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A Japanese company and a California company decided to have a canoe race on the
Columbia river. Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance before
the race.
On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.
Afterwards, the California team became very discouraged and depressed. The management of
the California company decided that the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found. A
"Measurement Team," made up of senior management was formed to investigate and
recommend appropriate action.
Their conclusion was that the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while
the Californians had 1 person rowing and 8 people steering.
So the management of the California company hired a consulting company and paid them
incredible amounts of money. They advised that too many people were steering the boat and
not enough people were rowing.
To prevent losing to the Japanese again next year, the 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. "We must give the rower empowerment and enrichment through this
quality program."
The next year the Japanese won by 2 miles. Humiliated, the management of California
company laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold
the paddles and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. Then they used the
money saved by giving a High Performance Award to the steering managers and distributed
the rest of the money as bonuses to the senior executives.
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