Political Animals (Yes, Animals)
This intriguing NY Times article by Natalie Angier hints at ways animals make decisions in groups — from dolphins and whales to elephants and monkeys.
My favorite definition of politics is “of other people,” or more clearly, “The art or science of government or governing, especially the governing of a political entity, such as a nation, and the administration and control of its internal and external affairs.” -Answers.com
In addition to the animals mentioned by Ms. Angier, here’s bees and geese, and plants:
“Bees communicate…by means of a strange dance, called the waggle-dance, that honeybees perform when they return to the hive after a successful foraging trip. The nectar-laden bee dances on the comb in a circular pattern, occasionally crossing the circle in a zigzag or waggle pattern….
In 1973, Karl von Frisch was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work showing that the runs and turns of the dance were correlated to the distance and direction of the food source from the hive.”
-Steve Denning, The Secret Language of Leadership, page 97 “Why Honeybees Change their Minds.”
“The image that best captured the organizational end state I had in mind for Johnsonville was a flock of geese on the wing. I didn’t want an organizational chart with traditional lines and boxes, but a “V” of individuals who knew the common goal, took turns leading, and adjusted their structure to the task at hand. Geese fly in a wedge, for instance, but land in waves. Most important, each individual bird is responsible for its own performance.”
-from Ralph Stayer’s article “How I Learned to Let My Workers Lead.”
While in Barcelona, I was told that some ferns will emit a signal — through scent/chemicals, maybe — so that when one fern’s leaves are eaten, each fern sends a signal, down the line of ferns, so each fern’s leaves begin to taste very bitter. This means that a deer which starts to eat one fern has a bitter time eating any others in that line.
Howard Bloom’s book The Global Brain is a fascinating and epoch-spanning look at politics back billions of years.
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February 21st, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Alex,
Interesting commentary about animals. Being animals ourselves, we are still a lot more like them than we think! There are many of their behaviors that can be seen in organizations: the aggressive control and self-centered Lion, the two faced “change color with the environment” chameleon, the collaborative and hard working bees focused on community, and a large range of others in your Organizational Zoo. Find out more at www.organizationalzoo.com
Kind regards
Arthur