Three monks no water- Management lessons through FUN

Three Monks no water to drink is a Chinese animated short, released in 1980 and directed by A Da. It is one of the most famous and beloved of Shanghai Animation Film Studio's productions, and has won awards at film festivals throughout the world. 

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.

This film was shown by our professor Dr T Prasad during one of our Principles of Organisational Management lectures. Through this film he explained us the intricacies of how a team dynamics is build. He also used it to show us how easily we complicate a very simple situation and instead of reaching at a simple solution we provide with a complex solution.

Dr Mandi stopped the movie at three points and talked to us about the part that he had shown.

First Part (0:00- 6:52)

The first part of the movie showed that there is a monk who lives in a monastery on the top of a hill. He has to come down to fetch water from the river and he living happily. Then a second monk comes and starts living with the first monk. The problem starts when they go to fetch water. They are unable to decide how to divide the work amongst them as no one wanted to do any extra work.

Dr Mandi asked us for solution to this problem. We all came up with different solutions but all were complicated and tedious. Then he played the film and showed that all the monks had done was calculate the length of the stick carrying the bucket and hang the bucket in between. Dr Mandi then explained that as managers our job is to find the simplest and easiest solution. They solution should be universal so that there is no impact of the kind of user on the application of the solution. We have to device a system that anyone can use anywhere without the use of any special knowledge or skill. Organisation with complex rules and regulation mostly do not thrive.

Second Part (6:52- 16:50)

Now as the video proceeds it shows that a third monk has come. The coming of the third monk creates a conflict as to who two will bring the water. Since they are not able to resolve this conflict no one goes and the monastery is without water. Then one day fire broke in the monastery and the three monks with their combined efforts put it out.

The discussion that followed this part was based on whether time of crisis has any effect on the team management. Our view was that it does have an impact, as in crisis, people think quickly and the goal of averting the crisis is in sight. This is short time management as the decisions are being taken for a very short duration of activity.

Third Part (16:50 – End)

This part showed the monks coming together as a group and devising a technique for drawing water which will require less effort and better coordination of the three people.

Learning

The story of the three monks tells us about the basic human nature and the requirement of have a proper coordinating team. People mostly tries to off load their work to others instead of making a collective effort and divide the work properly. Also for any activity to be done successfully, the coordination between the team members is very vital. And for proper coordination the team members must feel friendly towards each other. As in the video when the three monk become friends towards the end they were able to come up with the innovative idea of the pulley system.