Outright stolen thoughts.
The Allegory of the 5 Monkeys
Imagine that you have a very large cage where there are 5 monkeys, that has one of those portable steps (the ones they use for ad-hoc stages and stuff) and at the top of the steps hangs a nice banana that they monkeys can't get to without walking up the steps. Image also that you have one huge firehose with lots of water pressure, like the ones they spray with during riots that send people flying. Yeah... those powerful things...
Imagine that everytime a monkey attempts to climb the ladder for the banana you let him take the banana, but then hose the rest of the monkeys until they really get pissed off, while the one that climbed the stairs for the banana just gleefully sits there eating his banana. You continue to do this until the other monkeys learn, that everytime a monkey goes near the stairs that they get punished. Eventually, the next time any of the monkeys go near the stairs, the remaining 4 will beat the crap outta that monkey before it can climb the stairs. The hose will no longer be needed at this point.
Now, lets change things a bit. We will remove one of the five original monkeys and replace him with a new one. Since this new one has no clue what the consequences are for climbing the stairs, he will try to climb the stairs, where the remaining 4 monkeys will beat the crap outta him. The new monkey soon will learn, go near the stairs equates to a severe beat down.
Now we will replace one of the 4 original monkeys with a new one, and like the previous new one, he too will try to climb the stairs. The rest of the monkeys will beat the crap out of him, including the first new one we originally put in there. The former "new monkey" we beat the crap out of the new monkey and not know the underlying reason why, but does so since it was protocol for the group. We continue to repeat the process of replacing the monkeys who were originally sprayed with the hose (those that know the underlying reason why to beat down the stair crawler), until none of the monkeys know why the hell they're beating up the monkey that tries to go up the stairs in the first place.
This is why people do stupid things and do not know why. They just follow protocol. We are all sheep! Does this sound like your workplace? Question the underlying process for seemingly pointless protocols...
Imagine that you have a very large cage where there are 5 monkeys, that has one of those portable steps (the ones they use for ad-hoc stages and stuff) and at the top of the steps hangs a nice banana that they monkeys can't get to without walking up the steps. Image also that you have one huge firehose with lots of water pressure, like the ones they spray with during riots that send people flying. Yeah... those powerful things...
Imagine that everytime a monkey attempts to climb the ladder for the banana you let him take the banana, but then hose the rest of the monkeys until they really get pissed off, while the one that climbed the stairs for the banana just gleefully sits there eating his banana. You continue to do this until the other monkeys learn, that everytime a monkey goes near the stairs that they get punished. Eventually, the next time any of the monkeys go near the stairs, the remaining 4 will beat the crap outta that monkey before it can climb the stairs. The hose will no longer be needed at this point.
Now, lets change things a bit. We will remove one of the five original monkeys and replace him with a new one. Since this new one has no clue what the consequences are for climbing the stairs, he will try to climb the stairs, where the remaining 4 monkeys will beat the crap outta him. The new monkey soon will learn, go near the stairs equates to a severe beat down.
Now we will replace one of the 4 original monkeys with a new one, and like the previous new one, he too will try to climb the stairs. The rest of the monkeys will beat the crap out of him, including the first new one we originally put in there. The former "new monkey" we beat the crap out of the new monkey and not know the underlying reason why, but does so since it was protocol for the group. We continue to repeat the process of replacing the monkeys who were originally sprayed with the hose (those that know the underlying reason why to beat down the stair crawler), until none of the monkeys know why the hell they're beating up the monkey that tries to go up the stairs in the first place.
This is why people do stupid things and do not know why. They just follow protocol. We are all sheep! Does this sound like your workplace? Question the underlying process for seemingly pointless protocols...