Three Monks is a Chinese animated film produced by the Shanghai Animated Film Studio. After the Cultural Revolution, the film was one of the first animations created as part of the rebirth period. It is also referred to as The Three Buddhist Priests.
Prof. T.Prasad suggested whole class to watch this movie and learn important management lesson from this.
Background of the movie: The film is based on the ancient Chinese proverb "One monk will shoulder two buckets of water; two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to fetch water." The movie revolves around three monks and how their attitude changes when they have to adjust with each other. One of the monks of short heighted, one is long and the third one is fat.
We can break the movie into 4 parts:
1. When only one monk is in the house:
First monk arrives in the monastery on the top of a hill. He has to come down to fetch water from the river and he living happily. He manages his work daily as he is dependent on self for all the work. He prays daily with fixed routine and fetches water with no worries.
First monk arrives in the monastery on the top of a hill. He has to come down to fetch water from the river and he living happily. He manages his work daily as he is dependent on self for all the work. He prays daily with fixed routine and fetches water with no worries.
2. When 2nd
monk arrives:
Then a second monk comes and starts living with the first monk. At first the 2nd monk who is tall happily fetches water alone for both of them. But then he realizes that it is the duty of not him alone but instead of both of them. The problem starts when they go to fetch water together. They are unable to decide how to divide the work amongst them as no one wanted to do any extra work while carrying water on the slope of the mountain.
Then a second monk comes and starts living with the first monk. At first the 2nd monk who is tall happily fetches water alone for both of them. But then he realizes that it is the duty of not him alone but instead of both of them. The problem starts when they go to fetch water together. They are unable to decide how to divide the work amongst them as no one wanted to do any extra work while carrying water on the slope of the mountain.
They both devised a simple solution of calculating the length
of the stick and placing the water bucket in the middle so that no one has the
complaint. What we learn from this is that most of the problems in our lives
have simple solution. We just have to develop the vision to see that and
implement that. Also as managers our job is to find the simplest and easiest
solution. Here one was tall and other was short. So, solution should be
universal so that there is no impact of the kind of user on the application of
the solution. So the solutions we as individuals or a group or as large
organizations think must be essentially simple in order to have great results.
3. When 3rd
monk arrives:
The 3rd monk shown is a fat one who drinks lots of water much greater than the other two. He at first goes to fetch water but eventually all of them could not manage the work and no one goes to fetch water. Even though all of them are thirsty no one goes to fetch water. So we learn that as the team size increases, it becomes difficult to manage efforts and plan out the responsibilities of everyone. So here comes the role of a leader to delegate the work to everyone equally so that none of the worker is unhappy and the larger objective is also achieved.
The 3rd monk shown is a fat one who drinks lots of water much greater than the other two. He at first goes to fetch water but eventually all of them could not manage the work and no one goes to fetch water. Even though all of them are thirsty no one goes to fetch water. So we learn that as the team size increases, it becomes difficult to manage efforts and plan out the responsibilities of everyone. So here comes the role of a leader to delegate the work to everyone equally so that none of the worker is unhappy and the larger objective is also achieved.
One day winds and clouds arrive and all became hopeful for
rains. But it did not happen. So people look out for an easy way of escaping
work all the times and will never look for hard work instead look for
opportunities to lessen their work.
One day at night, a rat comes to scrounge and then
knocks the candle holder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple. The three
monks finally unite together and make a concerted effort to put out the fire.
This shows that when the situation is very drastic and affects everyone equally,
everyone will put in their best efforts to solve the problem as the result
effects everybody.
So in crisis, people think quickly and the goal of averting the
crisis is in sight. This is short time management as the decisions are being
taken for a very short duration of activity.
Finally the monks realize that they have to work in team to
solve the situation and devise a better way of fetching the water. They
designed a pulley system through which all did equal work and that too in less
time.
So we learn that people mostly tries
to off load their work to others instead of making a collective effort and
divide the work properly. So for proper functioning of the team all the
team members must be willing enough to appreciate the strengths and weakness of
others and try to resolve the issues through proper channels. Also, the team
must be innovative to devise new ways to do work and take everyone into the
loop.
Good blog..
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