The Monk Story

This blog post is about an animated Chinese feature film which is based on the popular Chinese proverb, "One monk will fetch two buckets of water, two monks will share the load, but add a third one and no one will want to fetch the water." This story gives the all important message that 'Unity is Strength' but there is more to it if you apply the concepts of organizational management as we discovered in our class.

Here is the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_V4PnqIkUc

The Setting & The Plot
The story starts with a young monk who lives in a monastery atop a hill. He draws two buckets of water from the lake at the foot of the hill every day and takes it to the top of the hill on his shoulders. Then a tall monk comes along and the young monk tries to pass on the work of bringing water up the hill to the tall monk. But the tall monk insists that they should fetch the water together. They start fetching the water together carrying one bucket at a time on the stick but they enter a dispute that each of them was trying to transfer more load on to the other one.

Then we were asked to give our suggestions on the optimal and acceptable solution for the problem. There were a large number of options put in front of the class eg.
1) Going back to the original state where one person fetches two buckets each
2) Both go with different sticks and buckets
3) Divide the work with one person carrying the buckets for one half and the other person carrying the other half
4) Make a cart and pull the buckets up
5) Taking the bucket by supporting it at the center and fetching it together

We learnt that the last of the options was the best one. I will explain this in the following table.

Output = Buckets of water
Input = Energy put in (in Joules)

	Earlier Method	Proposed Method
Output (Buckets of water)	2	1
Input (Total Energy Consumed)	100	40
Effort required per bucket	50	40

Learnings

The table suggests that in the proposed method the amount of effort required per bucket is lesser. Also by doing the work together they can have better kinship. Moreover in the first method, when only one monk is carrying the two buckets, he will get exhausted very quickly and may become discontented with his job.

The two monks mark the center of the stick. While one monk holds the scale and measures the other monk marks. This is better known as Participative Management. If the same person measures and marks, he might be inclined to some mischief.

Similar is the case of a person working in an organization, if he is burdened too much or is given a task beyond his capacity, he will be discontented. By making teams, we reduce the work burden as well as improve the state of working of the individual. An individual who has to do all the work alone would face Protestant Work Ethic. It implies that you did something wrong in your past life and hence you have to bear this treatment.

The Story Continues......

The two monks start fetching the water together when one day a third fat monk comes to the monastery. He drinks up all the water and is hence sent alone to fetch the water. But on returning back he again drinks up the water but refuses to refill the container. So none of the monks fetch the water despite the extreme thirst they face. 

That night a rat comes in the monastery and knocks the candle holder on the curtains, leading to a devastating fire. All the three monks pool in their efforts by dividing the territory they cover and are able to douse the fire. They all then plan and come out with the best solution to the problem wherein one monk fills the bucket at the lake and ties it to a rope. The other monk pulls the rope through a pulley and the third monk takes the bucket to the monastery and fill the container. They don't have any further issues with the work.

The Salient Points

We must maintain that the division of work is equal among the team members. As can be seen from the final solution offered that if there is no equality of work the team members will not be motivated to work. The responsibility should be divided and there must be high inter dependence between the team members as it leads to more effectiveness.

It should be understood that all the three monks are different physically but their attitude is same towards humanity and positivity. They are all good people. Similarly in organisations, all the team members are not the same but they are all good and want to strive together for a common goal.

There should be high information flow and instant communication as can be seen in the method 3. Any communication to be passed on can be passed on without delays. This will reduce the idle time of the members and result in improved productivity.

There should be a change in method of working with growth in organisation and changing times. If the methods do not change, they will become obsolete.

Here, I would like to present a concise picture of the improvements in work style and other parameters while shifting from one method to another.

Various parameters	Method 1	Method 2	Method 3
Communication	None	Delayed	Instant
Task Role	Independent	Partially Dependent	Totally interdependent
Work Changes		Mid Point identification & Reduction in work tools	Innovative Work Practice eg. Modern Assembly line
Worklife	Hard	Easier	Fun
Philosophy of Worklife	Work for Death (Protestant Work Ethic)	Work to live	Work-fun-Moksha
Human Nature	Theory X	Theory Y	Theory Z