A professional baseball team set its sights on winning the World Series. The team owner wanted to win big and win fast. Consequently, the team sank all of its resources into trading for the best players in the league. It was able to obtain enough of them that within two seasons the team was the World Series champion. However, the team had committed such a high percentage of its financial resources to players’ salaries that other important elements of the team began to suffer. Its stadium quickly fell into such a state of disrepair that fans began to stay home. Training facilities also began to suffer, which caused discontent among the players. The money left over to pay the salaries of coaches wasn’t enough to hold onto the good ones, most of whom accepted better offers from other teams. In short, by focusing so intently on the desired end result, this organization neglected other important aspects of building a competitive team. As a result, the team’s World Series championship was a short-lived once-in-a-lifetime victory. The very next season the team’s crumbling infrastructure sent it tumbling to the bottom of its division. Without the people, processes, and environment to turn the situation around, the team was eventually sold at a loss and moved to another city.

QUESTIONS

1. Why would a company that is turning out a satisfactory product want to continually examine its processes and the work environment? What happened to the old adage “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it”?
2. Create a manufacturing, processing, or service sector parallel for this activity. Discuss how this assignment would apply to a company.