Sitting in the class room I was expecting a normal lecture where the professor would teach us concepts of organization theory. It was the first class of the day. I was thinking what I could expect in the lecture, principles of organization management would be something related to fundas in which work is carried out in an organization. I was thinking what books can teach in this subject. During my experience in Samsung I realized that though things are expected to be done in a planned manner, while implementing them we need to rethink and re plan in real time. All these thoughts were going on in my mind when professor T.Prasad (popularly known as Dr.Mandi) entered our classroom.
He was different from other professors; he was enthusiastic, full of energy and told us that we are not going to learn in a conventional way. Instead we will learn as we do things in a practical way. He introduced a totally new concept “Aj ki roti aj kamao”. I thought how is it possible we are students how can we earn, we are here to learn the science of management. But he told us a totally different way to learn things, “Socho beecho, beecho sekho, sekho soocho”. It means that we should learn by actually doing business in real world. When we will generate profits and money for ourselves by doing business then we will realise the real challenges and will learn from them.
Dr. Mandi showed us different innovative toys which can be used to learn various mathematical and physics concepts. I was particularly inspired by one toy which was made by an engineering student with the help of which he was able to earn money for himself. I thought from last 11 months in Samsung I was making applications for Samsung Smart TV. There we thought mostly in terms of solving the coding challenges. The company generated profits out of our hard work but we never really thought of applying our knowledge in business and earn profits for ourselves.
As Dr. Mandi said most of us had this kind of background, but now we have to think in business terms. He told us about his great initiative “Mandi” where in students go out on streets and sell the toys made by an ngo to people. Students get real time experience and are able to analyse how to implement what they have learned in classes. He told us that real learning will come only when we apply it in practical world.
What struck me most in his class was his inspirational way of teaching and the enthusiasm he carried with his body language. I was particularly inspired by the “Pink Floyd” song “another brick in the wall”. It was a criticism of the present education system which doesn’t take into account the individuality of the students. We are still studying in the same education system where in as aptly put by Dr. Mandi our lives have taken a form of a garland made out of scrap papers struck together with great effort and resources but it does not have individuality and is of no use. It is right from the last 22 years of my life I have worked only for 11 months and that too in a software company where I couldn’t apply my knowledge of electronics and communication learned during four years of my engineering. I still have a long way to go and I am really looking forward to other activities done by Dr. Mandi.
How do managers carry out work in a company? What are the things that have to keep in mind while setting the goals for the organization? Do we follow certain set processes?
The second class by Dr. Mandi focussed on various aspects of management in an organization. In order to make us understand in a practical way he did an exercise in the class where he asked us to make a tower of blocks as shown in picture above.
The exercise was closely related to how goal setting is done in an organization. Firstly Dr. Mandi told us to estimate the number of blocks which could be made in this manner. Many of us tried to guess the number which could be made. But in an organization targets cannot be set in a random fashion. We need information regarding how the work will be actually carried out. Who all will be involved? Do we have any data regarding the previous attempts made by people?
He then clarified that the tower will be built by 3 people, one of them will be blind-folded and he will be the one who will build the tower that too with his odd hand. The other two people will guide him; one will give direct instruction as to how to go about it and the other will interrupt only limited number of times. This arrangement perfectly fitted the hierarchy of an organization where the worker is guided by immediate managers above him and the top management keeps an eye on the processes and intervenes only when it is needed. He also told us that the previous batch was able to make 17 block high tower.
Sir then asked us now to estimate the number of blocks which could be put in this manner. Most of the people guessed that it will be around 15-20 or 10-15. Some optimist people told the numbers in the range of 20-25. Then to get the actual feel of a business Sir asked us to bid money on the whole exercise. The highest 3 bidders were given a chance to participate. Luckily three brave people from our class bid their money and we started with the exercise.
First thing was goal setting they were asked to tell the number of blocks they will be able to build. They played safe by saying 17 same as the previous score. In this way a specific goal was decided which had to be achieved. It was measurable and as it was achieved by previous batch appeared attainable.
One important thing about goal setting was conceptualizing. Sir told us that we are not drivers of a car, mechanics who would do as told. In our previous job profiles most of us had this kind of work but now we will be managers. We have to look into things from a bigger perspective, analyse them as a whole concept. In this way only we will be able to draft plans for future, set goals for the organization and predict the changes in the future.
As the activity started we realize how difficult it was, the blind folded person was actually taking a lot of effort in building the tower. The immediate management was guiding him all the time how to go about it. Initially we thought that it will not be possible to make the tower but when finally it was made all of us cheered for the team. They were able to make 18 blocks high tower.
It also taught us an important concept of “Pygmalion phenomena”, things happen when they are expected. Nothing is impossible when we actually try to do it.
The most important learning which I get from this exercise is that how things are conceptualized and done in real business environment. While working in Samsung I was only doing the part of the player who was blind folded now I have to think from over all perspective of an organization and learn the skills of a manager. I hope to learn more from Dr. Mandi in the coming classes.
