Like the monkeys in the experiment, every culture 15 and 
organization has its unwritten rules. These rules are probably the 
single most influential factor on the work environment and employee 
happiness. Though many work cultures embrace positive values, such as 
loyalty, solidarity, efficiency, quality, personal development and 20 
customer service, all too often they reinforce negative attitudes. In 
many businesses, an unwritten rule states that working long hours is 
more important than achieving results. In one medium-sized company, the 
boss never 25 leaves the office until it is dark. Outside in the car 
park, he checks to see who is still working and whose office windows are
 dark. Staff who risk leaving earlier now leave their office lights on 
all night. Other common unwritten rules state that the boss is 30 always
 right, even when he's wrong; if you're not at your desk, you're not 
working; nobody complains, because nothing ever changes; women, ethnic 
minorities and the over 50s are not promoted; the customer is king, but 
don't tell anyone, because management are more 35 interested in 
profitability. Often nobody really knows where these unwritten rules 
came from , but like the new monkeys, new recruits pick them up very 
quickly, despite the best intentions of induction and orientation 
programmes.  The way staff speak to management, to customers and to 
each other gives subtle but strategic clues to an organization's 
culture, as do the differences between what is said, decided or 
promised, and what actually gets done. New staff quickly learn when 
their ideas 45 and opinions are listened to and valued, and when it's 
better to keep them to themselves. They learn which assignments and 
aspects of their performance will be checked and evaluated, and whose 
objectives and instructions they can safely ignore. Monkeys may be 50 
more direct, but work culture is every bit as effective at enforcing 
unwritten rules as a good beating.