LE06-07 Vision of the Mission

When going through the GDPI processes for the Management Colleges, I was repeated asked why I wanted to do an MBA, and where I wanted to be 5-10 yrs from now. These questions felt weird at the time; I used to believe that "You can't see past the choices you haven't made". I still firmly believe in this.
But I realised that what they were asking is what is your aim, your Vision, in life and what you plan to do about it, that is what your Mission is.

The Mission and the Vision

Every organisation has, or should have, a Vision and a Mission. The Vision that a company has serves as the Pole Star, a beacon towards the ultimate aim of the organisation. The path that the organisation uses to reach that goal becomes the mission.

These two are an important part of the strategic planning of an organisation.
The other two parts are the Core Values of the organisation and their overall Strategy.

Vision of a company is a cherished desire, an idealized version of the world the company wants to operate in. It may be as abstract as possible, but it must be something which can worked towards. the Mission of the company consists of the actions or the general directions the company plans to take to achieve its Vision.

In this increasingly borderless world, conforming to a single vision can be challenging. Take Toyota for example. I was recently working on an assignment given by Pundir Sir on Toyota Motor Corp.
 The Toyota brand was built on reliability and trust, and they had a certain interpretation of their Mission and Vision statement which was rooted in their culture.

"Toyota will lead the way to the future of mobility, enriching lives around the world with the safest and most responsible ways of moving people.
Through our commitment to quality, constant innovation and respect for the planet, we aim to exceed expectations and be rewarded with a smile.
We will meet our challenging goals by engaging the talent and passion of the people, who believe there is always a better way."


A splendid vision indeed! However, during late 1980s and through the 1990s, Toyota expanded at a very fast rate. They opened new manufacturing facilities and subsidiaries, and today employ around 325,000 workers worldwide. But with this expansion, the cultural boundaries were also stretched beyond limits. The deviations from the interpretations increased and finally reached a tipping point when Toyota had to recall more than 8 million cars due to unintended acceleration.

Now their Vision was good, the mission was well defined, but the ways the employees in different parts of the world strove to achieve their goals was very different.
Here I learnt that though it is important to have a goal, it is equally important to have a sense of direction.


Employee Productivity


This is probably the most debated topic in the management world. How do I increase productivity?
When an employee works in an organisation, his output may depend on a variety of factors: kind of bosses, location, work environment, ambience, even the presence or absence of a coffee machine!!


However, I feel that whatever the variables, an employee would work better if he gets a regular diet of appreciation and reward. 
Some experiments have been conducted in this regard, most known of them being the Hawthrone Effect. The experiments were conducted by the researches of the Harward University in the Hawthrone works Plant of  Western Electric. The experiments involved varying the intensity of the lighting at the plant and recording the change in productivity of the workers. 
The illumination was first increased, and then decreased, and the change in productivity noted. It was observed that the workers productivity did not decrease with decrease in illumination. It was concluded that productivity increased due to attention from the research team and not because of changes to the illumination.

The above experiment throws light on a couple of things.

First, human beings are not programmed to work in monotony. They respond to change, however meagre or irrelevant it may be. Second, it's not what happens but what the employee perceives has happened that matters.

Through this lecture, I have learnt that even a minor change in the working conditions, or a small appreciation, can work wonders for the productivity of the employees.

Khan Academy - Redefining Education

I just got a few You tube links through Dr. Prasad. It was about Khan Academy.

I always thought about our education system. I always knew there was a tremendous scope for improvement but it was not until I started preparing for CAT that I realized the true extent of it. Now CAT is not your regular entrance test. The way it tests the competence of the test taker leaves no doubt that he really has to have something in him, or at least acquire that level of competency, to study in one of the topmost colleges in the country. However, it's the way it goes about it that makes you think.


Almost all of the top b-schools in the country regularly crib about the lack of diversity in their batches. Various methods are used to increase the same - lowering the thresh-hold of cutoff marks, profile screening etc. But I feel this is only a symtomatic treatment, meaning they are only treating the symptoms and not the disease.

Ever wondered why there are so many engineers in the top b-schools? See the way an engineer is trained, or at least tested, ingrains to some extent what I like to call "Angular Thinking" within the student, whether he knows it or not. But what about those who are never trained this way? Or worse still, those who pass out of our school system.
Please bear with me a little bit before I return to talking about Khan Academy.

Our schooling system never treates a student to the amazing world of logic. Millions of children don't know that something like this exists. I was one of them until recently. But when I came in contact with it, it was amazing!! I was amazed to discover the extent to which logic decides every moment we spend the way we spend it. 

Now let's talk about the IITs. The institutions really grill the student. It's so tiring and stressful that students go into depression if they don't get a seat. But who's to blame? I say it's our schooling system. The IITs essentially test the student on the application of concepts. I never thought that I was applying when I was in my school. It's what Mr. Salman Khan, founder of the Khan Academy, says - our teaching system at present follows "one size fits all" rule.
This system needs to change, and Khan Academy has done wonderful job in at least moving in that direction.

It all started when Salman Khan wated to teach mathematics to his cousins online.



After sending them the videos, he put them up on You Tube so anyone else could view it if they wanted to. But he could never have imagined that this would snowball into a major phenomenon that is currently under way, but we'll touch that later. The feedback he received from his cousins was unthinkable. They actually preferred his videos to him. The videos granted them the ability to listen to him at their own pace. It was much easier now to ask him to repeat what they couldn't understand. They could revisit his lectures as and when they needed to. This ability that has been placed at the disposal of students has profound implications. This happening snowballed into teachers actually leaving comments relating to how it was changing their 
classrooms. What if I told you that ther's a school in Los Altos, USA actually inducted khanacademy.org into their coursework, gutting their existing books in the process? They actually asked students to watch the lectures at home and then helped them do homework at school. There are extensive databases for teachers to keep track of their student's progress. Do refer the video.

Now the implications of this seemingly small events are huge. Though internet connectivity in rural India is poor, an indigenised website like this could really help illiterate children pursue studies with minimal involvement of the teachers. This solves our deficient teacher problem for rural India and removing illiteracy in one go. I mean even autistic children benefited from this!! The implications are huge, but Khan would need extensive support from multiple levels in society and in governments.

If implemented on a mass scale, this could really become a world wide network, which is Khan's ultimate vision.

LE04 Of Towers and Bridges

In a very interesting lecture today, we learned about creating systems in the organisations. These systems may be designed to perform tasks such as defining duties and responsibilities, or defining dos and don'ts or even defining the direction or the vision of the company.

The entire point of developing system is that individual opinions, judgements, prejudices or egos should not come in the way of interpreting the goal of the organisation. However, it is still a team effort. So  there will always be some personality influences, but the point is to minimise these and move forward. As it  was rightfully pointed to the class, we are all collectively smart but individually stupid.

The system thus created should defy human limitations. Earlier lectures have shown me that there is no limit to human potential. So the system should continuously push everyone to their limits. It is my personal belief that these systems are nothing more than thought process; extremely simple, extremely powerful.

The Human Tower

Two exercises were conducted in the class to demonstrate the objectives of  this lecture. We all were shown a picture of four people sitting in postures that enabled them to form a tower. Each one of us then visualised how that tower might be created.

This was followed by the actual creation of the tower. A lot of team effort was seen with everyone giving their suggestions and planning the creation.

We were able to sit four students to form a tower before it collapsed.

Learning:

Why did it collapse? One of the guys in the middle couldn't take the load and slipped. There will always be weak links in the chain, but it's not about removing the weak links. though it's important to convert the weaknesses into strenghts, this exercise showed us that it's even more important to ensure that the load is distributed in a manner so that no matter the individual strengths, the whole team is able to sustain the load, together. As the professor said in the class, it should not be painful for anybody.

In my exerience I have seen some booses who make it their duty to look for the weak links. While this should be the priority for any manager, it's very important what the manager does as the next step. I have learned now that before I try to work on the person, I must make sure that the load is distributed as per the strengths of the team members.

Crossing the bridge

This was the second exercise that was conducted. Three people had to cross a gap which was twice the distance between two consecutive members. They were all given a long rod with sufficient length. They attempted to cross the gap with everyone holding on to the rod. As soon as someone was on the gap, he would hang from the rod and the other two members would take his weight. This way they could all cross the gap. Here also it must be noted that load distribution was effectively managed. Also, the role of one will depend on the role of another. This is called "interlocking of roles". Interdependence is crucial and should be maximum.

The objective of both the exercises was to emphasize the importance of load distribution. The exercises also showed that a clear system is required to achieve any task. There are three stages to any task:

1.) Structuring the task: A clear procedure of accomplishing the objective is defined. A step by step process is established and it is made sure it is understood by everyone.

2.) Structuring team roles: Each role and resposibility is clearly defined and specific personnel identified for each. However, the roles must be similar but no same. There should not be too much of differentioation within the roles. In "Crossing the Bridge" activity, though the people were different, each person went through half hanging, full hanging and safe positions in turn.

3.) Preparation and Execution: This involves training people in the execution of the roles defined.

Designing Organization

• Work Planning: This defines the kind of work the person does. Making an earthen pot is craftsmanship while a worker working on an assembly line is a specialization.

• Authority Planning: This defines the centers of power. A worker working in a Toyota plant has the ability to stop production if he detects any quality faults. This is an example of decentralization. A VP of an organisation planning the financials of a distant plant is extreme for of centralization.

• Control Planning: This relates to the work-culture in an organisation. A supervisor barking orders on a shop floor would be an example of a formal heirarchy. A team working on a product in Google headquarters is an example of socialized heirarchy.

All these comparisons are not to say that one is superior over the other. There are successful organizations following both the systems.

The overall learning that I derived from this lecture was that there are extremely simple thought processes driving the most complex organisations. It's all a matter of common sense.

LE03 Theory X & Theory Y Managers

Employees are the biggest asset of an organisation. Apart from the employees working at the various levels of an organisation, there are managers who manage the various activities performed by these employees. Any person can be either lazy or active, depending on their willingness to achieve the set targets.

Based on such behaviour of and interaction between these two classes of people working in an organisation, four outcomes may be studied.

Situation 1: Lazy employees and Theory X manager

In this scenario it is given that the employees are lazy. In addition, the manager, being theory X manager, assumes that his employees are lazy. The growth of the organisation in this case is extremely limited. It is up to the manager to study the reasons for the lack of motivation within the organisation and take necessary measures hitting at the core issues.

Situation 2: Active employees and Theory X manager

In this scenario while the employees are active towards their work, the manager, in all his experience and wisdom, assumes that his employees are lazy. This would lead to the manager trying to micromanage the employees and taking measures which would cause the otherwise productive employees into resisting what they perceive to be negative. This would hurt the overall growth of the organisation, not to mention the morale and satisfaction of the employees. The successful resolution of this issue will require at least a change in management style and the way in which the employees are handled.

Situation 3: Lazy employees and Theory Y manager

In this scenario, the employees are generally lazy but the manager, being Theory Y manager, assumes that thee employees are generally productive. While this situation might seem negative, it has the potential improving the working processes of the employees, turning the organisation productive in the process. However, a lot would depend on the manager and his way of handling such employees. A good manager, by his sheer faith in his employees might be able to motivate them towards better productivity, while a not-so-good manager will only push the productivity downwards by trying to micro-manage the already lazy employees.

Situation 4: Active employees and Theory Y manager

This scenario presents a case where the employees are productive and the manager assumes the employees are productive. This is the best situation that can be achieved in an organisation where everybody is motivated and is treated by the managers as such. Such organisations are the pinnacle of growth and prosperity. These are the organisation which regularly feature in the Best Workplace surveys. Any challenge faced by an organisation is faced by its managers and employees working hand in hand so they come out stronger.

Learnings: 

The entire growth trajectory of the organisation would depend on the work culture of the organisation. A motivated employee will give his best to the organisation, but he deserves appreciation and reward from his managers, in the absence of which the motivation levels will go down. On the other hand, a motivated employee working with a Theory Y manager will form a self-feeding loop which will infinitely increase productivity. 

LE02 Goal Setting - The Tower Building Exercise

The second lecture focussed on the goal setting process applicable to an individual as well as an organisation.
To understand this concept better, a tower building exercise was carried out.

Exercise:

A situation was presented to the class wherein a student had to build a tower by placing one cube over the other until the tower fell over. The student was supposed to use only his left hand.
Before starting the exercise, all the students were asked to write the number of cubes they thought the tower could sustain.
At the end of the exercise, it was noted that the tower could sustain 17 cubes before falling over.


After the completion of the exercise, students were given a situation where the tower was being built by a student who was blindfolded and was receiving instructions from another student. Students were then asked to revise their estimates of the height of the tower.


Analysis:

Various estimates were made by the students ranging from 10 blocks to as many as 25 blocks. The estimates of the students show their idea of goals. When the exercise situation was modified, it was noticed that most of the students revised their estimates while some retained them. Following learnings could be derived from the exercise:

1) The students who lowered their targets showed the tendencies of restrictive managers (for want of a better word). The organisations must never revise their goals downwards no matter what hurdles they face. The only change that should occur is the increase in effort towards achieving the goals.

2) The students who retained their original targets were examples of the managers who believed in achieving the set goals no matter what hurdles present themselves on the way. 

3) There were very few students across the sections who increased their targets when the exercise was modified. These are the examples of Progressive Managers. There were companies that grew even in the times of recession. These companies saw this as an opportunity rather than a threat and made the most of it. 


Goal Setting:

When an individual or an organisation sets their performance goals, it will be in terms of answering four questions:

          - What is the potential?
          - What target should be set?
          - What might the actual performance be?
          - What is attainable?


The potential is always unlimited. Everyone is capable of great things. management is the art of bridging the gap between performance and potential.


The target that is set should be greater than the organisation's assessment of what might their actual performance will be. Only when the goal is higher than the current idea of the firm's capabilities will the managers put in an effort that is beyond the scope of their current perceived capabilities. This in turn will lead to an increase in capability, leading to an ever increasing limit of goals that can be set.


The attainable goals are the ones that can be achieved using current capabilities of the firm with minimal management. This should effectively be the lower limit of the firm's performance.
The above process becomes self feeding as it is followed wherein Goal Set > Actual Performance > Past Performance.