I should be working on my object-oriented homework, however I can't get out of my mind how dysfunctional certain organizations are. With this theme in mind, I have given myself leave for a few hours to work on the subject of organizational dysfunction, more specifically the signs of a disfuctional organization:

First, from our friends at microsoft (who knew they did things other than software!): we have 3 signs of a dysfunctional company
Out of the three, my two favorites are: you've got bosses that like to point fingers and you've got a CEO that does not set priorities. I think that the certain organization that I am thinking about, certainly has these two down to an art.

Second, from coopercomm, we've got the 10 signs of a dysfunctional organization.
In the context of that certain organization near and dear to our hearts, I think that 9 out of the 10 signs apply to this organization: Constant Crisis, Organizational Insanity, Pluralistic Ignorance, Relative Success, Sub-Optimizing, Indirect Causes, OK Sorry's, Multi-class society, and broken behavior-consequence chain. I am not going to reiterate what the article says, the link is right above and it is a worth while read. I find that the some of the signs have been around for at least the last couple of years in this organization. Constant Crisis, Relative Success, Multi-class society and the broken behavior-consequence chain have been issues even before I started getting involved, however nothing was addressed, as a consequence it has gotten worse.

Third, the exec-pundit gives us even more signs of a dysfunctional organization:
Here is what applies to us:
High-turn over: Over the last few years we've lost three department heads, (this organization only has 5 departments!), they've sent someone off on sick leave (my personal opinion is due to work related stress), they've lost four non-dept. head employees to early retirement or they have gone to other organizations, and there are a number of people currently looking elsewhere for a job. Hmmmm.....
Low-turn over: We had an employee who was sub-par, and their supervisor knew it, but she did not want to do anything about it. That employee was about to the transfered to another department with the warning to the manager of you are going to have your hands full picking up after him - huh? is this a way to staff a department that is already understaffed?
Consultation with Attorneys: or rather in this case with the union. There are a few people that have consulted with union reps in the organization because of unfair work issues.
No Consultation with Attorneys: again, in this case the union. Employees are dissuaded from contacting the union and HR on work related issues, and from talking to other bargaining unit members about work related issues. This is not legal, and brings forth an air of fear.
Exciting Environment: No procedures! You do "A", you get scolded, you do "B" you get scolded and told to do "A" (despite the fact that you were scolded before). catch-22
Boring Environment: too much excitement is boring - really - most people either see this as a dead-end organization, they leave, or they resign themselves to routine.

Here are some more articles on Organizational Dysfunction for your reading pleasure :-)
IIM: Symptoms of Dysfunctional Organizations
Dysfunctional Organizations: should you be a whistle blower?
The sick chicken