Valley Crossing

In the Last Lecture we were given a Valley Crossing Activity by Dr. Mandi to explain to us the complex structure of an organization.

In this activity 3 people had to cross a valley and they were provided with a single pole. The activity demonstrated how an organization works, how the roles and responsibilities are assigned to the employees and how safety can become an important aspect in increasing the efficiency of the organization. 

Lets look into the valley crossing problem which will give us the insight in how the things work in any organization and how every link is important to achieve the goal as set by the organization. If one of the link fails, the whole connected system can collapse. So what is important is the teamwork which bind the system through different and connected links.

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."

 

 An organization works primarily on the concept of “TEAMWORK”. All employees, as a part of organization, work together to achieve a common goal.  

 

A team is a group of people with various complementary skills, working together towards a common vision. Members of a team operate with high degree of trust, accountability and interdependence.

                                                          

 

 

A list of learning through this simple yet complex activity of valley crossing are:

 





 

Equally Responsible roles: Every role which an individual in the team is possessing is equally responsible. In a team every person shares a similar role but not the same role i.e. there is no differentiation of work between the persons doing the valley crossing. The responsibility and similarity of job can be seen from the table as below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step	State of 1st Person	State of 2nd person	State of 3rd person
1.	Safe	Safe	Safe
2.	Half-Risky	Safe	Safe
3.	Full-Risky	Safe	Safe
4.	Half-Risky	Half-Risky	Safe
5.	Safe	Full-Risky	Safe
6.	Safe	Half-Risky	Half-Risky
7.	Safe	Safe	Full-Risky
8.	Safe	Safe	Half-Risky
9.	Safe	Safe	Safe

 

 

 

 

Instantaneous communication and feedback: for a team to be efficient the communication should be instantaneous otherwise the links i.e. the team workers don’t get enough time to act to make the system efficient.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safety: Safety of every member is important and should not be compromised at any cost. If the employee feels sale while working for the organization, he gives the maximum to achieve the goal of the organization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interlocking roles: The more interlocked the employees are the more interdependent the organization is. And when the interdependency is maximum the profits are maximum. The team generates performance greater than the sum of performance of its individual members.

Members help other team members realize their true potential.

 

 

 

 

 

"Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people attain uncommon results."

 

 

 



 

 

 Management by objectives:

Goal: To cross the valley with the help of the Pole.

Objectives: To achieve this we have to divide our work and do it safely and efficiently.