Problem Solving

"Problems are only opportunities in work clothes."
– Henry Kaiser
(American industrialist)

Problem solving is a key skill, and it's one that can make a huge difference to your career. At work, problems are at the center of what many people do every day. You're either solving a problem for a client (internal or external), supporting those who are solving problems, or discovering new problems to solve.

The problems you face can be large or small, simple or complex, and easy or difficult to solve. Regardless of the nature of the problems, a fundamental part of every manager's role is finding ways to solve them. So, being a confident problem solver is really important to your success.

Much of that confidence comes from having a good process to use when approaching a problem. With one, you can solve problems quickly and effectively. Without one, your solutions may be ineffective, or you'll get stuck and do nothing, with sometimes painful consequences.

There are four basic steps in problem solving:

1. Defining the problem.
2. Generating alternatives.
3. Evaluating and selecting alternatives.
4. Implementing solutions. 

 A very significant part of this involves making sense of the complex situation in which the problem occurs, so that you can pinpoint exactly what the problem is. 

Defining the Problem

The key to a good problem definition is ensuring that you deal with the real problem – not its symptoms. For example, if performance in your department is substandard, you might think the problem is with the individuals submitting work. However, if you look a bit deeper, the real problem might be a lack of training, or an unreasonable workload.

Tools like why-why analysis, root cause analysis help you ask the right questions, and work through the layers of a problem to uncover what's really going on.

At this stage, it's also important to ensure that you look at the issue from a variety of perspectives. If you commit yourself too early, you can end up with a problem statement that's really a solution instead. For example, consider this problem statement: "We have to find a way of disciplining of people who do substandard work." This doesn't allow you the opportunity of discovering the real reasons for under-performance. 

Understanding Complexity

When your problem is simple, the solution is usually obvious, and you don't need to follow the four steps we outlined earlier. So it follows that when you're taking this more formal approach, your problem is likely to be complex and difficult to understand, because there's a web of interrelated issues.

The good news is that there are numerous tools you can use to make sense of this tangled mess! Many of these help you create a clear visual representation of the situation, so that you can better understand what's going on.

Problem-Solving Processes

Simplex involves an eight-stage process: problem finding, fact finding, defining the problem, idea finding, selecting and evaluating, planning, selling the idea, and acting. These steps build upon the basic process described earlier, and they create a cycle of problem finding and solving that will continually improve your organization.

Appreciative Inquiry takes a uniquely positive approach by helping you solve problems by examining what's working well in the areas surrounding them.

"Grameen Bank", bank for the poor

Before coming to class we were asked to watch a video.

Grameen Bank (GB) has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity. GB provides credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh, without any collateral. At GB, credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as a catalyst in the over all development of socio-economic conditions of the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the ground that they are poor and hence not bankable. Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder of "Grameen Bank" and its Managing Director, reasoned that if financial resources can be made available to the poor people on terms and conditions that are appropriate and reasonable, "these millions of small people with their millions of small pursuits can add up to create the biggest development wonder." 

  

As of October, 2011, it has 8.349 million borrowers, 97 percent of whom are women. With 2,565 branches, GB provides services in 81,379 villages, covering more than 97 percent of the total villages in Bangladesh. 

Grameen Bank's positive impact on its poor and formerly poor borrowers has been documented in many independent studies carried out by external agencies including the World Bank, the International Food Research Policy Institute (IFPRI) and the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)

The origin of Grameen Bank can be traced back to 1976 when Professor Muhammad Yunus, Head of the Rural Economics Program at the University  of Chittagong, launched an action research project to examine the possibility of designing a credit delivery system to provide banking services targeted at the rural poor. The Grameen Bank Project (Grameen means "rural" or "village" in Bangla language) came into operation with the following objectives:

1.extend banking facilities to poor men and women;

2.eliminate the exploitation of the poor by money lenders;

3.create opportunities for self-employment for the vast multitude of unemployed people in rural Bangladesh;

4.bring the disadvantaged, mostly the women from the poorest households, within the fold of an organizational format which they can understand and manage by themselves; and

reverse the age-old vicious circle of "low income, low saving & low investment", into virtuous circle of "low income, injection of credit, investment, more income, more savings, more investment, more income".

The action research demonstrated its strength in Jobra (a village adjacent to Chittagong University) and some of the neighboring villages during 1976-1979. With the sponsorship of the central bank of the country and support of the nationalized commercial banks, the project was extended to Tangail district (a district north of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh) in 1979. With the success in Tangail, the project was extended to several other districts in  the country. In October 1983, the Grameen Bank Project was transformed into an independent bank by government legislation. Today Grameen Bank is owned by the rural poor whom it serves. Borrowers of the Bank own 90% of its shares, while the remaining 10% is owned by the government.

GRAMEEN BANK	CONVENTIONAL BANK
To bring economic and social change to the poor.                 Based on trust       Looks at what the borrower can have       Located in rural areas       The bank goes to the customer       Flexible payment scheme       Most owners and borrowers are poor women                 Loans are for productive activity, not consumption	To make profit       Based on collateral       Looks at what the borrower already has       Located in urban areas      Customers have to go to the bank      Strict payment scheme      Most owners and borrowers are wealthy men       Loans could be used for consumption or other activities

Lessons from Muhammad Yunus about Leading Long-term Change

1. Set forth an inspiring vision and stick with it.

2. Innovate. Challenge the prevailing wisdom.

3. Build a team that owns the dream.

4. Communicate. Relentlessly communicate within and beyond the organization. 

5. Be Flexible. Change strategies, goals, and tactics as needed.

6. Be patient and persevere. Sometimes you have to wait.

7. Embed your values into the organizational culture.

8. Brand yourself and your organization. 

Navrang Puzzle

         “Navrang Puzzle” as the name suggests it is a cube having 9 different colors on each of the face.. NAVRANG CUBE is a simple playing cube composed of 27 identical cubes of 9 different colors (3 cubes of same color). The cube has hole in 5 sides and a connector in one side so as to hold on the other cube. When seen, it resembles like the Rubic cube but is very different in nature and composition. All the 27 cubes in this can be disassembled. The main motive of this cube is to make a bigger cube with no two same colored cubes in same side of face. Sir distributed the pieces among the students.

  The first challenge was for two of us to volunteer and solve the cube - put it back into place with the given set of constraints - 

1. Each face of the cube must have all the 9 colors. Which also means obviously that none of the colors can be repeated on any face - since there are only 9 slots in each.

2. We only had 5 minutes in which to solve the cube in.Since our professor had 2 sets of the navrang in possession, he invited two groups of two students each to come to his desk and try their luck. The 27 smaller cubes were clustered randomly on the table, and it took the teams more than a minute to even segregate and arrange the smaller cubes in some order. Neither of them came close.

And then Prof. Prasad took over.

Management Lessons:

Attempt by Student (First time)	Attempt by Professor
A Trial Attempt without preparation	A planned attempt with early preparation
Random Format	Structured Format
Confusions, Uncertain, stressed,	Calm, Simple and Clear flow of ideas
Unrealistic goals set based on excitement	Realistic goals based on experience
Not done even upto 10 Mins	Done within 4 Minutes

• Each Problem can be solved by systematic thinking
• Each Block represents an entity (Labor, Machine etc.) in an organization and is to be assembled in a structured and hierarchical way like the above process, so efficiency is maximum
• Two blocks of the same color may represent people who don't gel well with each other. And hence while forming a team, a structured approach is necessary

Management lessons from a Magnet

This time it was"Magnet". I was amazed of what can be done with a magnet in a management class. Sir asked us, What is the reason of only a magnet possesses magnetic properties. All engineer cum management students started speaking in term of physics language. The simple answer to the question was "Alignment". A Magnet has its power because it can align innate magnetic forces in metallic atoms. So, magnets (or Physics for that matter) align natural forces.

Atomic structural bonding in magnet 

   Yes in terms of management, a magnet teaches us how to align manpower in proper direction to create the force. Basically what a magnet does is to align all the magnetic poles in one direction i.e. north poles in one and south poles on other. A Manager aligns human forces to get work done. In effect an organization is a force that is aligned. The bigger or better an organization, the more perfectly it is aligned.

Management

   Same is the case with Music and Noise... When a guitar is tapped in unorganized way noise is produced which is irritating to ear, but when tapping is done in a certain organized manner with all the strings working fine , a perfect tune is played which soothes our ear. So it’s very clear that its Organizing matters apart from the work.

  So in management we call such alignments as : MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES (MBO):

Management by objectives (MBO), also known as management by results (MBR), is a process of defining objectives within an organization so that management and employees agree to the objectives and understand what they need to do in the organization in order to achieve them. The term "management by objectives" was first popularized by Peter Drucker in his 1954 book The Practice of Management.

The essence of MBO is participative goal setting, choosing course of actions and decision making. An important part of the MBO is the measurement and the comparison of the employee’s actual performance with the standards set. Ideally, when employees themselves have been involved with the goal setting and choosing the course of action to be followed by them, they are more likely to fulfill their responsibilities.

According to George S. Odiorne, the system of management by objectives can be described as a process whereby the superior and subordinate jointly identify its common goals, define each individual's major areas of responsibility in terms of the results expected of him, and use these measures as guides for operating the unit and assessing the contribution of each of its members.

Unique features and advantages of the MBO process:

Behind the principle of Management by Objectives (MBO) is for employees to have a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities expected of them. Then they can understand how their activities relate to the achievement of the organization's goal. Also places importance on fulfilling the personal goals of each employee.

Some of the important features and advantages of MBO are:

1.    Motivation – Involving employees in the whole process of goal setting and increasing employee empowerment. This increases employee job satisfaction and commitment.

2.    Better communication and coordination – Frequent reviews and interactions between superiors and subordinates helps to maintain harmonious relationships within the organization and also to solve many problems.

3.    Clarity of goals

4.    Subordinates tend to have a higher commitment to objectives they set for themselves than those imposed on them by another person.

5.    Managers can ensure that objectives of the subordinates are linked to the organization's objectives.

6.    Everybody will be having a common goal for whole organization. That means, it is a directive principle of management.

Team Work: Valley Crossing

Teamwork is defined as efforts done by a group of people to achieve a common goal. In essence, each team member leaves his/her individual priorities aside for a larger cause and works together. A strong team is one in which the strengths and skills of individual team members are combined in an efficient and effective manner to achieve the goals.

To explain the significance of teamwork, our Professor Prasad gave the example of Valley Crossing:

 In this, three persons had to cross from left block to right block. Both the blocks were separated by a distance of more than one step of each person thus making it impossible for single person to achieve it individually.

To accomplish the task, we derived a workflow and split the task into 9 steps. Then all the steps were followed and demonstrated in class to achieve the goal.

The above task could be accomplished only by coordination, effective communication, cooperation and shared responsibility making it as teamwork.

Following characteristics of teamwork can be observed on completing the task:

1) Purpose: A clear goal should be present before initiating the task. This helps team members to prioritize their tasks and work efficiently towards achieving the targets. Just like in the task above, the goal was clearly defined to cross from left block to right block.

2) Communication: This one of the most important factors for effective teamwork. Team members should communicate with each other without hesitation and share their experiences and opinions. They should listen to each other and discuss problems or any issues in a healthy manner. This promotes harmony and trust within the team. Like in this task, an efficient way to achieve the goal could not be achieved without effective communication. 

     

      3) Individual Roles: Roles should be well defined among team members. This helps them in understanding their responsibilities and synchronizing their day to day activities with the team goals. Tasks should be evenly divided among team members to avoid overload on one member. Roles need to be defined based on the strengths and skills of individual team members.

      In the task above, all the persons had to do the same task and move in similar way to avoid any overwork.

4) Coordination: In today’s world, there are at times huge teams working together to achieve the common goal. This often leads to inter-dependency among team members. To avoid any conflicting situation members should approach each other without hesitation and provide status of their tasks and any related information. Members should coordinate properly so that nobody lags behind in their task as it will affect the team’s goal also.

5) Managing Conflict situation: At times there can be conflicts within the team. It is important that these conflicts be identified and resolved at appropriate time in a manner which maintains the positive environment and harmony in team.

6) Success and Failure: It is important that team members celebrate the success together and acknowledge each other for their work. It is equally important to work together without blaming others at the time of failures.

7) Team Leadership: It is important to have leaders who can help in boosting the morale of team during bad times. They should try to facilitate communication among members if it lacks and promote cooperation and sense of responsibility among the team members.

The Three Monk Story

     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." The film does not contain any dialogues, allowing it to be watched by any culture, and a different music instrument was used to signify each monk. The film tells the story from the aspect of the Buddhist bhikkhu.

      

Description of Story:

    On the high mountain there is a temple. There is a long distance from the temple to the river which is located at the foot of the mountain. One monk used to live there. He had to walk a long way to fetch water, but he did it every day. One day, another monk appeared in the temple. Now who’s to fetch water became a regular argument between them. Luckily they found a solution: they carried water together. Then the 3rd monk became a member of the temple, which brought complexity, because they all thought the others should go and get water. They suffered from thirst, but nobody still did not want to move until a mouse ate the candle, and the flame started to burn down their temple. They worked together and transported water from the river and finally saved their temple.

   "Without Co-operation, one monk can fetch two buckets of water ,two monks only be able to fetch 1 bucket of water and three monks fetch no water at all."

    Although, as a manager, one should focus on Technical factors as they are the important ones and make an organization stand out from its competitors:

Human Factors:

1.       Sharing Responsibility: The story tells us that each monk is capable to fetch 2 buckets of water when working alone. But, while working together each one tries to avoid work and expects the other monk to do it. In organizations as well employees might develop prejudice towards certain type of work and face the similar problem. Hence, the important point is to understand the importance of working as a team and sharing the responsibilities fairly.  

2.       Cooperation: It is an important factor and is seen lacking in the story of 3 monks until the fire breaks up. But disasters are not a everyday thing and hence it is expected that cooperation should exist in normal conditions also.

Technical Factors:

1. Scale/Tools: As seen in the movie, a scale was used to evenly divide the load among the two persons.

It shows how the use of standardized tools helps to avoid controversies and incorporate fair practices.

2. Productivity: It is necessary to gauge the productivity of employees in order to analyse the performance of an organization. Hence, it becomes an important parameter and the system should be designed to maximize productivity.

 

3. Participative Management: It involves all the stakeholders in the decision making process. As in case of a movie, while dividing the load of the bucket one monk did the scaling and the other did marking. It involves both the parties and avoids any conflicts that may arise at some later point of time. 

So concluding “Great things can be achieved by Co-operation”

SMART Goals & PYGMALION Effect

This time the class started with a discussion on S.M.A.R.T. goals. Sir asked us about the meaning of SMART Goals. We described SMART Goals as

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

*Who:      Who is involved?

*What:     What do I want to accomplish?

*Where:    Identify a location.

*When:     Establish a time frame.

*Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.

*Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE:  A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.”

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Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.

When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……

How much? How many?

How will I know when it is accomplished?

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Attainable – When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

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Realistic- To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

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Timely – A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

T can also stand for Tangible – A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing.

When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

The other possible variations of the acronym SMART are:

• S Specific | Simple | Single | Sensible | Significant
• M Measurable | Meaningful | Motivating
• A Achievable | Acceptable | Attainable | Actionable | Action-oriented | Adjustable | As-if-now | Agreed | Action plan | Achieved | Accountable | Assignable
• R Relevant | Realistic | Reachable | Rewarding | Results-oriented | Reviewable | Relative | Result-based | Reasonable
• T Time-dimensioned | Time frame | Tangible | Trackable | Time-boxed | Timely | Time-sensitive | Time-stamped | Time-bound | Time-based | Timed

Pygmalion Effect:

American psychologist R. Rosenthal observed in the 1960’s that we tend to live up to what is expected of us and do better when treated as if we are capable of success. This self-fulfilling prophecy is known as the “Pygmalion effect”.

Pygmalion, a mythical Greek sculptor, created the statue of a woman so sweet, so perfect in his eyes that he fell madly in love with it, imagining it was alive. Facing such determination, the gods, led by Aphrodite, had to grant his wish and gave this “marble” woman a smile, words… breath.

So strong was his belief that it enabled Pygmalion to transcend the constraints of a reality which seemed rigidly set in marble, and to get what he was fervently hoping for.

Since the groundbreaking work of American psychologist R. Rosenthal in the 1960’s, this self-fulfilling prophecy has been known as the “Pygmalion effect”. What this social and educative sciences researcher discovered could be either frightening or reassuring, depending on our perspective. We tend to live up to what is expected of us and do better when treated as if we are capable of success. So the Pygmalion effect could be summarized as: "you get what you expect".