Modern Day Parable

This was submitted by The Wise One DOD. A little food for the brain topic here, at first you will chuckle, then reality sets in, and it's no longer funny.

Subject: A Modern Parable

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.


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 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 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

Sadly, The End.



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!