Problem Solving in Management

Decision making is the key to a manager's success. To be a good decision maker one needs to first understand the relationship between Problem Solving and Decision making. Decision making is just one step or part of problem solving.

Different steps in reaching a decision:

• Estimation Analysis
• Valuing
• Priority Setting
• Problem Analysis
• Information Gathering
• Problem Definition
• Situation Analysis
• Idea
• Decision Making
• Implementation

Decision making and Implementation can be done at either Individual level or team-wise. Thus if we draw a matrix we can get four combinations:

Of all the combinations one colored yellow is the most complex at it it involves complexities due to the involvement of the group in which different candidates may have different views regarding the problem. The one where both the decision and implementation is done by individual is an example of Craftsmanship. In Modern Management system all the decisions are made in groups.

Are problems tough?
Well i believe no problem is tough.Its the inability to find the root cause that makes the problem look tough.Once the root cause is realized or understood,the problem no longer remains tough.Hence emphasis should be made on finding the causes of the problem because once they are known, their solutions can be easily obtained.

Grameen Bank: A product of microeconomics

Bangladesh's Mohammad Yunus is an iconic figure, the face of microcredit. He proved that giving small loans to poor women on the condition that they create a business was profitable and also helped people get out of poverty.

A self-proclaimed "banker to the poor", Yunus is a global celebrity overshadowing the country's leading political figures, including the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the man who is heralded as the father of Bangladesh. 

About Grameen Bank

The story of Yunus

Like many people who were born and raised abroad in families that had roots in Bangladesh, I admired Yunus as a teenager, not because he won the 2006 Nobel Prize, but because he had realised a dream common to many Bangladeshis living abroad: helping fellow countrymen out of poverty.

So when I first came to Bangladesh in 2008 as a journalist, Grameen was the story I wanted to pursue. With the help of a friend, I took up a loan to buy a camera, and together we travelled to villages to meet people who had taken up loans with the bank. We met women who were heavily indebted. They were having difficulties paying back the 20 per cent interest rate on their loans.

Many of them were illiterate and couldn't keep tabs on how much they owed to the bank. Some were crying, frightened of the weekly meetings they had to attend, when Grameen debt collectors would come to pick up the money due.

It was intimidating to witness; they come in groups, all men, all asking for their money back from a group of poor and frightened women. In fact, in the four years that I've been working in Bangladesh I have only ever met male debt collectors, never women. Grameen bank boasts a 96 per cent repayment rate, far surpassing the average repayment rates on loans in more developed countries.

Shocked by what I had seen, I wrote to Yunus asking him for an explanation.

Weeks went by with no response, no statements, so I sent a fax, posted the questions to his home and the bank's headquarters. Local journalists warned me that getting an interview with Mohammad Yunus would be near impossible, especially as I was requesting the interview in Bangladesh. Yunus prefers doing his interviews abroad. One local reporter told me if only I was white it might be easier.

I laughed off their warning and went to the bank HQ to meet Lamya Morshed, Yunus's chief of communications. She looked me up and down unfazed and prepared herself a cup of Horlicks. Without glancing up from her desk she pushed a pen and paper my way and asked me to write down my questions. I felt like a little boy faced with a stern schoolteacher. I did as I was asked and hoped for the best. Again weeks went by with no response.

I persevered, going back to the bank, this time with my cameraman, and went straight to the banks deputy managing director.

She told me I had no right to talk to Grameen bank borrowers without her permission; she was angry and called security to have me locked up. It was frightening, and I literally had to run out of the bank. I felt like I'd had a small glimpse of what it must be like to owe money to Grameen bank.

Yunus says credit is a human right. But debt is a heavy burden to carry especially if you are a poor women living in Bangladesh. So when Hasina calls Yunus "a blood sucker of the poor", it is not just a political statement to rally support, but a statement that many people in Bangladesh understand intimately.

Twenty-two million people, mostly women, are indebted to the 600 microcredit lenders in Bangladesh that operate using Yunus's model. Overlapping debt is now a serious concern in Bangladesh, as many take out multiple loans to repay their initial loan and so they cycle deeper into debt.

It is true that thanks to these loans, many have lifted themselves out of poverty but for so many others the vicious cycle of debt and poverty continues.

Yunus is popular with Bangladesh's small intellectual elite and civil society, and of course the West. Even for the common man, he is breath of fresh air from the two leading politicians Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia who have taken turns in power over the last 22 years. Yunus flirted with the idea of going into politics but quickly backtracked.

The government has taken aggressive steps to sideline Yunus from the bank he founded - an attempt to weaken his popularity and political ambitions. Last year, the government forced him to resign as managing director of the bank. Now the president of Bangladesh has given the government appointed chairman of the bank more power to choose Yunus's successor, a move seen as a government takeover of Grameen Bank.

Navrang: A new theory to management

'Navrang', hindi for 9 colours. But that's not what we are going to discuss today. Of course a management lesson would accompany it.
Here we are back, people, with our series of discussion on the course of Principles of Organization and Management.

So what did our Prof Mandi had to offer with Navrang. Well, a very peculiar kind of a toy. I am getting used to this way of teaching with toys- to see something so innocent as a bunch of blocks turn into something that can easily pass as a management jargon.
I mean have a look at it..

This is stuff for kindergarten students but the message it delivers would be difficult to be understood by Post Graduates like us. Anyhow, moving on.

So, what is an organization composed of? Elements, sections, departments. And the melodrama continues. Connect that to navrang, each of the 27 small fragments form an element which work cohesively to form a rod, or say, section, and three such sections combine together to form a department(here plate).

And what do these departments make up when they come together? Well, they make up an organization.

So, Professor Mandi gave us a task to make this cube with each face of the cube having distinct colours. It might sound easy, but many of the students who took the onus to complete it, couldn't get it done.

However, when you orchestrate each move in a proper pattern, things just turn out to be fairly easy.

This is what happen in organizations. Random, haphazard movements never turn into something great. Planned and properly guided steps turn into a larger picture which is befitting to be called an organization.

I have attached a video of how to solve this puzzle of navrang with 9 cubes of different colour on each face

 

navrang cube 

 

 

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Theory X and Theory Y- an insight

Today I would like to take my audience to a relatively very old concept in management, the concept of 1960’s.Too Old but very useful in understanding human behavior in an organization. The Concept of Theory X and Theory Y. This concept was proposed by Prof. Douglas McGregor.

Prof. Douglas McGregor was a psychologist, management consultant and author. He wrote a book entitled Human Side of Enterprise. In his book ,he described two distinct set of assumptions about people at work. McGregor labelled these set of assumptions as Theory X and Theory Y. He believed that these assumptions influence the thinking and attitude of most managers about the people at work.

If my audience are still reluctant to accept the importance of these theories, we will find out what the Theory X and Theory Y are. Theory X presents a pessimistic or negative view of human nature whereas Theory Y reflects an optimistic or positive view of human behaviour. These theories of 1960’s are based upon Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. 

Theory X and Theory Y relates to Maslow's hierarchy of needs in how human behavior and motivation is the main priority in the workplace in order to maximize output. In relations to Theory Y the organization is trying to create the most symbiotic relationship between the managers and workers which relates to Maslow's hierarchy of needs of Self Actualization and Esteem. For Self Actualization the manager needs to promote the optimum workplace through morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts. It can relate to Esteem when the manager is trying to promote self esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, and respect by others.

Theory X is about taking a pessimistic view of employees and don’t trust them. Theory X managers generally take an authoritarian stance with their employees and work better in control-oriented organizations. Theory Y states that employees may be striving for the higher level of Maslow’s hierarchy and searching for creativity and problem solving. Theory Y managers provide encouragement and trust for employees fulfilment. The end of the management course suggested that we as new managers should seek to balance between the two. Apparently, this is now considered a very old fashioned view of management and has been incorporated into other theories.

Assumptions:

The assumptions of Theory X are:

1. The average human being inherently dislike work and will avoid work, if possible.
2. Since human beings dislike work, they must be coerced, controlled or threatened with punishment to    make efforts to achieve objectives.
3. The average human being prefers to be directed.
4. The average human being wishes to avoid responsibility.
5. The average human being has relatively little ambition.
6. The average human being wants security above all other factors associated with the work.
7. The average human being is inherently self-centered and indifferent to organisational objectives.
8. The average human being by nature, resists change.
9. The average human being is gullible, not very bright. He may be duped by charlatans.

The assumptions of Theory Y are as follows :

1. The average human being does not inherently dislike work. Employees find that work is as natural as play or rest if organisational conditions are appropriate.
2. Employees will exercise self-direction and self-control if they are committed to objectives. External control and the threat of punishment are not the only means to make employees to work towards objectives.
3. Commitment to objectives, is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement.
4. The average human being can be motivated by higherlevel needs i.e. esteem and self-actualisation needs.
5. The average human being learns not only to accept but to seek responsibility. Avoidance of responsibility, lack of ambition and emphasis on security are generally not inherent human characteristics.
6. The average human being seeks responsibility because it allows him to satisfy higher-level needs.
7. The capacity to exercise imagination and creativity in the solution of problems is widely spreaded throughout the population. It is not the sole province of the managers.
8. Under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentialities of the average human being are only partially utilised.

Theory X assumes that lower-order needs dominate individuals. Theory Y assumes that higher-order needs dominate individuals. McGregor believed that Theory Y assumptions were more valid than Theory X. Therefore, he proposed such ideas as participation in decision-making, responsible and challenging
jobs and good group relations for maximising employee job motivation.

In these days, Managers are being more inclined to Theory Y as compared to Theory X just as we are shifted to more right-brain approaches. But a balanced approach between the two results in success of the organization.Keep Learning and keep applying was the motive of today's interaction!

Valley Crossing - A lesson in team building

This blog is about the lesson learnt about teamwork through a valley crossing exercise. In this case there is a valley which cannot be crossed by an individual alone because it is 2 steps wide. Now the exercise shows how if 3 people come together and a pole of sufficient length is provided using innovative thinking all 3 people can cross the valley.

So the situation is a very simple demonstration of what organizations do, they form a group of individuals to attain goals beyond the reach of any one person and to attain that they need resources (here a pole) and innovative thinking.

But this is not all only having a team and resources is not enough to be a successful organization there are many more things which need to fall in place to attain success. What these parameters are I learnt through a simple valley crossing exercise and would share those learning with you in this post.

Execution and Analysis of the Solution :

 Before starting with the analysis of the solution, I would like to describe the meaning of the states that I would be using :

·         Safe State : Safe state is the one in which both the feet of the person are on the ground and he is in no danger.

·         Half Risky: Half Risky is the state in which one leg is in the air and the other one on the ground

·         Full Risky: Full risky is the state in which both the legs of the man are in air and his body weight is supported by the other two men.

Persons	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Steps
1	Safe	Safe	Safe
2	Half Risky
3	Full Risky
4	Half Risky	Half Risky
5		Full Risky
6		Half Risky	Half Risky
7			Full Risky
8			Half Risky
9	Safe	Safe	Safe

Learning:

1)      Simplicity of Design

      First thing to notice here is that how a very complex problem has been simplified. Because of this simplification what would otherwise have been a daunting problem seems quite possible now. Hence it is very important for a manager to simplify a problem as much as possible because it gives confidence to the team on its achievability. Many modern organizations like Apple and Philips are highly successful because of simplicity i design and usage of their products.

2)      Goal Statement

      It is necessary to have a goal statement because it provides a sense of purpose and existence to the stakeholders. Here the goal statement is clearly defined as “Crossing the Valley” so all team members are focussed and using their energy in attainment of that purpose. Some organization define their purposes vaguely and employees in such organization are found to be hard working but not unified or scattered in means to achieve their goals.

3)      Load Distribution

   

      In an organization it is important that all employees are on equal footing and equally responsible for the optimum performance of the company. This would ensure that pride and ego issues do not creep up. In the example all three persons are equally responsible and hence work as a team to attain the goal.

4)      Unity of Direction

      

      It means that all people and department in an organization should be clear about the way they want to achieve the set goal. This is important to prevent any undue wastage of organizations energy and resources on unimportant or unrelated activities.

5)      Innovative Thinking

     

      Innovation is at the heart for long term sustainability of any organization more so in contemporary world where technology is causing sweeping changes in people’s priority and preferences. In the Valley Crossing Example the team showed innovation by finding out a method to cross the valley, organizations are supposed to find out innovative solutions for the problems that the world faces, Khan Academy is one such organization about which we discussed in one of my earlier posts.

6)      Trust and dependability

      Organization is a group of people and for them to work together in an effective manner it is indispensible without trust and dependability. In the current example all member of the team are in danger of falling in the valley at such situation it is the trust and dependability which pushes them to go through. It is important for a manager to foster trust and dependability among his team members to attain great results.

7)      Proper Communication

      Inefficient communication in an organization can lead to disastrous results such as delayed delivery, poor quality such incidents can lead to public embarrassment and even loss of order for the company. In the Valley Crossing Example the need for proper communication between the team is evident, if there is improper communication it can lead to loss of life.

8)      Synchronization 

      

      Synchronization is the sequence of events which are to be followed together or one after the other. In the valley crossing example there has to be complete synchronization between the steps of the team to ensure that the gap between them does not reduce or increase as it has to be maintained according to the width of the valley. Similarly for managers it is important to let their team know the time frame in which a certain task has to be completed and accordingly when related activities should be completed by employees.

9)      Training

      Last but one of the most important aspects is training your employees. Without proper training an average employee cannot become good and a good employee cannot be great. Imagine if the team members in the valley crossing exercise were asked to cross the valley without practice and training. They would have been low on self confidence and most probably they would have failed in the task. This is a important message for managers sometimes in our usual daily routine we don’t see the need for training the employees fearing loss of productivity for that period but this situation is detrimental in long term for overall growth of organization and employee, who after some time would feel no growth in personal and professional life.

Three Monks, No water : A Management lesson

Background

 Three Monks (Chinese: 三个和尚, San ge he shang) is a Chinese animated feature film produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. After the cultural revolution and the fall of the political Gang of Four in 1976, 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

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 film does not contain any dialogues, allowing it to be watched by any culture, and a different music instrument was used to signify each monk.

Movie link:
Three Monks, No Water: Chinese short film  

 Plot

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 candleholder, 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

Management Lesson

At first, the movie might bring the following inferences.

• People by their very human nature, shirk responsibilities.
• People do not cooperate with other members.
• People try to cooperate when unfortunate situations arise.
• Too many cooks spoil the broth, so more people should not come together.
• Design organization systems for the people at hand.

  These inferences however, represent the Old School mindset as discussed in an earlier post.

According to the new approach, the film has to offer the following:

Managerial Excellence

This includes:

1. Displaying command over competencies
2. Demonstrating good leadership skills
3. Getting the best out of each and every member
4. Taking employees along with, especially at the time of success.
5. Attempting to improvise on the way the job is done
6. Being involved with subordinates and colleagues.

Appropriate, efficient and Safe work methods.

The results should be driven by the formula:

EFFECIENCY * EFFECTIVENESS = RESULTS

Both of these are extremely useful for setting goals, analyzing one's work carefully, determining priorities and focusing on the 'Highest-value' use of time. This would lead to a higher individual productivity through a minimum individual effort.

Innovation

Innovation will further improve Efficiency and Effectiveness in an organization. Organizations need more than good products, processes and services to survive that can drive down costs and improve productivity.

Thus, if we count on human values alone for running an organization, we are in for doom as human values are most easily corrupted. This was also evident in the story where the monks forgot their actual job and kept their selfish interests above it.

  

Goal Setting and Performance Excellence

In my previous post on Need for management: Open Eyed and Blindfold approach , I had explained how Blindfold approach is the new approach to Management adopted by organizations today. This approach had led to a taller tower as the end result. However, there is more to this approach than what meets the eye.

Structuring the workforce

This is what was explained in the previous post where the work process was enlarged and workers were placed in each area corresponding to their skill set. At the top is the CEO, followed by Middle Management and then the workers.

Goal Setting

Once the skill set for each worker is identified, it is important to map these skills to a suitable task. Once this is done, the worker must identify his goals for performing that task.

A thing to note here is that one should always set high goals and strive to make them realistic. There is no such thing as Realistic Goals.

Achieving SMART Goals

In the process of making the goals realistic and achievable, the worker must pass his goals through the SMART Goals test.

If the goals follow this chart, they are termed as Effective Goals

More on this: Blog by Dr. Mandi

goals should not be so low that they diminish productivity and are not compliant with the employee's ability and skill and on the other hand, they  should not be so high that they are not realistic anymore and appear to be demotivating. The middle management should make sure that competent goals are set keeping in mind the past performance, average standards. This is done in all companies at the start of the appraisal cycle where we are supposed to do the goal setting for the next cycle in conformance with our skill, experience, past performance and project requirements.

The management should also ensure that the work conditions are ambient for the employee to give his maximum output. For eg, when people are working in odd shifts, they are provided with adequate arrangements for food, conveyance like cab services, maybe some relaxations along with some extra allowance for odd shift.


In Production: Interaction amongst the top brass, mid-level management and employees

As the production/work starts, the top managemnt defines a strategy and assumes a role where it exercises control over day to day operations at an arm's distance i.e. overseeing it but not regularly interfering in them. Their work is to interject at crucial points in the process. Their invlovment can be in the form of direct communication, media/market interaction, consulting with experts, govt, or industry as per the situation. They should not be doing the micromanagement as their prime duty is to decide on higher level questions and strategies of the business.

The middle management is entrusted with this important job of constantly monitoring the employee, progress and motivating them to achieve the goals. Its their duty to keep a track of the performance and make sure that the estimates are met. Alongwith that, they also have to ensure that the employee satisfaction and motivation levels stay high and do not deteriorate as the work pressure peaks.

Management Practices


There can be two approaches for getting work done from employees.
They come under 'carrots and sticks' policy. A management can follow any of them or a combination. What it basically means it either employees can be assumed to work out of motivations of greater responsibility, rewards, appreciation& respect ie Carrots.
OR
It can be assumed that as nobody by nature wants to work or take responsibility so some kind of threat or force need to used to get the work done, in other words, Sticks.
It depends on the employee rather than the management that which approach should be applied.

End Result (or a Continuing Process?)


As checkpoints are covered gradually, the estimates might need to be revised in accordance with the progress made. Upward revision indicates that the management has been successful in making the employees reach the best of their potential. This is an achievement and source of professional satisfaction for both the employees and the managers. Managers therefore always expect the employees to surpass their goals, they are aware of the Pygmalion effect, so they try to motivate employees with rewards, appreciation, recognition, which in turn instills the desire in the employees for excelling beyond their set goals. This was demonstrated in the class when the last couple of blocks were being placed over the stack in Tower building game.

Upward revision of goals

Downward revision means faulty management practices and are a symptom of a gap b/w the organisation and the employees.