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A Modern Parable PDF Print E-mail
by Paul Schmidt    Fri, May 9, 2008, 11:53 AM

The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) and an Oklaholma school system decided to have a canoe race on the Trinity River.  Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.  On the big day, the Oklaholmans won by a mile.

Very discouraged and depressed, DISD decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat, forming a team of school principals to investigate.  Their conclusion was the Oklaholmans had 8 teachers rowing and 1 administrator steering, while the DISD team had 8 administrators steering and 1 teacher rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, DISD 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 Oklaholmans, 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 teacher 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 were discussions of extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Oklaholmans won by two miles.

Humiliated, DISD management laid off the rower for poor performance and declared the need for a new bond program to fund a larger canoe so they could double the number of steering supervisors, superintendents and assistant steering managers.  

Sadly, The End.

 

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written by RelicMM , May 16, 2008

This is hilariously too close to typical group organizational theories



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