Muhammad Yunus - A true socialist with a vision

History has given us true heroes but we sometimes fail to recognize the heroes of today. It has been decades that we have been hearing from governments of all countries that they are working for the poor. But as it was destined to, an individual stepped forward and made a significant difference. For all those who know Muhammad Yunus, you might be knowing about his achievements in rural upliftment. For those who don't, you are at the right place. The coming paragraphs would enlighten you with the contributions made by Muhammad Yunus.

                    Muhammad Yunus is an Bangladeshi banker, economist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. 
As a professor of economics, he developed the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts through microcredit to create economic and social development from below". Yunus has received several other national and international honours. He was awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal in 2010, and presented with it at a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on 17 April 2013.

                    The Idea that changed lives -

                    In 1976, during visits to the poorest households in the village of Jobra near Chittagong University, Yunus discovered that very small loans could make a disproportionate difference to a poor person. Village women who made bamboo furniture had to take usurious loans to buy bamboo, and repay their profits to the lenders. Traditional banks did not want to make tiny loans at reasonable interest to the poor due to high risk of default. But Yunus believed that, given the chance, the poor will repay the money and hence microcredit was a viable business model. Yunus lent US$27 of his money to 42 women in the village, who made a profit of BDT 0.50 (US$0.02) each on the loan.

Grameen Bank -

Grameen Bank is founded on the principle that loans are better than charity to interrupt poverty: they offer people the opportunity to take initiatives in business or agriculture, which provide earnings and enable them to pay off the debt.

The bank is founded on the belief that people have endless potential, and unleashing their creativity and initiative helps them end poverty. Grameen has offered credit to classes of people formerly underserved: the poor, women, illiterate, and unemployed people. Access to credit is based on reasonable terms, such as the group lending system and weekly-installment payments, with reasonably long terms of loans, enabling the poor to build on their existing skills to earn better income in each cycle of loans.

Grameen’s objective has been to promote financial independence among the poor. Yunus encourages all borrowers to become savers, so that their local capital can be converted into new loans to others. Since 1995, Grameen has funded 90 percent of its loans with interest income and deposits collected, aligning the interests of its new borrowers and depositor-shareholders. Grameen converts deposits made in villages into loans for the more needy in the villages (Yunus and Jolis 1998).

It targets the poorest of the poor, with a particular emphasis on women, who receive 95 percent of the bank’s loans. Women traditionally had less access to financial alternatives of ordinary credit lines and incomes. They were seen to have an inequitable share of power in household decision making. Yunus and others have found that lending to women generates considerable secondary effects, including empowerment of a marginalized segment of society (Yunus and Jolis 1998), who share betterment of income with their children, unlike many men. Yunus claims that in 2004, women still have difficulty getting loans; they comprise less than 1 percent of borrowers from commercial banks (Yunus 2004).The interest rates charged by microfinance institutes including Grameen Bank is high compared to that of traditional banks; Grameen's interest (reducing balance basis) on its main credit product is about 20%.

Learnings -

1) Support Talent

One key learning is that talent should not be wasted for want of money. Many people give up their passions because they cannot sustain them. As an individual or manager, one should support such causes.

2) Reward Deserving Candidates

Proper recognition and reward to deserving candidates urges them to perform better the next time. As a manager, one should be able to recognize and vocal about good work.

3) Success comes the hard way

As is evident from Muhammad Yunus's example, there are no short-cuts to success and that should be made clear to everyone in the organization. One should be prepared to work hard for long term success and recognition.

                    I hope all those who weren't aware of Muhammad Yunus have finally understood the significant contribution of him towards the upliftment of the poor. Such inspiring stories keep me striving hard to achieve more and I hope it motivates millions around the world. Happy learning, happy blogging !

Craftsmanship v/s Modern Management

 As we had already learned the nuances of organization management through the tower exercise, Dr. Prasad went on to explain the difference between Craftsmanship and Modern Management.

                    As seen in the picture above, a tailor who runs a small shop does everything by himself. The activities include taking measurements, cutting the cloth, stitching them, etc. Now if the same job is carried out by a big company like Raymonds, most of the job would be divided into segments and each task would be assigned to a particular department. Each task is further divided into elements to simplify the job further.

                    The difference between  Craftsmanship and Modern Management can be best depicted through a table:

                    One important point to note is that the level of satisfaction as well the personalized touch to the purchases made by the customer is more in case of craftsmanship than modern management.

           Another important concept that we came across was that of "Excellence". Excellence is a combination of two factors: Efficiency and Effectiveness. Effectiveness refers to how close one is to the intended target with the minimum inputs. Efficiency is getting the maximum output from minimum input. A combination of both these factors bring out excellence.

Thus, 

                 EXCELLENCE = EFFECTIVENESS * EFFICIENCY

We discussed few examples pertaining to this and managed to get a clear picture on what amounts to excellence.

                    So that brings us to the end of another enriching experience. Happy learning and happy blogging.

Valley Crossing!

Problem Statement:

Task given to a group of three people is to cross over from left side of the valley to the right side of the valley by taking the support of the pole as shown in the cartoon. Direct jumping and attempts are considered fatal and not welcomed at all.

Calculation of width of valley: As per the problem statement, direct jumping is not possible; hence the width must be greater than 1 footstep of a team member. Similarly the width should be less than 2 footsteps otherwise there won’t be any feasible solution to cross the valley with the help of 3 member’s team. Hence ideal width of valley is between 1 footsteps to 2 footsteps.

Vision: To design a process of simple steps so that everyone to cross the valley.

Mission: To implement a solution for a team of 3 members and can be extended to any 3+ member’s team.

 

Sometimes a picture says more than words. When Dr. Prasad started discussing this picture in class, we had little idea that we can learn this much from this picture. We also simulated this activity in classroom. It was a fun filled exercise full of insights.

Organisations are made of Teams. Good Teamwork is essential for high performance in any business.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” – Michael Jordan

Here, as we see in valley crossing exercise, 3 people have to cross a valley. It is wide enough that they can’t jump to other side. So, they form a Team. They get connected with the help of a pole (metaphor for an organisation). In the end, they are able to cross the valley. It looks simple, but it is not. When we started doing this activity in real, it needed a lot of iterations to complete it successfully. Let me list out the ingredients required for successful completion of this task. These are the same things required for a good team work.

Planning: - We were 3 people. We were provided with a pole and we had to cross the valley. Our 1^st step was  to formulate a plan. The plan should be focused on how we can leverage our strength as a team. 

Proper communication: - Communication is very important both in Planning and executing period. Everybody needs to understand their role clearly. There should be a smooth flow of communication even at the time of executing task. As, we saw during activity, assuming the solution to be simple, people didn't allocate proper time to understand their role clearly. It resulted in bad co-ordination. One person moved one step ahead while other person stood at same place. Effective initial communication can avoid this situation and proper communication during task performance will ensure a successful task 

Responsibility: - Everybody in Team needs to be accountable. Suppose, if one person either in front or back leaves the pole while 2^nd person is hanging in middle, both 2^nd and 3^rd person will not be able to cross the valley.

Trust: - As a Team member, we need to trust other team members. In the valley crossing exercise, if all three people do not trust each other, nobody will get ready to hang on pole in the valley with their life at stake. Trust is build over time and as a manager we must ensure to create an environment where one team member can trust other.

Coordination :- Coordination is the important factor in making the crossing successful. Every team member need to be equidistant. They must move step at same time. They also need to cover equal length in every step. They must be aware of timing when they need to put extra effort, also the amount of extra effort required. For good coordination,Team need to do proper planning, have good communication,take responsibility and trust each other.

Execution and Analysis of the Solution : 

 Before starting with the analysis of the solution, 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 are on the ground and he is in no danger.

·         Half Risky: Half Risky is the state in which one leg is in the air and the other one on the ground

·         Full Risky: Full risky is the state in which both the legs of the man are in air and his body weight is supported by the other two men.

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

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.

 

Here is the management learning from the valley crossing exercise:

Valley Crossing is a typical experiment of Team Effectiveness. Several factors determine the effectiveness of a Team. According to Lombardo and Eichinger who developed the T7 Model in 1995 to represent the key facets that influence the performance of work teams:

The five internal team factors include:

• Thrust – a common purpose about what needs to be accomplished or team goal(s)

• Trust – in each other as teammates

• Talent – the collective skills of the team members to get the job done

• Teaming Skills – operating effectively and efficiently as a team

• Task Skills – executing successfully or getting the job done

The two external team factors are:

• Team-Leader Fit – the degree to which the team leader satisfies the needs of the team members

• Team Support from the Organization – the extent to which the leadership of the organization enables the team to perform

If we compare T7 model with our valley crossing experience, the three team members have a common goal i.e. to cross the valley. Without a common goal, an organisation cannot perform effectively. Employees may have different sub-goals like higher remunerations, good appraisal etc, but their broader goal always in line with the organisational growth; without which their sub-goals cannot be fulfilled.

Trust is another important factor. The team members without the trust of

each other cannot cross the valley as each team member’s life stakes on other two members’ actions. Interdependence among the three members is crucial and maximum and without trust factor, interdependence cannot guarantee a fruitful result. All modern organizations are decentralized with maximum co-ordination and co-operation between each department through Enterprise Resource Planning and trust is one of the main factor for effectiveness of ERP.

Talent as individual and as a team: In valley crossing problem, every member is efficient and equal in all aspect. Specialization leads to efficiency and works are divided according to the specializations that the employees possessed.

Similarly Resource Management, Team Learning, Decision Making, Conflict Resolution, Team Atmosphere and Managing Process are the attributes of Teaming skills. One of the main barriers in effective team performance is social loafing and it can be mitigated through proper teaming skills .Social Loafing is the phenomenon of people exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone. This is seen as one of the main reasons groups are sometimes less productive than the combined performance of their members working as individuals. 

According to Dan J. Rothwell, it takes "the three C's of motivation" to get a group moving: collaboration, content, and choice. In our valley crossing experiment, each team member is assigned specific responsibility (choice) and through collaboration (co-ordination) everyone is bound to perform his/her duties in order to cross the valley.

It promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development and delivery, a time-boxed iterative approach, and encourages rapid and flexible response to change. It represents one of the most interactive frameworks of team work and inter-dependence between members is maximum. Here if you notice, all the attributes of T1 model i.e. Thrust, Trust, Talent, Team Skills and Task Skills are incorporated along with adequate support from the organization.

Researchers have long known that any successful team is focused on performance. The team has a well-defined set of goals and agreed-upon methods for achieving them and members hold one another accountable for the performance of the whole group. These characteristics are called team cohesiveness.

A team cannot be built without the help of managers. Especially at the time of team inception, the team members need maximum help in terms of resource management, goal setting and team co-ordination. However as the process is streamlined, the role of manager diminished and he may find that the team doesn't require ongoing involvement. And what we will get is an Effective Team for the organization.

 

 

 

Thank You!!!

Similarities in teaching methodology of ‘The khan academy’ and Prof. Dr. Mandi(by Rana Surjeet_127_Sec B)

Two sides of a coin:

The Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization, created in 2006 by Bangladeshi American educator Salman Khan, a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School. With the stated mission of "providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere", the website supplies a free online collection of more than 3,200 micro lectures via video tutorials stored on YouTube teaching mathematics, history, healthcare and medicine, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics, cosmology, organic chemistry, American civics, art history, macroeconomics and microeconomics, and computer science.

The Maha Mandi, the brain child of Dr. Mandi is a Socio-Marketing Field Event conducted annually by the MiG (Marketing Interest Group,NITIE) . Participants sell educational toys from our partner NGOs engaged in upliftment of underprivileged women and children.

Dr. Mandi’s teaching methodology says:

‘Student Driven’ rather than‘ Teacher driven’.

Students are supposed to  take full responsibility for their  learning.

Students are expected show enthu and initiative  in learning the subject.

Faculty opt to act as facilitator. Responsibility for learning  lies with the students.

Taken from Dr. Mandi(http://pomcourse2012.blogspot.in/2012_05_01_archive.html)

Salman Khan, in a lecture session :          

  








































 Dr. Mandi, in a lecture session:

Teaching methodology used by:

1)Salman Khan

 

 

2)Prof. Dr. Mandi

Learning spread across boundaries via blogs.

                                                                                               

Learning through simple but intellectually awakening videos  

Learning through group tasks making learning easy.

Learning the very essence of     team-work through valley-crossing live exercise

Applying all the learning through all the possible means as put into work by Dr. Mandi into application on the day of 

MAHA MANDI!!!

 First hand practical learning experience

 

So, as we can easily see the similarities between the initiation of both the non-profit work by the two great men whose results can be easily measured in terms of the social work that they do along with a sense of responsibility for the society and environment as a whole is commendable.

So, lets gear up for the biggest learning MELA of our life called the MAHA MANDI 2014 this august!!

JAI HO MAHA MANDI!!