Valley Crossing Exercise

Let's start this post with a small musical video made at NITIE, Mumbai.

Valley crossing problem

Problem in hand

 There are three people trying to cross a valley. The gap of the valley is in the range of one foot to two feet. Assume that each of them has the same footstep. They have a rod of a convenient size and they have to cross the valley using the rod as a support. Direct jumping is considered fatal assuming the valley is fathomless.

Solution: 

The following are the steps to be followed sequentially to complete the task.

• Initially, the first person puts his leg forward and hid first foot remains in air and so he is only half safe. The remaining are fully safe. 
• The next step, the first person is totally unsafe and he has hang from the rod, which is being supported by the other two with their weight. 
• The next step, the first person puts its first foot on the other side of the valley and hence half safe again. The second person now puts his first foot in air and hence even he is half safe. 
• At the end of next step, the first person totally reaches the other end of the valley and hence is totally safe again. The second person is totally unsafe hanging in the air with the support of the rod weighted by the first and third persons. 
• Next step, the second person puts his first step on the other side of the valley and the third person puts his first step in the air and hence both are half safe.
• At the end of next step, the third person reaches the other end of the valley and hence totally safe again. The third person remains hanging in the air supported by the first two persons who have reached the other end of the valley. 
• After two more steps, even the third person reaches the other end of the valley and the mission has been accomplished.

The three member roles have been defined as follows:-

A:  A is the first person who undertakes the work. He may called as “INITIATOR” as he is the one who initiates the work.

B: Comparatively,  B’s job  is less risky compared to  A and more risky compared to  C.   

C:    C will  follow his / her  fore walkers in crossing the valley.  C’s  job  is less risky compared to  B and  A

Three wise men Crossing the valley  - Detailed task process

Persons	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Step
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

The sum total of total tasks, burdens and responsibilities that are shared by the three people is equal but there are variations among the roles of A, B and C in assuming the roles. Thus the importance of TEAMWORK is being highlighted through this exercise.

Some of the other POM concepts highlighted by this task are:

 Load Sharing: This activity involves sharing of the load among the three valley crossers. This is the same scenario we face in the corporate world where load needs to be shared among the team members working towards a common goal. The roles and responsibilities have to be divided among the members by the manager. Hence the task of the manager is very critical because that will drive the final output, the project and indirectly the organization as a whole.

 Simplicity in Design: The design of this example is very elementary but of profound significance as we are seeing via discussion of these principles. This is how the design should be done in industry also - keep the design as simple as possible and work towards its implementation.

Work Planning : As a manager one need to come out with step by step plan in order to help the three members to cross the valley. In order for the three persons to cross the valley the width of the valley must be slightly larger than a single step of one person but must be smaller than two steps. Moreover few technical specifications must be taken into account i.e. strength of the pole, creating markings on pole etc. The managers needs to specify the variety of roles when the three cross the valley. 

Efficiency - usage of minimum resources: Minimum amount of resources with minimal wastage forms the core of management. In the market, scarcity of resources is always there and one should always try to minimize the resources. Then only management is actually successful and drive itself towards excellence.

Interdependent Roles: As we observed, the role of each person in this exercise is interdependent on the other person role. So the roles are actually interdependent and not disjoint.

Role Designing : Every member of the team should understand exactly what role they are fillingin the

 scheme of work. In addition, they should understand each other’s roles and how they interrelate.

 Systems of Excellence: This and many other examples are nothing but system of excellence.

         Excellence = Efficiency X Effectiveness (So both are needed for the system to achieve excellence)

Synchronization (Cohesiveness): The feet movements of each person must be synchronized. This is how the industry works. All the efforts of the team members must be in perfect sync for the achievement of the common goal.

Conceptual Skills:  Imagining the way how to cross the valley is the conceptual skill. This concept of conceptualizing the whole process of valley process is the main job of MANAGEMENT which needs to be implemented very carefully if the whole exercise need to be completed successfully.

Cooperation : Help and effort each of the members contributed to team. It is a very important quality and value that every team should posses and is demonstrated clearly in the valley crossing exercise.

Coordination:  Members cooperation are put in systematic way so that the result can be channelized in order to receive the best output. Management is more concerned with coordinating the cooperation of the individuals so that over all result is achieved.