Sometimes, I wonder whether Star Trek is an unintentional commentary on organizational incompetence -- they follow standard procedure and fall prey to alien plots almost every other week. Even after fighting several quadrant-wide wars, their organization (the Federation) is still infantile in their security policies and tactics.
On the other hand, the sum of their individual failures don't add up to organizational failure -- the crews and the Federation itself always prevails in the end.
> Even after fighting several quadrant-wide wars, their organization (the Federation) is still infantile in their security policies and tactics.
I always perceived it as them keeping on cooperating while other parties are defecting in the hope that it will turn out better for everyone in the end. And usually it does, both in the series and in real life (Dale Carnegie-style).
On the other hand, the sum of their individual failures don't add up to organizational failure -- the crews and the Federation itself always prevails in the end.