In this forum it has been said many times, in different ways that IT support is more about people than it is about technology. I could write a case study on this incident.

First, it happened a long, long, time ago at a very large three letter named technology company. It was at the height of their business where they were making money hand over fist and felt that they could do no wrong. Naturally this attracted low level managers who wanted to become corporate executives. Most did not know anything about technology but did have their business degrees.

Upper management used these lower management to be a buffer between the high level management and the peons who did the actual work so that they would not have to get their hands dirty with things like interacting with these people. It left them free to make those "big business" decisions that piloted the company.

No these middle managers are stuck. They want to stand out from the crowd of other middle managers so that they can be seen as potential executive material. However they have problems.

They can't innovate. Because that would be disruptive. Hey, aren't we making a lot of money doing things just the way we are? Wouldn't that cost us money to try it that way? If it fails then we loose money. Can't have that.

How else can they stand out. Brown nosing only works with some executives. But you have to get their attention first. The easiest way to get their attention is to learn the bureaucracy, live the corporate dictum to show your loyalty and devotion to the company.

One of the few power plays you have is to make a show when you find any little deviation in practice. Show that you can crack the whip. That you can keep your people in line. That you are making a contribution to maintain the status-quo/profitability of the company.

This is the culture of how you get someone going ballistic over rubber bands.