Bruce
03-01-2006, 08:40 AM
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 and 1 rower.
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 outsourced
to India.
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 and 1 rower.
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 outsourced
to India.