The newlywed wife cook story -- and change

This parable is a good example of why the reason how a solution is created to fit a specific problem is NOT passed along to others - but taken as gospel and must be adhered to. Government, any many private organizations, also follow this rational. Not good, but that's the way things are.

 

The newlywed bought a roast home and when preparing it cut off 1/4 of an inch on both sides of the roast before putting it into the pan. When asked by her husband she did it that did it that way she had no ready answer and stated that her mother did it that way.
Curious as to her mother’s rationale, the wife calls her mother and asks why she taught her to cut the ends of the roast. Her mother says she only does it that way because her own mother taught her to do so. The young wife next calls her grandmother and asks why she cut a quarter inch off the end of every roast. Her grandmother tells her, "Because my roasting pan was too small. The roast wouldn't fit any other way."

 

Just because things are now done in a certain way does not mean those circumstances which created the process has not changed and thus a new PROCESS should be done. The problem with most any organization is that the process as written down is taken as law and must be followed - even to those who are doing it can show it no longer makes sense. The people who make the policies that created the process are not willing to acknowledge that the policy needs to be changed and thus all the written processes need to be changed too. Changing the policy to them is like admitting a mistake - since they did not initiate the change thus they resist and tell all that the existing policy must be followed until a formal review takes place - even though this will cost money.

 

The real goal is to teach people to adjust quickly to the new reality by training those in charge to adapt to reality without a formal bureaucracy of change which itself will stop change from occurring.