With all of the events in the news lately I've been thinking about a hypothetical company that I'll call Brand X. Brand X has been producing a mythical product which I'll call Widgets, for perhaps 100 years. During that period, they've established branch offices all over the world. They're a very successful company.
One of the reasons for their success is that they have very high standards. Each branch of the company has very rigorous procedures it must follow. These procedures are time-tested and proven to work so it is of utmost importance that the branch companies follow them.
Lately, though, some of the branch offices have stopped following the procedures defined by the Main Office. A manager of the most egregious branch has been called into the office for a conference with the CEO. What follows is an excerpt from a transcript of their meeting:
CEO: I hear that your branch has refused to follow some of our time-tested procedures. Is that true?
Manager: Yes, it's true. In fact, some of the procedures that the company deems most crucial have been abandoned.
CEO: We've had complaints from customers. They say they go to Brand X because they are assured of the consistent quality of our product and discover that it isn't as we claim in our advertisements.
Manager: Yes, I've heard of those complaints.
CEO: Well, does your new procedure produce quality results?
Manager: No, not as far as any objective criteria. Mostly we just decided to do our own thing because it felt less cumbersome and more inclusive than the past procedures.
CEO: But we're not supposed to be inclusive here... we have the very best product so we want to be exclusive. If we make our product just like everyone else then we'll lose business.
Manager: I know. Not only do I want you to overlook the potential quality control issues but I'd like the rest of the company to sanction them as the "best way to do things".
CEO: Why don't you just form your own company?
Manager: We don't want to have to go through all that work. Besides, Brand X has great name recognition.
CEO: So you want to break our rules and then you want us to give you our blessing even though we know that you're breaking from a proven, time-tested way of doing things.
Manager: Yes.
You might have figured out by now that my little allegory refers to the Episcopal Church and attempts by some of their members and clergy to radically alter church doctrine and practice. Of course, my allegory doesn't take morality into account or even the correctness of a certain doctrine.
I'm confused as to why anyone would want to radically alter the doctrine of a religious denomination rather than just establishing their own along with people of like beliefs. I think I know that answer to that, but I'll wait until a later post to discuss that topic.
Posted by jdmays at August 6, 2003 07:03 AM