Team "Building"

The second lecture was all about different types of management in the organization. Prof. Mandi explained that to us through a group activity. The goal of the activity was to use wooden blocks to make a tower. He gave us two options to do so. First, a single person would build the tower without the help of anyone else, and second, a blindfolded person would build the tower with the help of a person who would instruct him to do it. The question "Which method would you choose" was thrown to the class. There was an equal mix of students preferring both methods. Prof. Mandi asked the reason behind choosing the answers. Some said that the blindfolded person is handicapped and won't be able to perform at the highest level when compared to a person who can see, while others said that a team can perform a task better than an individual.

Prof. Mandi related this scenario to the management of an organization. He said that the single person doing the job was like a cottage industry where there is no senior management to look over how things are being done. 1 man does all the job. The blindfolded person resembled the worker or person at the lowest level in the hierarchy who executed the steps, whereas the person helping him was the manager who would tell him to do the work. We then discussed how the person's productivity, skill etc. is affected as a result of this.

Prof asked us to bid for the number of blocks that can be placed by the person who would be executing the job alone. The estimate was to build a 14 block tower. The single person first started placing the blocks and managed to get 22 blocks one on top of the other before it collapsed.

The second group then started placing the blocks. The blindfolded person was asked to place the block with only his left hand. The second person had to guide the first person and tell him the exact place to position. These 2 played the roles of a worker and a manager in any firm. Though the pace was slow (low efficiency), the team managed to place 24 blocks before the tower collapsed.

The key takeaway from this lecture was that a proper management is required for smooth functioning and growth of any organisation. A single person managing everything can take the business only to a certain extent. A group of individuals, led by an able leader is a better way to run the organisation in the long run.

A new perspective on learning and innovation

The title of the blog reads 'A new perspective on learning and innovation'. I chose this name because that is exactly what was taught to us by our POM professor - T. Prasad. The famous marketing event 'Mandi' is the brainchild of Dr. Prasad, and he is known all over by the name Prof. Mandi for the same reason. The anthem for Mandi is "Becho aur Seekho, Seekho aur Socho, Socho aur Becho" meaning "Sell and learn, Learn and think, Think and sell". These 3 things is all it takes to succeed in business. The first lecture in Mod-1 revolved around the importance of these concepts.

It was supposed to be Communication & negotiation skills lecture. Prof. Mandi walked in to the class to take the POM lecture. We all knew who he was as we had seen the videos and knew what the event was all about. The new perspective to learning that i mentioned earlier started from the moment he entered the classroom. He walked on to the dais, put the chair and table in a corner, and sat on the floor. he encouraged us to do the same as sitting on the chairs all day made the class monotonous. We students liked the idea of having a class like this as it was completely different from the routine lectures. It was a completely different experience altogether.

Photo credits: Ravi Yadav

Professor started off by showing us a model developed by a group of production engineers. He also distributed a few mini-globe-sponge-balls and balancing bird toys. The idea behind doing this was to stress on the importance of innovation in business. This was followed by a series of questions from the students. The questions ranged from the weather in Mumbai to doubts regarding the event Mandi;  and of course the management gyaan for which we all are here for. Sir patiently answered all the questions and gave us his views on the current MBA education scenario. He stressed on the importance of Innovation time and again.

We can learn theory from books, but experience is the best teacher. This is the reason why our professor asked us to close all books and pens. All we needed was to use our mind to absorb everything sir was teaching us. Another key takeaway from this lecture was the importance of sharing knowledge. The idea of writing blogs to express your ideas, opinions and share knowledge is indeed a brilliant one. Each blog will have something new to offer, and what we are achieving from all these blogs is a vast repository of knowledge that will help not only the students of NITIE, but also anyone who wishes to learn outside the campus! Happy learning :)