Three Monks

The 3 Monks.

The story of three monks on a hill-top temple is a very good example of how team work can solve the most complex problems.

The youtube link to the video is given below

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

The story consists of three monks belonging to different age group.

Monk 1: He is a teenager who arrives first at the place of worship. He is mischievous, playful and a little careless in nature.
He brings two buckets full of water at one time and as a result feels sleepy while meditating at night.

Monk 2: He is a young and responsible monk.But he likes to keep an air of authority among himself.

Monk 3: He is a jolly person who does whatever he feels like doing.He doesn't care about others.

The story goes like this:

Scene 1 : 
Initially, one bucket of water is sufficient for monk1 for a day.But he fetched two buckets of water wasting extra time and energy.

Scene2 : 
When the second monk arrives ,that one bucket of water becomes insufficient for two monks. So,monk2 decides to fetch two buckets of water himself.Monk1 is relieved and is overjoyed because he does not have to bring water, thus his effort is saved.but monk2 being annoyed by monk1's behavior asks him to join.So, now both the monks set out to fetch water in one bucket as it is impossible to carry two buckets with one stick being shared between two people.
On the way monk1 tries to play mischief and monk2 is frustrated by his antics.
They get stuck with the problem of lack of synergy.

But, what is synergy?

Synergy : The interaction or cooperation of two or more people to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of individual effects.

The problems faced by the two monks are due to:

1. Height difference between them
2. their work methods lead to conflict
3. The bucket is not remain at the midpoint of the stick.
4. The attitude of monk1 towards the task is not good.
5. Both the monks have different hand measurements, so midpoint is not accurate.
6. They have conflict of opinion.

Possible Solutions:

1. One person can get two buckets of water every alternate day
2. Two persons can carry two buckets at a time with a longer stick
3. Two and four buckets can be employed to get more water daily
4. One monk can stand half way to collect buckets from other monk who will fetch water from pond.
5. Improve the attitude of the monk.

Actual Solution:
Monk 1 takes out a scale for measuring the midpoint.
They measure the midpoint and properly carry the water bucket by sharing the load nicely.

Learning from this incident:
Sometimes people who seem to have bad attitude come up with tangible solutions.We should encourage people to come up with ideas irrespective of their behavior.

Scene3 :
Due to his carefree nature monk3 does not realize that he is using up all the water brought by monk1 and monk2. They force him to bring two buckets of water as the demand increases.
But, it is of no use as monk3 drinks whatever water he brings up.

Scene 4 :
Finally frustrated by monk3 the other monks decide to avoid talking to him.Thus, all three of them are left with no water to drink during the night.

Scene 5 :
That night a fire takes place in the temple while the monks are sleeping.By the time they get to know about the fire it starts to gulp the shrine.
The monks run for water in panic and struggle to bring water to douse the fire.
Somehow they manage to put off the fire in the end.

Eventually, they understand the importance of team work and decide to incorporate a scientific solution to the water problem.
They install a pullry at the edge of the hill and take turns to pull the water bucket, thus saving lot of effort and time.
Thus, they succeed in utilizing their energy in a effective manner.

Learning from this incident: Team synergy is necessary to avoid adverse situations(accidents) and prevent them from occurring in future.

Conclusion: Two persons bringing one bucket is more efficient than one person bringing two buckets.
The proof of this conclusion is as below:

Sr. No.	Parameters	Method 1 :One person bringing two buckets	Method 2 :Two persons bringing one bucket	Method 3:Pulley is incorporated
1	Input - No. of People	1	2	3
2	Effort (Joule)	100	80	Nil
3	Output - No. of Buckets	2	1	Many
4	Productivity	100/1 = 100 J	80/2 = 40 J	Much More
5	Communication	Nil	Direct - Personal	Indirect – Instantaneous
6	Task role	Independent	Dependent	Highly Dependent
7	Work changes	Nil	Midpoint Identification	Innovative work practices
8	Work life balance	hard	Easier	Fun
9	Philosophy of work life	Work for death. Protestant work ethic	Work to live	Work-Fun-Moksha
10	Human Nature	Theory X	Theory Y	Theory Z

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