Comparing Craftsmanship to Modern Management

I already talked about Craftsmanship in my previous blog
http://019akshaychavhanim20nitiepomcourse.blogspot.in/2013/06/the-management-tower.html

In this particular blog I would be comparing Craftsmanship to Modern Management. This would just be a comparison of two management types, I would not be drawing any inference. It would be a simple comparison of two types of managements. Drawing judgement out of this comparison would be dealt in future blogs.

1. Craftsmanship talks about 1 "Tower" whereas in Modern Management deals with more than 1 "Tower" .(Read above mentioned blog for the concept of Tower)
2. Craftsmanship involves no parallel working whereas parallel working is key part of Modern management.
3. Craftsmanship is more about achieving "Specialization", but Modern management helps achieve "Dexterity". Specialization here refers to attaining mastery in a work by doing in again and again. This work may be very small. Whereas, "Dexterity" refers to skills in performing tasks specially by hands. It talks about adroitness and cleverness.
4. Craftsman achieves satisfaction from his work. Whereas Modern management might bring in some annihilation(not necessarily).
5. Craftsman show immense skills whereas in modern management workers are deskilled. Deskilled here talks about Disintegration. The job at the work place is disintegrated in such a way that the levels of skills required to carry out a work gets reduced.
6. Craftsmanship involves tough replacement as its person driven activity.Finding replacement is easy in case of Modern Management as it's process driven.
7. Delegating work becomes easy in Modern management but the term has negligible meaning in Craftsmanship.
8. As Craftsmanship is person driven it is less complex compares to process driven Modern Management.

So this are some of the broad points which compare Craftsmanship to Modern Management. I have not inferred anything out of this comparison for now,but would be able to deduce better in future blogs. 

The X and Y Manager

So what's X and Y?We all have heard about them as variables in Algebra or as types of Chromosomes in Biology.But here I would be referring to "McGregor's XY Theory".

Theory X and Theory Y was an idea devised by Douglas McGregor in his 1960 book “The Human Side of Enterprise”. It encapsulated a fundamental distinction between management styles and has formed the basis for much subsequent writing on the subject.

Theory X is an authoritarian style where the emphasis is on:

• Productivity
• Concepts of fair Day's work
• Rewards for performance
• Restriction of output

It reflects an underlying belief that management must counteract an inherent human tendency to avoid work.

Theory Y is a participative style which assumes that people would exercise self-direction and self-control in order to achieve the organization's objective.it is believed that employees would remain committed to their jobs and it's management's task to maximize that commitment.

Now lets try to understand the following statements:

1) Theory X Manager assume LAZY workers as LAZY and make them work
2) Theory X Manager assume NOT LAZY workers as LAZY and make them work
3) Theory Y Manager assume LAZY workers as NOT LAZY and make them work
4) Theory Y Manager assume NOT LAZY workers as NOT LAZY and make them work

1) Theory X Manager assume LAZY workers as LAZY and make them work

When LAZY workers are made to work by Theory X Managers,they use authoritarian ways to deal with them.Managers try to get work done by frightening the workers,workers work just for the sake of their job and to avoid getting fired.But in such a case,both the Worker and Management is at loss.In all,the whole organization suffers.

• There is lack of innovation and new ideas as work is seen as a burden by workers.
• Management gets more and more negative and hopeless towards the workers and their business.
• Lack of responsibility on workers side
• Workers stand against the management and risks the business.
• Instead of making the workers realize their wrong attitude,management makes them develop retaliative approach.

2) Theory X Managers assume NOT LAZY workers as LAZY and make them work

This case can have even more devastating consequences.Manager does not trust his worker,he is hopeless and pessimistic .His authoritarian approach and his lack of realization can lead to :

• Lack of innovation and new ideas:Though company has workers who can give great ideas,but they fear the management and do not participate in communication
• Waste of useful human resource
• Workers avoid taking roles and responsibilities just to be on the safe side.
• Stagnant business practices despite availability of resources
• Growing discomfort,dissatisfaction and insecurity among the workers.  
• Though performance based rewards are given,but the rewards won't bring personal satisfaction to the workers 

3) Theory Y Managers assume LAZY workers as NOT LAZY and make them work

Theory Y Managers are hopeful.They try to reward,motivate and support the workers.The implications of such management can be:

• Lazy workers get motivated and try to change their attitude towards work because the manger thinks the worker has potential to work and he tries tries to change his approach towards work.
• Lazy workers realize the values of the company
• Lazy workers realize their role and responsibilities in the company.They start communicating their ideas which are most welcomed by the management.
• Timely perks,appreciations boosts the morale of such workers and as time progresses they turn out to be efficient workers. 

4) Theory Y Managers assume NOT LAZY workers as NOT LAZY and make them work

The implications of such management are:

• Workers are given good roles and responsibilities and expected to deliver the same.
• As the management is hopeful about its workers,the  trust level developed between employee and worker is immense.
• Workers try to bring up their ideas and innovations on the common platform which are respected and discussed.
• Workers feel secure and comfortable.The personal satisfaction and monetary rewards make employees happy.
• Such practice develop Theory X principles in the workers itself and they practice the same when they reach top management.

I have come across managers of both the types:THEORY X as well as THEORY Y.Though both were able to deliver output,but in a long run THEORY Y managers turned out to be more successful for the business as well as the company.THEORY X managers would find it difficult to achieve results in modern organizations.

I have always shown characteristics of being a X Type Manager.I believe that 'Employee Comes First',Proper Guidance,Motivation,Accolades and Perks to keep them enthusiastic makes workplace a enjoyable place.It brings in innovation and new ideas,which are actually hear and if found good are also implemented. 

Go through the following video:

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/theory-x-theory-y-two-types-of-managers.html

The Management Tower

Another interesting class on Principles of Organization and management by Dr. Mandi. This time it involved wooden cube toy.Students in the class were asked to build a tower using small wooden cubes.Now as at B-School everyone talks about money,money got involved here too.You will have to bid to compete in the tower building activity.And to my surprise,a person who competed bet 500 Rs. on the same.The Rules of 'Tower Building' Activity were :

• The Tower should have single Cube Base.
• At a time,only one cube could be placed.
• Build tower as tall as you can,but if it falls you lose your money.

The participant of our class was able to make an impressive tower consisting of 16 blocks but his tower fell down unfortunately.

After the activity got over,Dr. Mandi asked us about the Organizational management involved in the activity.Students talked about Time management,Block Balancing,Poor base leads to fall of organizations.

Dr. Mandi then stated the term 'Craftsmanship'.Craftsmen like Cobblers,Carpenters are involved in a negligible Organizational management.The work associated with craftsmanship has no scale. The concepts like Sales,Performance,Results,Bringing new customers,Impact is missing or is negligible with craftsmanship.

A cobbler mending/making X shoes a day is able to satisfy demands of only X customers a day.He does not think of expanding his business and earning maximum profit out of it.rather,if n no. of cobblers get involved in different activities of shoes making,they could make/mend nX shoes a day thereby satisfying nX customers.Their market would multiply 'n' folds.

(Mr.Satyajit Ray was a brilliant filmmaker,but with him went his brilliant movie making techniques and his virual organization.An organization should be process driven rather than being person driven)

Organizational management involves this concept.They bring in a group of people together,define the work and earn as much as profit available by expanding the market by fulfilling large no. of demands.This not only expands the market but also reduces operational costs as no. of tools,time required get reduced.

In another activity,this time Dr. Mandi asked us to show some organizations management in building the same tower.Around 8 volunteers participated in the activity.Some additional rules wee laid down in the activity:

• The team member who would be making the tower is blindfolded.His/Her team members could support him/her.
•  Supporters are not supposed to touch the blocks or the person involved in building it.

Everyone in the class was asked to predict the no. of blocks that could be laid down,I predicted 10.The activity was started,wherein one supporter verbally helped the constructor in placing the blocks.The team laid 7 blocks and the tower collapsed.

The learning from the activity:

1)Set a handsome target:Professor mentioned that always set a target which attracts audience.Had there been investors, corporate,low target would bring severe criticism.You can always take some risks.But at the same time,never set a target which is just out of reach. Realize your potential and instead of lowering it,raise it by same extent.

2)Team Activity V/s Individual:In the second activity,team member was blind folded.The team comprised of 8 members,but members had no specific task assigned.'Blind folded' constructor here signified "over management".The poor performance in second activity was because there were too many managers in the team with no specific role and responsibility,which lead to loss of transparency in the system.This would obviously make work difficult for the constructor.

In the future blog,we would talk more on Craftsmanship and compare it with Modern Management

The First "96 Steps"

As the alarm went off at 7 a.m.,the very first waking thoughts were relieving and enthusiastic:I would not have to wear formals and rush to the office,instead I would spend the day absorbing knowledge from distinguished professors and accomplished classmates.

I was already mesmerized by the beauty of 'God's Own Campus' NITIE and the climate made it just perfect. NITIE was ready to provide us the best learning environment and then we took the famous '96 steps'.

As I got settled down in Syndicate 1,I saw Mr.T Prasad enter the classroom.The very first glimpse of him made me realize that he is the famous 'Dr. Mandi' whose videos and blogs I had read before. Dr. Mandi is a famous personality in and around MBA community.The class delivered everything that was expected.
His unique teaching style(which I always just heard of) was actually delivered.The toys,song "We do not need no education" by Pink Floyd,poems,humour and flying kisses all around made the environment pleasing.I could find him in each and every corner of the room interacting with the students.He allowed students to take videos,photographs.

Smiling faces all around......

The interactive session made me realize that I was spending 2500 Rs a day to study at NITIE. I was spending money which did not belong to me. Dr. Mandi made me realize that there are many people who earn on daily basis for their livelihood."Aaj ki Roti Aaj Hi Kamao",else I will end up being a beggar.If I  earn even a small percentage of my spending daily,I could turn out to be a successful manager who would not need all this learning.

"Money" and "Marks" should be prioritized above "Learning".The statement might seem arguable,but if I am able to make money by opening an enterprise and I am able to bring marks,the learning would directly come to me without realization."Socho Socho,Becho Becho,Becho Seekho,Sekho Becho" were " Dr. Mandi's lines.

Then we talked about "Student Enterprise".As I had an business idea,he asked me to discuss on the idea later with him.He talked about successful alumni who own their enterprises and cleared our doubts on how we could deal with issues of funds and time.An enterprise never require money to start its operations,it requires only great ideas.

There were no case studies,no frightening management jargon's. The session was on simple principles of management which include learning,developing ideas, implementing them and also selling them.A hard fact...but money matters.

I had written blogs in the past,but never on the subjects I study.Thanks to Dr. Mandi who made me realize that we should always write blogs on our subjects,apart from on other aspects of life.Through this blog,I would be sharing my learning and experiences at NITIE with the world.

Please comment on the blogs so that I can improve my blogs in the future.