The following is a joke that was sent to me that I had to post.
"A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a canoe race on the Mississippi River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak rowing performance before the race.
On the big day the Japanese won by a mile.
Afterward, the American team became very discouraged and depressed. The American company decided the reason for their crushing defeat had to be found, and formed a Management Team made up of its senior executives to investigate and recommend appropriate action.
The American Management Team eventually discovered that the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and one person rowing. The American Management Team hired a consulting firm to assist in analyzing this data, happily paying their considerable fee. After six months of hard work, the consulting firm concluded that too many people were steering the Americans boat, while not enough people were rowing.
So the American Management Team acted: To prevent losing to the Japanese rowing team again the following year, the team's management structure was totally reorganized to include 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 steering manager. They also implemented a new rowing performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to row faster. It was called "The Rowing Team Quality First Program," with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. In an all-out attempt to further provide incentive for empowerment and enrichment to the rower, new state-of-the-art paddles were provided. Also for motivational purposes, the rower was promised a new medical benefit package. Additionally, a shorter work week and higher wages were offered, all contingent on a decisive victory in the coming rowing competition.
The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
Humiliated, the American Management Team laid off the rower for unsatisfactory performance, halted development of a new streamlined canoe, sold the state-of-the art paddles and canceled all capital investments for new equipment.
The money saved by this maneuver was distributed to the senior executives as bonuses for a "job well done."
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