Management Lessons_DOSA
My work sometimes allows me the luxury of attending some management training programs. One such program was on "Approach to problem solving". Midway, the program conductor said that he wanted to conduct an exercise to see the groups approach to arriving at a consensus.
He said he would give us a topic to discuss. Our group of about 20, had to discuss it , arrive at a consensus & give the group perspective after discussion. The topic was "Should India wage an armed battle against Pakistan or on the Economic front?" ( This was when the Indo-Pak tensions were at a all time high). He said he will not intervene or guide at all , just sit & observe & it was upto us to decide on how to discuss & how to arrive at a consensus.
A smart Alec chap ( there are always such kinds , anyone who has attended a GD would agree J ) immediately took center stage & declared that he would be coordinating the discussion. Before anyone could respond, he went on to say how he would give everyone a chance to speak. After a couple of minutes of mayhem, it was decided that we would take a vote on who favored an armed war & who favored aneconomic war, make two subgroups and then argue as subgroups. There were almost equal votes for both views and the group was divided into two sections ( I was on the economic war group) and it was decided that whoever changed his view would cross over to the other group. For the next 35 minutes pandemonium prevailed. Not one person changed groups & when we were stopped, there was no consensus.
The program conductor smiled & told us that the reason we could not reach at a consensus was that we were making DOSA.
Decision Oriented System Analysis.
We had 40 mins to discuss, we individually came to a decision in 5mins & spent 35 mins defending that choice !! That is, we analysed the system AFTER making a decision and all our efforts, inputs were in justifying that. During the course of discussion there were some excellent points given by both groups, but each had mentally shielded themselves against any contrary view. If you make a decision as "yours", then you develop an affinity towards it and an antipathy towards "other" view. This would make you RIGID.
Solution?·
Never jump to conclusions if you have time to ponder.·
List the pros & cons of each option, ask others to do the same, discuss dispassionately without a sense of `mine' or `yours' and come to a conclusion.·
And even after having made a conclusion, always listen, be open to contrary views.
That day I thought I will try to practice this very consciously, to get rid of at least some of my prejudices. Quite obviously it's an ongoing process, but I am glad I might have made a little progress…
He said he would give us a topic to discuss. Our group of about 20, had to discuss it , arrive at a consensus & give the group perspective after discussion. The topic was "Should India wage an armed battle against Pakistan or on the Economic front?" ( This was when the Indo-Pak tensions were at a all time high). He said he will not intervene or guide at all , just sit & observe & it was upto us to decide on how to discuss & how to arrive at a consensus.
A smart Alec chap ( there are always such kinds , anyone who has attended a GD would agree J ) immediately took center stage & declared that he would be coordinating the discussion. Before anyone could respond, he went on to say how he would give everyone a chance to speak. After a couple of minutes of mayhem, it was decided that we would take a vote on who favored an armed war & who favored aneconomic war, make two subgroups and then argue as subgroups. There were almost equal votes for both views and the group was divided into two sections ( I was on the economic war group) and it was decided that whoever changed his view would cross over to the other group. For the next 35 minutes pandemonium prevailed. Not one person changed groups & when we were stopped, there was no consensus.
The program conductor smiled & told us that the reason we could not reach at a consensus was that we were making DOSA.
Decision Oriented System Analysis.
We had 40 mins to discuss, we individually came to a decision in 5mins & spent 35 mins defending that choice !! That is, we analysed the system AFTER making a decision and all our efforts, inputs were in justifying that. During the course of discussion there were some excellent points given by both groups, but each had mentally shielded themselves against any contrary view. If you make a decision as "yours", then you develop an affinity towards it and an antipathy towards "other" view. This would make you RIGID.
Solution?·
Never jump to conclusions if you have time to ponder.·
List the pros & cons of each option, ask others to do the same, discuss dispassionately without a sense of `mine' or `yours' and come to a conclusion.·
And even after having made a conclusion, always listen, be open to contrary views.
That day I thought I will try to practice this very consciously, to get rid of at least some of my prejudices. Quite obviously it's an ongoing process, but I am glad I might have made a little progress…
posted by me ra at 2:42 PM
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