Business Practices - Does This Sound Familiar?

Once upon a time, an American manufacturer and a Japanese company decided to
have a competitive boat race on Lake Michigan. Both teams practiced hard and long to
reach their peak performance. On the big day, they both felt as ready as they could be.

The Japanese won by a mile.

What was the problem?

Afterwards, the American team became very discouraged by the loss, and morale sagged. Corporate management decided that the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found. A continuous "Measurable Improvement Team" was set up to investigate the problem and to recommend appropriate corrective action. Their conclusion;

The problem was that the Japanese team had eight people rowing and one person steering, where the American team had one person rowing and eight people steering. The American Corporate Steering Committee immediately hired a consulting firm to do a study on the management structure. After some time and millions of dollars, the consulting team concluded: Too many people were steering and net enough rowing.

To prevent losing to the Japanese again next year, the team's management structure was totally reorganized to include four steering managers, three area steering managers, one staff steering manager and a new performance system for the person mowing the boat to give more incentive to work harder. We must give him empowerment and enrichment," the management said. That ought to do it.

The next year, the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American company laid off the rower for poor performance, sold all the oars, canceled all capital investments for new equipment, halted the development of a new boat, gave a "high performance award to the consulting firm and distributed the money saved as bonuses to senior executives.

Ya'll come back now, ya here...