THE PLAN – HOW STUFF HAPPENS

THE PLAN – HOW STUFF HAPPENS

Some excellent comments on the post: Think Outside The Safety Suggestion Box reminded me again of this piece of prose (seems like this has happened before). In his book “Industrial/Organizational Psychology: An Applied Approach”, Michael Aamodt  suggests that when there is “serial communication” (where messages are passed from person to person) then bad news is filtered and seldom reaches Management.

From Sept 2014: There was a great comment recently made on this article (are-you-creating-an-obeyience-culture) about the problem of safety programs designed to satisfy the board or make it look like they are doing something  but really not being practical or effective when implemented and probably only perpetuating a culture of blame shifting, hiding incidents and fear. I thought this little poem, published years ago, portrays that notion perfectly and should be resurrected (I have it on my office wall 🙂 )

The Plan

In the beginning was the Plan.

And then came the Assumptions.

And the Assumptions were without form.

And the Plan was without substance.

And the darkness was upon the face of the Workers.

And they spoke amongst themselves, saying, “It is a crock of $#1T and it stinketh.”

And the workers went unto their Supervisors and said, “It is a pail of dung and none may abide the odor thereof.”

And the Supervisors went unto their Managers, saying, “It is a container of excrement and it is very strong, such that none may abide it”.

And the Managers went unto their Directors, and reported, “It is a vessel of fertilizer and none may abide its strength.”

And the Directors spoke amongst themselves, saying one to another, “It contains that which aids plant growth and it is very strong.”

And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents saying, “It promotes growth and it is very powerful.”

And the Vice Presidents went unto the President saying, “This new Plan will actively promote the growth and vigor of the company with powerful effects.”

And the President looked upon the Plan and saw that it was good. And the Plan became policy.

And this is How Stuff Happens!

More Safety Poems HERE