Three Monks

TEAM BUILDING is the most vital part in the formulation towards any goal. It is philosophy of job design in which employees are viewed as members of interdependent teams instead of as individual workers.

This particular video highlights importance of "team building and team management" in the completion of any task. It also describes as to how the any task can be done more efficiently with the help of simple innovation and proper utilization of the available resources.

The movie can be divided into 3 parts:

1. When only one monk is there - We can see that when the monk was alone he used to do the work i.e. bringing the water from the river to the monastery happily. He had no qualms with the way things were moving. In other words he was content with the life he was living or the work he was doing.

 

2. When another monk joins the first one - The attitude of the first monk changes drastically when the second monk joins him in the monastery. Initially he intimidated him into bringing water from the river but after some time the newbie monk demand equal distribution of work. This altercation resulted in loss of man hours as well as gloomy atmosphere in the monastery. After lot of deliberation, they decide to share the responsibility and once they started sharing the job, their productivity also increased. We can see that the method adopted in this case is much better then used in the previous one. 

3. When the third monk joins the other two - Initially the same thing happened wherein the veterans forced the newcomer into work. After sometime it was total chaos in the monastery with none of the monks willing to go to the river to get the water. 

 

One fine day when fire breaks in the monastery then all the three monks work together in tandem thereby giving fruitful results. The method in this case is superior to the methods used in case 1 and case 2 as it involves active participation of all the resources.

A team is supposed to achieve what an individual person can’t achieve. One might wonder why even after having more team members productivity decreased from one tow two, two to three, well because there was no team work at all, this so called team was actually counterproductive, achieving less than what a single person could achieve. This scenario is not too uncommon, it happens in day to day life.

What changed in situation four? Well, they started working as a team.

Balanced team membership - Every team comprises of people with different attributes and quality. The strengths and weaknesses of the team members should complement each other. This way, at least one person could work on each important aspect of the tasks of the team. Three monks took roles in situation 4 according to their competencies.

Good working relationships - Team members need to work together harmoniously. Personal differences and opinions can differ at times. But don’t allow these to affect good working relationships. Friction in the team actually gives team members the opportunity to practice professionalism and collegiality.

Creativity - Solution to the water problem shown at the end of the video was indeed creative. As a consequence of creativity, team members will have fun while working together. Fun also helps keep the drudgery away. Most of the time, passionate people know how to have fun even while at work.

Results-oriented approach - It is good to have fun while working yet, the achievement of results should never be compromised. But actually, results can be the natural consequence of creativity and fun tempered by the other ingredients of effective team work.

Well defined goals and targets - Team members should have clear goals and targets so that team members know what they are working for and when they should be delivered. When team members know exactly what is expected from them, they can manage their workload and work more effectively and more efficiently.

Commitment - When team members are committed to the appointed tasks, the team becomes more intentional in completing these tasks. Even when they encounter setbacks and difficulties, the team can persevere and do what is necessary.

Collaboration and mutual support  - Imagine a team without collaboration. That’s not a team at all; it is merely a collection of obstinate individuals. Effective teamwork presupposes mutual support. After all, when one member finds his tasks difficult, the other members can come to his aid and help him figure things out.

Competence - Team members and the team in general should have a level of competence so that the tasks can be accomplished more easily and efficiently. This level of competence will decide whether the innovation brought about in water fetching process would be incremental or drastic. The solution presented at the end of the video was very creative.