Accendo Reliability

Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site

  • Home
  • About
    • Contributors
  • Reliability.fm
    • Speaking Of Reliability
    • Rooted in Reliability: The Plant Performance Podcast
    • Quality during Design
    • Way of the Quality Warrior
    • Critical Talks
    • Dare to Know
    • Maintenance Disrupted
    • Metal Conversations
    • The Leadership Connection
    • Practical Reliability Podcast
    • Reliability Matters
    • Reliability it Matters
    • Maintenance Mavericks Podcast
    • Women in Maintenance
    • Accendo Reliability Webinar Series
  • Articles
    • CRE Preparation Notes
    • on Leadership & Career
      • Advanced Engineering Culture
      • Engineering Leadership
      • Managing in the 2000s
      • Product Development and Process Improvement
    • on Maintenance Reliability
      • Aasan Asset Management
      • AI & Predictive Maintenance
      • Asset Management in the Mining Industry
      • CMMS and Reliability
      • Conscious Asset
      • EAM & CMMS
      • Everyday RCM
      • History of Maintenance Management
      • Life Cycle Asset Management
      • Maintenance and Reliability
      • Maintenance Management
      • Plant Maintenance
      • Process Plant Reliability Engineering
      • ReliabilityXperience
      • RCM Blitz®
      • Rob’s Reliability Project
      • The Intelligent Transformer Blog
      • The People Side of Maintenance
      • The Reliability Mindset
    • on Product Reliability
      • Accelerated Reliability
      • Achieving the Benefits of Reliability
      • Apex Ridge
      • Metals Engineering and Product Reliability
      • Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics
      • Product Validation
      • Reliability Engineering Insights
      • Reliability in Emerging Technology
    • on Risk & Safety
      • CERM® Risk Insights
      • Equipment Risk and Reliability in Downhole Applications
      • Operational Risk Process Safety
    • on Systems Thinking
      • Communicating with FINESSE
      • The RCA
    • on Tools & Techniques
      • Big Data & Analytics
      • Experimental Design for NPD
      • Innovative Thinking in Reliability and Durability
      • Inside and Beyond HALT
      • Inside FMEA
      • Integral Concepts
      • Learning from Failures
      • Progress in Field Reliability?
      • R for Engineering
      • Reliability Engineering Using Python
      • Reliability Reflections
      • Testing 1 2 3
      • The Manufacturing Academy
  • eBooks
  • Resources
    • Accendo Authors
    • FMEA Resources
    • Feed Forward Publications
    • Openings
    • Books
    • Webinars
    • Journals
    • Higher Education
    • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • 14 Ways to Acquire Reliability Engineering Knowledge
    • Reliability Analysis Methods online course
    • Measurement System Assessment
    • SPC-Process Capability Course
    • Design of Experiments
    • Foundations of RCM online course
    • Quality during Design Journey
    • Reliability Engineering Statistics
    • Quality Engineering Statistics
    • An Introduction to Reliability Engineering
    • Reliability Engineering for Heavy Industry
    • An Introduction to Quality Engineering
    • Process Capability Analysis course
    • Root Cause Analysis and the 8D Corrective Action Process course
    • Return on Investment online course
    • CRE Preparation Online Course
    • Quondam Courses
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Live Events
  • Calendar
    • Call for Papers Listing
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Calendar
  • Login
    • Member Home

by Greg Hutchins 5 Comments

Moose Lodge Syndrome

Moose Lodge Syndrome

Some 20 years ago, I was volunteering with a not-for-profit organization to develop new products and services.

Our team had lots of ideas. We were excited to innovate, change, add value, and do better. You could feel the energy. It was electric.

The challenge: The organization was riding high and making lots of money on its core products. They did not want or did not need to look at anything new. Why fix something that was not broken from its point of view. OK. We got it. 

Well, our great ideas were stuffed. The energy and enthusiasm dissipated. I left the organization.

Several of us wondered what had happened. Dr. Lindborg, an expert in organizational dynamics, in a moment of inspiration, uttered:

This is the Moose Lodge Syndrome at work.

“What’s that?” we said. A little history may help:

First a Little History

In the US about 60 years ago, we had the Elks, Daughters of the American Revolution, Odd Fellows, Masons, and many others not-for-profit associations. These were fraternal or sorority organizations that focused on common interests, such as helping folks or even tracing lineage to the American Revolution. Some even had religious affiliations. Some orders, like the Masons, went back to the American revolution and much earlier.

Remember, it was before the age of the internet. And, this was the way folks got together – face-to-face, exchanged information, helped each other, and in general communed for the greater good.

Fifty years ago, there were hundreds if not thousands of these associations. They were on each corner. Probably as many as there are Starbucks now.  Now there are very few.

In the next phase of folks getting together, there were professional organizations, such as engineering, medical, nursing, or other functional organizations. These organizations thrived over the last 40 years, since they were the source of standards, best practices, and jobs. These professional organizations even legitimized professional disciplines and often promoted certifications and similar credentials.

Above is a picture of me and my daughter at one of the few remaining Moose Lodges in the US, taken last month in Idaho, US.
Above is a picture of me and my daughter at one of the few remaining Moose Lodges in the US, taken last month in Idaho, US.

Well now, folks can get all of this on the web – for free. They often do not want to meet face to face. They interact digitally. The classic example, we see all the time is couples going out on a dinner date and both are rapt into their smart phones checking emails not checking each other out.

The Moose Lodge Syndrome

So, now we have every organization facing the Moose Lodge Syndrome. You know the type of organization. You may also work for or belong to one. This is an organization that will not or cannot adapt over time. New ideas are brushed off. Managers say: “This too shall pass.”

The result is they slowly wither away – much like Moose Lodges- thinking that their product, belief structure, community, product, or service is immutable. They believe the essence or core of the organization does not have to change.

Dr. Lindborg uttered this prescient quip years before Clayton Christensen came up with his idea of disruption.

Inevitably, we all know and recognize the pattern. Before they know it, the organization has been disrupted. And, it dies.

Is your organization like that?

Another hard lesson learned:

People also face the Moose Lodge Syndrome.

So, do not rest on your laurels. Change. Adopt. Adapt.

Filed Under: Articles, CERM® Risk Insights, on Risk & Safety

About Greg Hutchins

Greg Hutchins PE CERM is the evangelist of Future of Quality: Risk®. He has been involved in quality since 1985 when he set up the first quality program in North America based on Mil Q 9858 for the natural gas industry. Mil Q became ISO 9001 in 1987

He is the author of more than 30 books. ISO 31000: ERM is the best-selling and highest-rated ISO risk book on Amazon (4.8 stars). Value Added Auditing (4th edition) is the first ISO risk-based auditing book.

« Electric Motor Problems
Becoming More Effective With Your Day »

Comments

  1. DonMacArthur7 says

    October 31, 2017 at 10:46 AM

    Excellent article.

    Reply
    • greg says

      October 31, 2017 at 12:29 PM

      Hi Don:

      Thanks for the kind words.

      Unfortunately, we’re seeing more Moose Lodgism.

      Take care

      Reply
  2. Brian T says

    December 31, 2017 at 7:01 AM

    It takes courage to change. I do a lot of work with the BSA and all the change is certainly going to lead to some volunteers quitting and others outside the organization thinking that the changes are unnecessary.

    Reply
    • Fred Schenkelberg says

      December 31, 2017 at 8:01 AM

      Hi Brian, yes it takes courage and ignoring the changing world around us is not really an option. cheers, Fred

      Reply
    • greg says

      December 31, 2017 at 9:25 AM

      BSA is a great organization, that is evolving.

      We live in VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) time. I consult and write about it. Organizations are not ready. Folks are not. There is no guru and/or blueprint to show the way. We are in for interesting times.

      Thanks for your comment. Take care. Happy New Year

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CERM® Risk Insights series Article by Greg Hutchins, Editor and noted guest authors

Join Accendo

Receive information and updates about articles and many other resources offered by Accendo Reliability by becoming a member.

It’s free and only takes a minute.

Join Today

Recent Articles

  • test
  • test
  • test
  • Your Most Important Business Equation
  • Your Suppliers Can Be a Risk to Your Project

© 2025 FMS Reliability · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service · Cookies Policy