Beware Management Consultants

Beware management consultants 警惕管理咨询顾问

Both teams worked really hard to get in the best shape. On the day of the first race, both teams were ready to win. 两支队伍都非常努力地训练，以达到最佳状态。比赛当天，双方都蓄势待发，志在必得。

The green team won by one mile! 绿队以一英里的优势获胜！

The Red team was crushed in their defeat, but they were determined to win the race next year. So they established a panel of auditors to observe the situation and ascertain if there were any differences between the teams. 红队对失败感到沮丧，但他们决心在明年赢回比赛。于是，他们成立了一个审计小组来观察情况，并查明两队之间是否存在差异。

After several weeks of detailed intelligence gathering, the auditors could find only one difference; the Green team had 7 rowers and 1 captain… 经过几周详尽的情报收集，审计人员只发现了一个区别：绿队有 7 名划手和 1 名队长……

… and the Red team had 7 captains and 1 rower! ……而红队有 7 名队长和 1 名划手！

Un-perplexed by the raw data, upper management showed unexpected wisdom: they hired a consulting company to analyze the data and suggest a solution that would enable the Red team to win next year. 面对这些原始数据，高层管理人员表现出了“意想不到的智慧”：他们聘请了一家咨询公司来分析数据，并提出一个能让红队在明年获胜的解决方案。

After several months the consultants came to the conclusion that the ratio of captains to rowers was the problem in the Red team. Based on this analysis a solution was proposed: the structure of the Red team has to be changed! 几个月后，咨询公司得出结论：红队的问题在于队长与划手的比例。基于这一分析，他们提出了一个解决方案：必须改变红队的组织结构！

Like sharks getting the scent of reorganization blood, upper management wasted no time in restructuring the Red team into 4 Captains, led by 2 Managers, reporting to 1 Senior Director with a dotted line to the rower. Besides that, in a blaze of unrestricted inspiration, they suggested they might be inclined to improve the rower’s working environment by a non-monetary reward and recognition scheme if there was improved performance by the rower. 就像闻到重组血腥味的鲨鱼一样，高层管理人员立即将红队重组为：4 名队长，由 2 名经理领导，向 1 名高级总监汇报，并与那名划手保持虚线汇报关系。此外，在灵感迸发之下，他们还建议，如果划手的表现有所提升，他们或许会考虑通过非货币奖励和表彰计划来改善划手的工作环境。

The next year, the Green team won by 2 miles… 第二年，绿队以两英里的优势获胜……

The Red team upper management immediately fired the rower based on his unsatisfactory performance. 红队高层立即以表现不佳为由解雇了那名划手。

A bonus was paid to the Captains, Directors, and Managers for the strong leadership and motivation they showed during the preparation phase and as an incentive for them to find a better rower for the next race. 队长、总监和经理们获得了奖金，以表彰他们在准备阶段展现出的强大领导力和激励作用，并作为鼓励他们为下一场比赛寻找更好划手的动力。

The consulting company prepared a new analysis of the restructuring activity, which showed that the strategy was good, the motivation was great, the restructuring was executed correctly, but the tool used (which was not included in the original data) was sub-standard and had to be improved. 咨询公司针对重组活动准备了一份新的分析报告，报告显示：战略是好的，激励是到位的，重组执行也是正确的，但所使用的工具（未包含在原始数据中）不达标，必须进行改进。

Currently the Red team management is having a new boat designed; and to demonstrate fiscal and HR dexterity for stockholders they also outsourced the rowing to India. 目前，红队管理层正在设计一艘新船；为了向股东展示其在财务和人力资源方面的灵活性，他们还将划船业务外包给了印度。