Modern Management Thinking: A Modern Parable
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company
(General 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 team 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 team had 8 people rowing and 1 person
steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.
So American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large
amount of money for a second opinion.
They advised that too many people were steering the
boat, while not enough people were rowing.
To prevent another loss to the Japanese, the
American's 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 outsourced to India!!!!
jay fishbein
wallingford, ct
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