Staying Human in the Organization

Bernhard and Glantz attribute many workplace problems to a basic conflict between human nature and the structure of modern organisations. 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 organisations, 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" relates these themes to evolutionary biology, the discipline which in recent years has been revolutionising the behavioural sciences. The result is a new way of thinking about labour relations and organisational development.

ISBN 0275942953   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9780275942953 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 426 Publisher ABC-CLIO   Published in Westport Imprint Greenwood Press   Series ISSN 1063-215 Format Hardback   Series title Human Evolution, Behaviour & Intelligence Publication date 30 Aug 1992   Height (mm) 229 Library of Congress HD58.7.B46   Width (mm) 152 DEWEY 302.35   Spine width (mm) 11 DEWEY edition DC20   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate Pages 176

		Introduction		1
1		The Unnatural Organization: Disconnection and Powerlessness		9
2		The Unnatural Organization: Anger and Resentment		19
3		The Natural Organization: The Hunter-Gatherer Band		27
4		Specific Features of the Band		33
5		The Band Inside the Organization		45
6		Work-Bands		53
7		Born-again Bands		59
8		A Rogues' Gallery of the Organization		69
9		Coping with Authority		79
10		Getting What You Need, Staying Out of Trouble		91
11		Women and the Organization		101
12		Organizations and the War Between the Sexes		109
13		The Hidden Logic of Organizational Theory		119
14		High Tech and Hierarchy		135
15		The Organization as Band: The Semco Experiment		143
16		Summing It Up		149
		Appendix: Anton Jay and the Hunting Band		151
		Bibliography		153
		Index		159

?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

 Be the first to write a customer review