Incoming email ... thanks Brenda for sending this in...
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford Motor Co.) 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 7 people steering and 2 people 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, 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 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
