Advantage and success from confusion…the HR message of Garter snake

Does confusion give any advantage? Certainly the person who confuses others advertently would profit the best. Many corporate leaders seriously engage in confusing the people and make the maximum profit from it. In the course of time, every one in the organization would start to follow the above style and practices the art of confusing others to make their own gains.

Look at the unique behaviour of Garter snakes. Garter snakes are weakly poisonous and present commonly in Alaskan region, North and Central America. Usually their breeding season starts immediately after hibernation. During hibernation, the animals does not eat, the metabolic rate will drop to minimum and sleep throughout. Naturally when they wake up from hibernation, they will be hungry and cannot afford to loose any further energy.

The recognition of male by the female and vice versa is through a distinct and peculiar pheromone that clearly separates both the male and the female garter snakes. Interestingly most male snakes produce both the female and male pheromones and attract many male snakes. By sensing the female pheromone produced by a male snake, the male snakes coil around the male snake thinking it to be female and attempts to mate. By doing so, the male snake that has confused and fooled others would benefit the best. When others snakes coil it, they transfer their heat and also protect the ‘villain’ from loosing its body temperature. Once all the snakes that got fooled loose their energy, the villain male successfully mate the female without much competition.

The management message is simple and straight. Many people in corporate do exhibit the typical behaviour of the male garter snake. They cause utter confusion in the system and make people around panic and eccentric. When people are panic and confused, they appear as very clear, level headed and wise to the management.

Some people also would cause fear in the system and unnecessary concern in the minds of people. Naturally such fear would affect the performance of people. Unfortunately, the corporate leaders and the HR function may venerate such people are ‘strict’ and ‘vigilant’.

They are like male garter snakes who know how to fool people and take advantage from it. It has been proved that many male garter snakes slowly turn to produce the pheromones of both the male and female and confuse others. Confusing and fooling others become one of the ‘hallmark behaviour’ of garter snakes.

If we carefully examine many corporate, we can see the existence of many garter snakes. Like how the garter snakes confuse and fool other males soon after they come out of hibernation and just before breeding season, the garter snake people in corporate also start their game of confusing people especially during performance appraisal and annual review period. More than they breed mistrust, they make people to become ‘cheaters’ in the corporate.

Only when the HR functions the way they are supposed to or expected to function, the garter snake people in corporate can be weeded out.

Dr S Ranganathan, ClinRise Derma Pvt., Ltd., Chennai