Problem Solving and Decision Making

Problem Solving :

The process of working through details of a problem to reach a solution. Problem solving may include mathematical or systematic operations and can be a gauge of an individual's critical thinking skills.

 It looks very simple from the definition but actually its not. There are certain steps before we actually come to a solution. we might have done this but generally dont recognizes it while coming to a solution.

Following are the steps in problem solving:

1. Situation Analysis
• Valuing - valuing each of the option we have. 
• Priority setting - as per the valuing we can decide the priority or the importance to the option we have.
2. Problem Solving 

• Information gathering - Collecting all the information we require to make a consensus.
• Problem Definition - Formulating problem definition will help us to narrow down our work to perform.
3. Solution Analysis
• Ideas getting - we can collect the various ideas from the team and understand each of them.
• Decision making - Once all the ideas been understood, we can easily choose the one which suits best for our problem statement.
4. Implementation 
• Involving others - we shall discuss the solution we have got within the team so as to know whether their views on the solution are same as us or different.
• Planning - we must plan how the solution we have finalized should be implemented.
  
  
  Thus we can say that a manager has to play different roles at different point of time.
  
  
  
  
  

Following are the types of problems generally a manager has to face.

1. Rich & Poor problems: Manager generally tends to address the rich problems first and then the poor's problem.
2. Simple &Difficult : Each problem is simple , it totally depends upon the managers ability to view the problem statement as difficult or simple.

QUOTE : “The formulation of the problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill.” 

― Albert Einstein

Thanks for reading... !!!

Mohammed Younus and Graameen Bank....

Muhammad Yunus  is an Bangladeshi banker, economist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. As a professor of economics, he developed the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts through microcredit to create economic and social development from below". Yunus has received several other national and international honours. He was awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal in 2010, and presented with it at a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on 17 April 2013.

In 2012, he became Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. He is a member of the advisory board at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. Previously, he was a professor of economics at Chittagong University in Bangladesh. He published several books related to his finance work. He is a founding board member of Grameen America and Grameen Foundation, which support microcredit.

Yunus also serves on the board of directors of the United Nations Foundation, a public charity created in 1998 by American philanthropist Ted Turner’s $1 billion gift to support UN causes.

Grameen Bank : 

The Grameen Bank is a community development bank started in Bangladesh. They give small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit" ) to poor people without asking for money before the loan is given. The word "Grameen", is made of the word "gram" or "village", and means "of the village". The system of this bank is based on the idea that the poor have skills but have no chance to use their skills without some money. The bank also controls some businesses, such as fabric, telephone and energy companies. Most of the banks loans go to women.

The Grameen Bank was started 1976 when Professor Muhammad Yunus, a Fulbright scholar and Professor at University of Chittagong, researched how to provide banking for the rural poor. In October 1983, the Grameen Bank Project was made into an independent bank by the government. The group and its first member, Muhammad Yunus, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Some people have said the banks prices are too expensive and put people in a debt-trap. Some have also said that the bank would not work if people did not give donations. At the same time, it is often seen as a success story in microfinance and as the guide for other groups around the world.

How the bank works

There is solidarity lending in over 43 countries. Each borrower must belong to a five-member group, the group does not need to give a guarantee for a loan. The loan is made to only one person but the whole group is to make sure that the money is repaid. Each member has to pay for their own loan but if they have problems the group may help them pay because the group would not get any more loans from Grameen if all the groups loans were not paid.

Grameen Bank does not take people to court if they cannot pay, the system works on trust only.Solidarity groups agree with Grameen to save enough for extra payments in case they cannot pay every time.

Not many women in India can have loans from big banks so 97% of Grameens loans go to women.Women get treated very badly in some countries and groups, such as the World Bank are researching to know if small loans are helping women around the world. Over 98 percent of Grameens loans have been paid back but the Wall Street Journal says that 20% of the loans took more than a year longer than the time agreed to pay the loan back. Grameen says that more than half of its borrowers in Bangladesh (close to 50 million) now: have all children of school age in school, all household members eating three meals a day, a clean toilet, a rainproof house, clean drinking water and can pay 300 taka-a-week (around 4 USD) towards their loans

QUOTE : The key to ending extreme poverty is to enable the poorest of the poor to get their foot on the ladder of development. The ladder of development hovers overhead, and the poorest of the poor are stuck beneath it. They lack the minimum amount of capital necessary to get a foothold, and therefore need a boost up to the first rung. "

Jeffrey D. Sachs


Thanks for reading...!!!  :)

MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION STUDY THROUGH A NAVRANG PUZZLE ... !!!

An organizational structure consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims. It can also be considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which individuals see their organization and its environment.
Organizations are a variant of clustered entities.
An organization can be structured in many different ways, depending on their objectives. The structure of an organization will determine the modes in which it operates and performs.
Organizational structure allows the expressed allocation of responsibilities for different functions and processes to different entities such as the branch, department, workgroup and individual.
Organizational structure affects organizational action in two big ways. First, it provides the foundation on which standard operating procedures and routines rest. Second, it determines which individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes, and thus to what extent their views shape the organization’s actions

Well, This was theory, lets study its importance through a NAVRANG example : 

The basic objective of the Navrang Puzzle is to get all 9 colors on all 6 sides. Unlike a standard rubki's cube, the Navrang Puzzle can be dismantled and reassembled . We were challenged to find an alogorithm or method to reassemble the puzzle in order to reach the intended objective. After a few desperatley minutes of thinking samaritans devised a plan. Unfortunately, the plan didnt work too well.

As prof. Mandi explained, it is the objective which needs to be quite clear in the initial stage which can help you to solve it. if any replication is there in a process we shall figure it out and use it to our advantage to minimize the effort and achieve greater efficiency.

QUOTE : Every company has two organizational structures: The formal one is written on the charts; the other is the everyday relationship of the men and women in the organization.

Harold S. Geneen 

Thanks for reading...!!!

CROSSING THE VALLEY : A MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE...!!!

surprised..!!!! you  must be and this how we get in every class of Dr. Prasad(Mandi Sir). well this is not an snapshot of any game but a very useful management lesson which i will be discussing in this blog.

Anyone looking at the picture would say that its not possible that crossing the valley without jumping at all.

Well i would say, there is the management lesson you would like to learn.

The management lesson that this activity explains are :

1. Team Work and Coordination : It shows how a team with a good spirit and coordination can cross valleys. In real scenario we can assume the valley as the big obstacles the organizations face, which looks big but through proper coordination and team work can be solved easily.
2. Trust : It shows the level of trust and confidence they share among themselves. Whenever we are working in an organization we are suppose to trust and should have confidence in our fellow mates to complete a task.
3.  Communication : For any type of group activity communications plays a vital role. Its the effective communications which helps to complete the group activity more efficiently and within a particular time frame.
4. Goal Setting : Goal setting is an important part of any organization. When goal is clear among the group they tend to perform better and deliver quality end results.

NOW LETS UNDERSTAND HOW THIS ACTIVITY HELPS US TO LEARN THIS IMPORTANT CONCEPTS OF MANAGEMENT... !!!

SCENARIO : 

The Scenario is that 3 people have to cross a valley and the only resource they have is a rod. The width of the valley is such that it is longer than a step a person can take but shorter than 2 steps a person can take.

ANALYSIS:

1. When the first person will take the first step, he will be half risky since one of his feet will be in air and other on the ground, at the same time other two people will be full safe.
2. Everybody will take one more step at this moment, first person will be fully risky and other two will be full safe. But since other two people will be holding the rod, with proper communication and trust they can cross.
3. This process will be repeated for other two persons. Every time they will be wither half risky or full risky.

Persons	First person	Second Person	Third person
Step
1	Safe	Safe	Safe
2	Half Risky
3	Full Risky
4	Half Risky	Half Risky
5		Full Risky
6		Half Risky	Half Risky
7			Full Risky
8			Half Risky
9	Safe	Safe	Safe

Safe : Both legs are on ground.

Half Risky : One leg is onground and other is in air.

Full Risky : Both legs is in air.

                                                             QUOTE : 

                T: TOGETHER

                E:EVERYONE

               A:ACHIEVES

         M:MORE

THANKS FOR READING...!!! :)

Innovation is a Continous Process..!!!

As always, in our POM class we learn things differently, the last session was no mere different. Well i would say it was  much more interesting than earlier ones. We were asked to watch a video of 3 monks ...

                                       

 I suggest to watch the video as it a story of 3 monks which teaches a lesson about responsibility in a humorous ways. 3 monks allowed personal pride to interfere with the performance of the daily tasks, each believing that the other two should be the ones to go to downhill and fetch water. When a fire breaks out, however, they understands how silly they have been and worked together to save the temple. Also when they worked together they came up with good ideas so as the minimal efforts were required to fetch the water from the downhill. This shows how working in a group increases the overall potential ability of an individual or an organisation or groups to be more successful or productive as a result of a merger.

Analyzing the various working methods : 

Event	Output [no of buckets carried]	Input [Worker energy unit]	Productivity  = Output / Input
Single Monk carrying two buckets	2	2	1
Two Monk carrying one bucket	1	0.5	2

From the table we conclude that when work is share the productivity increases. This is how in corporate world the work is distributed in a such a way that each individual put lesser effort but the overall productivity is high. 

If we consider the 3rd scenario in the story we can find that the Third Method was even much better than the second one where they make use of pulley to fetch the water .This shows how the innovation evolves and its not a one time process. 

If i try to map this example to my own experience in corporate world i would say that its almost similar what we learn in our world environment.

for eg : In my project initially we were asked to divide the work among ourselves since the deadline was far away and quantity of work was not that big. Our seniors like TL and TA didn't take any kind of work but distribute everything to the juniors. As a result there was a dissatisfaction among the juniors .Since they lack experience  the work amount which was looking quite less initially  increased tremendously on the juniors. As a result overall productivity goes down. So after one week when the work done was analysed it was merely 10% where as PM was expecting to be around 40%. Looking at the worse performance , PM himself delegates the work to each member with a deadline to meet. since the responsibilities were clear and the deadline, the tasks was automatically happen to be simpler than the previous case. Here the management plays an important role as in stating the each process and methods clearly to each individual to carry on. 

QUOTE : It is through co-operation rather than conflicts that your greatest success would be derived.

Thanks For Reading...!!!

GOAL Setting in an Organization...!!!

There are various goal setting strategies available from which  one or more than one an organization can adopt as per their management levels or as per their requirement need to fulfil their mission.

Some are as follows : 

1: SMART Goals

2:Pygmalion effect 

3:Planning -- Top to Bottom

4:POSDCORB

5:Organisation - Entity 

1:S.M.A.R.T Goals : The letters broadly conform to the words Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-Bound.

Specific : Goals need to be specific. Try to answer the questions of how much and what kind with each goal you write.

Measurable : Goals must be stated in quantifiable terms, or otherwise they're only good intentions.

Attainable : Goals must provide a stretch that inspires people to aim higher. Goals must be achievable.

Realistic : Set goals you know you , your company and employess can realistically reach.

Time bounded : Goals must include a timeline of when your goal should be accomplished.

Typically accepted values of terms are:

Letter	Major term	Minor terms
S	Specific	Significant, stretching, simple
M	Measurable	Motivational, manageable, meaningful
A	Attainable	Appropriate, achievable, agreed, assignable, actionable, adjustable, ambitious, aligned, aspirational, acceptable, action-focused
R	Realistic	Result-based, results-oriented, resourced, resonant, relevant
T	Time-bound	Time-oriented, time framed, timed, time-based, time-specific, timetabled, time limited, trackable, tangible, timely

2: Pygmalion effect : It is the phenomenon in which the greater the expectation placed upon the people, the better they perform.

eg:  When teachers expect students to do well and show intellectual growth, they do; when teachers do not have such expectations, performance and growth are not so encouraged and may in fact be discouraged in a variety of ways.

3: Top to Bottom : In this Strategy goals are set hierarchically. First Goals will be set for the Top Management and then each Top management level will set goals for their respective unit goals such that they can fulfill their goals. Now each Unit head will set the goals for each employee in their unit.

4: POSDCORB : It is an acronym widely used in management. The acronym stands for steps in the administrative process: Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting and Budgeting.

5: Organizational - Entity : 

The whole Organizations is look as formed by various entities. Each entity has its own contribution and significance towards the organisation. The goals are formed keeping in mind each such entities which would help organisation to achieve its main goal.

Work on the theory of goal-setting suggests that an effective tool for making progress is ensure that participants in a group with a common goal are clearly aware of what is expected from them. On a personal level, setting goals helps people work towards their own objectives - most commonly with financial or a career based goals. Goal setting features as a major component of personal as well as business development. 

QUOTE : WHAT KEEPS ME GOING IS GOALS -- MUHAMMED ALI

Thanks for Reading...!!! :)

Craftsmanship VS Modern Management

In our second lecture we were introduced on a concept so called Modern management.

In Modern management we focused on more systematic process and roles of different levels in organization is very clear where the deciding factor lies in the top management level.

Craftsmanship	Modern Management
Top level management	Top level Management
Decision
Doing	Doing
Workforce	Workforce

The above table show that the key decision making was with workforce in craftsmanship while its not in the Modern Management.

To learn this concept , Mandi Sir ask us to give perform a case study where we have to build a tower of cubes. In this case study first open eyed person where ask  to build a tower using cubes and later on a blind folded person to do the same

task.

The person with open eyed here was showing the craftsmanship concept where he has to take his own decision when shall he needs to to stop and how he shall make the arrangements of blocks so that he can be able to build a tower as high as possible. He was able to make tower of 22 blocks.

Now, It was blind folded person's turn to build the tower using blocks. Even we were curious to see that the theory I just have explained in the introduction which was introduced to us by Mandi sir is correct or not. Many of us would have think that it is highly impossible for a blind folded person to build a tower more than 22 blocks. Even when Mandi sir asks us to bet upon the total no of blocks, the maximum block one had said was 15 blocks. But the actual result was way too different from our perception.

As you can see in the above picture , the blind folded person where able to build tower with more than 22 blocks . The tower he build was of 26 blocks. Apart from Mandi sir everyone were surprised because in this case to perform task there was 3 people:  CEO, Manager and Worker. CEO was the one who took the strategy decision and Manger who was making decisions with possible arrangements of blocks so as to build the tower. Worker do not have to make any decision but need to work as per the decision by their CEO and Manger.

It was because of the different levels in organisation which helps them to achieve their goals

Parameter	Craftsmanship	Modern Management
Work	Work Load increases since single person works	Work Load is shared
Skill	Increases since single person does all work	Skill decreases since work is share
Satisfaction	High	less
Productivity	Less	High

Quote: You have to dream before your dreams can come true.

Thanks for reading..!!! J