Tit-ism in corporate – HR message from Great Tit

The Great Tit is a small passerine bird distributed widely in different parts of Europe, the Middle East, Central and Northern Asia and parts of North Africa.

The great tit being a small bird, usually it settles with small insects and spiders as its main food and that is how the general understanding of the food habits of great tit by many. But the bird has recently surprised the scientists and wildlife biologists. What was believed or understood about the food habits of the bird was proven to be wrong. The bird has proved the great management principle of compulsion and adversity alone reveal the identity of really ‘who is who’ or ‘what is what’.

During winter, when food is scarce, scientist have discovered that the bird great tit hunt and eat hibernating bats of the species Pipistrelle. Scientist could not believe that such a small bird hut preys like bats. The food scarcity in the environment compels them to be opportunistic predator/hunter.

The modern corporate has lot to learn from the above weird and incredible behaviour of great tits. Many people who are otherwise understood or described to be quite, calm and harmless can exhibit ‘tit-ism’ in corporate. In other word, many tits will be there in the corporate world. For such strange and bizarre expression of behaviour of ‘tit – ism’ in corporate, two important factors are necessary viz.,

1. Lack of opportunity
2. Availability of hibernating people

When the corporate does not provide opportunity to performers and performance to take place and does not respect and recognize people or work, duly became ‘Hungarian cave’ where the employees become Great tit and would easily resorts to predation.

In corporate, many people prefer to go for hibernation as being ‘inactive’ is the best way to secure job and pass time. The hibernating people in the corporate will be the easy target to the tits in corporate, like how the hibernating bats in Hungarian cave falls prey to hungry winter tits.

The HR function must get the message clear if they see a ‘great tit’ in the corporate. They should not just describe it to be the worst opportunistic behaviour of some people; many people are hibernating in the organization, doing equally a worst thing, but are not visible. This message also the HR must recognize.

The existence of both group of people are possible only due to the worst HR culture and hence instead of blaming people, the culture should be improved. This should be the first approach of the HR function.

It is not, the common things in nature only conveys a best management message to the corporate; even a bizarre and weird behaviour of some animals also will give a best management insight. Learn from tits and the hibernating bats.

Dr S Ranganathan