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What you assume wrong in management can be right in biology
Highlights
People in the corporate world often say that ‘if people continue to do what they have been doing, they will continue to get what they have been getting’, nothing more and nothing less. To get different results, one needs to do things differently. It is, not doing different things offer success but only doing things differently ensure success.
People in the corporate world often say that ‘if people continue to do what they have been doing, they will continue to get what they have been getting’, nothing more and nothing less. To get different results, one needs to do things differently. It is, not doing different things offer success but only doing things differently ensure success.
How true is the above management saying, according to biology? Adaptation and subsequent evolution are considered to be the hallmark of success both by biology and by people in corporate world. Unless a species develop the necessity to live in the ‘same’ or ‘similar’ ecosystem, the species would never adapt or evolve. Instead of adapting, it may try to move to another habitat. But the question of survival would continue to be in peril for such life forms if it fails to adapt.
The question is when a species adapt, then when it would evolve? Is the species when continue to do what it has been doing to survive in the given ecosystem, adapt or the species when attempts to do different things like changing its habitat, food etc., adapt well? Certainly, only the former group adapt better than the later group.
Certainly, adaptation is always ‘situation’ specific or ‘situation’ dependent. Aquatic adaptation is not suited for terrestrial existence and vice versa. Only when a species has ‘continuous’ and ‘sustained’ interest to live in a particular habitat, in a particular way, has to eat a particular food etc., adaptation occurs. If the efforts and the needs are not continuous, the changes will not be perfect.
The corporate world always professes to its people to adapt to the situation as adaptation only will lead one to success. ‘Continuous’ state of anything is necessary for adaptation. Continuous state means, one is continuously doing what he or she is doing. In other words, a state of ‘relative’ permanency is what required. To have a state of ‘relative’ permanency, uni-focused and uni-directional actions are inevitable.
‘If you continue to do what you have been doing, you will continue to get what you have been getting’, but people in the corporate are widely advised not to follow the above approach. But in biology, only the above management gospel allows success to happen. What you assume wrong in management can be right in biology. If the contradictions are not fully understood and appreciated, people would preach many management insights without knowing their meaning or relevance.
Either the word ‘adaptation’ should be ‘ex-communicated’ from the corporate parlance, or the saying of ‘if you continue to do what you have been doing, you continue to get what you have been getting’ must be removed from the corporate world.
The deeper insight one has to decode from the above phrase is that, one should not adapt in the corporate world. It means, at least, at the employee level. Corporate needs to adapt, both culturally and in its marketing efforts. But employees should never attempt to adapt in the organization. If you adapt means, you are making yourself fit to survive only in the same organization.
In other words, you are developing near absolute level of dependency on the organization. Your continuous state of adaptation will make you evolve further. Once you are evolved, you may find it difficult to change your job or move out of the organization.
What one may find right from one angle can go wrong if it is observed from another angle. Employees need to know the meaning of ‘subjective right’ and ‘subjective wrong’ only then they can chose what is ‘right’ without going ‘wrong’.
Dr S Ranganathan
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