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Once upon a time it was resolved to have a boat race between a BUPA team and
a team representing the N.H.S. Both teams practised long and hard to reach
their peak performance. On the big day they were as ready as they could be.
The BUPA team won by a mile.
Afterwards the N.H.S. team became very discouraged by the result and morale
sagged. Senior management decided that the reason for the crushing defeat
had to be found, and a working party was set up to investigate the problem
and recommend appropriate action.
Their conclusion was that the BUPA team had eight people rowing and one
person steering, whereas the N.H.S. team had eight people steering and one
person rowing.
Senior management immediately hired a consultancy company to do a study on
the team's structure. Thousands of pounds and several months later they
concluded that: "Too many people were steering and not enough rowing."
To prevent losing to BUPA the next year, the team structure was changed to
three "Assistant Steering Managers", three "Steering Managers", one
"Executive Steering Manager" and a "Director of Steering Services". A
performance and appraisal system was set up to give the person rowing the
boat more incentive to work harder.
The next year BUPA won by two miles.
Following this, the N.H.S. laid off the rower for poor performance, sold off
all the paddles, cancelled all capital investment in new equipment, and
halted development of a new canoe. The money saved was used to fund higher
than average pay awards to senior management.