JAB WE MET " DR. MANDI"
THE BEGINNING :
EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED
Principles of Operation Management : The first thing that
came to my mind after reading this topic was "a boring session". But
the first thing I learnt in this session was the famous proverb " Never
form an opinion based only on appearances" . In came Dr. Mandi with all
his zeal and enthusiasm to guide us through the most dull subject in the most
interesting way. Curious to know how???
Read on.
ONE LINERS AND MY
LEARNINGS FROM IT:
"Socho
Becho , Becho Seekho , Seekho Socho" . Shocked ?? Even I was when I
first heard this line by Dr Mandi but when I comprehended it's meaning I
realized how true it is in this modern world. I could connect this to my stint
with Tata Consultancy Services while I was working. Their success lied in the
fact that they were selling the right service to the right customer and were
ready to adapt to the changes and improvisation. Their every subsequent service
was better than before in terms of quality and customer satisfaction. Not only
this when I look back at the growth of Reliance Industries during Dhirubhai
Ambani's tenure I find that he applied the same cycle of Sochna, Bechna And
Sikhna to reach the zenith of success. He thought( sochna) of the right products and customers, sold (
becho) them his products at the optimum price and then learnt ( seekho) new methods of improving and expanding his
business through customer feedbacks.
" Aaj Ki Roti Aaj Hi
Kamaana" : Till now I could not
complete digesting the above one liner when Dr Mandi came up with " Aaj Ki Roti Aaj Hi Kamaana" . I
learnt through various examples that he showed that anyone can start up a
business anytime irrespective of his/her age and limitations. The things that
one needs is an idea, hard work and determination. This concept made me go back
a few years of my life when I was associated with a networking business called
'eBiz'. They offered computer courses and along with that they provided you a
chance to earn money while learning by recommending it to our friends and
getting them joined in. While I was there for 1 year I had seen people from age
group of 18-20 earn in lakhs per month and got themselves new cars on their
own.
FUN ACTIVITY : THE
TOWER OF SUCCESS
Most of us were predicting long hours of lectures but were
pleasantly surprised by the practical approach and student participation in
everything that was taught. One such activity was "The Tower Of
Success" ( as I would like to call it). 3 students were brave enough to
put their money at risk and tried to perform what most of us thought was
impossible. One of them ( say 'X') was blind folded and was asked to erect the
longest tower of small cubes using his left hand . Only help he could seek
was from two other students ( say 'Y'
and 'Z') who were supposed to guide him
through this task. While 'Y' was
supposed to continuously guide 'X' , 'Z' was supposed to occasionally intervene
to provide his inputs and thoughts. Finally by the dint of their hard work and
determination and support from the rest of us they managed to set a new record
of '18 cubes'.
INTAKES AND
LEARNINGS FROM THE ACTIVITY
Throughout the activity there were a lot of things that
changed my thought and understanding.
1) The first one was to
take risk and grab the opportunity or else someone would grab it . I could
realize the famous proverb "No Risk No Gain" . Those 3 guys took
chance and it paid off. I regretted my decision of not putting in money
initially and see them grab the opportunity and attain success. Next time I
would like to see myself amongst them. Any organization starts with a risk.
Risk of being a failure and risk of losing their investment. But success only
comes to those who takes these risks. Others can only admire and applause.
2) The next thing it
taught me is to have clarity of goals. What is it that I need to achieve.
Those 3 had a clear picture of attaining the magical figure of 18. With this in
mind they went ahead and did not stop till they finally achieved it. Whenever
we did any project in TCS we had clear set of things we needed to do with a
clear deadline. With these things in mind we could achieve all that we could in
a timely manner.
3) The third thing I
learnt was to give a good structure to their organization and identify proper
roles of the individuals. While 'X' represented the worker class , 'Y'
represented the middle management and 'Z' the top manager. All the three played
vital roles for the organization success. The rest of the class looked like
'customers' to me who wanted the organization to do well. Every organization is
segmented in various hierarchies and every person at every level has a specific
task to perform. This was very well demonstrated in that activity. Even in TCS
we had various people working at various levels. I was under a supervisor
(middle management ) and he himself was under a project manager ( top
management) and all of us went forward
to achieve success in our endeavours.
4) Next thing I believe
was essential to learn there was their planning and execution. They planned
out their do's and dont's. They worked upon it and executed it perfectly. They
did not lose their focus till they had put that 18th cube successfully. Every
single move was crucial clearly stating that we need to stay focus and
determined till we achieve our goals. This explains why successful organizations
always stay focused before achieving what they want. The key here is not to be
complacent or pull back till the last bit has been achieved.
5) One important thing
that came across well was the building of Human Relationship amongst the 3
students and also with the crowd. The worker was regularly given breaks,
encouragement and drinks for him to
achieve the required result. Both 'Y' (middle management) and 'Z' (top management) looked after 'X' and made sure he received
all the support from their side which is a key challenge for success in any
organization.
6) And finally the most
important lesson for me was to believe in yourself and the belief that nothing
is impossible. When initial speculation was taken I was amongst the
majority who thought that anything above 15 would have been impossible. But the
end made me believe that nothing is impossible. Management is in believing that
anything which is realistic can be done and achieved. What we need is
sufficient self confidence and to do
what is correct. It completely differentiated how theory Y ( self motivated ,
positive and exercising) workers can make things possible over theory X ( lazy
and negative) workers.
SUMMARY :
So the session finally came to an end and imbibed in me various principles of
management and organization. The method
used by Dr Mandi made us realize how imparting education has changed time fold.
I learnt how I can become 'SMARTER' -
Specific , Measurable, Achievable , Realistic , Time- Bound , Evaluate ,
Re-evaluate in this industrial world by simply following some basic concepts. This
was an awesome learning experience for me as was for all the other class mates
and excited to further learn from future classes.
