Hello All,
A long time ago in management 101 we were taught about the dangers of group-think and how a corporate culture can miss the blatantly obvious at times and stand amazed at the fact that they didn't see what everyone else did. The phrase "Flogging a dead horse" can be traced to English law circa 1867 when John Bright was said to have mentioned it during a debate. The phrase has been in common usage since then. But as direct a concept as it is, people still miss it, or rather they come up with complicated reasons to avoid the blatantly obvious as they continue to flog the dead creature. Below is a collection we ALSO learned in management 101 for ways in which poor management can drive a firm into trouble. I only wish these weren't based on real occurrences.
21 Ways to Flog a Dead Horse Project (or; why Retalon is still going)
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Buying a stronger whip.
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Changing riders.
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Say things like, "This is the way we have always ridden this horse."
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Appointing a committee to study the horse.
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Arranging to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.
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Increasing the standards to ride dead horses.
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Appointing a tiger team to revive the dead horse.
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Creating a training session to increase our riding ability.
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Comparing the state of dead horses in today's environment.
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Change the requirements declaring that "This horse is not dead."
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Hire contractors to ride the dead horse.
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Harnessing several dead horses together for increased speed.
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Declaring that "No horse is too dead to beat."
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Providing additional funding to increase the horse's performance.
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Do a Cost Analysis study to see if contractors can ride it cheaper.
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Purchase a product to make dead horses run faster.
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Declare the horse is "better, faster and cheaper" dead.
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Form a quality circle to find uses for dead horses.
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Revisit the performance requirements for horses.
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Say this horse was procured with cost as an independent variable.
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Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.
...Happy Tuesday everyone!