long stick.

Now we have two ways to do the task:

1. Place the stick such that it acts like a bridge between the valleys and each member individually goes on it to reach the other side.

2. All the team members should hold and rest the stick on their shoulder and while one member is crossing the valley the other two should balance it.

If we properly analyze the two methods the first one seems to be very risky and the chance of completing the task is very less. Here we come across another important aspect of management called Planning. In any organization even if we have all the resources to complete a task but there is no proper planning we cannot do anything with our resources but drain them.

Three wise men Crossing the valley  - Detailed task process :

Persons	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Step
1	Safe	Safe	Safe
2	Half Risky,
3	Full Risky,
4	Half Risky,	Half Risky,
5		Full Risky,
6		Half Risky,	Half Risky,
7			Full Risky,
8			Half Risky,
9	Safe	Safe	Safe

Safe - Both the legs of the person have full support
Half Risky – One leg in the air and the other leg has support
Full risky - Both the legs are in the air without any support
Half risky – One leg is in the air and the other leg has support
Safe - Both the legs have full support

Lessons Learnt :

1. Structuring the Task :

·                     Role A = Role B = Role C : All roles are equal and there is no differenciation between the responsibilities of any two persons.

·                     For all the 3 members, the task is designed to be - Easy, Lighter, Clear and Systematic 

·                     All three are equally responsible in their contributions for the overall task completion.

2. Structuring Team Roles :

·                     Roles of all three members are similar but not same; and equivalent in terms of total effort & risk.

·                     All 3 member Roles have equal distribution of 

·                     Risky situations (1); 

·                     Half risky situations (2); 

·                     No risk situations (2)

·                     All roles are designed for equally strong persons and there is no weaker or stronger requirement in any specific role.

·                     Communication and feedback across the 3 members was instantaneous.

·                     Interdependence among the 3 members was maximised and made crucial.

The roles are interlocking, with highest levels of interaction among the members, with instantaneous feedback being exchange and without any scope for social loafing.

3. Preparation and Execution :

All the 3  members are systematically trained for all the steps and, while crossing, they communicate and coordinate with each other through a various kinds of sounds and other signals.

4. Team Excellence :

Team excellence comes through proper designing of team tasks, correctly assigning team roles, and preparation and execution of the tasks. Thus, excellence is designed by the managers.