HONDA MOTOR CORPORATION

LESSONS LEARNED FROM 3 MONKS

          "It is often said that too many cook spoil the  Broth"  but I like to point out that  it is not the increased  number of  men who are responsible for the lack of productivity but the lack of management plays the key role .

A Chinese video depicts the scenario very well  and shows how the efficiency of any organisation is enhanced by creating a synergy . 1+1 is not 2 but 11 , if we can utilize all the resources available properly.
                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_V4PnqIkUc

In this video, we have seen 3 cases

CASE-1

A single monk is carrying water up the hill from pond. In this case , there is no internal disputes and the effort was solely made for own consumption.

This case is not desired because one remains aloof from the society and thus don't realize the potential of working together. 

CASE-2

As another  monk joins the temple , disputes which started arising .

These disputes were

1) Regarding division of work

2) Regarding distribution of benefits of labor.

Very important thing to note is that to solve the problem ,they finally formulated the right method i.e  they come up with standardized system to measure the efforts.

It was also important to see that both of them were involved in setting the standards.one was holding the scale and other was marking the length.This led to prevention of any biased bureaucracy.

CASE-3

In this case, the complication increases when the 3rd monk enters the temple.The disputes that arises was similar to that of earlier cases .

There was also an issue regarding division of labor and final distribution of resources. This creates a lower efficiency in the system and synergy was missing.

There was also a loss of mutual relationship among the monarch members.

The scenario changed when the fire break out in the temple and all the three monks started working together and saved the temple.

 It was important to note that the mutual participation and setting the same goal (i.e  saving the temple) helped to create a synergy.

As the monks arbitrated the issue among themselves ,they started finding the other ways to do  the work and thus " innovation"  was brought in to the work.

Innovation was  the result of synergy which generated by the mutual participation among the monks.

The final result was an improved living standard and better work planning.

 The table shows the analysis of the video

METHOD COMPARISON TABLE:

	Method I	Method II	Method III
Members	One Monk	Two Monks	Three Monks
Work tools and work method	Two baskets Long stick hanging two buckets  two ends of the long stick..	One basket Long stick hanging  one bucket in the middle	Three baskets Rope, Kuppe, and pulling water bucket on pulli
Input  - Effort by monks  ( Units in Jouls)  ( Esti..)	100 Jouls    by One person	50 Jouls by two persons together	Total effort together by the three monks in this method is almost                            ' INSIGNIFICANT'.
Output - Water	2 baskets	One basket	The output ( number of baskets of water )  that the method can fetch is almost   ' SO MUCH WATER'
Productivity Measure:            ( Input / Output)	100 J / 2 = 50 J per basket of water	50 J / 2 = 25 J per basket of water	Insignificant effort per basket of water
Nature of Member Roles	Independent	Somewhat  Interdependent	Very much Interdependent
Monks Life philosophy@ monastry	Life is misery and Death is the solution @ This is evident as shown  in the film the monk is physically exhausted and gets in to  sleep once he gets water from the pond.	Life some how can be managed to make it worth living ..  @ This is evident as shown in the film the monks engage in  more productive prayers. Monks are shown not sleeping as much as they  used to do earlier.	Life is Fun and even monks can have blissful life..  @ This is evident as shown in the film that the monks  are happy and blissful to work together.