Sunday 2 September 2012
Sunday 5 August 2012
LE 06
MY FIRST ASSESMENT AT NITIE
As students the only thing we fear from are 'EXAMS'. The closer the day is, the worse our situation is. Here at NITIE to that day was nearing when the first mid term examination was announced and that too of a class we loved the most. But still the fear of examination overcame the love of the subject amongst us as we started preparing for the same with the least bit of enthusiasm.
A Surprise News : As all of us were figuring out what could be the questions and more importantly the correct answers for them, Dr. Mandi had some nice surprise planned for us. He uploaded some questions in his personal blog and mailed us the kind of questions we should expect in the examination.This was one big relief for us as we now knew how to go about our preparation. Still we knew that anything new can happen on the examination day and each and everyone was busy preparing for the subject we enjoyed studying the most because Dr. Mandi had a unique way of teaching that subject. A subject as dull as Principles of Management was made to learn in the most interesting way by none other than our most beloved faculty : Dr Mandi.
The Morning Tea : Examinations were scheduled to take place at 9:00 AM in the morning and believe me guys none of us were able to sleep for this was the first examination experience for all of us at NITIE. Preparation was good as none of us wanted to disappoint Dr Mandi. He had been so instrumental in teaching us that subject and performing well in his examinations was the least that we could have done for him. The Morning tea was full of expectations and speculations. Everyone was talking about what new could have been discussed as those were the finishing touches before our exams really started. I arrived for tea and breakfast at 8:30 AM and within a whisker it was 8:55 AM. It was the first time that I felt time has flown quicker than when I am asleep.
The Opening Bell : Clock ticked 9 and we were handed over the question papers. Dr Mandi was our invigilator and I made it a point not to embarrass him by cheating even if I failed to answer any question correctly.I virtually thought of all the heavenly gods before reading the question paper. I believed if they wanted even something unprepared could have been answered.But to my surprise I found that the initial few questions were the ones I had prepared. My joy knew no bounds when I had gone through the initial questions. After that I gave a bright smile to Dr. Mandi for setting such a question paper. He obviously must have wondered what has happened to me. But there were some breaks in between when I moved through the whole question paper. I found some of the questions were not something I was sure about.
Those '60' minutes : 60 minutes was allotted to us for the exam. With the kind of questions we were given, 60 minutes was more than enough. All of us were able to gather our thoughts and answer those questions in the most appropriate manner we could. Within no time those 60 minutes were passed and we were through with the first assessment of our journey in NITIE. Most of us were happy enough to answer most of the questions appropriately.We were then awaiting for the results. I would like to share the questions and the answers to them (which were obviously shared later) that were asked to us in the examination :
1. Theory X managers assumes that workers are lazy and dont like to
work.. Ans..TRUE
2. Flat Hierarchy organization involve greater coordination with in
organisaiton compared to taller hierarchy organizations - Ans.. FALSE
3. Bounded rationality principle encourages the managers to be
gamblers Ans. FALSE
4. Craftsmanship encourages involves specialization Ans. FALSE
5. Hawthorne experiments concluded that better working conditions
leads to higher productivity Ans.. FALSE
6. Organizations structures are conditioned by he organizational
purpose and organizational processes. Ans. TRUE
7. As per SMART goals principle realizable goals may be defined as the
goals that are already realized. Ans. FALSE
8. Both scientific management and administrative management theories
conflict each other . Ans. FALSE
9. Technical skills emerge as critical for higher levels of managerial
positions Ans. FALSE
10. The word ..Scientific means in Scientific management..
Verifiable, Objective, Involves testing and experimentation,
analysis; synthesis; logic; rationality; empiricism; repeatable,
11. Differentiate Work - Job:
Job: A group of homogeneous tasks related by similarity of functions.
Work - Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the
production or accomplishment of something.
As students the only thing we fear from are 'EXAMS'. The closer the day is, the worse our situation is. Here at NITIE to that day was nearing when the first mid term examination was announced and that too of a class we loved the most. But still the fear of examination overcame the love of the subject amongst us as we started preparing for the same with the least bit of enthusiasm.
A Surprise News : As all of us were figuring out what could be the questions and more importantly the correct answers for them, Dr. Mandi had some nice surprise planned for us. He uploaded some questions in his personal blog and mailed us the kind of questions we should expect in the examination.This was one big relief for us as we now knew how to go about our preparation. Still we knew that anything new can happen on the examination day and each and everyone was busy preparing for the subject we enjoyed studying the most because Dr. Mandi had a unique way of teaching that subject. A subject as dull as Principles of Management was made to learn in the most interesting way by none other than our most beloved faculty : Dr Mandi.
The Morning Tea : Examinations were scheduled to take place at 9:00 AM in the morning and believe me guys none of us were able to sleep for this was the first examination experience for all of us at NITIE. Preparation was good as none of us wanted to disappoint Dr Mandi. He had been so instrumental in teaching us that subject and performing well in his examinations was the least that we could have done for him. The Morning tea was full of expectations and speculations. Everyone was talking about what new could have been discussed as those were the finishing touches before our exams really started. I arrived for tea and breakfast at 8:30 AM and within a whisker it was 8:55 AM. It was the first time that I felt time has flown quicker than when I am asleep.
The Opening Bell : Clock ticked 9 and we were handed over the question papers. Dr Mandi was our invigilator and I made it a point not to embarrass him by cheating even if I failed to answer any question correctly.I virtually thought of all the heavenly gods before reading the question paper. I believed if they wanted even something unprepared could have been answered.But to my surprise I found that the initial few questions were the ones I had prepared. My joy knew no bounds when I had gone through the initial questions. After that I gave a bright smile to Dr. Mandi for setting such a question paper. He obviously must have wondered what has happened to me. But there were some breaks in between when I moved through the whole question paper. I found some of the questions were not something I was sure about.
Those '60' minutes : 60 minutes was allotted to us for the exam. With the kind of questions we were given, 60 minutes was more than enough. All of us were able to gather our thoughts and answer those questions in the most appropriate manner we could. Within no time those 60 minutes were passed and we were through with the first assessment of our journey in NITIE. Most of us were happy enough to answer most of the questions appropriately.We were then awaiting for the results. I would like to share the questions and the answers to them (which were obviously shared later) that were asked to us in the examination :
1. Theory X managers assumes that workers are lazy and dont like to
work.. Ans..TRUE
2. Flat Hierarchy organization involve greater coordination with in
organisaiton compared to taller hierarchy organizations - Ans.. FALSE
3. Bounded rationality principle encourages the managers to be
gamblers Ans. FALSE
4. Craftsmanship encourages involves specialization Ans. FALSE
5. Hawthorne experiments concluded that better working conditions
leads to higher productivity Ans.. FALSE
6. Organizations structures are conditioned by he organizational
purpose and organizational processes. Ans. TRUE
7. As per SMART goals principle realizable goals may be defined as the
goals that are already realized. Ans. FALSE
8. Both scientific management and administrative management theories
conflict each other . Ans. FALSE
9. Technical skills emerge as critical for higher levels of managerial
positions Ans. FALSE
10. The word ..Scientific means in Scientific management..
Verifiable, Objective, Involves testing and experimentation,
analysis; synthesis; logic; rationality; empiricism; repeatable,
11. Differentiate Work - Job:
Job: A group of homogeneous tasks related by similarity of functions.
Work - Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the
production or accomplishment of something.
LE 05
eBay : The Leader of Online Auction World
Hello Everybody!!! This time I am posting this blog not because we had a class of Dr . Mandi but because of something I wish to share with you about a company that I had recently researched upon.
So those of you who believe internet is the thing to look for in the near future and want to change the world through it , this blog might help you in that. I will be talking about eBay.com which is one of the biggest success stories of the dot com bubble that happened during a decade ago.So let us start.
HISTORY :
eBay.com was founded on September 5 , 1994 by Pierre Omidyar as part of a larger personal site that included, among other things Omidyar's own tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Ebola virus.One of the first items sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers."
In 1997, the company received $6.7 million in funding from the venture capital firm Benchmark Capital.
Meg Whitman was hired as eBay President and CEO in March 1998. At the time, the company had 30 employees, half a million users and revenues of $4.7 million in the United States. eBay went public on September 21, 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires. eBay's target share price of $18 was all but ignored as the price went to $53.50 on the first day of trading.
As the company expanded product categories beyond collectibles into almost any saleable item, business grew quickly.In February 2002, the company purchased IBazar, a similar European auction web site founded in 1993 and then bought PayPal on October 14, 2002.
By early 2008, the company had expanded worldwide, counted hundreds of millions of registered users, 15,000+ employees and revenues of almost $7.7 billion. After nearly ten years at eBay, Whitman decided to enter politics. On January 23, 2008 the company announced that Whitman would step down on March 31, 2008 and John Donahoe was selected to become President and CEO. Whitman remained on the Board of Directors and continued to advise Donahoe through 2008. In late 2009, eBay completed the sale of Skype for $2.75 billion, but will still own 30% equity in the company.
In July 2010, eBay was sued for $3.8 billion by XPRT Ventures that accused eBay of stealing information shared in confidence by the inventors on XPRT's own patents, and incorporated it into features in its own payment systems, such as PayPal Pay Later and PayPal Buyer Credit.
On December 20, 2010, eBay announced its acquisition of a German online shopping club, brands4friends.de, for €150 million ($197 million) to strengthen the company's interests in the fashion industry in Europe. It is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close it in the Q1 2011.
MISSION AND VISION :
"eBay's mission is to provide a global trading platform
where practically anyone can trade practically anything."
ITEMS :
Millions of collectibles, decor, appliances, computers, furnishings, equipment, domain names, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, or sold daily on eBay. In 2006, eBay launched its Business & Industrial category, breaking into the industrial surplus business. Generally, anything can be auctioned on the site as long as it is not illegal and does not violate the eBay Prohibited and Restricted Items policy.Services and intangibles can be sold, too. Large international companies, such as IBM, sell their newest products and offer services on eBay using competitive auctions and fixed-priced storefronts. Separate eBay sites such as eBay US and eBay UK allow the users to trade using the local currency. Software developers can create applications that integrate with eBay through the eBay API by joining the eBay Developers Program. In June 2005, there were more than 15,000 members in the eBay Developers Program, comprising a broad range of companies creating software applications to support eBay buyers and sellers as well as eBay Affiliates.
Controversy has arisen over certain items put up for bid. For instance, in late 1999, a man offered one of his kidneys for auction on eBay, attempting to profit from the potentially lucrative (and, in the United States, illegal) market for transplantable human organs. On other occasions, people and even entire towns have been listed, often as a joke or to garner free publicity. In general, the company removes auctions that violate its terms of service agreement.
Pay Pal Categories :
Beginning in August 2007, eBay required listings in "Video Games" and "Health & Beauty" to accept its payment system PayPal and sellers could only accept PayPal for payments in the category "Video Games: Consoles". Starting January 10, 2008, eBay said sellers can only accept PayPal as payment for the categories "Computing > Software", "Consumer Electronics > MP3 Players", "Wholesale & Job Lots > Mobile & Home Phones", and "Business, Office & Industrial > Industrial Supply / MRO". eBay announced that starting in March 2008, eBay had added to this requirement that all sellers with fewer than 100 feedbacks must offer PayPal and no merchant account may be used as an alternative.This is in addition to the requirement that all sellers from the United Kingdom have to offer PayPal.
Further, and as noted below, it was a requirement to offer Paypal on all listings in Australia and the UK. In response to concerns expressed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, however, eBay has since removed the policy on the ebay.com.au website requiring sellers to offer PayPal as a payment option.
eBay Express :
In April 2006, eBay opened its new eBay Express site, which was designed to work like a standard Internet shopping site for consumers with United States addresses. It closed in 2008. Selected eBay items were mirrored on eBay Express, where buyers shopped using a shopping cart to purchase from multiple sellers. The UK version was launched to eBay members in mid-October 2006 but on January 29, 2008 eBay announced its intention to close the site. The German version, eBay Express Germany, was also opened in 2006 and closed in 2008.
Speciality Sites :
eBay maintains a number of specialty sites. eBay Pulse, for example, provides information about popular search terms, trends, and most-watched items. Other eBay community content includes the discussion boards, groups, answer center, chat rooms, and reviews and guides. eBay has a robust mobile offering, including SMS alerts, a WAP site, Java ME clients, an Android OS application and an Apple iPhone application available in certain markets.
How Bidding Occurs :
Suppose bidding for an item placed by Anne starts at $1.00 and that the bid increment amount in this price range is $.25. Eric bids $3.00 for the item, and since no one else has bid yet, eBay displays that the current highest bid is Eric's, with a bid of $1.00, and that the minimum allowable bid is $1.25, which is equal to one bidding increment above the winning bid. Suppose then that Bob bids $2.00 for the item. Since Eric has already bid more than Bob, eBay will display that the current highest bid is Eric's, with a bid of $2.25, which equals the second-highest bid ($2.00) plus the bid increment amount ($.25). Again, eBay will also display that the minimum allowable bid is $2.50, one bid increment above the highest bid. Suppose that Bob bids again, this time at $2.75. Again, since Eric's bid is higher than Bob's, eBay will display that the current highest bidder is Eric, with a bid of $3.00, which is equal to the second-highest bid ($2.75) plus the bid increment ($.25). eBay will also display that the minimum allowable bid is $3.25, one bidding increment above the current highest bid. Suppose Bob bids one more time, at $10.00. Since Bob's bid is now higher than Eric's, eBay will display that the current potentially winning bidder is Bob, with a bid of $3.25, which is equal to the second-highest bid ($3.00) plus the bid increment ($.25). If Bob were to win the auction, he would have to pay the amount equal to the winning bid ($3.25), even though his previous bid was much larger than that.
Seller Ratings :
In 2007, eBay began using detailed seller ratings with four different categories. When leaving feedback, buyers are asked to rate the seller in each of these categories with a score of one to five stars, with five being the highest rating and one the lowest. Unlike the overall feedback rating, these ratings are anonymous; neither sellers nor other users learn how individual buyers rated the seller. The listings of sellers with a rating of 4.3 or below in any of the four rating categories appear lower in search results. Power Sellers are required to have scores in each category above 4.5.
Revenue Generation :
eBay generates revenue from various fees. The eBay fee system is quite complex; there are fees to list a product and fees when the product sells (Final Value Fee), plus several optional adornment fees, all based on various factors and scales. The U.S.-based eBay.com takes $0.10 to $4 (based on the opening price) for a basic listing without any adornments and 8.75% (12% for some categories, e.g. Clothing & Accessories) of the final price (as of May 2009). The UK based ebay.co.uk takes from GBP £0.15 to a maximum rate of GBP £3 per £100 for an ordinary listing and from 0.75 percent to 10% (writing as of June 2009) of the final price. Reduced Final Value Fees are available to business registered customers. In addition, eBay owns the PayPal payment system that has fees of its own.
Under current U.S. law, a state cannot require sellers located outside the state to collect a sales tax, making deals more attractive to buyers. Although some state laws require purchasers to pay sales tax to their own states on out-of-state purchases, it is not a common practice. However, most sellers that operate as a full time business do follow state tax regulations on their eBay transactions. However Value Added Tax (VAT), a form of sales tax in EU countries, is different. eBay requires sellers to include the VAT element in their listing price and not as an add-on and thus eBay profits by collecting fees based on what governments tax for VAT; i.e. it not only receives fees as a percentage of the sale (net) price but also a similar percentage of the VAT element of the overall (gross) price.
The company's current business strategy includes increasing international trade. eBay has already expanded to over two dozen countries including China and India. The only places where expansion failed were Taiwan and Japan, where Yahoo! had a head start, and New Zealand where TradeMe, owned by the Fairfax media group is the dominant online auction website.
A more recent strategy involves the company increasingly leveraging the relationship between the eBay auction site and PayPal: The impact of driving buyers and sellers to use PayPal means not only does eBay turn buyers into clients (as a pure auction venue its clients used to be predominantly sellers) but for each new PayPal registration it achieves via the eBay auction site it also earns offsite revenue when the resulting PayPal account is used in non-eBay transactions. In its Q1 2008 results, total payment volume via PayPal increased 17 percent, but off the eBay auction site it was up 61 percent.
For most listing categories, eBay sellers are permitted to offer a variety of payment systems such as PayPal, Paymate, ProPay, and Moneybookers.
eBay runs an affiliate program under the name eBay Partner Network. eBay affiliate marketers were originally paid a percentage of the eBay seller's transaction fees, with commissions ranging from 50% to 75% of the fees paid for an item purchased. In October 2009, eBay changed to an affiliate payout system that it calls Quality Click Pricing, in which affiliates are paid an amount determined by an undisclosed algorithm. The total earnings amount is then divided by the number of clicks the affiliate sent to eBay and is reported as Earnings Per Click, or EPC.
On April 18, 2012 eBay reported a 29% Q1 revenue increase to $3.3 billion compared to their Q1 in 2011. Net income was reported to be at $570 million for the quarter.
CSR Activities :
Using MissionFish as an arbiter, eBay allows sellers to donate a portion of their auction proceeds to a charity of the seller's choice. The program is called eBay Giving Works in the US, and eBay for Charity in the UK. eBay provides a partial refund of seller fees for items sold through charity auctions.As of March 4, 2010, $154 million has been raised for U.S. nonprofits by the eBay Community since eBay Giving Works began in 2003.
Some high-profile charity auctions have been advertised on the eBay home page, and have raised large amounts of money in a short time. For example, a furniture manufacturer raised over $35,000 for Ronald McDonald House by auctioning off beds that had been signed by celebrities.
To date the highest successful bid on a single item for charity was for the annual "Power Lunch" with investor Warren Buffett at the famous Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse in New York. The winning bid was $2.63 million with all of the proceeds going to the Glide Foundation. At the time of writing, the winning bidder is still not publicly known, but they will be able to bring up to seven friends to the lunch.
On May 8, 2008, eBay announced the opening of its newest building on the company's North Campus in San Jose, which is the first structure in the city to be built from the ground up to LEED Gold standards. The building, the first the company has built new in its 13-year existence, uses an array of 3,248 solar panels, spanning 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2), and providing 650 kilowatts of power to eBay's campus.All told the array can supply the company with 15–18 percent of its total energy requirements, reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that would be produced to create that energy by other means.SolarCity, the company responsible for designing the array, estimates that the solar panels installed on eBay's campus will prevent 37 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the environment as a result of replaced power production over the next three decades.
SWOT Analysis of eBay :
My Suggestions :
a ) Block Fake Auctions : Fake auctions are a serious non productive and wasteful activity and hence must be stopped.
b ) Usage of Digital Signature : To cut down on theft and increase security digital signatures must be used.
c ) Use of strength to have an edge over competitors : The strengths should be used to a good part of development to curb the growth of competitors especially Amazon.
So this was all that I had researched on and would like to say about eBay.The company which leads the world in internet auctioning.
Wednesday 1 August 2012
LE 04
YES.... EVEN THEORY 'X' IS IMPORTANT!!!!
Yet another day and yet another experience. This time the topic for discussion was between two very different kinds of people we face in our life. Yes I want to emphasize on the word life and not just management because I am learning it.Let me give a glimpse of what I am exactly talking about.
Theory X and Theory Y managers :
This is not just another algebraic theory where we learn to assume things with X and Y but these are real scenarios and real people we have to deal with in Life. Dr. Mandi at NITIE has made me realize how important these two sides of the coin are. But whatever it is, both of them are necessary for continuity.
HISTORY :
Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human motivation created and developed by Douglas McGregor at the MIT Sloan School of Management in the 1960s that have been used in human resource management, organizational behavior, organizational communication and organizational development. They describe two contrasting models of workforce motivation.
Theory X and Theory Y have to do with the perceptions managers hold on their employees, not the way they generally behave. It is attitude not attributes.
THEORY X :
“The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he can.”
In this theory, which has been proven counter effective in most modern practice, management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can and that they inherently dislike work. As a result of this, management believes that workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. A hierarchical structure is needed with narrow span of control at each and every level. According to this theory, employees will show little ambition without an enticing incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can. According to Michael J. Papa, if the organizational goals are to be met, theory X managers rely heavily on threat and coercion to gain their employees' compliance. Beliefs of this theory lead to mistrust, highly restrictive supervision, and a punitive atmosphere. The Theory X manager tends to believe that everything must end in blaming someone. He or she thinks all prospective employees are only out for themselves. Usually these managers feel the sole purpose of the employee's interest in the job is money. They will blame the person first in most situations, without questioning whether it may be the system, policy, or lack of training that deserves the blame. A Theory X manager believes that his or her employees do not really want to work, that they would rather avoid responsibility and that it is the manager's job to structure the work and energize the employee. One major flaw of this management style is it is much more likely to cause diseconomies of scale in large businesses.
THEORY Y:
“The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest. The average human being does not inherently dislike work…
Man will exercise self-direction and self-control in the service of objectives to which he is committed.”
In this theory, management assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and exercise self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties. According to them work is as natural as play[1]. They possess the ability for creative problem solving, but their talents are underused in most organizations. Given the proper conditions, theory Y managers believe that employees will learn to seek out and accept responsibility and to exercise self-control and self-direction in accomplishing objectives to which they are committed. A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation. Many people interpret Theory Y as a positive set of beliefs about workers. A close reading of The Human Side of Enterprise reveals that McGregor simply argues for managers to be open to a more positive view of workers and the possibilities that this creates. He thinks that Theory Y managers are more likely than Theory X managers to develop the climate of trust with employees that is required for human resource development. It's human resource development that is a crucial aspect of any organization. This would include managers communicating openly with subordinates, minimizing the difference between superior-subordinate relationships, creating a comfortable environment in which subordinates can develop and use their abilities. This climate would include the sharing of decision making so that subordinates have say in decisions that influence them.
A TABULAR DESCRIPTION :
A BIG QUESTION : THEORY X OR THEORY Y
I would say a combination of both. Theory X and Theory Y are two sides of the same coin and are incomplete without each other.
Theory X people are good where organizations need a lot of discipline and creativity and hard work. Like Industrial trainings, Defence Sectors and Army professionals.
Theory Y are normally very successful in normal companies and people who have business and management as their career opportunities.
"Theory X and Y are not different ends of the same continuum. Rather they are two different continua in themselves."
Thus came to an end an exciting lecture by Dr. Mandi who once again filled in us numerous thoughts as to what is really our priority and what do we want to become. But one thing he made us to realize : Whatever you want just go after it with all your dedication. Theory X or Theory Y....Live a continua for yourself!!!!
Yet another day and yet another experience. This time the topic for discussion was between two very different kinds of people we face in our life. Yes I want to emphasize on the word life and not just management because I am learning it.Let me give a glimpse of what I am exactly talking about.
Theory X and Theory Y managers :
This is not just another algebraic theory where we learn to assume things with X and Y but these are real scenarios and real people we have to deal with in Life. Dr. Mandi at NITIE has made me realize how important these two sides of the coin are. But whatever it is, both of them are necessary for continuity.
HISTORY :
Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human motivation created and developed by Douglas McGregor at the MIT Sloan School of Management in the 1960s that have been used in human resource management, organizational behavior, organizational communication and organizational development. They describe two contrasting models of workforce motivation.
Theory X and Theory Y have to do with the perceptions managers hold on their employees, not the way they generally behave. It is attitude not attributes.
THEORY X :
“The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he can.”
In this theory, which has been proven counter effective in most modern practice, management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can and that they inherently dislike work. As a result of this, management believes that workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. A hierarchical structure is needed with narrow span of control at each and every level. According to this theory, employees will show little ambition without an enticing incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can. According to Michael J. Papa, if the organizational goals are to be met, theory X managers rely heavily on threat and coercion to gain their employees' compliance. Beliefs of this theory lead to mistrust, highly restrictive supervision, and a punitive atmosphere. The Theory X manager tends to believe that everything must end in blaming someone. He or she thinks all prospective employees are only out for themselves. Usually these managers feel the sole purpose of the employee's interest in the job is money. They will blame the person first in most situations, without questioning whether it may be the system, policy, or lack of training that deserves the blame. A Theory X manager believes that his or her employees do not really want to work, that they would rather avoid responsibility and that it is the manager's job to structure the work and energize the employee. One major flaw of this management style is it is much more likely to cause diseconomies of scale in large businesses.
THEORY Y:
“The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest. The average human being does not inherently dislike work…
Man will exercise self-direction and self-control in the service of objectives to which he is committed.”
In this theory, management assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and exercise self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties. According to them work is as natural as play[1]. They possess the ability for creative problem solving, but their talents are underused in most organizations. Given the proper conditions, theory Y managers believe that employees will learn to seek out and accept responsibility and to exercise self-control and self-direction in accomplishing objectives to which they are committed. A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation. Many people interpret Theory Y as a positive set of beliefs about workers. A close reading of The Human Side of Enterprise reveals that McGregor simply argues for managers to be open to a more positive view of workers and the possibilities that this creates. He thinks that Theory Y managers are more likely than Theory X managers to develop the climate of trust with employees that is required for human resource development. It's human resource development that is a crucial aspect of any organization. This would include managers communicating openly with subordinates, minimizing the difference between superior-subordinate relationships, creating a comfortable environment in which subordinates can develop and use their abilities. This climate would include the sharing of decision making so that subordinates have say in decisions that influence them.
A TABULAR DESCRIPTION :
A BIG QUESTION : THEORY X OR THEORY Y
I would say a combination of both. Theory X and Theory Y are two sides of the same coin and are incomplete without each other.
Theory X people are good where organizations need a lot of discipline and creativity and hard work. Like Industrial trainings, Defence Sectors and Army professionals.
Theory Y are normally very successful in normal companies and people who have business and management as their career opportunities.
"Theory X and Y are not different ends of the same continuum. Rather they are two different continua in themselves."
Thus came to an end an exciting lecture by Dr. Mandi who once again filled in us numerous thoughts as to what is really our priority and what do we want to become. But one thing he made us to realize : Whatever you want just go after it with all your dedication. Theory X or Theory Y....Live a continua for yourself!!!!
Tuesday 10 July 2012
LE 03
CAN WE CROSS THIS VALLEY ????
Third day of the lecture and expectations rose threefold. Incame Dr.Mandi with a long bamboo on his shoulders and we were as usual taken aback.
He proposed a problem in front of us. The problem of crossing a valley by 3 persons with the help of a single rod. Yes , only a single rod. And as always something beautiful came out of his mind when we saw that actually it is quite achievable. Let me analyze the whole class discussion in this blog now.
Problem Statement : We have a valley which has a gap and our objective is to cross that valley by 3 persons who only have themselves and a single rod to help them cross the valley.
Difficulty : The main difficulty in crossing the valley is that the gap of the valley is greater than 1 step and less than 2 steps. So it is impossible for a single person to walk over this gap and land on the other side of the valley.Also all the 3 persons must be holding the rod simultaneously at all positions and the rod can never be put down.
Solution : Seems difficult.Isn't it?? Even I felt the same but was eager to know how it could be done. The solution that was presented looked like this :
How can it be so simple ???
Now that the solution was in front of me , I thought why did I not come up with something like this.But believe me everyone , this task is not at all easy. It requires a lot of effort to do something like this. For us to have a clear picture of the same let us analyze the steps involved in the above case :
Execution and Analysis of the Solution :
Before starting I would like to describe the meaning of the states that I would be using :
1) At the first instance , the first person would take a step forward and would have one feet in the air while the other one is on the ground. (Half Risky).
2 ) In the second step the first person would be fully in air and his weight would be supported by the rest of the two persons.
3) In the next step , the second person would be have his front leg in air while the back leg on ground whereas the first person would have his front leg on ground and the back leg in air ( Both in half risky state) .
4) After this step, 2nd person would have both the legs in the air while the 1st person would have reached the other side of the valley and would be safe by now.
5) In the next step , the 2nd person would be in half risky state as one of his leg would be in air while the other one on ground and also the 3rd person would be in the same state.
6) In the subsequent step 2nd person would land on the ground on the other side of the valley whereas the 3rd person would be completely off the ground and his body weight would be on 1st and 2nd person.
7) Following that the 3rd person would now be in half risky state as he puts one of his legs on ground while keeping the other one in air.
8) Finally the 3rd person would also land both his feet on the ground and would be in safe position as would be the other two.
Why did they Succeed ??? Our Lessons and Learnings from them :
2. SHARING OF RESPONSIBILITY : At all the positions while crossing everyone shared equal responsibility.At no time was any person more responsible for a success/failure than the other one and this defines why they had success in the end. They showed great responsibility while carrying each other. Similarly in our business world we need to share and take responsibility . Unless we take it ourselves nothing would be beneficial for us.Once we start taking it and execute it properly we will see results showing good in our favor as well.
3 . FOCUS : Focus was one thing that they did not lose. Until they had reached their goal they did not even shifted their focus for a single bit. This defines a true quality of an entrepreneur. One should never lose focus till one has reached where he had aspired for.
4. COORDINATION : Nothing would have been possible unless there was coordination at place. If they had lost a single bit of coordination at any point then the whole idea would have failed. Similarly in our business world we need to coordinate things properly. If not done well the whole thing could go haywire resulting in utter failure of the concept in spite of hard work.This coordination should be there all throughout the hierarchy of the organization .
THE FINAL TOUCH : To sum up it all , I would say that once again Dr.Mandi taught us something very usual in the most unusual way. And as we always have enjoyed his classes this one again made us feel the same and have set the standards even high for the coming classes to come.
Third day of the lecture and expectations rose threefold. Incame Dr.Mandi with a long bamboo on his shoulders and we were as usual taken aback.
He proposed a problem in front of us. The problem of crossing a valley by 3 persons with the help of a single rod. Yes , only a single rod. And as always something beautiful came out of his mind when we saw that actually it is quite achievable. Let me analyze the whole class discussion in this blog now.
Problem Statement : We have a valley which has a gap and our objective is to cross that valley by 3 persons who only have themselves and a single rod to help them cross the valley.
Difficulty : The main difficulty in crossing the valley is that the gap of the valley is greater than 1 step and less than 2 steps. So it is impossible for a single person to walk over this gap and land on the other side of the valley.Also all the 3 persons must be holding the rod simultaneously at all positions and the rod can never be put down.
Solution : Seems difficult.Isn't it?? Even I felt the same but was eager to know how it could be done. The solution that was presented looked like this :
How can it be so simple ???
Now that the solution was in front of me , I thought why did I not come up with something like this.But believe me everyone , this task is not at all easy. It requires a lot of effort to do something like this. For us to have a clear picture of the same let us analyze the steps involved in the above case :
Execution and Analysis of the Solution :
Before starting I would like to describe the meaning of the states that I would be using :
- Safe State : Safe state is the one in which both the feet of the person is on ground and he is in no danger.
- Half Risky : Hals Risky is the state in which one leg of the man is in air and the other one on ground.
- Full Risky : Full risky is the state in which both the legs of the man is in air and his body weight is supported by the other two men.
1) At the first instance , the first person would take a step forward and would have one feet in the air while the other one is on the ground. (Half Risky).
Persons
|
First
Person
|
Second
Person
|
Third
person
|
|
Steps
|
|||
|
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
|
2 ) In the second step the first person would be fully in air and his weight would be supported by the rest of the two persons.
3) In the next step , the second person would be have his front leg in air while the back leg on ground whereas the first person would have his front leg on ground and the back leg in air ( Both in half risky state) .
4) After this step, 2nd person would have both the legs in the air while the 1st person would have reached the other side of the valley and would be safe by now.
5) In the next step , the 2nd person would be in half risky state as one of his leg would be in air while the other one on ground and also the 3rd person would be in the same state.
6) In the subsequent step 2nd person would land on the ground on the other side of the valley whereas the 3rd person would be completely off the ground and his body weight would be on 1st and 2nd person.
7) Following that the 3rd person would now be in half risky state as he puts one of his legs on ground while keeping the other one in air.
8) Finally the 3rd person would also land both his feet on the ground and would be in safe position as would be the other two.
Why did they Succeed ??? Our Lessons and Learnings from them :
- TRUST : The single most important factor for their success was the trust factor. Trust was necessary for them because when somebody was in full risky state all of his hope were on the other two and if any of the two failed then he could have fallen into the valley. But he kept on the faith and made it to the other side of the valley . Similarly even in commercial level we need to trust others. We need to trust other people and have faith in their talent and capability.
2. SHARING OF RESPONSIBILITY : At all the positions while crossing everyone shared equal responsibility.At no time was any person more responsible for a success/failure than the other one and this defines why they had success in the end. They showed great responsibility while carrying each other. Similarly in our business world we need to share and take responsibility . Unless we take it ourselves nothing would be beneficial for us.Once we start taking it and execute it properly we will see results showing good in our favor as well.
3 . FOCUS : Focus was one thing that they did not lose. Until they had reached their goal they did not even shifted their focus for a single bit. This defines a true quality of an entrepreneur. One should never lose focus till one has reached where he had aspired for.
THE FINAL TOUCH : To sum up it all , I would say that once again Dr.Mandi taught us something very usual in the most unusual way. And as we always have enjoyed his classes this one again made us feel the same and have set the standards even high for the coming classes to come.
Thursday 5 July 2012
LE 02
HIS NAME IS 'KHAN' AND HE IS A VISIONARY
You must be wondering which Khan am I talking about. No not Shah Rukh as is predicted by my title but Salman Khan. And if u are now thinking about the Bollywood Hunk then you are mistaken once again. The person that I am talking about is a Bangladeshi American who completely revolutionized the way education can be imparted to students. He is graduate from MIT and now runs a non profit organization called 'The Khan Academy', a venture which he started to provide an effective way of imparting education to students.
Masterji Ki Pathshaala : India is known for masters and pathshaalas. Definitely now they have sophisticated the concept by using teachers, schools and institutions but the basic idea remained the same. Teachers would write equations on blackboard, show some nicely compiled presentations and long hours of lecture. All the students would more often than not sleep during the class and would run for notes and lectures at the time of examinations. Salman , with his great vision turned things around. He has compiled over 3000 videos for imparting basic education to kids and just like facebook.....It's Free!!!
Origin : A 'Serendipity' : A happy accident is what made the start of this noble concept. Salman made the video for the first time in 2006 to teach his cousins about the basic concept of mathematics. He was surprised when he knew that his cousins preferred him on you tube than in person. They appreciated his work for the video could be seen by them anytime and was the easiest way they could learn. He made the video public and people also started appreciating him for the same. This marked the rise of a revolution in his life when he decided to promote this for a social cause.
Why was and Why is 'The Khan Academy' Effective : Most of us want to be an entrepreneur but how many of us have actually taken a step towards it?? Probably none. Those who have , have at least gained something. Even if they would have failed they must not have failed to take the lesson. And for those who have been successful , world speaks about them. Salman did something like that. He believed in the principle of "winners don't do different things, they do things differently". For a guy (working in a hedge fund ), to do things for free would not have been easy. But he made a decision, chose to leave his job, went ahead with his organization and tried to bring the whole education system online.
The main reason for him to be successful was the concept he used. He broke the shackles and brought in a new concept wherein he taught people through his videos. Videos which were free to be seen , could have been seen anytime and also videos which will never ever die. They can be made to use for teaching the coming generation as well.
Lessons for Future Managers and Entrepreneurs : By now we all know about Theory 'X' and Theory 'Y' managers. The problem with Theory 'X' managers are that they consider their employees to be lazy and lethargic and would force them to constantly work or would guide them unnecessarily whereas Theory 'Y' managers are self motivated and hard working and would inculcate in their employees the same values and habits that they themselves follow with right amount of independence and space. Now that we all know the problem with Theory 'X' managers what can be the solution???
I would say change. Change the old system and make way for new things to come. Just as Salman has done with making education online. Just as I find Dr. Mandi doing the same with Nitie Students. Until and unless we change the old system we wont be able to make things happen. Theory 'Y' managers would only become a theory and the concept would change to Practical 'X' managers and Theory 'Y' Managers. I believe we will have to take a stand and bring in change with our ideas, our execution and our entrepreneurial skills so that we help to change the concept to "Theory 'X' managers and Practical 'Y' managers.
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