The Splash of Wisdom

Case 1: When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C. And what did the Russians do...?? They used a pencil. Case 2: One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the ...

LEIDEN : Research in child psychology reveals another peculiar fact lately. If you have an 8 yr old giving you trouble, then this could help you out.While a pat on the shoulder, or a simple ‘well done!’ helps 8-year old kids learn better, a negative feedback like ‘got it wrong this time’ makes 12 yr old children learn from their mistakes, says a new study. The study claims that the learning strategy for both age-groups is quite different. While 8-year old kids learn from positive feedback, it’s the negative feedback that helps 12 yr old children in learning, and the same goes for adults, but a little more efficiently. 12 yr olds are better able to process negative feedback, and use it to learn from their mistakes. Adults do the same, but more effectively. Behavioural research has shown the switch in learning strategy, which shows that 8 yr-olds respond disproportionately and inaccurately to negative feedback.Learning from mistakes is more complex than carrying on in the same way as be...