OMG...There are spies everywhere sabotaging our organizations!!

OK at least now we have an explanation for what has been going on in all of organizations.
We have thoroughly been infiltrated by spies who have read and are following this manual. Seriously. This is a manual from 1944 that taught spies how to sabotage everything from railways to organizations. It came to light as part of a presentation at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference on Intellipedia. 

Wanna hear the crazy part? I have excerpted the portion of the manual below that explains how to disrupt and destroy the internal workings of organizations. Tell me that many of these don't read like many of our own SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures).

(11) General Interference with Organizations and Production
     (a) Organizations and Conferences
            (1) Insist on doing everything through "channels." Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to   expedite decisions.
            (2) Make "speeches." Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your "points" by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate "patriotic" comments.
           (3) When possible, refer all matters to committees, for "further study and consideration." Attempt to make the committees as large as possible — never less than five.
           (4) Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
           (5) Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
           (6) Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
           (7) Advocate "caution." Be "reasonable" and urge your fellow-conferees to be "reasonable" and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.
          (8) Be worried about the propriety of any decision — raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.

How about it? Any of it sound familiar? It all becomes clear to me now.

Comments

[Edward Sargent]

Scary!

[Damien DeBarra]

That is horrifyingly close to home...