Here’s a little ditty sent to me from someone at AA: The two
Dallas-based airlines Southwest and American 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, Southwest won by a mile. Afterward, the American
team became very depressed and discouraged. American Airlines
management decided that a reason for the crushing defeat had to be
found. A “Measurement TeAAm” made up of senior management was
formed. They concluded that Southwest had eight people rowing and
one person steering, while American had one person rowing and eight
people steering. So, American management hired a consulting company
and paid them incredible amounts of money. They advised American
that too many people were steering the boat and not enough people
were rowing.
To prevent losing to Southwest next year, the rowing team’s
management structure was totally reorganized. There would be four
steering supervisors, three area steering superintendents and one
assistant superintendent steering manager. American also
implemented a new performance system that would give the one rower
a greater incentive to work harder. The next year, Southwest won by
two miles.
Humiliated, American management laid off the rower for poor
performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles,
and canceled capital investments for new equipment. Then, they
distributed the money they saved as bonuses to the senior
executives, who hailed the project as “another victory for total
quality management.”
