What Happens When Over‑Engineering Organizational Structure Turns a Temple into Chaos?

Problem definition

A temple suffers from chronic water shortage and insufficient incense‑fund revenue. The initial response is to create a Water‑Carrying Department and an Incense‑Fund Front‑Desk Department to address the symptoms.

First wave of departmental expansion

Additional units are added without solving the root cause: Human‑Resources Department , Temple Union , and various sub‑roles (vice‑host, assistant host, etc.).

Root‑cause analysis

Four fundamental issues are identified:

Under‑utilized talent

Poor temple‑culture construction

Inaccurate water‑demand forecasting

Insufficient number of wells

To tackle these, the temple establishes an Analysis Department that holds monthly analytical meetings, and a Technical Development Center responsible for system maintenance and secondary development. Specialized units are also created:

Incense‑Fund Management

Well‑Strategy Research

Well‑Construction

Well‑Maintenance

New problems introduced by over‑organization

The proliferation of departments creates overlapping responsibilities, inconsistent data, and inefficient communication. Monks from other departments are reassigned to assist the water‑carrying team, but they lack the physical ability to carry water and end up micromanaging the original monks.

Stakeholder complaints

Un‑smooth workflow

Unreasonable task decomposition

Unclear departmental duties

Insufficient assessment rigor

All complaints converge on the insight that only the three original water‑carrying monks truly understand the core issue.

Escalation and ineffective staffing

The monks request additional water‑carrying staff. After passing through several hierarchical layers, the temple allocates extra manpower, but the cross‑department monks cannot actually carry water and interfere with the original team. The water‑carrying monks then request to lead their own team.

Outcome after a year

Despite the numerous departments and coordination mechanisms, water supply remains inadequate and incense‑fund revenue stays insufficient. The temple’s structure collapses: most monks die and the institution ceases to function. The narrative demonstrates that endless departmental expansion without clear processes, realistic task allocation, and effective assessment mechanisms leads to systemic failure.

Code example

来自：芝麻观点