[FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif][FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]A Modern Parable.[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (Ford 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.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]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.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]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.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]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.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]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.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]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.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]The next year the Japanese won by two miles.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled 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 .[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]Sadly, The End.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]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.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US . The last quarter's results:[/FONT][FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]Ford folks are still scratching their heads. [/FONT][FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]IF THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY.[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]<WBR>********************[/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]Driver's reaction time [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif][FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif][FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif][FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]<TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 1.5pt; PADDING-LEFT: 1.5pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1.5pt; WIDTH: 100%; PADDING-TOP: 1.5pt" width="100%"><TABLE style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt; WIDTH: 728.25pt" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=971 border=0><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 1.5pt; PADDING-LEFT: 1.5pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1.5pt; WIDTH: 100%; PADDING-TOP: 1.5pt" width="100%">Getting old, are we? Reflexes slowing down?As I remember, the automobile driving manual [/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif]says the average driver's reaction time is:.75 seconds -or- 1 car length for every 10 mph...[/FONT][FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif] Test your reaction time with this special test. Click here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/science<WBR>/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction<WBR>_version5.swf [/FONT]<TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 1.5pt; PADDING-LEFT: 1.5pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1.5pt; WIDTH: 100%; PADDING-TOP: 1.5pt" width="100%"><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; WIDTH: 100%; PADDING-TOP: 0cm" width="100%"> [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=times new roman,new york,times,serif] [/FONT] [/FONT]
