Lab+Assignment+6


 * Rule 11**: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.



I chose Rule number 11 because I take the same position as Saul Alinsky about finding the target of weakness within a project or company and eliminating it without becoming side tracked. When there is strain on a company or a project in terms of pressure to perform its best or be productive there will always be something that takes it off track and diverges it from its goal. If taken off the track for too long the prject will slip into an undercurrent and drown, meaning that it will become weak and die, not being able to accomplish what it was set out to do. The only way the project would have been able to be led off track is through a weak link. Weak links are usually individuals who do not work up to their standards or expectations, are lazy, weak and let things slide. When an individual such as this is identified in the project, as Alinsky outlined, they must be identified and held responsible. As Alinksy states in his second sentence of this rule he says " don't try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies." This I believe is an extremely important statement because he saying that when your project becomes weak and lifeless, dont look at outside competition or sources as the problem, look internally first because that is where the strength is. For example if we were to compare this to the body analogy. When a body is sick we do not look first to outside sources such as medicines taken or surroundings, we look internally and try to identify the source of the illness in the body. The same applies to the project. One must look internally to the team on the project- find the target, and identify a responsible individual who is causing the weakness. Through this method there is more of a chance that the weakness of the project can be found and dealt with.