Abstract
The aim of this chapter is a short introduction to changing corporate culture from an evolutionary and systems thinking point of view. It highlights that some of the common observations in corporate culture are the outcome of adaptations of the human brain to complexity in social situations. Features like diversity and leadership play important roles in the ability to adjust a social system in response to internal or external pressures, however, these features are difficult to manage as typical human behavior in groups tends to favor other characteristics; there seems to be a bias against them. There are ways and means to accommodate for these behavioral preferences, but many of those options are indirect and long term and therefore need reflection, understanding, and a strategic perspective to implement.
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Testing Your Knowledge
Testing Your Knowledge
1.1 Answer the Following Questions as True (T) or False (F)
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1.
The human brain is easily overwhelmed by complexity.
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2.
Humans typically change their intensity of interactions depending on the total number of individuals relevant in the context.
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3.
Sending an e-mail is a form of communication.
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4.
A social system cannot be managed.
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5.
Social systems are self-stabilizing and self-sustaining.
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6.
Resistance to change can be interpreted as a lack of compatibility with the motivational structures of the people involved.
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7.
The position in the corporate hierarchy defines power in the social system “company”.
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8.
Corporate culture is an emergent property of the social system present in a company and cannot be controlled.
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9.
Power in a social system can be defined as the ability to change routine communication structures.
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10.
When people are uncertain about appropriate behavior in a situation they look for social proof.
1.2 Answers
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1.
False
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2.
True
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3.
False
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4.
False
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5.
True
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6.
True
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7.
False
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8.
True
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9.
True
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10.
True
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Harder, D.L., Tokarski, K.O. (2018). The Power to Change a Social System. In: Machado, C., Davim, J. (eds) Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management. Management and Industrial Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66864-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66864-2_3
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