LE02

INTRODUCTION

         An organisation is set up to accomplish a common interest or goal. In today's society achieving goals is becoming more and more complex because of increased competition and various options available. 

NEED OF MANAGERS

         In such situations there is need of 'Managers'. They are not only leaders but also problem solvers, goal setters and strategy planners. In today's lecture we understood two major concepts: 

1. The ability of an individual to set goals depending on the situation and resources available. 

2. The importance of communication between different levels in an organisation.

THE TASK

        To begin with, there were cubic blocks distributed amongst the students in the class and they were asked to make an estimate of how many cubes can be placed one over the other in just a single pile. Every student made an estimate and the major assumption lied between 20-25. After they were made to write that on paper they were asked to justify their count. Then there were limitation introduced in the task that only 3 people will participate and the one building the blocks will be blind folded and students were asked to bid for any of the 3 positions and also take an estimate of the number of blocks. The count dropped down between 15-20. Many of them chose over 18 as a previous case was shared of students already having built a tower of 17 blocks. From this exercise we learnt to analyse situations with available resources i.e single pile, only three participants, blind folded builder and past record.

        Second important concept understood was the different levels in management  i.e Top level, Middle level and First-line level. The first- line level or the low level was the one actually building the blocks blinded folded just by listening to the the instructions given by the middle manager. Here the ability of the individual understand the need and requirement of the higher level is tested. Also patience, persistence and concentration of the individual was also seen as the person had to rely on just ears and not eyes to complete the task. The middle level management was tested on his vocal ability. Since the recipient to his instructions was blindfolded he has to rely on on this speech to explain his requirements. Here qualities like presence of mind and ability to establish an accurate communication was tested. The top level management was allowed to observe the whole scenario and was allowed to intervene only on 5 occasions. Here to fulfill his job he had to test his patience, observations and understand his importance and role in an organisation.

SUMMARY

      The exercise was successful in making people understand what was the role of individual at different levels of management and the students ultimately triumphed in building a 19 block tower with the help of their acute skills, persistence and communication and achieved the desired objective.