 Short management Stories
- By Santosh Poudyal
Story # 1
A fox meets a lion sitting outside his cave.
Fox: “My cell-phone is broken. Can I make a call from yours?”
Lion: “Oh, I can fix your phone.”
Fox: “Can you? Your big claws will destroy it even more.”
Lion: “I bet I will fix it in a jiffy.”
The fox hands over his phone to the lion and the lion disappears into his cave. He comes back after a while with a perfectly repaired cell. The fox is impressed. The lion continues to sit, looking very pleased.
Soon a wolf comes and requests the lion:
Wolf: “Can I wash my cloths in your washing machine because mine is broken?”
Lion: “Oh, I can easily fix your washing machine.”
Wolf: “Are you kidding? I don’t think a lazy lion can fix a complicated machine.”
Lion: “Do you want me to try?”
The lion goes into his cave, and after a while comes back with a perfectly fixed washing machine. The wolf goes away, amazed and happy.
Backdrop:
Inside the lion’s cave, half a dozen small and intelligent rabbits are busily doing very complicated work with complex instruments. On the other side lies a huge lion looking very pleased with himself.
Moral:
If you really want to judge a manager, look at the work of his subordinates.
Management Lesson:
If you want to know why someone undeserved is promoted; look at the work of his subordinates.
(source: Forwarded Mail)
Story # 2
A fox meets a rabbit sitting outside his burrow, working on his laptop.
Fox: “You look busy, anything important?”
Rabbit: “I am working on my thesis.”
Fox: “What’s it about?”
Rabbit: “It’s on rabbits eating foxes.”
Fox: “That’s ridiculous! Anyone knows that rabbits don’t eat foxes!
Rabbit: “Come with me and I’ll show you!”
They both disappear into the rabbit’s burrow. After a few minutes, gnawing on a fox bone, the rabbit returns to his laptop and resumes typing.
Soon a wolf comes along and stops to watch the hardworking rabbit.
Wolf: “What are you working on?”
Rabbit: “I’m doing a thesis on how rabbits eat wolves.”
Wolf: “You don’t expect to get such rubbish published, do you?”
Rabbit: “No problem. Do you want to see why?”
The rabbit and the wolf go into the burrow and again the rabbit emerges alone after a few minutes and goes back to typing.
Finally a bear comes along and asks, “What are you doing?
Rabbit: “I’m doing a thesis on how rabbits eat bears.”
Bear: “Well that’s absurd!”
Rabbit: “Come into my home and I’ll show you.”
Backdrop:
As they enter the burrow, the rabbit introduces the bear to the lion.
Moral:
It doesn’t matter how silly your thesis topic is; what matters is whom you have as a supervisor.
Management Lesson:
It does not matter how bad your performance is; what matters is whether your boss likes you or not.
(Source: Forwarded mail)
Story # 3
Survival becomes key to everyone in the jungle. Every morning in Africa , a gazelle wakes up and prays for its survival. It knows it must run faster than the deadliest carnivores like the lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up in the same jungle and prays for its survival. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
Moral:
It does not matter whether you are a gazelle or a lion. In today’s competitive world, you better start running when the sun comes up.
(Source: An African Proverb, collected from “The world is flat”)
Story # 4:
After completing the race, the rabbit and the tortoise take their own way. After a few months, the forest is inundated by the lava of a nearby volcano. Running for its survival, the rabbit comes across the tortoise. Pitying the tortoise, the rabbit decides to carry him and runs towards a safer place.
But they soon come across a river. Both of them get trapped, there is lava behind and a river ahead. Now the tortoise asks the rabbit to sit on his back and takes him to the other side of the river. Both survive the disaster.
Moral:
Don’t have a myopic vision about your competitors; they can be co-operative in difficult situations.
(Source: By a professor)
Story # 5
Two deers were grazing. Suddenly one of them saw a lion about to attack but they realised they would be unable to run at maximum speed due their full stomachs. So one deer said to another, “Since we cannot run faster than the lion, it is certain we will be killed. So we better enjoy the last moment of our lives.” The other deer smiled and thought “I just need to run faster than him so that the lion will get him first and I will be safe.”
Backdrop
Both were running but the second deer was competing with the first while the first was competing with the lion.
Moral
It is not necessary to always be perfect, the bottom line is you need to maintain enough pace to be safe in a sticky situation.
(Source: By college teacher)
Corporate Buildings
These days, Nepali corporate houses have been designing their corporate buildings as per their working philosophy. Gone are the days when they would rent any building at a convenient location and start their operations. The Chaudhary Group’s corporate building at Sanepa mirrors their philosophy of the Beanstalk which just goes on growing whereas the Lazimpat branch of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd. is supposed to reflect the uniformity of the organization.
Common Features
Almost all the buildings have adopted the new trend of partition i.e. wide open cubicles rather than closed compartments. It is common to find Ganesh’s or Hanuman’s temples within the premises and the main reason behind these temples is to get blessings from gods for better business.
Vaastu Shastra
Nepali corporate houses have just begun to be influenced by Vaastu Shastra, the old Hindu principles of construction. “We have strictly followed the Vaastu Shastra,”says Chalise of Ace Finance Company Ltd. According to Mahesh Pant, Senior General Manager of the Chaudhary Group, they have been following Vaastu Shastra only since the last two or three years. However, Suraj Vaidya says that VOITH complex was constructed without consulting any Vaastu expert.
 Ace Finance Company Ltd at Naxal proudly owns a well designed and good looking building with adequate parking space and high-tech security. “We had faced lots of parking problems at our previous office at Kantipath,” says Bhisma Raj Chalise, Assistant General Manager. Doors at critical points in the building can only be opened with special cards given to its employees. The building was designed by Bastukala Company and the architect was Rajesh Shrestha. |
 The Chaudhary Group’s building at Sanepa which was initially a single storied apartment is being modernized according to current needs. As Ashesh Sharma, DGM of the group says, the building presents the entrepreneurial grandeur of the corporate entity that, like the legendary beanstalk (now being used as the corporate symbol by the Group), has ceaselessly risen from the day the first seeds were sown. Binod Chaudhary, the President of the Group himself contributed a lot to the design of the building though the structural design is given by engineers from outside the organisation. |
 Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd. has its own special group for designing its buildings worldwide. But since the bank’s head office building at New Baneshwor was acquired from Grindlays Bank, the building is not exactly to the specifications of Standard Chartered. However, their Lazimpat branch constructed in 2006 is different. The building was purchased and refurnished by SCB according to their corporate standards. The colour combination of Lazimpat building matches the colours of bank’s corporate logo. Branch Manager Dambar Saru also boasts about the unique water fountain in front of the building. |
 According to Binod Bhujel, Personnel and Admin. Dept., Yeti Airlines, the office’s building at Til Ganga has a worker-friendly design to boost strong internal communication. Its structural design was given by Sarosh Pradhan Associates. It is a modern building with adequate basement space for storing airplane parts, it has a few guest apartments and a well equipped gymnasium. |
 VOITH Complex of United Traders Syndicate (UTS) at Tinkune, Sinamangal has an internal setup of international standards as the major corporate affairs of the organization involves dealing with foreign parties. But the outer look still has a distinctly Nepali feel with tiled slants and unpolished bricks. Chairman V G Vaidya was a major contributor in the design process and his office is exclusively surrounded with lots of greenery. Personal touches were also given by senior managers in designing their own offices. However the structural design was given by professional architects from outside the organisation.
According to Suraj Vaidya, president of UTS, they focused more on bringing life to the building than giving it an exclusive design. “To instil life in the building we do little things according to our corporate slogan ‘Little Things We Do.’,” says Vaidya. In the last weekend of every month, all staff members participate in cleaning the building and on the last Sunday of the month, they clean their entire premises. “I am proud of people in the building rather than the building itself,” says Vaidya. |
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