Management meets Newton

Placing the Management students with the right company is one of the toughest tasks that any Principal in a B- School has to accomplish. The students should be imparted technical and functional skills which collectively compromise professional competence in the tools and functions of business. In ICFAI National Colleges, it starts right from the 1st Semester. The students are equipped with ground-breaking Soft Skills to enable them to walk their extra mile to success.

In one such Soft Skill session, I was conducting a mock interview along with the Soft Skill Trainer for the 2nd Semester students. I came across, a young Mechanical Engineer, who seemed to be shy slow and slightly withdrawn. I knew that his academic record was brilliant. His main issue was to absorb one of his Management papers (Accounting for Managers) which was absolutely alien to his scientific brain. His problem to come in terms with the accounting system was fuelled by a very junior and highly egoistic faculty member who taught the subject and the tuition fee which literally tore apart his father’s pocket. Keeping all this at the back of my mind, I shot a question, for which I myself was not sure of the right answer. “How do you relate Newton’s theories to Management?”

Out of the blue, a very pleasant smile lit up his face as he jumped up to his feet. “Give me a few minutes and I will be back”. As promised, he was back, after a couple of minutes with all his friends with Physics back ground. The idea of translating Newton’s theories of Motion to Theories of Management triggered their fascination ignited their thought process, which resulted in a group activity. The gist of their presentation is what follows.


First Law

Objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and objects at rest tend to stay at rest unless an outside force acts upon them.

Scientifically speaking, the net force on an object is the vector sum of all the forces acting on the object. Newton’s first law says that if the sum is zero, the state of motion of the object does not change. Essentially, it makes the following two points.

An object that is not moving will not move until a force acts upon it.
An object that is in motion will not change velocity (including stopping) until a force acts upon it.

If one slides a hockey puck along a table, it doesn't move forever, it slows and eventually comes to a stop. This is because a force is acting on the hockey puck and, sure enough, there is frictional force between the table and the puck, and that frictional force is in the direction opposite the movement. It's this force which causes the object to slow to a stop. In the absence (or virtual absence) of such a force, as on an air hockey table or ice rink, the puck's motion isn't hindered.
In terms of management, one example would be a Team Leader. If he believes there is no need for a change, the team would continue to perform in the same way it is currently performing. If the leader emphasizes on the need for better performance and motivates his team to perform accordingly, the change in results will also be seen. The external force would be his motivation to the team. Another example would be incentives to a salesperson.


Second law

The rate of change of the momentum of a body is directly proportional to the net force acting on it, and the direction of the change in momentum takes place in the direction of the net force.

Newton is basically saying that the rate of change in the momentum of an object is directly proportional to the amount of force exerted upon the object. He adds that the change in direction of momentum is determined by the angle from which the force is applied.

Further he explains, “The alteration of motion is ever proportional to the motive force impressed; and is made in the direction of the right line in which that force is impressed. — If a force generates a motion, a double force will generate double the motion, a triple force triple the motion, whether that force be impressed altogether and at once, or gradually and successively. And this motion (being always directed the same way with the generating force), if the body moved before, is added to or subtracted from the former motion, according as they directly conspire with or are directly contrary to each other; or obliquely joined, when they are oblique, so as to produce a new motion compounded from the determination of both”.

Now let us see what happens when this law is applied to Management,

If we take the example of a Team and its Leader again, the Team’s performance depends on how much the Leader emphasizes on quality for instance. The more he stresses on quality, cetirus peribus (other factors remaining the same), and the importance of quality is drummed into each Team Member’s mind. Thus the end result being, better quality product/service (or both).

Third law
To every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.

If a Science student were to explain, whatever draws or presses another is as much drawn or pressed by that other. Example, if you press a stone with your finger, the finger is also be pressed by the stone. More scientifically, if a body impinges upon another and by its force change the motion of the other, that body also (because of the equality of the mutual pressure) will undergo an equal change, in its own motion, toward the contrary part. The changes made by these actions are equal, not in the velocities but in the motions of the bodies; that is to say, if the bodies are not hindered by any other impediments. For, because the motions are equally changed, the changes of the velocities made toward contrary parts are reciprocally proportional to the bodies.

In terms of Management, what one does directly affects one’s performance. In our example of the Team and its Leader, if the Leader is slow and not self motivated, it will reflect on his Team. If he is quarrelsome, the team soon will be in splits. On the other hand, if he is calm, patient and insists on quality results, the team too will productive.

Now, don’t my readers’ feel hmmm...? I never thought it that way…Isn’t this totally radical?

It was a moment, I felt so proud of my students. I felt very happy as I was able to arouse the Leadership Skills of a timid young man and make him feel confident. He lost no time in conveying his problems to the Faculty Member who was more than happy to help him out.