Row, row, row your boat...
A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a crew 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 team made up of senior managers was formed to investigate and recommend
appropriate action. Their conclusion was that 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 firm and paid them a large
amount o f 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 "Rowing Team Quality First
Program," with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the rower. There was discussion
of getting new oars, shells and other equipment, and extra vacation
days for practices, as well as 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 shell, sold the oars, 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 outsourced to
India.
