The Three Monks

The film is based on the ancient Chinese proverb "One monk will shoulder two buckets of water; two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to fetch water."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rolBiHfWokY

Some special features of this video:

·       The film does not contain any dialogues, allowing it to be watched by any culture

·       A different music instrument was used to signify each monk. 

·        The film tells the story from the aspect of the Buddhist bhikkhu.

Plot and Problem

A young Buddhist monk lived alone at the top of a mountain.  Every day he had to fetch water from the foot of the mountain, using a yoke and two buckets.  That provided him with enough water for his personal needs and to water his small vegetable garden. 

               

One day, he was joined by an older monk.  Their attempts to bring water up the mountain together, stringing a single bucket on a pole carried between them, were not very successful; and each felt it was the other’s task to fetch more water, so neither went.  The vegetables in the garden began to die.  Then a third monk arrived, and the situation worsened.  As each monk refused to give way, or compromise his stance in any way, the outlook became bleaker, and certainly none of them was composed enough to meditate or pray. 

 Then one day, disaster struck. Will they be able to let go their antagonism and work together to put things right?

This is where managerial concepts come into the picture

Towards the end we see that the monastery catches fire. When this happens, all the monks forget their hostility and try to put out the fire. The dilemma of who will carry the water was quickly forgotten and a system arose out of the initial chaos. They all put out the fire quickly. Drastic innovation adds an altogether new dimension to the process and fundamentally changes it. That's what the monks did when faced with the fire at their temple.

Productivity is at its best. All are working together as a team. This is what happens in life.

We usually have a notion that if the work force increased the productivity will automatically improve, which is absolutely wrong. What is required is proper harmony & coordination among the team members. The very same group of individuals can be held responsible for not delivering the results and also they can deliver something out of box, for that they need to work in tandem, listen to each other’s idea and then act accordingly. 

When I played cricket there were situations when no one co-operated no matter how hard I tried as a captain and the results were poor as everyone had their selfish goals in mind. But many times in situations of emergency such as when 10 runs were needed of the last over or 2 wickets were needed to win, everyone played as a team and gave his best. In these situations, the efficiency and effectiveness were very high. So a manager should try to aim this level of productivity in normal situations. 

“Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results”

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