THREE MONKS- silent film with so much saying...

Three Monks is a Chinese feature film directed by A Da in 1976.

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."






                                                                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rolBiHfWokY

lessons that film contains....

some disputes are unavoidable - when person work for himself, there is no problem.

 when joined by second, there are some but can be solved. 

But if one more joins then the major problem begins "who will take responsibilities".

 It is evident that in an organization and in a team, its important to take personal ego out of the equation and to perform the duty for the greater good. In an organization, selfish motives must be detected and discouraged for the good of the many.

Reunion at the time of tough situations- after seeing fire, started by mouse. all three monks started running randomly to get the water. There was only one target- to stop the fire. when monastery is on fire they realize that it is better to think in terms of team goal rather than individualistic goals.  

Since then they understand the old saying "unity is strength" and begin to live a harmonious life.

 Team work leads to innovation- 

When two monks were there they also invented the method for carrying water(measuring by scale), hanging bucket exactly at center of stick, so that no one is dissatisfied, although output was less than first case where one monk was carrying one bucket. But still there was a innovation.

More innovation occurred when all three monk started working as team, they invented pulley system. 
The monk at the bottom fills the buckets, the middle monk works on pulley and third monk at top carries bucket inside in reservoir. 

Relating to management- 

All human beings most basic tendency is to get everything done without any effort, i.e. be lazy. If you can manage to get your work done by someone else you will be most happy. Mostly, prey to this will be the junior most member in the group. This is what has happened with the monks too. I am sure that  it might have happened to most of us.  It is the responsibility of the manager  to divide the work efficiently and effectively among the team and to ensure that it is done. 

Managers have to be innovative also.They need to make drastic changes depending on the changes in the system. 

They continuously improved the system with the addition of the resources and finally reached a set up where maximum efficiency is achieved. Thus continuous improvement is also a key to success.

Thus small clip has shown us the importance of the role of a manager, continuous improvement in the system and team work.