Monkey Shock! (#15)

To study the effects of Cultural Training, scientists led 10 monkeys into a cage. In this cage, the scientist tied a bunch of bananas to the top corner of the cage, out of the monkeys’ reach. The scientists also placed a ladder in the corner of the cage that led to the bananas.

By the time the monkeys were led into the cage, they had not eaten for 12 hours. As you would believe, the group instantly saw the bunch of bananas and tried to reach them to curb their hunger. The largest of the group began to climb the ladder but after a few steps he felt a slight shock. When he felt the shock, the rest of the group was sprayed with water. Disgruntled, the largest monkey climbed off the ladder to join the rest of the monkeys. They all sat in the floor for a long time.

After a while, the monkeys could no longer resist the temptation and a second monkey starts up the ladder. Like the first, after a few steps the monkey felt a slight shock and the others were sprayed with water. After the second time, the group of monkeys learned to not climb up the ladder.

Later, the scientists led out one of the original monkeys and replaced him with a new monkey. When the new monkey, who was also extremely hungry, entered the cage he immediately spotted the bunch of bananas. In his attempt to retrieve the bananas, he was stopped by the group of monkeys and beat. After this event, the scientists removed another of the original monkey and replaced him with a new monkey. He too immediately goes towards the ladder to retrieve the bananas. The group of monkeys again stop and beat the newest monkey, including the monkey who had not witnessed what happened when one climbs up the ladder.

This pattern continued until none of the original monkeys were left and none of the new monkeys had tried to climb up the ladder. Even though this new group had never experienced the shock received when climbing up the ladder, they all knew better than to try.

This experiment is a great analogy of “Cultural Training.” When new employees are hired, the company will typically ask a more seasoned employee to train them. However, this training is usually not from a set standard, SOP, or job description. They will try to teach the new employee months of training all within a few days, some occasions just a few hours. Most of the time, the seasoned employee will teach the new employee according to what they feel is the standard, instead of from set instructions.

This is typically bad practice. The new employee is not going to remember everything that he was taught and when the seasoned employee leaves or returns to his own position, the new employee will struggle to remember what he was taught. Because of this, he will develop his own process, which will later be taught to another new employee. This creates a chain reaction that morphs the original standard into a completely different process.

What is your experience with Cultural Training?

About Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc.

We are Certified as an Accredited Training Organization with the International Association of Six Sigma Certification (IASSC)

“The IASSC Accredited Training Organization (ATO) designation validates Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc. has demonstrated adequate management systems, courseware with a high degree of correlation to the subject matter contained in the IASSC Bodies of Knowledge, delivery schema consistent with such content and highly qualified instructors.”

We Provide Public Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Training Courses in 34 Cities across the globe.

Our Training Centers are located in: Albuquerque, New Mexico | Anchorage, Alaska | Atlanta, Georgia | Austin, Texas | Boston, Massachusetts | Calgary, Canada | Charlotte, North Carolina | Chicago, Illinois | Cincinnati, Ohio | Cleveland, Ohio | Columbus, Ohio | Dallas, Texas | Denver, Colorado | Detroit, Michigan | Dubai, UAE | El Paso, Texas | Fort Smith, Arkansas | Honolulu, Hawaii | Houston, Texas | Indianapolis, Indiana | Jacksonville, Florida | Kansas City, Missouri | Las Vegas, Nevada | London, England | Los Angeles, California | Louisville, Kentucky | Memphis, Tennessee | Mexico City, Mexico | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Montreal, Canada | Nashville, Tennessee | New Orleans, Louisiana | New York City, New York | Northwest Arkansas | Orlando, Florida | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Phoenix, Arizona | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Portland, Oregon | Raleigh, North Carolina | Salt Lake City, Utah | San Diego, California | Seattle, Washington | St. Louis, Missouri | Tampa, Florida | Toronto, Canada | Vancouver, Canada | Washington, DC

We Provide Onsite Lean Six Sigma Certification Training. Some of the training's we provide are: Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, Lean Six Sigma Champions Training and Lean Certifications for Healthcare, Finance, I.T, Manufacturing, Processing, Logistics, Retail Sales and Government.

SSDSI will come to your site to train for your choice of the Lean Six Sigma Certification Levels.

Onsite training is more cost effective than open enrollment training when training larger groups of team members.

Benefits of Onsite Training:

The Training is focused on Your Opportunities

SSDSI uses your opportunities in class (vs. generic examples)

You will get the experience of a seasoned Lean and Six Sigma Master Black Belt who will help mentor you while completing your Lean and Six Sigma Project

You can train up to 20 employees for one fixed cost (this cost includes course ware and the instructors travel & lodging)

Our courses are full of games, simulations, and active learning to help the adult learner

SSDSI can customize the training to meet your company’s particular training needs

Call Kevin Clay at 214-731-3176 or email at kclay@sixsigmadsi.com for more information