THE THREE MONKS

The following video depicts the famous 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. "

A young monk lives a simple life in a temple on top of a hill. He has one daily task of hauling two buckets of water up the hill. Another monk arrives the temple and they start sharing the responsibility.In order to divide the load, they both figure out a way so that the pole could be carried by both of them but the carry pole could then be used for carrying only one bucket. They are still content. A third monk arrives and goes to fetch the water. He gets so exhausted in the task that he drinks all the water by himself. So he evades from the task. Eventually everyone starts expecting the other person to take on the chore. Consequently, no one fetches water though everybody is thirsty. At night, a rat comes to scrounge and then knocks the candle-holder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple. The desperate situation makes the three monks finally unite together and make a concerted effort to put out the fire. They take the help of the pulley and divide the work amongst all three of them according to their capabilities. Since then they understand the old saying "unity is strength" and begin to live a harmonious life. The temple never lacks water again. 

MANAGEMENT LEARNINGS

1. Differentiation:

The story illustrates that different humans excel at different tasks and it is require to realise their potentials and differentiate the work accordingly. Here third monk got fatigued when he went to fetch water the first time and started shunning the responsibility thereafter. Seeing him the other monks also avoided the work and retired to remaining thirsty. 

2. Higher Efficiency:

We saw that when second monk joins and wants to share up the load, they end up pulling 1 bucket together. Here the load was shared but efficiency was reduced. It is important for an proficient manager to realise that though load sharing is important to maintain the harmony amongst the team members, utilisation of the available resources should be done in a way such that the overall efficiency increases.

3. Co-ordinated Team

Manager need to understand the importance of a well-coordinated team where roles are clear and assigned to everyone's potential. When in the end the monks resolve to use a pulley, they make the third monk to stand at the bottom of the hill. In this way, the weakness of third monk is dealt with and still his efforts are utilised for effective completion of the task.

4. Alternatives

A manager needs to analyse all the available alternatives at hand and devise the execution of a task using the best alternative. This encompasses the use of technology, wisdom and all other available resources.  In the end the use of pulley helps the monks extinguish the fire in a well-organised and proficient manner. A manager should be innovative and capable of recognising and devising the appropriate solution according to the demand of the situation.