BOB47 Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Subject: China vs America A Chinese company and an American company decided to have a boat race on the Mississippi River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day, the Chinese won by a mile. The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. So, a management team made up of senior managers was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. They discovered that the Chinese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing. Then the American management team 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. In order to improve the system, the Americans also required each member of the team to write down their goals for team improvement and explain how they would meet those goals before next years race. They had quarterly meetings to discuss their progress. To prevent another loss to the Chinese, 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. New paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses were also discussed. The next year the Chinese 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pasadena SS Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Sounds about right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drako Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 yup...i need to learn mandarin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tawss04 Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Sound about right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePDB Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Sound about right <{POST_SNAPBACK}> sad but true... sounds pretty descriptive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas_Veteran Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Sounds about right. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busterz Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 Hey, I used to work there !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcairns Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 I still do, just put in IBM in place of 'American company' and it sounds so much like the truth, that is is hardly funny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drako Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 I still do, just put in IBM in place of 'American company' and it sounds so much like the truth, that is is hardly funny <{POST_SNAPBACK}> looks like IBM needs another louis gerstner jr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolBlueSS Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 No wonder American companies fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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