After the first lecture from Prof. Mandi,which was very innovative and fun my expectations from the second lecture were huge and I was not disappointed.The class started with Prof Mandi distributing a few cubes to the students and I was very excited about what the task was going to be this time.Then sir explained to us that we have to build a tower using these cubes putting one cube over the other vertically with no support provided to them.He then asked us to predict how many cubes can be put over each other before the tower eventually falls down.
Then started a series of predictions by students ranging from 12-28 and my personal prediction was 18.Then came a surprise from Prof Mandi.He told us that one student will make the cube tower with his eyes open and one will make it with his eyes closed.The closed eyed person was only supposed to use one of his two hands but he will be guided by a second person who can't help him physically but can only guide him and motivate him.The blindfolded person will be the worker,the person guiding him will be the manager and besides these two there will be one more person who will the CEO but he would not do anything other than watching the manager and worker do the required work.
Tower Building by the open eyed person
Prof Mandi initially asked the student doing the task how much cubes can he use to build the tower and the student then gave Prof. Mandi a number but then Prof Mandi told him to bet Rs 350 on it.If the student makes a tower using the exact number of cubes as he had mentioned earlier then he would get his money back otherwise he would not.After hearing this the prediction of the student doing the task came down and he then predicted that he will make a tower of 14 cubes which was much lesser the number he had mentioned earlier.
This teaches us when the risk goes up we tend to lose confidence in ourselves and lose faith in our capabilities.But when the student started doing the task then he made a tower of 22 cubes exceeding his own expectations.This teaches us that we should never lower our expectations when the risk goes up.We should have confidence in our capabilities.
Tower Building by the closed eyed person
When the closed eyed person started building the tower almost all of us had very less expectations from him.We were sure that there is no way he can build a tower higher than the one made by open eyed person.Then the tower building began.The blindfolded guy did what the guy guiding him was telling him to do.At very single step the manager motivated him,told him what to do,where to move his hands and to ensure that the tower didn't fall when it was about to fall.When the tower buiding was finished we were amazed to see that the closed eyed person made a tower using 27 cubes which was 5 more than the cubes used by the open eyed person.The lesson learnt here was that when ever a person is being guided and motivated by his manager the results obtained are always better.
Lessons learnt from the tower building game
Craft vs Modern Management
The two scenarios of tower building can be related to craft management(old management) and modern management.When the open eyed person building the tower it was craft management.In this type of management a single person has to do the entire work for e.g a cobbler,although in this case the work satisfaction and the skills will be more but the productivity will suffer.In the case of closed eyed person i.e modern management different people are doing different work.The worker is making the building,the manager is guiding and motivating him and the CEO is just a mere observer.In this the work satisafaction will be less,the skills will be less but the productivity will be high.The following table summarizes the comparison between the two.
| Parameters | Craft Management | Modern Management |
| Work | Ambiguous | Crystal Clear |
| Skill | Increase | Decrease |
| Productivity | Low | High |
| Satisfaction | More | Less |
| Innovation | Less | More |
Role of Middle Management
The role of middle management is to support,guide and motivate the workers.They don't have to do any other work.However if they are not able to do the above mentioned things then they are dispensable in any organization.
Goal Setting
When the blindfolded person was building the tower almost everyone has very low expectations from him.The lesson learnt here is that we should lower our expectations in time of adversity and have in potential of the person doing the task.
happy reading :)
Good one..:) Seems to be endless fun n learning..:)
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