The Two Towers

No, not the Middle Earth ones. 

This is the story of how we were given this exercise to build a tower using miniature cubical blocks of similar sizes and with one big design constraint - that there can't be more than one block in the foundation/ ground level. So we were basically looking at a single spine tower with each block placed on the top face of the previous one. And there was only one way to go - up.

Something like that, yeah.

So we were to observe how high we could build it and study the favoring/ detrimental factors.

Case 1: One blindfolded person builds the tower, seven people "assist" him by giving directions.

Case 2: One blindfolded person builds the tower, one other person guides him.

If you thought that the tower would have come out higher in the first case, think again. Numbers don't win wars. (4 brave hobbits and a freaking army of the dead do!) LOTR taught us that much. While in the first case the height of the towers was 22 cubes, the number was 27 in the second!

A number of men trying to help one person run a company (in this case build the tower) actually doesn't help at all. In plain English we have a nice little phrase for it - "too many cooks spoil the broth!" But since we're in a B-school now, we've gotta get more technical and manager-y about it. So here you go - 

Management Lesson #4: Unity of Command & Unity of Direction

The Unity of Command states that every employee should receive orders from only one superior, and the Unity of Direction states that each group of organizational activities that have the same objective should be directed by one manager using one plan. The two complement each other and are listed as points 4 and 5 under the 14 Principles of Management proposed by Henri Fayol in his book "Administration industrielle et générale". And of course the concept is called 'Fayolism', what did you expect?

Well said, Boromir!

Don't get them confused - teamwork and synergy - discussed in the previous blog (bless you if you read that one too!) - are a completely different matter. While we're talking about people of equal standing, coming together for a common purpose in the latter, Fayol's 'Unity' statements concern about the case where a person is clearly a subordinate to one (or many) manager(s).

So while the blindfolded guy was expertly (and patiently) guided by his supervisor/ manager in the second case and managed to touch 27, there was complete and utter chaos in the first. Multiple, panicked, unconnected, and at times completely contradicting instructions ensured that the 'architect' (or is he the engineer?) hit the tower with his hand and brought it tumbling down while at floor 22, resulting in a series of sighs!

"Nice and easy, now. And don't mind that spider on your neck, its not that big."

Now, before we had begun this exercise, we were asked to set goals for the number of storeys to be successfully reached. Each one proposed a number of his liking, and almost every number from 10 to 30 (and a even few round numbers beyond) was suggested. So how are we going to settle at a final figure? How do we take such decisions in real life, where under quoting might make you look weak or pessimistic, and over shooting might be frowned upon as crazy? Will any goal do? Are there any guidelines?

Of course, not. And of course, there are - 

Management Lesson #5: Setting SMART Goals

Okay, wait, its not as simple and useless as it sounds. It's actually an acronym. S.M.A.R.T stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. And these ones, we have a George T. Doran to thank for.

Specific - The goal should be clear and specific, no ambiguities please. We've no use with '20-40'. Any work should have specifics defined with the help of the five 'W' questions - What, Why, Who, Where and Which, so that everyone involved can cut a clear path to go about achieving the goal.

Measurable - The second criterion stresses the need for concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of the goal. The thought behind this is that if a goal is not measurable, it is not possible to know whether a team is making progress toward successful completion. (Thanks Wiki! :)) Imagine if, instead of number of blocks, we had a goal of reaching the height of a dog, or a bench? Or that of an open umbrella like the tens that lie in the corner every day these days? Imagine the complexity involved. No, we want solid, countable targets, mister!

Attainable - This one's a little tricky - how do you say 30 is attainable but 40 is not? If we had access to historical data, maybe there's a chance we can come to such a conclusion. But the reality is that, in most of the cases, we don't really, REALLY know what an attainable goal for us/ our company is. Fear or over-confidence can crop up, and both could influence our goal setting, and in time, comfortably, individually, bring down the company! Must take care to draw the line here.

Relevant - Obviously. No point in setting a specific, measurable, attainable, time-bound goal of building a tower 20 blocks high using all those builders for building a garage and park your vehicles. Relevant goals (when met) drive the team, department, and the organization forward. A goal that supports or is in alignment with other goals would be considered a relevant goal. (Again, thanks Wiki!)

Time-bound - Giving a set time-frame/ a target date, is very important while setting goals. Anybody can cover 42 km by walk given a couple of days. But the person who comes first is the person deemed the winner of the marathon. No point in setting abstract goals such as "selling 100 air conditioners". But rephrase it as "selling 100 air conditioners by the end of the month" and now we're talking! One must always set time-bound goals, and revise them as and when one reaches the end of that time period. Or the goal could be different for different time periods/ targets - "To enjoy 20% market share in air conditioners in India by 2015 and raise the figure to 30% by 2018" 

So the key to achieving success in any business is to set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound goals. In fact, some people go so far as to suggest that human potential is realized only through setting SMART goals. Some strong statements there - must have some merit in them.

As far as our tower building exercises are concerned, after like 4 classes of building and destroying and rebuilding them funny structures, we've learnt more lessons in principles of organizational management than we initially cared to, and the blocks are now carefully stowed away for the next batch of eager, gullible 'architects' that will huff and puff their way up the 96 stairs for their first taste of life @ a B-school same time next year. 27 was the highest any of us IM 20 batch ever got to, and our Prof. sadly didn't let us break the rules (of the single tower structure) in class or even play with them afterwards. 

What ideas I had!

Finding the Nazgûl to go with the castle might have been tough, though

Not really SMART, i admit. But a Minas Morgul in class is worth a kazillion attempts and failures in my opinion. 

What say you? B-)