CNN iReport

**A  Modern Parable

*A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American  company (Ford Motor***) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri  River   Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak  performance  before the rac

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

**The Americans, 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

The ir conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people 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,  2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering  manager

**They a lso implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people 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 rowers.  There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for prac tices and bonuses.  The pension program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale boosting programs and teamwork posters

**The next year the Japanese won by two miles

**Humiliated, the American management laid-off one rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment.  The money saved was distributed to th e Senior Executives as bonuses

<The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India ..

**Sadly, the End

**Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out  of the US , claiming they can't make money paying American  wages

**TOYOT **has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US   The last quarter's results

**TOY OT **makes 4 billion in profits  while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses

**Ford folks are still  scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses..

**IF  THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY........