Posted by
impact on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 4:17:05 AM
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, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent
steering manager.
They also
implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people 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 rowers. There was
discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation
days for practices and bonuses. The pension program was trimmed to 'equal the
competition' and some of the resultant savings were channeled into
morale-boosting programs and teamwork posters.
The next year the Japanese won by two
miles.
Humiliated, the American
management laid off one rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the
paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved
was distributed to the Senior Executives as
bonuses.
The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower
was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for
unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year's
racing team was out-sourced to India.
Sadly, the End.
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, and collecting
bonuses...
IF THIS WEREN'T SO
TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY