A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (General Motors)
decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams
practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.
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 boat, 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 and a certificate of completion for the rower. There was
discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, and
awarding the rower extra vacation days for practices and bonuses for
exemplary performance if they won the race.
The next year the Japanese won by two miles
Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower (a reduction in
workforce) 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.
Sadly, The End.
However, sad, but oh so true! Here's something else to think about:
Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the
US,
claiming they can't make money paying American wages.
Toyota has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants
inside the US.
The last quarter's results:
Toyota makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in
losses.
Ford folks are still scratching their heads.
IF THIS WASN'T SO SAD, IT MIGHT BE FUNNY!
