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Title: Managing the Human Animal Authors: Nigel Nicholson. Publisher: Texere, 2000, 310 pages. Manageris 113b. While we are now in the information age, our minds are still in the Stone Age! This is the observation made by evolutionary psychologists. They show that our instincts have emerged over hundreds of millennia of human evolution in response to challenges very different from those that confront us today. Managing the Human Animal applies evolutionary psychology to the business world. The author points out that most large organizations are not designed to take account of human nature and recommends several ways to rectify this situation. Although the thinking is somewhat controversial, we believe that managers should find this book quite stimulating. Main subject [Organizational Psychology] |
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This book stands out in the landscape of management books. It is certainly audacious in attempting to analyze the deepest human instincts inherited from our prehistoric past and draw relevant conclusions for business today. Even those who do not adhere to the proposed ideas should find this work quite interesting. Easy to read, this book stimulates thinking on the soundness of accepted management dogma by viewing at the topic from a fresh angle.
- To grasp the essential messages in the book, don’t miss chapters 1, 2 and 8. Chapters 1 and 2 in particular show how little our way of acting and reacting has changed since the Stone Age. They highlight just how far current management practices depart from the way humans “naturally” work, by dispelling many commonplace management myths. Chapter 2 digs deeper into these questions, and represents the destructive consequences of denying these instincts as “seven deadly syndromes.” Finally, chapter 8 proposes a list of solutions to take human nature into account – although this list is unfortunately rather unoriginal.
- Different management topics are then successively analyzed in chapters 3 to 7, among which readers may pick and choose according to their interests.
- The highly controversial subject of the differences between men and women is covered in chapter 3. In defending the thesis of inequality of the sexes, the author goes against the current tendency to view the world as asexual. Above and beyond the caricaturized vision of men hunting and women guarding the cave, the essential interest of this chapter lies in demonstrating the predominance of male values in companies and recommending an approach that integrates the needs of both sexes.
- Chapter 4 is devoted to leadership, with the postulate that this is an innate quality. Notwithstanding this rather limited observation which contradicts the findings of other studies, this chapter will be of particular interest to the leaders of family firms who are thinking about their succession.
- One of the most interesting chapters is chapter 5, which covers the irrationality of the human mind. This chapter sheds new light on the biases that influence our thinking, which have been described on many occasions by psychologists and sociologists. It explains the role of emotions and intuition in decision-making, as illustrated by the example of the fall of Barings bank.
- Finally, the way groups operate is the object of chapters 6 and 7. Chapter 6 emphasizes the instinctive search for trusting relationships - which causes us to prefer people we know to people we don’t - and our strong need to situate ourselves. Chapter 7 develops upon the theme of communication, and shows our instinctive preference for face-to-face verbal communication and the inevitability of rumors.
Critical commentary…
By Christoph Loch,
Professor
of Technology Management at INSEAD.
Executive Instinct takes on the challenging and current topic of Evolutionary Psychology (EP) and its application to today's corporate environments. EP applies insights from biological evolution to the study of the human mind. EP has contributed to the realization that our mind is not a “general purpose computer.” Rather, the mind is made up of modules that are really good at certain specific things, such as detecting social cheaters, finding good mates, or tracking the give-and-take in social alliances. In turn, we are quite bad at other things, such as mathematics, understanding risk, or appreciating the consequences of our actions when no one whom we personally know is affected. While the application of biology to social groups (and that’s what management is about) was rejected for most of the 20th century, it has become acceptable over the last decade.
Accordingly, this book covers some of the key themes of EP and translates them into “management principles.” It starts with the “seven deadly syndromes” that supposedly lay bare the incompatibility of today’s organizations with our “stone age mind,” and then discusses the differences between the sexes, leadership, the illusion of rationality, our biases in favor of family, friends and in-group members over strangers, as well as gossip and rumors. Chapter 8 concludes with sketching the organization of the future.
Alas, while the time is right for such a book, Executive Instinct does not fully take up the challenge. Some interpretations – such as those in Chapters 3 and 5 – contradict the findings of other academics on this topic. But most importantly, the book proceeds on the assumption of the “noble savage” – the belief that humans in their “natural state” (that is, small hunter and gatherer clans of 150 people) were democratic and harmonious. The book traces the travails of the modern organization to deviations from the “natural” hunter and gatherer structure. Not only is this wrong, since traditional societies suffered from much higher levels of conflict and violence than modern cultures, but most regrettably, Dr. Nicholson’s recommendations flowing from the noble savage myth become banal. For example, the seven deadly syndromes of Chapter 2 are unsurprising repetitions of longstanding observations by Organizational Behavior professionals. And the recommendation to “create a community spirit through cohesiveness and stable membership, and reward actions that are for the good of the whole” is simply trivial.
Humans have lived, since the dawn of time, in a fundamental dilemma between conflict (propagate my own genes) and group cooperation (help the entire group to succeed even at a cost to myself). This dilemma has imprinted itself on the modules of our mind, which represent both sides: greed and status competition on the one hand, and kin love, group solidarity, and reciprocity on the other. These modules are as useful to us today as they were a million years ago, complementing our rational intelligence. However, they can sometimes be triggered inappropriately, so understanding them can help us consciously adapt our behavior to a certain degree.
This is the first book to attempt an application of EP lessons to management. While that is commendable, it is not enough. Let's hope a next attempt will soon produce more innovative insights.
Further readings…
- La
logique de l'informel
Gérard Pavy – Les Editions d'Organisation. (Book)
Capitalize on the unofficial side of the organization. - Emotional
Intelligence
Daniel Goleman – Bantam Books. (Book)
Become aware of the crucial importance of a form of intelligence that is often insufficiently understood. - Emotional Intelligence at Work
Hendrie Weisinger – Jossey-Bass. (Book)
Develop your emotional intelligence in the workplace. - The Anatomy
of Buzz
Emanuel Rozen – Currency-Doubleday. (Book)
Understand how rumors work and capitalize on word of mouth.
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