Staying Human in the Organization

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Staying Human in the Organization Our Biological Heritage and the Workplace

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By J. Gary Bernhard and Kalman Glantz

ISBN: 0-275-94295-3

ISBN-13: 978-0-275-94295-3

DOI:

176 pages, figures

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 8/30/1992

List Price: $103.95 (UK Sterling Price: £59.95)

Availability:

Media Type: Hardcover

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Series Title: Human Evolution, Behavior, and Intelligence

Reviews:

The authors content that the genes we inherited from hunter-gatherer bands represent a common biological heritage that has influenced human behavior. They examine features of bands that provided members emotional fulfillment and contrast them to today's hierarchical organizations which inhibit emotional fulfillment by impeding close personal ties among members. Workers experience feelings of alienation, loss of self-esteem, and often lack of respect for their superiors who frequently possess authority not because of competence but solely because of position. The contention that human behavior is motivated by the ancient past in which small groups lived and worked together is an interesting perspective. The book is well researched with insightful references to bands in past societies.... The book would be useful to interested general readers and students of organizational behavior, anthropology, and sociology.
—Choice

Description: Bernhard and Glantz attribute many workplace problems to a basic conflict between human nature and the structure of modern organizations. Because human beings evolved in small, egalitarian hunter-gatherer bands, most humans have emotional needs that can best be satisfied in small groups that are based on personal reciprocity, sharing, teamwork, and genuine interdependence. In such groups, leadership can be based on acknowledged personal ability, everyone can feel important, and the common goal can weld people together in a way that is both efficient and personally satisfying. The authors see the formal hierarchies of modern organizations, where authority often replaces leadership, as the resurgence of pre-human primate social relationships in which bluffing, threatening, and intimidation played a major role. Numerous and varied examples from the workplace lend the analysis graphic immediacy and authenticity. Many theories have been advanced to explain such workplace phenomena as endemic dissatisfaction, low productivity, and high absenteeism. Many books have argued that teams, a democratic management style, and employee participation are essential, given an educated work force that doesn't live in fear of being fired. Staying Human in the Organization is the first book to relate these themes to evolutionary biology, the discipline which in recent years has been revolutionizing the behavioral sciences. The result is a new way of thinking about labor relations and organizational development.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
The Unnatural Organization: Disconnection and Powerlessness
The Unnatural Organization: Anger and Resentment
The Natural Organization: The Hunter-Gatherer Band
Specific Features of the Band
The Band Inside the Organization
Work-Bands
Born-again Bands
A Rogues' Gallery of the Organization Behavior
Coping with Authority
Getting What You Need, Staying Out of Trouble
Women and the Organization
Organizations and the War Between the Sexes
The Hidden Logic of Organizational Theory
High Tech and Hierarchy
The Organization as Band: The Semco Experiment
Summing It Up
Appendix: Anton Jay and the Hunting Band
Bibliography
Index

LC Card Number: 92-892

LCC Class: HD58

Dewey Class: 302.3


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