MortgagesUndressed

Photo hosted on Flickr by Malingering

( Toyota ) and an American company (General Motors) decided to
have a canoe race on the Missouri River . Both teams practiced long and hard to
reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

GM very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the
reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior
management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their
conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the
American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a
consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They
advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough
people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent
another loss to the Japanese, 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. There was
discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days
for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese 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 cancelled 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 out-sourced to India

Sadly, The End.

Sad, but oh so true! Here’s something else to think about: GM has spent
the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US , claiming they
can’t make money paying American wages. Toyota has spent the last thirty years
building more than a dozen plants inside the US . The last quarter’s results: Toyota
makes 4 billion in profits while GM racked up 9 billion in losses. GM folks are
still scratching their heads. Don’t even think about Ford….