[911Rob]

Might as well tag this email I got yesterday here.... enjoy

Subject: A Modern Parable


A Modern Parable.
>
> A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company
> (Ford 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 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 paddes,
> 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