I love the part on organizations & conferences. Seems like I have worked with many agents in the past:<p><i>(1) Insist on doing everything through
"channels." Never permit short-cuts to be taken
in order to expedite decisions</i><p><i>(5) 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.</i><p>I guess Dilbert might be working with the CIA after all.
Depressing that some people do this stuff and think they're good workers / managers.<p>Stuff has unintended weird incentives, and that can quickly lead to destructive working practices.<p>One quick example: Factory workers have to clock in. You want people to be on time (8.00 am), so you say that if they clock in after 08:04 they lose 15 minutes wage.<p>But what (obviously happens) is the people who arrive at 08:04 don't start work until 08:15 (which is, after all, when they're getting paid from). But the people coming in on time mill around a bit before they start work - they clock in at 07:55 and get to the bench at 08:01; or the clock in at 08:00 and get to the bench at 08:03. So there's a bunch of people milling around, not starting work and distracting other workers and etc etc, just because someone invented a broken disincentive late arrivals instead of just being a better manager and telling people to get to work.<p>I have <i>countless</i> examples of inadvertent and deliberate sabotage in factory work. (One more quick example. A guy turns up for interview. He has a friend with him. The friend waits in reception, falls asleep; he's really scruffy. The interviewee smells of alcohol. His hobby on his CV is "Enjoying Homebrew". Employing that one semi-functional alcoholic destroyed hundreds of person-hours of work, because people were less restrained when they went to the pub at lunch time. (Also, some other alcoholics stopped being sober.))<p>I should start a blog, I guess.
To combat sabotage of productivity within an organisation it would likely be necessary to employ techniques that ironically reduce creativity, increase levels of distrust and breed a culture of caution and inaction.<p>From this perspective one could potentially read this document as being a product of sabotage.<p>Related topics (within the national security space): polygraph testing at US laboratories, overheads of Special Access Programs
PDF context on cia.gov: "Timeless Tips for 'Simple Sabotage'" <a href="https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2012-featured-story-archive/simple-sabotage.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/...</a>
This reminds of a chapter or section of an old management textbook I came across once. The section dealt with office politics and the various strategies and tactics one could use to come out on top. The whole thing was written without a trace of embarrassment. I wish I could remember the name of the book.
So which books will teach me how to combat "simple sabotage" in my organization?<p>[edit] I'm referring only to chapter 5, section 11 "General interference with organizations and production."
I feel like the points under (11) on page 28 and forward is like a character description for Michael Scott/David Brent or any other office-working sitcom character. This is truly comedy gold.
In the field manual they say "Finally, the very practice of simple sabotage by natives in enemy or occupied territory may make these individuals identify themselves actively with the United Nations war effort..." I thought this was published before the UN was founded.<p>Did the term "United Nations" have a different meaning during WWII? Was it a common term that latter was given to the official organization we know today?
Does anyone know if an 'official' entity is being referred to by the term United Nations on page 2? I suppose it could've been close enough to the end of the war that the wheels were already in motion for the UN..
C[ompendium] of I[ncompetence] A[ssembled] in one pdf - this volume is a lifetime's collection of "what not to do's". Gives me the heebie-jeebies, especially the note on how to ruin a file. Jeez.<p>It is so difficult to build things, but so easy to destroy them.
<quote>... creating an unpleasant situation among one's fellow workers, engaging in bickering, or displaying surliness or stupidity.</quote><p>OMG... our company is under siege!