Modern Management vs Craftsmanship

If you had to build a tower out of small wooden building blocks, would you rather chose to do it alone with your eyes open or with your eyes blindfolded and another person guiding you?

The session started with a game to build a tower out of cubes for which people were asked to bid money just to try, the purpose, 'One should be ready to take risks as a manager'. The bids started at 100, the final being a bid for Rs. 500 and the highest bidder allowed to approach the stage to start the activity.

Have a look at what happened next yourself:


So the first attempt ended with the tower finally reaching a height of 22 blocks!

A second bidding took place to decide who would perform the task blind-folded. The bid this time was a lowly 100 with no one expecting much success. Even the estimates to the size of the tower were paltry. But a team was formed- a worker, who was blindfolded and asked to use only his left hand to build the tower block-by-block while following instructions; a manager, who was to guide the worker without helping out himself; and a CEO, who set the target. This is what followed:


In the video you can see the tower reach a height of 21 blocks- one less than the former. The team did not stop there and went on to build a tower 25 blocks high.

This activity served to contrast the workings of Modern Management and Traditional Craftsmanship. We saw two people doing the same job- 1. Open Eyed Person(OEP) 2. Blindfolded Person(BFP)

Open Eyed Person

• He has decision making ability.
• He assumes all responsibilities.
• He has to pay attention to each and every task.

Blindfolded Person

• He doesn't have any decision making ability, and follows the decisions made by management.
• Responsibilities handled are very few.
• As he cannot see the end results, he does not have any fear.

The open eyed person can be compared to the Traditional Craftsman, while the blindfolded person represents the Modern Management approach. Modern Management involves the deskilling of all tasks and taking all decision making power from the worker.
In Modern Management, it is seen that the productivity is high, and at the same time, the skill of individual and also of a group goes on decreasing. But the dissatisfaction in workers increases, as they are unaware of decisions. The division of work is clear. The Top management does strategic management which includes decision making, planning etc. Middle management guides worker and supervises. The worker has clearly defined tasks and activities which he performs.

So, this is the theory.. But if you think about it, all of the major corporations today are based on this approach. Modern Management is what allows all the highly profitable multimillion corporates to exist, the base for all the conglomerates across all sectors!

The Begining

It's a dull and dreary Tuesday morning. It's still raining outside. Has been that way ever since we got here. By here I mean NITIE. It's the second day of college and I find myself sitting in the classroom at 9 am looking forward to another class. The timetable tells me it's supposed to be two hours of Communication and Negotiation Skills. I'm sure  you can forgive me for not being overly excited. I was just making the same point to the person sitting besides me when, as if right on cue, an elderly professor walks into the room. He looked to be one of those stereotypical teachers, the kind who walk into the the classroom and as soon as they are through the door start reciting notes for you to take down and leave as soon as they are done. But what followed surprised us all!

The professor walked to the front of the class and sat down cross legged on the stage.. Surprise, surprise! The next thing he does is to call everyone to the front and sit on the floor (Hum desi hain aur desi ki tarah hee parhate hain. Kursion par baithna toh firango ka tareeka hai). The entire class, shocked as we were, followed the request and cleared enough space to sit down.

As soon as everyone settled down he informs us that the Communications professor was on leave and he was filling in for him. His name was Dr. T. Prasad and he would be teaching us the Principles of Organization and Management. With this small introduction he draws close his bag, reaches into it and starts pulling out.. TOYS! He starts throwing stress balls into the crowd, following which he distributes a couple of what appear to be pink plastic butterflies and in the end pulls out a Newton's Cradle.

With this he started explaining the use of simple toys in education- how the poor could learn and play using inexpensive educational toys. The Newton's cradle he used to prove that even though the class was full of engineers from varied streams, few if any understood the practical application of the theories they had studied. It was eye-opening, the experience.

The rest of the lecture was him encouraging each and everyone to ask questions- related to anything. It was during this exchange that I found out about his nickname- Dr. Mandi, the brain behind Mandi- A unique annual event in which NITIE students take to the streets of Mumbai to help every student understand and discover management wisdom for himself. Mandi integrates the theoretical principles of statistics, managerial economics, marketing and basic market research with their practical application.

Through the example of Mandi he explained a concept he called "earning while learning". He made everyone realize the true cost they were paying for an MBA. He then shared his vision of making earning not just the end-product of learning, rather, making it a part and parcel of it.

The second part of this vision includes making management education available to one and all for free through the use of technology. This, I'll admit is the reason for me writing this blog- a blog I'll continue to update with each class, sharing my experiences and learnings along the way.

With this I'll stop my long-winded monologue and invite you share your thoughts in the comments below.

Onwards and Upwards!