A Silly Example of Mandates and Threats Not Working

Cemetery
full, mayor tells locals not to die - Yahoo! News

Maybe this mayor has consumed too much Bordeaux wine. But this
story is a wonderfully comical illustration of how ineffective
management mandates, targets, quotas, and the fear of punishment
can actually be.

The mayor of a village in southwest France has
threatened residents with severe punishment if they die, because
there is no room left in the overcrowded cemetery to bury them.

In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne
told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that “all
persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried
in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish.”

It added: “Offenders will be severely punished.”

I doubt they attempted a “5 Whys” exercise that went like this
(imagine an Inspector Clouseau accent — the Peter Sellers one, not
the lame Steve Martin one):

1. Why is zee cemetery full?
2. Because people are dying!!

Eh, sounds
like zee root cause to me. Hmm…. let’s drink more
wine!!

Talk about NOT getting to a solvable root cause of the
problem!!

And for any of you who are laughing at this or the mayor, he
proactively responded:

“It may be a laughing matter for some, but not for me,”
he said.

Are any of our managers trying to manage the same way? Through
mandates and threats? In the name of improving quality? Preventing
errors or safety incidents?” Mandates, fear, and threats just lead
to people hiding problems or being really creative in making things
look good (rather than making real improvements). Have any examples
to share?