Pages

2015-07-23

How to not run an organization - the CIA version

I stumbled over this document dating back to World War 2 where the predecessor to CIA, the Office for Strategic Services issued a field manual on how to sabotage. Especially interesting are the sections on general interference with organizations and production.

It all starts in this document on page 28. Some of my favorites:

  • Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
  • When training new workers, give incomplete or misleading instructions.
  • Do your work poorly and blame it on bad tools, machinery, or equipment. Complain that these things are preventing you from doing your job right.
So while the manual was written to instruct saboteurs in occupied countries it is interesting how many things I've seen in different organizations over the years. What are your favorites from the sabotage instructions?



No comments:

Post a Comment