A parable.
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri river. Both teams practised long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.
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 executives was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.
Their conclusion was that the Japanese had 8 people paddling and 1 person steering while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people paddling.
Feeling a deeper study was in order, the American management hired a consulting 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 paddling.
Not sure of how to utilise that information but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganised to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.
They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people paddling the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program', with meetings, dinners and free pens for the paddlers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and performance bonuses for the managers. The pension programme was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale boosting programmes and teamwork posters.
The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
Humiliated, the American management team laid off one paddler, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles and cancelled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the senior executives as bonuses.
The next year, try as he might, the lone designated paddler 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 : GM has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of 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 year's results :
TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while GM raked up 9 billion in losses. GM folks are still scratching their heads and collecting bonuses......
IF THIS (The latter half) WEREN'T TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY.
Tailpiece.
Got up on the dot, with my alarm, went through the chores and went for the walk. Phew! And felt nice. Lekha had gone to the Guruvayur temple after breakfast. Bina had taken a day off as her husband - a heart patient - had to be taken for medical review.
Tomorrow, Ammu and Mithun from Bangalore and Suma kunjamma from Thiruvananthapuram are fetching up to spend the Shivaratri and the weekend with us.
PS.
Saw Teesta Setalvad, going about tutoring the Shaheen Bagh protesters as to how to tackle the interlocutors, sent by the Supreme Court. They've been sent, by the court, with the specific purpose of finding an end to the protest. Who gives her the right to do such a thing? Doesn't it come under the ambit of 'contempt of court', I wonder?
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri river. Both teams practised long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.
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 executives was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.
Their conclusion was that the Japanese had 8 people paddling and 1 person steering while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people paddling.
Feeling a deeper study was in order, the American management hired a consulting 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 paddling.
Not sure of how to utilise that information but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganised to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.
They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people paddling the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program', with meetings, dinners and free pens for the paddlers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and performance bonuses for the managers. The pension programme was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale boosting programmes and teamwork posters.
The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
Humiliated, the American management team laid off one paddler, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles and cancelled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the senior executives as bonuses.
The next year, try as he might, the lone designated paddler 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 : GM has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of 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 year's results :
TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while GM raked up 9 billion in losses. GM folks are still scratching their heads and collecting bonuses......
IF THIS (The latter half) WEREN'T TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY.
Tailpiece.
Got up on the dot, with my alarm, went through the chores and went for the walk. Phew! And felt nice. Lekha had gone to the Guruvayur temple after breakfast. Bina had taken a day off as her husband - a heart patient - had to be taken for medical review.
Tomorrow, Ammu and Mithun from Bangalore and Suma kunjamma from Thiruvananthapuram are fetching up to spend the Shivaratri and the weekend with us.
PS.
Saw Teesta Setalvad, going about tutoring the Shaheen Bagh protesters as to how to tackle the interlocutors, sent by the Supreme Court. They've been sent, by the court, with the specific purpose of finding an end to the protest. Who gives her the right to do such a thing? Doesn't it come under the ambit of 'contempt of court', I wonder?
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