A Modern Parable

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company ( Ford ) 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.
Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a
consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second
opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the
boa t, while not enough people were rowing. Not sure of how to utilize
that information, but wanting 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
canceled 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 out-sourced to India.

The End