Sunday 30 June 2013

Goal Setting and Pygmalion effect

Any work start with the desire or requirement to do it, but for doing it better and make it bigger the path and the methodology should be clear. a journey without any clear destination will end someplace else. The goal setting before any of the task is very important.
Goal setting is the way to decide the potential of the person or the team. In organisational world, the goal is very clearly define so that it is clear for every one how to reach their and what is their part in the organisational achievement. GOAL setting should be very clear and achievable, Goal Should be S.M.A.R.T
S -  Specific
M - Measurable
A - Assignable
R - Realistic
T - Time Based

The Goal should be set considering all the aspect of the work and goal achieved in past.
A - Potential
B - Goal Set
C - Goal achieved
D - History
As rightly said by Dr. Mandi, the goal set should be the challenging and the work required to achieve the goal should test you in every expect of the ability required to do that work and the next goal should be more challenging once you achieve the goal set.

Pygmalion effect:
when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
                                   -Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
The above quote applied not only to things, but especially also to people. if you expect more from the people they definitely try to give what you expect.


The Pygmalion effect was described by J. sterling Livingston in the September/October, 1988 Harvard Business Review. "The way managers treat their subordinates is subty influenced by what they expect of them,"

The Pygmalion effect enables staff to excel in response to the manager's message that they are capable of success and expected to succeed. the Pygmalion effect can also undermine staff performance when the subtle communication from the manager tells them the opposite. These cues are often subtle, As an example, the supervisor fails to praise a staff person's performance as frequently as praises others. The supervisor talks less to a particular employee.
Livingstone went on to say about the supervisor, "If he is unskilled, he leaves scars on the careers of the young men and women, cuts deeply into their self-esteem and distorts their image of themselves as human beings. But if he is skillful and has high expectations of his subordinates, their self-confidence will grow, their capabilities will develop and their productivity will be high. More often than he realizes, the manager is Pygmalion.'


















Saturday 22 June 2013

Manager X and Manager Y

Hello! today Lets discuss about the theory of Manager X and Manager Y. It was given by Douglas McGregor in his 1960 book "The Human Side of Enterprise ". It provides a fundamental distinction between management styles. The theory look at how a manager's perceptions of what motivates his/her team members affects the way he /she behaves. It is very important for a manager to understand that how his/her assumptions about employees' motivation is effecting the style of management.

Manager X assumes that employees/workers are unmotivated and dislike working, so they avoid work whenever it is possible. this leads to an authoritarian style of management. According to Manger X's view management must actively intervene to get work done, employees/worker need to be directed, have to be forced and threatened to deliver work, need to be controlled and supervised at every step and need to be intervene to work as they have no ambition to work.

Manager Y on the Other Hand assumes that employees/workers are motivated and like working, so they do work sincerely and people will exercise self direction and self-control in the achievement of organisational objectives. the main task of the manager is to maximize this achievement.
There are two kind of employees/workers LAZY and NOT LAZY
This leads to four condition.
1) Manager X assumes LAZY worker as LAZY worker and make them work.
2) Manager X assumes NOT LAZY worker as LAZY worker and make them work.
3) Manager Y assumes LAZY worker as NOT LAZY worker and make them work
4) Manager assumes NOT LAZY worker as NOT LAZY worker and make them work


In first condition the manager's assumption lead to the achievements of goal as he makes LAZY employees to work. however in second case the the assumption will lead to the bad feeling of authoritarian manager in mind of employees those are willing to work for the betterment of the company.
In third condition the company might not achieve its goal as the employees those r not willing to work are not forced to work. however forth condition is very good for a company to achieve its goal as the employees would see his work is appreciated and he/she being given credit.
I come across a manager X theory kind of manager who assumes his employees as LAZY so he forced them and scold them often as a result of that all employees take his every suggestion and scolding casually this leads to the very slow improving in the system in the new operational plant.
I would like be situation 1 and 4 kind of manager in which identify your subordinate in their working attitude and deal with them as per the requirement of the organization. 


Friday 21 June 2013

The Tower of Organisation - Craftsmanship Vs Organization

The history of production has its roots back in the origin of the intelligent human race, but the production is of Craftsman type as there is no drive for the effectiveness and scientific approach has been used to improve the whole process of production until the birth of the management.
Craftsmanship is a production activity of a single independent person using his skills.In this process of producing a goods or services the person executes the process according to his/her personal liking and comfort zone without thinking about the efficiency of the process, like a carpenter, a cobbler or a plumber.

The organization is a social unit of people that is structured and managed to meet a need to pursue collective goal. all the organization have a management structure that determines relationships between the different activities and the members, and subdivides assigns roles, responsibilities and authority to carry out different tasks. Organizations are open systems - they affect and are affected by their environment.


The basic comparison of the Craftsmanship and Organization is listed below 

S. No
Craftsmanship
Organization
1
It is a activity of 1 person
It is a activity of more than 1 person
2
No parallel process, no dexterity
Parallel process, Dexterity
3
Less Dependency
More inter dependency
4
Person oriented approach
Process oriented approach

The approach of organization is "More out of Less for More" and seeking fine balance between 
1) Excellence
2) Effectiveness
3) Efficiency

A Tower Building Activity:
For a batter understanding of the organization concept an activity of tower building from the wooden cubes had been done in the class. In the activity, firstly a student alone build a tower this represents a craftsman and  asked him the target of numbers of cubes he can use to build the tower, he sets the goal at 20 but it end up in tower building a tower of 16 cubes. This is craftsmanship where there is no organization and management.

For using a organisation concept in this activity as simple as this the first question comes to the mind is how much persons are required and what work should be assigned to different person. Prof. Prasad asks for some volunteers to come forward and it tuns out to be 8. now a person had told to build the tower but now blindfolded and a person is there for instructing him, who is ultimately taking inputs from other 6 persons. the result of the activity is that the person is not able to build the tower more than 7 blocks however their expectation(goal) was to build a tower of more than 16 unit(as built by person alone ). the reasons is the person working there is confused by the many inputs coming and the uncertainty of a input i.e it is changing with the every cube.

Prof. Prasad explain that the 6 person is the excess middle management when present confuse the worker and reduce the productivity so the main work of the organization is to create a specific role and responsibility for every individual present in the organizational structure to achieve the specific organizational goal.  

   













Wednesday 19 June 2013

First day at NITIE

What short of questions one have in mind when he enter for the first class....?
how will be the class? how will i cope with the new environment? what short of questions will professor will ask? and so many......... but when the class start with Prof. Mandi's view on the education and the way he started the lecture with the sentence "Mai desi hun......" and the drive for the practical knowledge with jingle "Socho Becho, Becho Sikho, Sikho Socho". 

The cost of opportunity of studying in NITIE is worth doing something great for the self, so that the journey after NITIE does not end as a mediocre Manager. the concept of "Aaj ka roti Aaj kamao" and start the start  of doing things as "I" because "we" does not maater.

Prof. Mandi's view on thoughts students should not be controlled and the open minded study environment start with the singing of Pink Floyd's Song "Another Brick In The Wall". he let us play, taking photos and videos of the class, sharing a jock, teaching us how to communicate and free laugh while discussion is going on in the lecture. he asked us to use technology in study and use of blog to educate others and share the knowledge among the class.