base he ran in Germany. This man was scheduled to retire the following
years without having been promoted to the grade of general. His personal
goal was to leave his post in the best condition possible and to end
a distinguished career with pride and honor
His key staff was composed of both military and civil service officers,
both German and American, who were responsible for maintaining the
base. These top aides had, like the colonel himself, been rotated into their
positions from other bases for two- or three-year tour of duty; staying
anywhere much longer was sign that one's career advancement was in
trouble. Given that time frame, it was clear to all personnel thar identifying
problems was useless, because there would never be enough time to solve
them. Furthermore, problems as everyone knew, stuck to one's name like
honey sticks to fingers, so trying to solve them was considered "making
waves" and was therefore avoided. The adibing norm, then, was to look
good at all times, to maintain the status quo, and never to have any problem.
At this base, years of such avoidance had resulted in a facade of normalcy
convering a caldron of inefficiency, low morale, and corruption. The colonel,
who had no more steps to climb on the organizational ladder and
who nurtured a desire to end his career with a flourish, had the "nerve"
to hire a management consultant to look under the lid into this long-
brewing organizational stew.
It took the consultant only two days to discover the problem. The pattern
had existed for years and was obvious to anyone who cared to observe.
What the consultant found horrified the colonel. As a result of the short term
orientation of the top-level supervisors, many of whom could not
even speak German, the civilian work crews and their first-line German
supervisors had developed a routine of "work" that included
1. the addition of unnecessary men on almost all work crews
2. ectensive travel times to and from the work sites thar were often double and triple what was actually required
3. up to an hour of prework briefings of crews that required only a few minutes
4. the general practice if quitting early several times a week with regular beer drinking and card parties at the equipment barn
Top-line staff and supervisors knew about the rampant inefficiency but
chose not to take action that might call bleme down on themselves. They
simply bided their time, waiting to be transferred to their next tour of
duty. The lower-level supervisors, not wishing to incur the wrath of the
German workers, colluded with the perpetrators and became part of the
problem.
The colonel submitted a report. Instead of exploring a potential solution,
the colonel's boss-- a highly respected lieutenant general--threw a ban-