Business Jokes

American Management

The Americans and Japanese decided to engage in a boat race.
Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak
performance levels. On the big day they 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 eight people
rowing and one person steering: the American team had one
person rowing and eight people steering.

After a year of study and millions spent analyzing the
problem, the consultant firm concluded that too many people
were steering and not enough were rowing on the American
team. So as race day neared again the following year, the
American's team 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. The
next year, the Japanese won by TWO miles!

Humiliated, the American corporation laid off the rower for
poor performance and gave the managers a bonus for
discovering the problem.