the ant, a fable ... part i -the decline and fall
DESCRIPTION
or. The Ant, a Fable ... Part I -The Decline and Fall. Part I – 2 minutes long - was translated from the original presentation by Pr. Obrigado Mário in Portuguese. please click left mouse-button to continue. Every day, a small ant arrives at work very early and starts work immediately. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
or
Part I – 2 minutes long - was translated from the original presentation by Pr. Obrigado Mário in Portuguese.
please click left mouse-button to continue
Every day, a small ant arrives at work very early
and starts work immediately.
She produced a lot and she was happy.
The Chief, a lion,
was surprised to see
that the ant was
working without
supervision.
He thought if the ant
can produce so much
without supervision,
wouldn’t she produce
even more if she had a
supervisor!
So he recruited a
cockroach
who had extensive
experience as a
supervisor and who
was famous for
writing excellent
reports.
The cockroach’s first
decision was to set up
a clocking in
attendance system.
He also needed a
secretary to help him
write and type his
reports and …
... he recruited a spider,
who managed the
archives and monitored
all phone calls.
The lion was delighted
with the cockroach's
reports
and asked him to
produce graphs to
describe production
rates and to analyse
trends, so that he could
use them for
presentations at
Board meetings.
So the cockroach had to buy a new computer
and a laser printer and ...
... recruited a fly
to manage the IT
department.
The ant, who had once been so
productive and relaxed, hated this new
plethora of paperwork and meetings
which used up most of her time…!
The lion came to the
conclusion that it was
high time to nominate a
person to be in charge
of the department
where the ant worked.
The position was given to the
cicada, whose first decision
was to buy a carpet and an
ergonomic chair for his office.
The new person in charge, the
cicada, also needed a computer
and a personal assistant, who
he brought from his previous
department, to help him
prepare Work and Budget
Control Strategic Optimisation
Plans …
The Department where the ant
works is now a sad place,
where no one laughs anymore
and everyone has become
upset ...
It was at that time
that the cicada
convinced the boss,
the lion, of the
absolute necessity to
start a climatic study
of the environment .
Having reviewed
the charges for
running the ant’s
department, the
lion found out that
the production was
much less than
before.
So he recruited the
owl, a prestigious
and renowned
consultant, to carry
out an audit and
suggest solutions.
The owl spent three months in the
department and came up with an enormous
report, in several volumes, that concluded:
“ “ The department is overstaffed ...”The department is overstaffed ...”
Guess who the lion fires first?
The ant, of course, because she “showed lack of motivation and had a negative
attitude."
or
Part II – 3 minutes long - was created by BridgeS E C, 2010.
please click left mouse-button to continue
Production was down, quality poor. Offshore competitors with products made by cheap and
efficient Bee workers were entering the market.
Some competitors were starting to use butterflies
for very effective marketing on the Internet.
“Butterfly power,” grumbled the lion. What to
do? He needed something new.
An executive coach!
He had heard that some
strategy-coaching elephants
charged fees on a results
basis. He liked that. He
called in an elephant.
The elephant begins with
questions about how the
business is defined, who
its best customers are
and why.
The elephant then asked
the lion what his
strategy was? How did
he capture it, for
instance did
cash cows and dogs
map its territory and,
once it was found,
secure it with value
chains?
These questions and a
series of follow-on
ones led the lion to
reposition his team.
The cockroach was
tough. There were
rumours he could even
survive the radiation of a
nuclear bomb. And the
military required the
precise reports he was
so good at preparing.
He would be perfect for
military marketing.
The cicada was elegant and
concerned about the
environment. He would be
wonderful for bio-friendly
designer products for the
premium upscale market.
The spider and the fly
were told to resolve their
differences and set to
work recruiting
butterflies.
But what about the ant?
The elephant asked
the lion if he knew
about the
Hawthorne
experiment?
The lion read a three
page summary of it
and reflected.
The elephant asked the
lion if he were familiar
with leasing machinery
and equipment to start-
up companies?
The lion reflected on
that.
Idea! The lion decided to
lease the factory machines
to the workers. They would
be their own bosses. He
would make them mini-
lions! They could all be
more like him.
The lion has the ant
found and brought to
him for a meeting. He
explains the three step
procedure to her.
Step I
The ant leases the production machine she
used and can either leave it in the factory,
or take it to any place she wants.
Step II
The factory will buy raw material and provide
it to the ant. She will work it and return the
completed pieces to the factory for final
assembly. She will be paid for the amount of
work she actually does.
Step III
The ant is allowed to use the machine to
do work for other customers also. In
short, she is running her own small
production business.
Now the ant certainly did not want to turn
into a mini-lion. But she did like the idea
of being her own boss.
Results
•Production, quality
and innovation
improve.
•The re-aligned team
successfully
penetrates the new
military and upscale
markets.
•The stock price rises.
The lion receives new
stock options and the
elephant a generous
results payment.
Would that solutions were
really that easy!
Therefore we present
different “Qoogols” (=
innumerable questions) in
Tools & Techniques.
The trick, of course, is
knowing which Questions
to focus on.
NB:NB:
The characters in this fable are The characters in this fable are fictitious; any resemblance to fictitious; any resemblance to real people or facts within the real people or facts within the CorporationCorporation is pure coincidence is pure coincidence ……