LE04: The 3 Monks

LE04: The 3 Monks

Three Monks is a Chinese animated feature film that highlights the importance of teamwork. It was screened in the POM class to make us students understand how people react in real life situations where there are conflicts. Thus, it aimed at bringing home the value of team work and co-operation. This was yet another example of the off-the-beaten-track learning methodologies being applied in POM.


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." A noticeable point is that the film does not contain any dialogues, allowing it to be watched by any culture.

Plot

A teenage 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 who had recently joined the monastery, 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 combined 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.

Following are the management lessons learnt :-

1. Teamwork does enhances the efficiency in the working of task  .

2.  Disputes tend to arise when there are more than one person involved .

3. Scientific and objectives measurements and instruments should be used to resolve the conflict .

4. The most efficient method to solve a problem evolves over a period of time .

5. Teamwork and team interest should take precedence over the personal interest .

6. Experiences in crisis management comes handy to come up with new innovative methods to solve   a problems .

7 Attitude of each team member determines the fate of the task  and decides for the success rate .

8. Synergistic roles :   Individual sums become bigger than what was there individually 

INDIVIDUAL Vs COLLECTIVE APPROACH

1. To put out the fire each monk got panicked and tried his best to run down to the river and bring the bucket full of water. But this process was ling and tiring, and also had to many glitches on the road. So it proved to be ineffective.
2. Coordinated effort dosed of fire very easily and without being tired.
3. Productivity is Important
4. Productivity is about how well an organisation converts resource inputs into goods or services.
5. Workplace productivity is about how firms can utilise labour and skills, innovation, technology and organisational structure to improve the quantity and quality of their output.
6. Basically it's about exploring all the ways that can make a working environment more efficient.

Why is productivity important?

1. • Basis for improvements in real incomes and economic well-being.
2. • Monetary policy (inflationary pressures)
3. • Fiscal policy (financing of health, education, welfare)
4. • Slow productivity growth = conflicting demands for distribution of income more likely