Tortoise
vs Rabbit Race
(Learning
for Managers)
There were two rival
groups in the forest- Rabbit and Tortoise. Once they decided to participate in
a competition. The winner will prove the superiority of 1 team over another. Each
team chose a leader and decide to compete. Lion, the king of jungle decided
that there will be a race from one corner of the jungle to another. Tortoise
group became upset because they knew they move very slowly and rabbits move
very fast. But they could not say no to the king and reluctantly decided to
compete with rabbit.
Competition
1:
Tortoise and Rabbit
both started together. Tortoise was having a very slow pace and rabbit was
having a very high pace of moving towards the finish line. When almost half
done with the race, rabbit became very hungry. He ate some radish on the way
and felt drowsy. He thought that tortoise would be lacking far behind. He
thought of taking rest and went for a nap. While he was sleeping tortoise who
was consistent throughout kept on moving without break, crossed rabbit on the
way and reached the finish line earlier than rabbit. So Tortoise slowly and steadily
won the race.
Rabbit team became very
angry and dissatisfied. They told the king that it was not fair. They complained
that tortoise took advantage of weak health of their leader. They lied that he
had become sick during the race.
King agreed and planned
for another race. This time it will be a race in water. They have to cross a river.
And any number of participants can participate as 1 single team.
Competition
2:
A large boat was hired
by both teams. Rabbit team leader took 30 rabbit in his team which were 10 more
than actually needed. Tortoise leader took 25 which were 5 more than the
requirement. The course of race was very long. It would take almost a day to go
and return back. Both teams started. In the beginning rabbit team took lead
again. But Tortoise team had better knowledge of short cuts in water as they
live in it. When the rabbit leader saw tortoise ship approaching he started
pressurizing his team. He was a theory X
manager. He started showing distrust in his team. He started shouting at
all. Also since the food item the team was given was with respect to 20 people
but he had 30 rabbit in his team. So food stock started depleting fast. He
started laying off people. He though since he has excess members, it doesn’t make
any difference. But this had a wrong psychological effect in the minds of team
worker. They thought they would be laid off anytime. The insecurity reduced
their efficiency. The leader forgot the importance of ‘Fayol’s principle of Espirit de corpse’ which emphasised the
importance of amicable relation between worker and manager. He did not plan
which rabbit is best suited for rowing at front end and which rabbit is suited
for rowing at rear end of the boat. He also did not give them required break
and defied all working hours. Thus he failed
again in job design and Scientific management. After some time due to misuse of his power and
ruthless behaviour, some rabbit formed a union and told that they don’t want to
work under him anymore. Many more joined in. Rabbit could not tackle the union
problem and the worker left the race. He was left alone and so he couldn’t even
complete the race.
On the other hand
Tortoise team leader was Theory Y
manager. He motivated them throughout the way. He carefully designed job as to who should row where. He had taken 5
extra so that those who become tired can go for job rotation with these 5 and do some light work like serving water
and food to the team. He made sure that oar to row boat was of right weight and
length and scientifically found 1 best
method to do the job which was ergonomically
sound. Naturally they won the race.
Though Tortoise are
slow worker but they proved once again that a good manager can make better
utilization of available resources with his managerial skills and vice versa a
bad manager can fail the entire organization even though the workers are very
skilled and have high potential and competency.
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