As I have embarked upon my
journey in the MBA programme at NITIE, I have slowly and steadily started to
gain knowledge on various aspects of organizational management. Today we had
another class by Prof Mandi and another informative experience. We were a part
of ‘The Tower Building Exercise’ today which later helped us relate to the
difference between craftsmanship and modern management.
THE TOWER BUILDING
EXERCISE: TWO ACTIVITIES THAT DEFINED THE DIFFERENCE
Activity 1 –
One of us was asked to build a
tower using small identical wooden cubes. The condition was that we had to
build the highest tower but only by keeping single cubes on top of one another.
One of us came forward to do the activity. Interestingly, Prof Mandi made us
bid among ourselves for doing the activity which shows that some investment
(read hard work) is necessary for gaining valuable experiences in life (read
making the tower) and secondly, there has to be a risk taking ability in every
person in order to learn through experiences.
So the highest bidder set out on
his task. We were asked to predict how many cubes would he put in the tower and
our guesses ranged from 8 to 20. Carefully, he put one cube over the other and
was able to build a tower of 16 cubes. Quite appreciable.
Activity 2 –
Here there were 8 volunteers
amongst us who decided to perform the task. In this activity, only one person (worker)
was actually allowed to build the same type of tower but he was to be
blindfolded. There would be one person (read mid manager) who would be guiding
him but without touching him or the cubes. The other persons remaining (read
managers) would be watching from a distance and would be giving suggestions but
would not be doing anything physically. The group was asked to tell how many
storeyed tower they would make. They discussed among themselves and said 10. So
the task began and the worker could build a tower of only 7 cubes.
LEARNINGS FROM THE
TOWER BUILDING EXERCISE
Ø In
the first activity, the worker was the sole proprietor. He alone had to decide
the entire planning part as well as the execution part. It was him alone who
was responsible for the gain or loss in his endeavour. Since he made his own
decisions and was not burdened with many instructions, he applied all his
energy and did his best to build the tower with 16 cubes. However, the point to
be noted is that he could build only one tower and for building more towers he
would have had to start all over again. This was a sort of Craftsmanship.
Ø In
the second activity, the worker was over managed and received too many
instructions from his mid manager and managers. There was not enough work
available with all the managers. As a result, they only interfered and
instructed others rather than doing anything on their own. This shows that there
has to be proper division of work and responsibilities to achieve better
results in an organization. This group was a sort of modern management, which
had the resources to make more than one tower (though the activity demanded
only one).
The Tower Building exercise was
an interesting concept introduced to us by Prof Mandi to understand
Craftsmanship and Modern Management.
COMPARISON BETWEEN
CRAFTSMANSHIP AND MODERN MANAGEMENT:
Craftsmanship is a practice that is being followed in our country
since ages. Craftsmanship can be defined as any type of job organization where
the entire set of activities associated with the job, from planning to execution,
is carried out by a single individual. A carpenter, cobbler, tailor and the
likes come in this category.
I now present a tabular
comparison of the two.
Sl. No.
|
Parameter
|
Craftsmanship
|
Modern Management
|
1
|
Scope of work
|
Can build only one tower (or
work on one project) at a time. For shifting to another task, he will have to
start from the beginning leading to wastage of time and effort.
|
Can build many towers (or work
on multiple projects) at a time.
|
2
|
Parallel Work
|
Not Possible. Only one individual
is involved who can perform only one
activity at a time.
|
Parallel works possible. There
are many individuals who perform their specific tasks.
|
3
|
Specialization
|
One person performs the entire
work, so not specialized in a particular skill.
|
Each person is specialized in a
particular skill and becomes dexterous by doing it over and over again,
leading to more efficiency.
|
4
|
Satisfaction
|
More satisfaction since one is
free to do what he wants.
|
Less satisfaction since every
activity is to be performed upon instructions of others.
|
5
|
Presence of boss
|
There is no boss. Only one
person has to carry out all tasks as a worker.
|
There is a boss but no workers.
Most of the employees work as managers.
|
6
|
Skills
|
The craftsman has high level of
skills.
|
The skill level is low. There
is deskilling involved in modern management. The activity is divided into
extremely tasks and the employee becomes dexterous in his area by doing the
same thing over and over again.
|
7
|
Type of Process
|
This involves person driven
activity. After the person retires, there is nobody to replace him.
|
This involves process driven
activity. Anybody can replace anybody and no one person needs to be retained
as there is a process which takes care of itself.
|
IMPLICATIONS OF THE
COMPARISON:
The purpose of the above
comparison is to point out the advantages of a proper modern management over
craftsmanship.
There are 3 Es of Management –
(E)xcellence
(E)fficiency
(E)ffectiveness
The purpose of any profession
should be to achieve excellence through efficiency and effectiveness.
Efficiency is the ratio of output and input which involves extracting maximum
output from the given input whereas Effectiveness involves doing the right
thing in the right qualitative manner.
Excellence = Efficiency * Effectiveness
In other words, Excellence = Doing more out of less for more
It is imperative for any
organization to achieve excellence in order to satisfy its customers and employees
and to sustain and expand itself. Excellence can only be achieved by imbibing
the positives of modern management.
“Work towards being excellent,
success will automatically follow.”
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My Management Lesson Of
The Day From Prof Mandi – Learn to take initiatives. Those who take
initiatives survive and those who don’t get sidelined.
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