The
Americans and Japanese decided to
engage in a boat race. Both teams
practiced hard and long to reach
their peak performance levels. On the big
day they felt ready. The
Japanese won by a mile.
The American team was discouraged by the
loss. Morale sagged. Corporate
management decided that the reason for
the crushing defeat had to be
found, so a consulting firm was hired
to investigate the problem and
recommend corrective
action.
The consultant’s finding: The Japanese team had eight people rowing
and one person steering: the American team had one person rowing and
eight people steering.
After a year of study and millions
spent analyzing the problem, the
consultant firm concluded that too
many people were steering and not
enough were rowing on the American
team. So as race day neared again the
following year, the
American’s team management structure was completely
reorganized. The
new structure: four steering managers, three area
steering
managers, and a new performance review system for the person rowing
the
boat to provide work incentive. The next year, the Japanese won by
TWO miles!
Humiliated, the American corporation laid off the
rower for poor
performance and gave the managers a bonus for
discovering the problem.
