Three Monks and the Organization Co-Operation

Dear Friends,
Today I will discuss organization co-operation and non co-operation through the award winning Chinese movie "Three Monks and No Water". This is a Chinese animated feature film produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. After the cultural revolution and the fall of the political Gang of Four in 1976, the film was one of the first animations created as part of the rebirth period. It is also referred to as The Three Buddhist Priests.

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." The film does not contain any dialogues, allowing it to be watched by any culture, and a different music instrument was used to signify each monk.The film tells the story from the aspect of the buddhist bhikkhu.

Have you experienced yourself being stuck in a situation where everyone is waiting for each other to bring out the first step? “Three monks have no water to drink” is a profound Chinese proverb that depicts human nature that when working in a team, due to the lack of “vital sense”, employees in a group force are not paying enough effort to contribute to the overall success of a project

The movie and its learning can be divided into parts.
Part 1
There is one monk atop a hill who fetches water from the river. He is comfortable with the job and seeks pleasure in its fulfillment since water is a necessity and he is the only one who can fetch it.

Organization Learning from Part 1: This part shows a single person who is only responsible of doing a task will do it wholeheartedly since he will derive pleasure and satisfaction  from it. He is in full control of his job and knows that he will earn laurels if he does it efficiently.

Part 2
Enter Monk 2. He is thirsty and meets Monk 1 on the way. Initially Monk 1 offers him water and both the Monks decide to stay together. The next day they go to fetch the water but the carry pole is long enough for one bucket only and they feel inconvenient in carry the two buckets. After trying for few days they become angry with each other and the task stops. But when they realize the importance of fetching water they scale the pole and adjust it so that both feel comfortable in carrying the two buckets.

Organization Learning from Part 2:  This part shows that whenever two people share a task in which their individual part in not well defined, both will face problem in implementing it. Both will think that the other one should assume responsibility as there will be an issue of ego clash and insecurity of getting the adoration from the manager. In this case, the manager would do well in segregating the task and analyzing the performance of each one separately.

Part 3: Then comes Monk 3. His arrival leads to confusion amongst the three monks as to who would fetch the water and results in no water in the monastery even though the three monks are thirsty. Then a tragedy happens. At night, a rat comes to scrounge and then knocks the candle-holder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple. The three monks finally unite together and make a concerted effort to put out the fire. Since then, they understand the old saying "unity is strength" and begin to live a harmonious life.They divide the task among themselves such that one monk fetches the water, other one pulls it through the pulley and the third one takes it to the monastery.The temple never lacks water again.

Organization Learning from Part 3: Now the third part is very important for a manager. He should find out the best way to do the task by using new techniques or by re-inventing his work methodology. This will insure that every employee works to the best of his ability and an organization is able to gain the benefits of the different qualities which different employees have. Every employee needs to specifically know the tasks that they have to do and the things that they work on would have a direct impact towards the success or failure of the outcome. We also lear an important thing: Excellence = Efficiency X Effectiveness. The three monks uses technology and co-operation to attain efficiency and effectiveness.

 The third part also reveals a basic human nature. "We may be different in qualities and perception, but when it comes to any crisis, we have an exceptional ability to unite."
 The movie emphasizes two important aspects of an organization: Co-operation and Productivity.
Recent developments in the organizational sciences reflect the importance of interpersonal trust relationships for sustaining individual and organizational effectiveness.

For managers and professionals in organizations, developing and maintaining trust relationships is especially important.

 

 






Thanks for reading my blog,
Do share your comments.