Problem solving and decision making

We had an interesting topic today in the class that is Problem solving and decision making. Both are considered as very important tools in implementing certain ideas and to form a conclusion o fthe decisions.
so lets start

What are the steps involved in solving a problem?

Problem solving:

Now, unless we know that a problem exists we cannot convert it into an opportunity. Hence, the first and the most important step in Problem Solving is identifying the problem in the first place because if the problem is one and we are toiling hard to solve it assuming that it is something else wont bear any fruits. Accordingly, we use generic methods in an orderly manner, for finding solutions to problems.

Decision making:

Decisions can be made in two ways:

(a) Individually
(b) In a Group.

Individual Decision making is extremely fast and simple. It depends on the structure of the organization. However, the basic problem with Individual Decision Making is that is tends to be partial. There can be severe bias in the process.

Group Decision Making is a more organized and methodical process of solving problems than Individual Decision Making. This is because, in Group Decision Making, a problem is everyone's and not just of the one person who is making the decision. Hence, the group gets a variety of different perspectives on the problem and the probable solutions for the same.

Alibaba and Organisational structure

What is so special about this alibaba group..?

Alibaba Group is a privately owned Hangzhou-based family of Internet-based E-Commerce businesses that cover business-to-business online marketplaces, retail and payment platforms, shopping search engine and data-centric cloud computing services.

 Its consumer-to-consumer portal Taobao, similar to American eBay, features nearly a billion products and is one of the 20 most-visited websites globally. Alibaba Group's sites account for over 60% of the parcels delivered in China.

Alipay, an online payment, escrow service, accounts for roughly half of all online payment transactions within China. The vast majority of these payments occur using Alibaba services.

What is an organisational culture?

Organizational culture is the behavior of humans who are part of an organization and the meanings that the people attach to their actions. Culture includes the organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs and habits. It is also the pattern of such collective behaviors and assumptions that are taught to new organizational members as a way of perceiving, and even thinking and feeling. Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders.

Organizational culture are of several types. The one discussed in class are as follows:

  1. Open Culture – In an Open culture the employees are motivated to voice their values-driven concerns regarding problematic business practices. An open culture helps to counteract any occasional lapse into passivity at the board level or on the part of institutional investors.

2. Safety Culture - A safety culture is one were all employees are proactive in ensuring safety at work place. People immediately report any perceived short comings in the work place safety and in the safety of products given to customers or clients.

3. Quality Culture – In a Quality  culture utmost importance is given to the quality of the product or service being rendered. Volume takes a back seat. So does cost. Batch recalling of cars/computers when defects are found is a good example of the quality culture.

4. Performance Culture – Also known as OUTCOME ORIENTED CULTURE it  emphasizes on achievement, results, and action as important values. A good example of an outcome-oriented culture may be the electronics retailer Best Buy.

                                                             

5. Ethical Culture - A culture where great importance is given to ethical business practices and this importance is seen at all levels in the organization. We see that in such organizations, ethics are given precedence even if being so may lead to a loss of business and profit. The TATA Group is a good example to note.

The Grameen bank

You might wonder what is so great about this bank. 
This bank was found by Mohammed Yunis in the year 1983. Because he got a noble prize the bank was not popular, the vision he had when establishing this bank made it popular.

Who is Mohammed yunis..?

Mohammed yunis is an Bangladeshi banker, economist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. As a professor of economics, he developed the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts through microcredit to create economic and social development from below". Yunus has received several other national and international honours. He was awarded the U.S.Congressional Gold Medal in 2010, and presented with it at a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on 17 April 2013 

what is the unique thing about Gramen bank?

Yunus developed the principles of the Grameen Bank (literally, "Bank of the Villages" in Bengali) from his research and experience. He began to expand microcredit as a research project together with the Rural Economics Project at Bangladesh's University of Chittagong to test his method for providing credit and banking services to the rural poor. In 1976, the village of Jobra and other villages near the University of Chittagong became the first areas eligible for service from Grameen Bank. Proving successful, the Bank project, with support from the central Bangladesh Bank, was extended in 1979 to the Tangail District (to the north of the capital, Dhaka). The bank's success continued and its services were extended to other districts of Bangladesh.

Importance of Alignment

Magnets are fascinating things. Every time we see a magnet we are tempted to plat with it. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to see Prof.Mandi walking into class with a chunk of magnet and ask us, “Why does a magnet attract?”. After many attempts by us at giving a good answer, one person in the class was finally able to say the right word – Alignment.

          A Magnet has its power because it can align innate magnetic forces in metallic atoms. So, magnets (or Physics for that matter) align natural forces . A Manager aligns human forces to get work done. In effect an organization is a force that is aligned. The bigger or better an organization, the more perfectly it is aligned.

Management by objectives (MBO) is a process of defining objectives within an organization so that management and employees agree to the objectives and understand what they need to do in the organization in order to achieve them.The essence of MBO is participative goal setting, choosing course of actions and decision making. An important part of the MBO is the measurement and the comparison of the employee’s actual performance with the standards set. Ideally, when employees themselves have been involved with the goal setting and choosing the course of action to be followed by them, they are more likely to fulfil their responsibilities

Management lessons through Navarang Cube

What is a Navarang Cube..?

   

Navarang cube is cube consisting of 27 identical cubes of different colors.It can be divided based on the colors of different cubes. We get 9 different sets of colors comprising of three groups each. When this cube was brought in to our class we thought it was a shuffled rubiks cube. But when mandi sir dissembled the cube we came to know that it is much more than a rubik's cube. They were held together by a special arrangement among the blocks.

We were posed a challenge to reassemble the cube in such away that all the faces of cube comprises of all the 9 colors. We tried our best by trying most of the permutations on the cube. and finally no one could make. Because there is a systematic procedure for arranging these cubes.Unless hat procedure is followed no matte how hard we try we could not make it.

So what can we are the management lessons that can be learnt through this puzzle

• when the right cube is not placed at the right place the puzzle cannot be completed. In the same way when a right person is no present to do a particular task at the right time then the whole project may get affected
• the organisation should have a mix of people with different skill sets like how a navarang puzzle consists of different sets of colors
• The people in an organisation must work efficiently with their assigned work, only then the results will be colorful as the navarang puzzle.

Team Work Exercise: Three idiots

Valley Crossing Exercise” is a very useful management exercise to understand the importance of teamwork. Teamwork is a mixture of action process, interpersonal process and transition period in between. Teamwork consists of leadership, team formation, team norms, outcome interdependence, competition and cooperation. Teamwork can lead to better decisions, products or services.

The following image clearly depicts why teamwork is so much useful and what it can lead to:

“Together Everyone Achieves Success”

As can be seen in the above image, when multiple people work as part of a team, the overall output obtained is much higher than the one obtained by working individually.

Explanation of valley crossing exercise through a picture is as below:

Management lessons from the exercise

Responsibility:

      Everyone in an organization should feel equally responsible to achieve the objectives of the organization. Task can only be completed successfully if everyone in the team works collectively and in a responsible way

Planning:

Proper planning is required to be done for initiating any task so that the task is completed on time. In the valley crossing exercise, the plan was already formulated by the team members in the way they would cross the valley (take 9 steps with alternate and synchronous movement of left and right leg). The plan should be focused on how we can leverage our strength as a team.

Communication:

      Effective communication is very much essential for the success of the team and the organization and as it has been proven in this exercise. Synchronous movements by communicating with each other through sounds/skills were very much essential for the success of this exercise.

      Shared Vision:

      It is important to have a shared vision, which is clear and informs about where the organization  wants to head in the future. Vision needs to be shared with all the members of the organization so as to enable the members to work collectively in achieving the organization’s defined goal.

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      Trust:

      Organizations cannot be successful if there is no element of trust in it. As in the case of valley exercise, a person was ready to cross the valley while being in a “risky” and “half-risky” state only because he/she trusted the other members in the team. Similarly, in an organization, managers and employees need to trust each other.

Team Work ; The Three Monks

What is Team Work??

Working as a team...not exactly

Team work is very essential in a company for achieving a goal. So how exactly can we build a team?.Managing a team is not a simple task. Its more complicated as it deals with each and every issue regarding a particular individual in the team.If we fail to solve the issues of a person that will in turn effect the company.

Dr.Mandi sir gave us some tips as to how we can manage a particular task. First of all never EVER deal with the HR issues directly.Primarily focus on the work. For now lets take an example of Three Monks...you might wonder,what does a monk has to do with the present situation.But their attitude and egos at various points of time shows how actually a person behaves at a given a situation

The Three Monks

The picture shows that all the three monks were very happy but that's not the actual situation here. They have gone through lot of ego clashes between them and finally they were happy. The three monks are different in their own personality but that doesn't matter at all.What matters is whether he is capable to accomplish the task assigned for them. In this scenario the problem is to get the water. Of the three the first monk was the first to go to the house which is on top of the hill. Since the other two monks hasn't come he comes down the hill to get the water.

 He was so tired of getting water. After few days the second monk joined him at the house.The  first monk made him to get the water,he was reluctant to get the water so both the of them has to get the water. 

Firstly there was an imbalance of weights between them. They solved it by using a scale.

A few days passed by and now enters the third monk. Now the two monks thought of making him work instead,but he was reluctant too. Now all the three monks were reluctant to get the water.

Finally when there was fire on the house all three were very confused and got water from the lake.Then they came to know the importance of team work which helped to save themselves.

From this short video we discussed the various ways of increasing productivity of the monks in the class.Every one came out with innovative answers.