LE 01

                                                        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.