The Three Monks

 
"Sum is more than parts"

So This is about a short Chinese film that we saw in out latest lecture of three monks, which touched upon some subtle yet very important concepts of managements. So from this short film I imbibed some of ideas like  "Sum is more than parts".  That is what Synergy is all about.

Background :
       There is a Buddhist Monastery at the top of a hill, where these Monks live and meditate through out the day and carry out their livings with single agenda of surviving with basic necessities and attain moksha by connecting through spiritual powers. The storyline starts with fetching a pale of water from the river which is at the foothills and these monks have to fill it and carry it to the monastery every single day. 
     The very first day there is a description of 1st monk which carries 2 pales on either side of the stick and fetches the water but gets tired at the end of the day and is not able to concentrate on his meditation and dozes off at night, similar situation happens when the 2nd monk arrives and then on the 3rd day they decide that they would carry a single pale of between the two, CONFLICT MANAGEMENT----then there arises a conflict where the younger(shorter) monk tries to push the weight to  the side of the other monk which in turn gets angry, and they stop at the middle of the hill top and then both fight over the length of the stick which is carrying the pale of water, where at first they apply subjective methods for measuring the stick to come to a mid point of the stick, which they again conflict on their views, now comes an interesting part where the younger monk uses a Scale( a scientific instruments which is standardized)  to measure the stick, where he places the scale on the stick and asks the other monk to mark the midpoint, and then they carry on the journey with ease and from the following night they do not get tired and can totally concentrate on their meditation.

Synergy


              So on this there were various alternatives discussed in the class which were as follows 1). everyday alternatively they would go and fetch 2 pales of water. 2). 2 biggers sets (4 buckets) 3). divide the work half and half 4). put motor and pipe 5). mark a point at the middle of the stick 6). short and long should exchange their position. 7) why should 2 person carry only 1 bucket, so after these points were discussed finally we came to ac a conclusion that this signifies a wonderful example of teamwork and fair practices which we need to follow and develop amongst ourselves, and in here we also find out the productivity=output/input/.

           Then the story follows with a third monk joining these two monks and starts drinking the water from the tub that they had stored for their own use, and then when he finishes it ask him to fill it but as that guys is a bit of hefty built when he goes to fetch the water he is so tired when he reaches up he himself drinks it. so the following night the monastery catches fire with the candle near the Lord Buddha's image, and then these 3 monks just with their presence of mind and co-ordination distribute  the work amongst themselves and divide the pathway from river to the hilltop in 3 equal parts and through organized teamwork shows us what Synergy can do and douse off the fire, where the work is similar for all the 3 and no one amongst them gets too tired and when one of the monk is carrying the bucket the other 2 can rest and gather some strength to carry out further trips to fetch the water. So in here they identify the objective measurement which is acceptable to all. 

The Power of Simplicity.


          Then in the later part what they do is they imply a simple machine of rope and pulley to fetch the pale and mitigate major amount of energy required, and reduce the time and effectiveness and efficiency is clearly portrayed by this act of co-ordination.


                                                                         --Pushkar Kharate
                                                                 IM-19, Sec- B
                                                                 Roll No. 117.