The Three Monks

The Three Monks

The “Three Monks” which is the Chinese Movie produced by Shanghai Animation Film. 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. Movies explain the concept of the Management very beautifully.

Overview:

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 Plot:

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. He tries to share the job with another monk, but the carry pole is only long enough for one bucket. The arrival of a third monk prompts everyone to expect that someone else will take on the chore. Consequently, no one fetches water though everybody is thirsty. At night, a rat comes to scrounge and then knocks the candleholder, 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. The temple never lacks water again.

Scene 1:

A monastery located on the top of a hill and water can be availed from the lake below. To get water, the monk has to get to the bottom of the hill. The monk's daily routine included fetching water, chanting mantras and adding water to the water pot placed in front of the Goddess of Mercy, thereby respecting it.  His life was smooth and comfortable.

Scene 2:

Once a tall monk came. He drank half of the jar’s water as soon as he arrived at the temple, so the little monk asked him to fetch water. The tall one thought it was unfair for him to fetch water alone, so he asked the young one to do it together. They could only carry one bucket a time, and they would only feel content when the bucket was placed in the middle of the shoulder pole. Anyway, they still had water to drink in this way.

Scene 3:

The taller and the little monk were joined by another fat monk, who was tired by the time he reached the monastery situated at the top of the till. Naturally he craved for water and finished the entire water available and was asked by the other two monks to refill the container.

Scene 4:

Everyone chanted his own sutras and knocked his own wooden fish. As nobody would add water to the holy water bottle, the plant in the bottle withered soon. At night, a mouse came out stealing, but everyone pretended not to see it. As a result, the mouse was so rampant that it knocked over the candle-holder and caused a fire. Only thus did the three monks make a concerted effort to put out the fire, and finally awaken. After that, they started hanging together and the temple never lacked water again. 

The Management Lessons learned from the story:

1.      Team Work enhances the efficiency

Team work plays the key role in the organization. It helps to do the task efficiently and effectively. It helps in proper coordination among the employees. Also if the work is done in the team, it can be divided as per the skills of the employees so that it can be finished faster. It’s the responsibility of the Manager to coordinate with all the team members.

     2. Disputes arises in the organization

In the organization it is quite normal that disputes arise eventually. It’s the responsibility of the each and every employee to make sure that they work as part of the team and understand their respective roles and responsibility. Each employee should have the spirit of employer first attitude instead of self-centric.

     3.      Scientific Measures to solve the problem

Organization should follow the scientific methods to resolve any issues arise while doing the task. In the Software Company the employee should use latest soft wares, tools and equipment for better productivity and efficiency. Also they should follow the Software development process while coding.

     4.      Synergistic roles

 

 In the organization, individual sum is bigger than what was there individually. In             this story also when the 3 monks were doing the task individually then their efficiency was very less; they could only take less water. But at the time of the crisis (fire), they started working together and they could enhance their efficiency a lot. Similarly in the organization work done as the part of team is very effective.

5. Every problem has simple solution

In the end the problem faced by 3 monks of bringing water to the temple from the river by going downhill was solved with a simple solution of building a pulley.

We can also relate it to job specialization, the whole work was divided into parts and each monk was doing his part.

Conclusion

·        The productivity increases with the increase in the number of persons 

•   One monk carrying water everyday will become boring after a while but two monks carrying water will not be boring and productivity will not be hampered
•   Disputes and conflicts are bound to arise but they need to be minimized so as to  make the most out of the available resources
•   Team work and coordination is the important factor in the organization
•   Synergy is always effective