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The Great American Race
American and Japanese big business decided to engage in a competitive crew race. Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance. On the big day, both teams 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 8 people rowing and one person steering. The American team had one person rowing and 8 people steering.
After a year of study, and millions spent on analyzing the problem, the consulting firm concluded that too many people were steering and not enough were rowing on the American team.
As the 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.
At the race, the Japanese won by two miles.
Humiliated again, the American corporation laid off the rower for poor performance, and gave the managers a bonus for discovering the problem.