Takes two to tango and more to Fargo….

Dr.Mandi entered the class with his charm yet again much to the delight of those who are bored by classes and assignments. Today’ the famous Chinese animated feature film “Three monks” that has won many accolades. The movie is based on an old 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 film provides many lessons for managers.

Synopsis of the story

A monk lives in a shrine on top of a hill. He is peacefully carrying out his only task of hauling two buckets of water up the hill used for drinking. Then one day another monk joins him. He tries to share the job with another monk, but the carry pole is only long enough for one bucket. And if they carry one bucket there is another problem of load imbalance which tilts more weight towards one monk. So they both decided to measure the exact middle of the pole and tied the bucket there to balance the load. Then the arrival of a third monk prompts everyone to expect that someone else will take on the chore. Consequently, no one fetches water though everybody is thirsty. At night, a rat comes to scrounge and then knocks the candleholder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple.

The three monks finally unite together and make efforts to put out the fire. Since then they understand the importance of team work and invent a method which leads to equal load sharing between the three of them and they begin to live a harmonious life. The temple never lacks water again.

The film teaches us various aspects that impact the performance, productivity of employees in an organization in turn impacting on the growth of an organization. These aspects can be broadly classified into Human and Technical factors. Let's look at both these aspects that are the part of our daily life in a company.

Human Factors

Taking responsibility

When the fire began the elder monk took the responsibility of collection water from the pond and hence steadfast with the buckets to fetch water. The other two monks helped him to put out fire by flushing water on the shrine. Thus during a panic situation employees should take the initiative to

Solve the problem.

Division of responsibility

Since it is easier to split the task among them, the monks decided to create a tool, which

divided their work into manageable parts.

Cooperation

During a problem situation like the fire, Cooperation between the monks was the key in saving their shrine. Hence it is important to cooperate during problem situation and tackle them.

Technical Factors

Figure 1 - One monk

 Figure 2 - Two monks

 Figure 3 - Three monks

	One monk	Two monks	Three monks
Tools	A stick and 2 buckets	A stick and a bucket	A Pulley, 2 buckets and a rope
Efforts	Maximum	Lesser	Least
Efficieny	Least	More	Maximum

Scale/Tools: As seen in the movie, a scale was used to evenly divide the load among the two persons. It shows how the use of standardized tools helps to avoid controversies and incorporate fair practices. 

Productivity: It is necessary to gauge the productivity of employees in order to analyse the performance of an organization. Hence, it becomes an important parameter and the system should be designed to maximize productivity.

Participative Management: It involves all the stakeholders in the decision making process. As in case of a movie, while dividing the load of the bucket one monk did the scaling and the other did marking. It involves both the parties and avoids any conflicts that may arise at some later point of time. 

   

The major lessons from the story of three monks are

•     Team work
•          Division of responsibility
•          Taking initiatives
•          Use of tools to increase productivity