Can Your Corporate Policy Pass the Monkeys, Bananas, and Water-spray Experiment?
Five monkeys were placed in a cage. A banana was hung on a string and a ladder was placed below it. Each time one of the monkeys started climbing the ladder, all the monkeys were sprayed with a blast of cold water. This experiment was repeated for several days. Then each of the original monkeys was replaced with a new one. The experimenter did not need to spray the new monkeys because, as soon as any new monkey proceeded towards the ladder, all the other monkeys attacked it simply for the fear of being sprayed.
Finally, all the original monkeys were replaced with new monkeys that had never been sprayed; yet all the monkeys attacked any monkey that dared climb the ladder. Now you may ask why those monkeys that had never been sprayed would attack their mates without any rationale for their acts. The monkeys were just following the policy laid down for them. They had no clue as to the origin of the policy. (To get a complete description of this experiment, visit www.wowzone.com/5monkeys.htm.)
It is highly likely that most of your employees follow policies established a long time before they joined the company and they did not contribute to their development. Ask a sample of your employees how well they understand specific policies within the organization (e.g., policies on who and what to tell the media, how to keep their computer passwords, or policy on handling confidential information). Are they doing things just because that is the way things are done or do they understand why they do them?
What is a Corporate Policy?
A corporate policy is a formal document that states specific rules that must be followed by members of an organization. To be effective, a policy must possess the following characteristics:
