Sunday, April 15, 2007
Wacky idea ...
Our kids love Animal Planet, National Geographic and Discovery Channel, and as parents we learn a lot just talking with our kids about the shows. Yesterday was a special on Ants on Animal Planet, and was fascinating to see how the colonies are organized and how individual ants understand their roles despite no central management.
Of course, this made me think of work and inefficiencies of working at a global company where clearly evidence of additional layers of management only results in delays in execution. If somehow economic incentives could be linked to the understanding of roles seen in ant colonies, the result would be a significantly efficient and scalable organizational structure.
Opened this blog mainly for placeholder for random thoughts ... maybe to approach one of my GSB professors (Dr. Canice J. Prendergast) who's Managing the Workplace course was one of the best in terms of change of how I work.
Some links with information that I had some ideas on how to link:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superorganism
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_Theory
In their respective courses, Professors Canice Prendergast and Damon Philips both taught how employee incentives influence workplace behavior ... in order to make a theory based on Ant behavior work, each employee would need to not only understand their role in colony, but also not worry about job security as well as have path for career and self advancement, etc. Links to their GSB webpages:
- http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/canice.prendergast/teaching/
- http://gsbportal.chicagogsb.edu/portal//server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_0_314_215_0_43/http%3B/gsbportal.chicagogsb.edu/Facultycourse/Portlet/FacultyDetail.aspx?&min_year=20064&max_year=20073&person_id=580067
Of course, this made me think of work and inefficiencies of working at a global company where clearly evidence of additional layers of management only results in delays in execution. If somehow economic incentives could be linked to the understanding of roles seen in ant colonies, the result would be a significantly efficient and scalable organizational structure.
Opened this blog mainly for placeholder for random thoughts ... maybe to approach one of my GSB professors (Dr. Canice J. Prendergast) who's Managing the Workplace course was one of the best in terms of change of how I work.
Some links with information that I had some ideas on how to link:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superorganism
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_Theory
In their respective courses, Professors Canice Prendergast and Damon Philips both taught how employee incentives influence workplace behavior ... in order to make a theory based on Ant behavior work, each employee would need to not only understand their role in colony, but also not worry about job security as well as have path for career and self advancement, etc. Links to their GSB webpages:
- http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/canice.prendergast/teaching/
- http://gsbportal.chicagogsb.edu/portal//server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_0_314_215_0_43/http%3B/gsbportal.chicagogsb.edu/Facultycourse/Portlet/FacultyDetail.aspx?&min_year=20064&max_year=20073&person_id=580067
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