Tower building exercise:
Every organization will have its own vision and mission statement.
Vision states that destination of the organization while the mission states the
path to be taken. These Vision also known as goals should be smart goals. Here smart
goals mean S- Specific M- Measurable A- Achievable R-Realistic T-Time bound.
This was illustrated in our first lecture of Principal of Management
(POM) course by a simple tower building exercise. Here a team of three people
were assembled and given a task of building tower using blocks under certain constraints.
The whole class was given the last year batches highest record as 17.Then every
one was asked how much the team will be able to build. Most of the answers were
below 15.But at last the team was able to break past the previous year record
and reached 18 blocks.
Here the Goal was to break the record of 17.Thus it is
measurable and specific. The past record proved the task to be achievable and realistic.
Time was not constraint here. Thus the team was given a smart goal. They
achieved the constraint by acting together with each other. Each of them where
stake holders in the organization to achieve the goal. They planned and practiced
the way in which they should work together. This led them to achieve the
target.
Thus my learning from this exercise is that any organization
with good vision and mission can achieve a any smart goals.
