THREE MONKS

Introduction

Three Monks is a Chinese animated feature film produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. After the cultural revolution and the fall of the political Gang of Four in 1976, the film was one of the first animations created as part of the rebirth period. It is also referred to as The Three Buddhist Priests.

Background

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.

Story

There is a young monk who lives a simple life in a temple on top of a hill. He has one daily task of bringing two buckets of water up the hill. When he is joined by another monk, he tries to render the job to the 2nd monk. But the 2nd monk insists that they should together go for the task.

If both the monks go together

Output = Buckets of water

Input = Energy put in (in Joules)

Proposed method: Both the monks go together

	Earlier Method	Proposed Method
Output	2	1
Input	100	40
Effort required per bucket	50	40

Comparison of the Two Methods

The table suggests that in the proposed method the amount of effort required per bucket is less than the earlier method. Also by doing the work together they can have better kinship. Moreover in the first method, when only one monk is carrying the two buckets, he will get exhausted very quickly and may become discontented with his job.

The two monks mark the center of the stick. While one monk holds the scale and measures, the other monk marks. This is better known as Participative Management. If the same person measures and marks, he might be inclined to some mischief.

Similar is the case of a person working in an organization, if he is burdened too much or is given a task beyond his capacity, he will be discontented. By making teams, we can reduce the work burden as well as improve the state of working of the individual. An individual who has to do all the work alone would face Protestant Work Ethic. It implies that you did something wrong in your past life and hence you have to bear this treatment.

The Story Continues

The two monks start fetching the water together when one day a third fat monk comes to the monastery. He drinks up all the water and is hence sent alone to fetch the water. But on returning back he again drinks up the water but refuses to refill the container. Consequently, no one fetches water though everybody is thirsty.

That night a rat comes in the monastery and knocks the candle-holder on the curtains, leading to a devastating fire. The three monks finally unite together and make a concerted effort to put out the fire. Since then they understand the old saying "Unity is Strength" and begin to live a harmonious life. The temple never lacks water again.

The Solution

The three monks come out with the best solution to the problem wherein one monk fills the bucket at the lake and ties it to a rope. The other monk pulls the rope through a pulley and the third monk takes the bucket to the monastery and fill the container. They don't have any further issues with the work.

The Movie

You can have a look at the short movie:

What We Learn

We must maintain that the division of work is equal among the team members. As can be seen from the final solution offered that if there is no equality of work the team members will not be motivated to work. The responsibility should be divided and there must be high inter dependence between the team members as it leads to more effectiveness.

It should be understood that all the three monks are different physically but their attitude is same towards humanity and positivity. They are all good people. Similarly in organisations, all the team members are not the same but they are all good and want to strive together for a common goal.

There should be high information flow and instant communication as can be seen in the solution. Any communication to be passed on can be passed on without delays. This will reduce the idle time of the members and result in improved productivity.

There should be a change in the method of working with growth in organisation and changing times. If the methods do not change, they will become obsolete.

This table shows a concise picture of the improvements in work style and other parameters while shifting from one method to another.

Various parameters	Method 1	Method 2	Method 3
Communication	None	Delayed	Instant
Task Role	Independent	Partially Dependent	Totally interdependent
Work Changes		Mid Point identification & Reduction in work tools	Innovative Work Practice eg. Modern Assembly line
Worklife	Hard	Easier	Fun