In the business world, this phenomenon is often called the principle-agent problem. When the interests of the individual taking an action are no longer aligned with the interests of the person or group who will bear the cost of that action, disaster usually follows. This is why every bureaucracy eventually cannibalizes the organization it was built to serve. Eventually, the incentives for managers are so desperately out of line with the interests of the institution that it looks like it is being run by a cabal of its enemies.
