Some jokes are funny just because they're funny. Some, you laugh because if you didn't, you might cry. I think this one, from Control contributor Andrew Bond, who says he got it from Jim Pinto, comes in the second category.
A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a canoe race. Both teams practiced long and hard, but on the big day the Japanese won by a mile.
The Americans formed a senior management team to investigate the reason for their defeat and recommend appropriate action. Their initial finding was that the Japanese had eight people rowing and one person steering, while the American team had eight people steering and one person rowing.
A management consulting firm was hired and the management structure reorganized with four steering supervisors, three area steering superintendents and one assistant superintendent steering manager. A new performance system was also implemented to give the one person rowing a greater incentive to work harder. This ‘Rowing Team Quality First Program’ included meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
The American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles and cancelled all capital investment in new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the senior executives as bonuses, and the following year’s racing team was outsourced to India.
