VIdeo CV

Link to my video cv is as follows..........

Organizational Structure

An organizational structure consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims. It can also be considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which individuals see their organization and its environment. Organizations are a variant of clustered entities. An organization can be structured in many different ways, depending on their objectives. The structure of an organization will determine the modes in which it operates and performs. Organizational structure allows the expressed allocation of responsibilities for different functions and processes to different entities such as the branch, department, work group and individual.

Organizational structure types

Pre-bureaucratic structures

Pre-bureaucratic (entrepreneurial) structures lack standardization of tasks. This structure is most common in smaller organizations and is best used to solve simple tasks. The structure is totally centralized. The strategic leader makes all key decisions and most communication is done by one on one conversations. It is particularly useful for new (entrepreneurial) business

Bureaucratic structures

Weber gives the analogy that “the fully developed bureaucratic mechanism compares with other organizations exactly as does the machine compare with the non-mechanical modes of production. Precision, speed, strict subordination, reduction of friction and of material and personal costs- these are raised to the optimum point in the strictly bureaucratic administration.”

Functional structure

Employees within the functional divisions of an organization tend to perform a specialized set of tasks, for instance the engineering department would be staffed only with software engineers. This leads to operational efficiencies within that group. However it could also lead to a lack of communication between the functional groups within an organization, making the organization slow and inflexible.

Divisional structure

Also called a "product structure", the divisional structure groups each organizational function into a division. Each division within a divisional structure contains all the necessary resources and functions within it.

Matrix structure

The matrix structure groups employees by both function and product. This structure can combine the best of both separate structures. A matrix organization frequently uses teams of employees to accomplish work, in order to take advantage of the strengths, as well as make up for the weaknesses, of functional and decentralized forms. Weak/Functional Matrix: A project manager with only limited authority is assigned to oversee the cross- functional aspects of the project. The functional managers maintain control over their resources and project areas.

• Balanced/Functional Matrix: A project manager is assigned to oversee the project. Power is shared equally between the project manager and the functional managers. It brings the best aspects of functional organizations. However, this is the most difficult system to maintain as the sharing of power is a delicate proposition.

• Strong/Project Matrix: A project manager is primarily responsible for the project. Functional managers provide technical expertise and assign resources as needed.

Flat Organization Structure:

The flat structure is common in small companies (entrepreneurial start-ups, university spin offs). As the company grows it becomes more complex and hierarchical, which leads to an expanded structure, with more levels and departments.

Team

One of the newest organizational structures developed in the 20th century is team. In small businesses, the team structure can define the entire organization.

Importance of Organization structure

• Structure gives members clear guidelines for how to proceed. A clearly-established structure gives the group a means to maintain order and resolve disagreements.
• Structure binds members together. It gives meaning and identity to the people who join the group, as well as to the group itself.
• Structure in any organization is inevitable -- an organization, by definition, implies a structure. Your group is going to have some structure whether it chooses to or not. It might as well be the structure which best matches up with what kind of organization you have, what kind of people are in it, and what you see yourself doing. 

For further info you can refer to the below video

Creative Problem Solving

Creative problem solving, a type of problem solving, is the mental process of searching for a new and novel creative solution to a problem, a solution which is novel, original and not obvious.

Creative Problem Solving is a proven method for approaching a problem or a challenge in an imaginative and innovative way. It’s a tool that helps people re-define the problems they face, come up with breakthrough ideas and then take action on these new ideas.

Most of the times, when we face a problem, first thing that comes to mind is how difficult will it be to solve the problem? Thus we make an assumption that the solution would be very tough to find out. The mantra for creative problem solving is to free our mind from all the inhibitions and be innovative and creative.

Process Stage	Steps
Explore The Stage	Objective Finding (identify the goal, wish or challenge)
	Fact Finding (gather the relevant data)
	Problem Finding (clarify the problems that need to be solved in order to achieve the goal)
Generate Ideas	Idea Finding (generate ideas to solve the identified problem)
Prepare for action	Solution Finding (move from idea to implementable solution)
	Acceptance Finding (plan for action)

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	Objective Finding - Identify Goal, Wish or Challenge This could be a wish or a goal. It might be the initial dissatisfaction or a desire that opens the door to using the CPS process.
	Fact Finding - Gather Data Assess and review all the data that pertains to the situation at hand. Who’s involved, what’s involved, when, where, and why it’s important. Make a list of the facts and information, as well as the more visceral hunches, feelings, perceptions, assumptions and gossip around the situation. In this step, all the data is taken into consideration to review the objective and begin to innovate.
	Problem Finding - Clarify the Problem In this step, explore the facts and data to find all the problems and challenges inherent in the situation, and all the opportunities they represent. This is about making sure you’re focusing on the right problem. It is possible to come up with the right answer to the wrong problem. Re-define what you want or what’s stopping you.

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Idea Finding - Generate Ideas Generating ideas is much more than brainstorming. During this step, be vigilant about deferring judgment and coming up with wild, outrageous, out-of-the-box ideas. This is where you explore ideas that are possible solutions and have the most fun. It’s also where you need to stretch to make connections, take risks, and try new combinations to find potentially innovative solutions.

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Solution Finding – Select and Strengthen Solutions First, try to strengthen and improve the best ideas generated. Next, generate the criteria that needs to be considered to evaluate the ideas for success. Apply that criteria to the top ideas and decide which are most likely to solve the redefined problem. The best idea needs to meet criteria that makes it actionable before it becomes the solution. A creative idea is not really useful if it won’t be implemented.

Acceptance Finding – Plan for Action In this step, look at who’s responsible, what has to be done by when, and what resources are available in order to realize this idea as a full-fledged, activated solution.

Dr Mandi brought some red color plastic leaves and and gave us a problem to think of creative ways to use those leaves.Though some of us tried  but Dr Mandi accomplished magic with those leaves

Evolution of Management Thoughts

The evolution in management theory over the last century is the history of the constantly changing role of leaders in organizations. As organizational leaders evolved from the carrot-and-stick wielding owner-managers of the earlier Industrial Era to the modern day managers of the 21^st Century, the impact of individual leaders on organizations became progressively important. Whereas early managers could rely on authority and strong-arm tactics to reach their goals, managers in our time are challenged to set personal examples by living the values and principles they wish their followers to achieve.The Evolution is as follows

                           

Taylors Scintific Manage

Taylor's four principles are as follows:

1. Replace working by "rule of thumb," or simple habit and common sense, and instead use the scientific method to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform specific tasks.
2. Rather than simply assign workers to just any job, match workers to their jobs based on capability and motivation, and train them to work at maximum efficiency.
3. Monitor worker performance, and provide instructions and supervision to ensure that they're using the most efficient ways of working.
4. Allocate the work between managers and workers so that the managers spend their time planning and training, allowing the workers to perform their tasks efficiently.

- See more at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_Taylor.htm#sthash.mRnSmSqQ.dpuf

Taylor's four principles are as follows:

1. Replace working by "rule of thumb," or simple habit and common sense, and instead use the scientific method to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform specific tasks.
2. Rather than simply assign workers to just any job, match workers to their jobs based on capability and motivation, and train them to work at maximum efficiency.
3. Monitor worker performance, and provide instructions and supervision to ensure that they're using the most efficient ways of working.
4. Allocate the work between managers and workers so that the managers spend their time planning and training, allowing the workers to perform their tasks efficiently.

- See more at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_Taylor.htm#sthash.mRnSmSqQ.dpuf

Taylor's four principles are as follows:

1. Replace working by "rule of thumb," or simple habit and common sense, and instead use the scientific method to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform specific tasks.
2. Rather than simply assign workers to just any job, match workers to their jobs based on capability and motivation, and train them to work at maximum efficiency.
3. Monitor worker performance, and provide instructions and supervision to ensure that they're using the most efficient ways of working.
4. Allocate the work between managers and workers so that the managers spend their time planning and training, allowing the workers to perform their tasks efficiently

Henry Fayol's 14 Principle were these

                     

Max Weber's Bureaucracy is as follows

                      

  

Elton Mayo:Founder of Human Resource Concept

Hawthorne effect: 

The Hawthorne effect (commonly referred to as the observer effect) is a form of reactivity whereby subjects improve or modify an aspect of their behavior, which is being experimentally measured, in response to the fact that they know that they are being studied, not in response to any particular experimental manipulation.

This finally Resulted in evolution of Human Resource

 

               

System Approach:Main contributors–Johnson, Churchman,Kenneth, Boulding& RosenRelated to organisation system is defined as – “An established arrangementof components which leads to accomplish of particular objectives as perplan”All Organization are Open system

              

Thanks...

Management Styles - Theory X and Theory Y

Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human motivation created and developed by Douglas McGregor at the MIT Sloan School of Management in the 1960s that have been used in human resource management, organizational behavior, organizational communication and organizational development. They describe two contrasting models of workforce motivation.Theory X and Theory Y have to do with the perceptions managers hold on their employees, not the way they generally behave. It is attitude not attributes.

 Some basic differences between theory X and theory Y managers functioning is as follows

So which Management style is better

Theory X is the view that traditional management has taken towards the workforce. Many organisations are now taking the enlightened view of theory Y. A boss can be viewed as taking the theory X approach, while a leader takes the theory Y approach. With the onslaught of B2B social media, and the break down of formal business approach, business is also being conducted more around Theory Y than old school Theory X.

Muhammed Yunus and the Grameen Bank

Muhammad Yunus was born in 28th June, 1940 in the village of Bathua, in Hathazari, Chittagong, the business centre of what was then Eastern Bengal. He was the third of 14 children of whom five died in infancy. His father was a successful goldsmith who always encouraged his sons to seek higher education. But his biggest influence was his mother, Sufia Khatun, who always helped any poor that knocked on their door. This inspired him to commit himself to eradication of poverty. His early childhood years were spent in the village. In 1947, his family moved to the city of Chittagong, where his father had the jewelery business.

In 1974, Professor Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist from Chittagong University, led his students on a field trip to a poor village. They interviewed a woman who made bamboo stools, and learnt that she had to borrow the equivalent of 15p to buy raw bamboo for each stool made. After repaying the middleman, sometimes at rates as high as 10% a week, she was left with a penny profit margin. Had she been able to borrow at more advantageous rates, she would have been able to amass an economic cushion and raise herself above subsistence level.

Realizing that there must be something terribly wrong with the economics he was teaching, Yunus took matters into his own hands, and from his own pocket lent the equivalent of ? 17 to 42 basket-weavers. He found that it was possible with this tiny amount not only to help them survive, but also to create the spark of personal initiative and enterprise necessary to pull themselves out of poverty.

Against the advice of banks and government, Yunus carried on giving out 'micro-loans', and in 1983 formed the Grameen Bank, meaning 'village bank' founded on principles of trust and solidarity. In Bangladesh today, Grameen has 2,564 branches, with 19,800 staff serving 8.29 million borrowers in 81,367 villages. On any working day Grameen collects an average of $1.5 million in weekly installments. Of the borrowers, 97% are women and over 97% of the loans are paid back, a recovery rate higher than any other banking system. Grameen methods are applied in projects in 58 countries, including the US, Canada, France, The Netherlands and Norway.

Differentiating factors for Grameen Bank:

• Conventional banking is based on collateral, Grameen system is collateral- free.
• Grameen believes that all human beings, including the poorest, are endowed with endless potential.  
• Conventional banks are owned by the rich, generally men. Grameen Bank is owned by poor women.
• Conventional banks look at what has already been acquired by a person. Grameen looks at the potential that is waiting to be unleashed in a person
• 97 per cent of Grameen Bank's borrowers are women.
• There is no legal instrument between the lender and the borrower in the Grameen methodology.
• In case of death of a borrower, Grameen system does not require the family of the deceased to pay back the loan. There is a built-in insurance programme which pays off the entire outstanding amount with interest. No liability is transferred to the family. 

Muhammed Yunus has transformed life of millions transformed the entire meaning of Microfinance.
A glimpse of his effort to eliminate poverty is below

Three Idiots Crossing The Valley

The session started with an interesting activity known as the idiots crossing the valley.It is an important  management concept of Team Management and Team Work,the concept which binds an organization together.

Activity:Three people had to cross a valley together carrying a single wooden rod upon their shoulders.The Distance between one side of valley and other side was greater than one step and less than 2 steps.The Task was to cross the valley together with the wooden rod.

Choice of three people:Now the question arises that the  three people should be chosen on what grounds?

Now when we performed the activity in class ,three interested people came forward and formed a group for the task.This kind of group is called Informal team,where people with common interests participate and contribute to the activity.
In organizations,this kind of arrangement is temporary and is called "task force". Organizations don't look at people,they look at work.Managers are solution designers and understand work very well.

Incentive Mechanism:They must be provided with some incentive to perform this exercise as danger step is also involved.Now two types of incentive could be given 

• External:Cash Reward,Life Insurance
• Internal :Appreciation from senior Management

Components of Excellence:

Now let us try to have a look at the components of excellence. We learned

Excellence = Efficiency X Effectiveness

Now how to elaborate it. Well, in simple words,  Efficiency deals with whether the given work is executed properly, whereas Effectiveness deals with whether the work given was rightly estimated.

Efficiency can be attributed to engineers, whereas Effectiveness remains a managerial concern. (Without any bias, any person who is able to imbibe the two features is both an engineer and a manager.)

The importance of organization structure is clearly evident from this.  The instructions that need to be followed by the people when attempting to cross the valley are not important in terms of our understanding of the management aspect of the problem, however one can list them as:

• The process needs to be coordinated and well-structured.
• The movement need to be synchronous.  
•  The persons should have faith in the solution.

 

Now there is a sharp distinction between Steps viz

• Safe
• Half Safe
• Dangerous    

  However the role of the management is to make all steps as one and remove the distinction.

 So the onus is on management to instill confidence among workers

 

Three Monks:Unravelling the Management Lessons

Three Monks is a Chinese animated feature film.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".Click the video below to watch the short movie.

 The Plot is as follows.A young monk lives a simple life in a temple on top of a hill. He has one daily task of hauling two buckets of water up the hill. He tries to share the job with another monk, but the carry pole is only long enough for one bucket. 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 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. Since then they understand the old saying "unity is strength" and begin to live a harmonious life. The temple never lacks water again

.Dr Mandi asked us the key learning's that  we had from the movie.Well we were all geared up as we expected this question to come eventually.The major issue that came up was the ego of the monks that caused enmity amongst them.But Dr Mandi urged us to look beyond the human factors as it is not easy to change humans but processes can be improved.The case of the three monks can be visualized by looking at each of the monks and their approach individually.

                                            Case of the First Monk

First Monk

• When the first monk was alone he was carrying the buckets of water each day efficiently.
• He was also watering the plant which the deity was holding in his hand.
• He was also praying along with carrying out these chores.  
• It involved a lot of effort.

                                            Case of  Two Monks

• When the second monk came the first monk stopped bringing water and asked the new monk to fetch water.
• After few days they both started fighting over the issue of bringing water.
• They decided to change their approach to as shown in the picture.So instead of two buckets they brought only one.They also fought each other by pushing the bucket along the stick so as to reduce their weight.
• Gradually they agreed to mark a point in between on the stick with a scale so that  load get shared equally.
• Though output was less but there was reduction in effort.

                                               Three Monks 

• Initially they made the third monk to fill the water but soon third monk realized that he is the only one doing the work, so he stopped working.Things came to a standstill.

• The first monk even drank the water from the pot in the deity's hand to quench his thirst.This shows loss of character in the time of adversity 

   

                            

                           Three monks in the crisis.

   They were caught in a fiery inferno and they worked together to came out of this problem by devising a new way of pulling bucket through a pulley system and working as a team by setting out their differences.

   

   

   

                              Key Leanings from Movie 

  • Cooperation: It is the process of working or acting together. In its simplest form it involves things working in harmony.

  • Process Improvement:Don't try to change the human aspect .Always try to improve the process.There is always a better way.

  • Synergy and Team Work:It is the interaction of multiple elements in a system to produce an effect different from or greater than the sum of their individual effects. 

    

     

   

Setting SMART Goals

Goals define the purpose toward which an endeavor is directed.Napoleon Hill  once stated that "A goal is a dream with a deadline".Dr Mandi put this thought in us by laying down the foundation of SMART goals into our nimble minds.Goal setting is the foremost requirement for any progress in any organization.Without goals there will be nothing to accomplish.Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn your vision of this future into reality.But Dr Mandi pointed out that goals should be SMART.

 The Goal Setting process should  be like the Fibonacci spiral which should be increasing arithmetically with feedback of past to challenge the future. .One must never set substandard goals and always try to reach the zenith of one's potential.We are all destined for greatness.

After the foray into the uncharted territory of SMART goals we entered the doorway of PYGMALION effect by the entrance of Greek Mythology.Pygmalion was a very talented sculptor in ancient Greece who loved his work, and would spend hours carving beautiful ivory statues.One day, he chose a large, beautiful piece of ivory, and worked diligently at it, chiseling and hammering until he finished. It was a statue of a beautiful lady. Pygmalion thought it was so beautiful, he clothed the figure, gave it jewels, and named it Galatea (sleeping love). Pygmalion went to the temple of Aphrodite (Venus), the goddess of love and beauty to pray for a wife just like the statue in his home. During the Aphrodite feast, thanks to Pygmalion`s prayers, the sculpture turned into a real person. This was called The Pygmalion effect.

Thus Pygmalion is the phenomenon in which the greater the expectation placed upon people, the better they perform.

 

 Finally Dr Mandi discussed POSDCORB which  is an acronym widely used in the field of Management.

Thus Goal setting is the prime process which should be done very smartly to maximize the productivity.

Evolution :Old School to New School of Management

Dr Prasad continued to surprise us.This time he came with a bag full of cubes.He took cubes out of his miraculous bag and threw it at all of us .I caught one  like Jonty Rhodes.

He then asked us to build a single block tower using wooden cubes thrown by him.But it has to be done in two ways.

Old School Approach: Students were made to bid.The highest bidder was given a chance to build the tower with his eyes open.

Result: Tower reached to a height of 22cubes.

 New School Approach:  Here one person was blindfolded and he was helped by another person who will guide him to build the tower but will not personally touch the tower.
The task was accomplished by three  people who played role of CEO(top management),manager(middle management) and worker respectively.

Result: Tower reached to a height of 27 cubes.

He asked all of  us in the beginning  which tower will be higher.The class was divided in their answers.But the results were surprising.Dr Mandi then told us that the two approaches were actually aspects of OLD SCHOOL vs NEW AGE sort of management style.

MANAGEMENT STYLES

 The diagram represents that all the decision making authority in the new approach rests with management which is not in case of craftsmanship where the person decides as well as implements the task.

SOME SIDE EFFECTS OF NEW SCHOOL:

• Skill decreases
• More dissatisfaction among workers

MAJOR BENEFIT :

•         Large scale of Production.

Dr Prasad's way of Learning by Doing is showing us new pathways.Looking forward to be dazzled again :)