The jet-setting, cell-toting executive might seem the epitome of 20th century civilization. But under that custom-tailored shirt beats the blood red heart of a caveman, according to one management theory.
Evolutionary psychology holds that although human beings today inhabit a thoroughly modern world, they do so with the ingrained mentality of Stone Age hunter-gatherers, writes Nigel Nicholson in the Harvard Business Review. Nicholson, a professor of economics at the London Business School, speculates that the survival skills humans honed on the African savanna thousands of years ago still dictate how we do business-and that supervisors who don't take that hardwiring into account are managing against the grain of human nature. Some aspects of the workplace he says are affected by our Neanderthal natures:
Gossip. The Stone-Age version of watercooler chatter kept our ancestors alive, and over time, the propensity to gossip became part of our mental programming. Instead of trying to prevent gossip, supervisors should make sure that the rumor mill avoids dishonesty or unkindness.
Group size. Humans are designed by evolution to work best in groups only as big as extended families, so managers should keep committees to under 12 members.
Creativity. We are hardwired to avoid loss when comfortable, but to scramble madly when threatened, writes Nicholson. The lesson: supervisors shouldn't let employees get complacent. Alternatively, they can hire the people whom evolution has made natural risk-takers: the descendants of yesterday's fearless hunters, suggests Nicholson, are today's brash entrepreneurs.
