This is based on an actual experiment conducted in U.K.
Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling.Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable.Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up.Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder.
One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious. But undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder.All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly.He has no idea why.However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder.
A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him. This includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he's not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he's attacking the new monkey.One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced.
Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water. still none of them attempt to climb the ladder.
All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why........
Interesting ...eh?
Years ago when I still were in advertising, a colleague of mine told me a similiar story...
It was a nice office ..'cool' guys and gals ..friendly and cozy... but it had one weakness...to use an oxymoron- it had a strong weakness...
Jealousy with its ugly multi headed dreadness wandered around hissing and fuming spiting venom ... and particularly so when some body had done something good or great and had been rewarded..
One guy got the best employee prize for once ( it was a quarterly prize) and boom again ..for the second consecutive time..
Sacrilege...cried the crowd....
Blasphemy.... thundered his 'friends' and colleagues.....
He is a spy... I have seen him many times with Sharmila at odd hours ( Sharmila was the boss- the Vice president and -brands services director)- said one..
He &*%$ 's her, may be.. opined one...
What is the criteria... I demand to know..I am going to write a protest letter to the chairman in Newyork... spake the creative guru, caressing his beard..
&^%$ him guys.. that bastard.........
Poor thing ..the best employee, for what ever reasons he got it, he got it and with that got out of the agency... the monkeys there wouldnt allow him to pluck the banana... and it continued inspite of his leaving, and two years after his leaving too, when i landed up as a client servicing guy, my immediate boss told me the same thing...
Work hard ...he said... aim for the best, and if you plan to quit, target the best employee award....
And with no HR practices and policies in place , will advertising ever become what it should be...?
1 comment:
Perhaps never,these white collar works need HR more than Blue collars never needed IR. While going thru the post so many theories ran to & fro my mind - diffusion of responsibility,Classical conditioning, Learned helplessness, Band wagon effect. How do individuals become so submissive to the groups collective behavior, without any real command.
GUESS this perhaps can be a model to study group violence especially those religious kind of, where people sometime are against you not because they hate you but because they are insecure.
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