The Americans and the 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 team's 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.
