A MODERN PARABLE .

Sad, but true.... and similar to how our Congress does things...


 A MODERN PARABLE . .  A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American
company (Ford) 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.  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 WEREN'T TRUE, IT MIGHT BE FUNNY.