A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a canoe race
on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach
their peak performance before the race. On the big day, the Japanese
won by a mile.
The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided
to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat.
A management team
made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend
appropriate action. Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people
rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people
steering and 1 person rowing.
So American management hired a consulting
company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.
They advised that too many people were steering the boat, while not
enough people were rowing.
To prevent another loss to the Japanese, the
rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4
steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant
superintendent steering manager.
They also implemented a new
performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater
incentive to work harder. It was called the "Rowing Team Quality First
Program", with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was
discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra
vacation days for practices and bonuses.
The next year the Japanese won
by two miles.
Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower
for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the
paddles, and cancelled all capital investments for new equipment. The
money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the
next year's racing team was outsourced to India.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
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8 comments:
Sounds like our government LOL. Helen
Opps!! now that is scarey...like our American govt...??? hmmm??? maybe we need to send this in bulk to the White House...but then by the time it got to who needed to read it...it would be old and outdated...blurred...and a mess....??? sheesh....Hugs from KY...Ora
WOW!!!
Pam
I am just tired reading it. It amazes how real in another set of circumstances that does happen. I wonder where my grand kids will be after I am gone.
In Christ,
Gabrielle
This one is worth copying and sending on to the children.
Sounds just like Pat's former place of employment
I am sending a link to this entry to everyone that I know ... what really produced a "Hearty Ho-Ho-Ho" was the final solution to outsource to India.
LOIS
Oh, dear....this is too darn true to be funny. - Barbara
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