The following is the depiction of three people crossing a valley.
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Thus, we see that in
the above case three situations arrive,
one where the person is fully
safe denoted by --.
one where the
person is half safe denoted by ---
and one where the
person is taking a dangerous step, denoted by
Important takings from this exercise are:
Safe Steps
|
18
|
Half Safe Steps
|
6
|
Dangerous Steps
|
3
|
Total Number of steps
|
27
|
Observations:
What
seems at first glance as an engineering problem has some important management
lessons embedded in it.
·
A careful analysis shows that the task of
crossing the valley cannot be accomplished by either one or two people. The
most efficient way of crossing the valley is with the help of three persons.
·
The three people chosen for the job are not
relevant but how they act is important. For this purpose, proper instructions/
guidelines need to be laid. The importance of organization structure is clearly
evident from this.
·
The instructions that need to be followed by the
people when attempting to cross the valley are not important in terms of our
understanding of the management aspect of the problem, however one can list
them as:
o
The process needs to be coordinated
and well-structured.
o
The movement need to be synchronous.
o
The persons should have faith in the solution.
o
Crossing the valley in a continuous and
confident strides is vital.
·
The current scenario shows a clear-cut distinction
between the various steps i.e. safe, half-safe and dangerous. However the role
of the management is to make all steps as one and remove the distinction. This
might seem as a stupid thing to say as there is a visible difference but for
the sake of organization managers need to look at work in an objective manner
and not stress on its ease or difficulty. This helps the people performing the
job psychologically.
Good mithin.. good write up..
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