Empowerment

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>]

In reference to Les Slaback's post, regarding Medical Isotope 
Production, this little humorous tidbit  may be appropriate to many of
 our discussions here... Hope you enjoy it.
----------------------------------

Empowerment:

Once upon a time, an American automobile company and a Japanese
auto company decided to have a competitive boat race on the Detroit
River.  Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak
performance.  On the big day, they were as ready as they could be.

The Japanese team won by a mile.

Afterwards, the American team became discouraged by the loss and
their morale sagged.  Corporate management decided that the reason for
the crushing defeat had to be found.  A Continuous Measurable
Improvement Team of "Executives" was set up to investigate the problem
and to recommend appropriate corrective action.

Their conclusion:  the problem was that the Japanese team had 8
people rowing and 1 person steering, whereas the American team had 1
person rowing and 8 people steering.  The American Corporate Steering
Committee immediately hired a consulting firm to do a study on the
management structure.

After some time and billions of dollars, the consulting firm
concluded that "too many people were steering and not enough
rowing."  To prevent losing to the Japanese again next year, the
management structure was changed to "4 Steering Managers, 3 Area
Steering Managers, and 1 Staff Steering Manager" and a new
performance system for the person rowing the boat to give more
incentive to work harder and become a six sigma performer.  "We
must give him empowerment and enrichment."  That ought to do it.

The next year the Japanese team won by two miles.

The American Corporation laid off the rower for poor performance, sold
the paddle, canceled all capital investments for new equipment, halted
development of a new canoe, awarded high performance awards to the
consulting firm, and distributed the money saved as bonuses to the
senior executives.

Sandy Perle
Director, Technical Operations
ICN Dosimetry Division
Office: (800) 548-5100 Ext. 2306 
Fax: (714) 668-3149

E-Mail: sandyfl@ix.netcom.com    

Homepages:

http://www.netcom.com/~sandyfl/home.html
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1205