Hampton Roads Club Mini

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-o ff 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 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


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