Take a cage with 20 monkeys in it. Suspend a bunch of bananas from the top of the cage. Into the cage, put a step ladder that will lead up to the bananas. Then, it would be best if you waited to see the monkey’s behaviour change.
Every time the monkeys step onto the ladder attempting to get at the bananas (or up the side of the cage), fire a water cannon, dislodging the errant monkey. Blast every other monkey in the cage with the water cannon, as well. Continue doing this for a few days, and more likely, no monkey will attempt to get the bananas from the top of the cage (which you should replace when they start to rot). You do feed the monkeys but in a controlled fashion.
Remove 1 of the subject monkeys and add a new one. That monkey will naturally attempt to get at the hanging bananas. However, the water cannon most likely will not be needed, as the other monkeys in the group will stop this monkey from getting at the bananas. This is fear of reprisal, reaction. Continue to replace the subject monkeys over some time. By the time all the original monkeys have been replaced, the Organizational Thinking of not going after the hung bananas will permeate all the new monkeys. None of them will attempt to get these bananas.
This is an excellent explanation of how Organizational Behaviour needs to be challenged every time it is made evident. Why do we do what we do? Ask why. If you don’t know why things are done, you might be surprised. You might even find out nobody knows why.
Organizational Behaviour and Money?
Why am I posting this? Sometimes, you need to question why things are done to understand whether the system has a bunch of monkeys and water cannons as part of their methodology (much like many of the Mutual Fund companies I hear about). Never stand for anyone explaining something to you as, “That’s the way we have always done it,” when they are dealing with your money, especially. Understand what your money is doing, don’t be afraid of the water cannon!
This is a great concept.. people need to do R&D with their money. Practicing spending your money, budgeting etc with different scenarios is a good thing.. Kind of like your post here.