A Modern Day Parable

As someone who has done her share of management training, the magnitude of problems managers can get themselves into is infinite!

I found this little parable too entertaining not to share it with you.

....A MODERN DAY PARABLE....

A Japanese company ( Toyota) and an American company (General 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. 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 management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

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. 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. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

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. 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. The next year the Japanese won by two miles. 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.

Sadly, The End

Here's something else to think about: GM has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the 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 quarter's results:

TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while GM racked up 9 billion in losses. GM folks are still scratching their heads.

IF THIS WASN'T SO SAD IT MIGHT BE FUNNY

Hope you are still enjoying the lazy daze of Summer!!

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Is Business Ethics an Oxymoron?

As Michael Douglas expounded in the movie Wall Street, "Greed is good!" And it seems a large number of companies out there have taken this statement to heart. Unfortunately, from my experience, the majority of CEO's and business owners are more focused on the "bottom line" and doing whatever it takes to turn a profit. What they evidently don't know is that doing right by the people they employ can make their organizations even more profitable. Instead, they resort to saying one thing to their employees and doing something else behind their backs. So, it should come as no surprise that loyalty is at an all time low.

Unethical Business Practices are unfortulately more common in the workplace than you might think. Unethical behavior is why there is no loyalty in the workplace anymore. One problem is that few companies truly keep their promises to their employees, yet foolishly they expect their employees to remain loyal. Many employees have become cynical about management in general, largely because of companies' broken promises concerning raises, promotions, bonuses, incentives, enhanced benefits, and other work related matters.

Failure to handle employees issues sensitively can result in serious consequences that range from creation of a disruptive environment and lack of productivity to lawsuits and, in some cases, workplace violence.

It annoys the hell out of me when I hear Donald Trump say, "It's not personal, it's just business." Well, Donald, I have news for you. It is personal! The truth is..... it's always personal, and it should be. Those people who think it's OK to separate the way they behave at work from the way they behave at home are living a very big lie. A man is a hypocrite if he prides himself on being a good husband and family man, but treats is employees with less than the same level of respect.

The Solution - These days, loyalty is not the rule, it's the exception. Yet most employers expect loyalty from their employees. But loyalty is not a quality to be expected; it must be earned. The employer, the one doing the hiring, must earn the respect and loyalty of employees if the company wants it returned. Its' not enough for CEO's to say they are ethical, they must prove it by working actively everyday to earn and maintain the trust of their employees.

Today's 'ethical leaders' must put their employees' best interest first. An employer should never expect something from their employees they are not willing to do themselves.

The stability and profitability of any organization has a direct correlation to the way employees feel about their jobs. If you hire a candidate who is excited and ready to go to work, and if you treat that person as you would a friend, someone whom you really care about, you will see a resurgence of loyalty in your workforce.

They say it's money that makes the world go round
but it's people who make the money.