Darwiportunism.

Darwiportunism.

(Modern work without job guarantees – Christian Scholz)

“Darwiportunism” is a conventional approach of Scholz (1999: 2003). It is means the combination of Darwinism and Opportunism. It may be used for descriptions of economies as well as for single organizations of any kind, such as companies, clubs, or Universities.

Darwinism.

Caharles Darwin detected the logic of evolution with the mechanisms of “Variation, Selection, and Retention”. It is based on the idea of a population, which consist of a major group of independent individuals, who show specific characteristics. Example of populations include species of animal such as rabbits and horses, but the team population can also apply in the business world to describe enterprises of the same industry, employees, or managers. The competition between different groups of the populations is based on the evolutionary paradigm “survival of the fittest” A phrase coined by Herbert Spencer.

The first step of an evolutionary process called “Variation” During this step all individuals of a population change their characteristics, so that they will have a better chance to survive in comparison with others. In nature, this variation arises by chance.

In the second step “selection”, the environment decided which population has adapted best. In nature selection means the difference between the surviving and not surviving because those populations, which are not adapted as well as the others, will be eliminated.

The third step of Darwinism is called “Retention”. Only populations which survive the selection are able to reproduce. Consequently, only the best characteristics persist. In the concept of Darwinism these three processes alternate.

This evolutionary logic is immanent in any collectives of living creatures and can also be found in the business world, even if hardly any company openly confesses to use darwinistic systems. Every day, the fight for market share take place in all industries. In influence the whole life within companies, where Darwinism is the explicit or implicit ideological foundation for reconstruction in the direct ion of “radical market orientation”.

The Darwinistic phenomenon does not only take place between companies, but in every part of the company itself. The dominance of darwinistic ideas is reflected in several instruments of internal leadership. For example, the positive-sounding team of “shareholders value” means in fact the selection of companies in the capital market. Both “optimization of the value chain” and “ profit center” means to eliminates weaker parts from the value chain. The “personal selection” is the intended HRM part, “mobbing” occurs unintentionally. The consequence of these competitive mechanisms for the individual employees is that they no longer have guaranteed jobs.

Companies only survive competition if they focus on their corporate strategy and their core competencies. Thus, only companies that have better capabilities in this respect than the other companies in the industry will be able to survive.

     

Opportunism

This logic can be found in respect to the behavior of individuals in organizations. Employees behavior is described as “intentionally rational, but limited so” (Simon 1957) and as “opportunistic” (Williamson 1975).

The core of opportunism means “do the same as all do; Look for your opportunities and exploit them” individuals act in order to maximize their own benefits, using their individual strengths to get ahead in the business world. They give priority to their own advancement, even if their goals are not concurrent with the objectives of the company or even if they may harm other peoples’ interests.

In consequence, there is no longer assumption that the company’s objectives are the same as the objectives of the employees. Instead of pushing common interests, individual and egoist needs are met; from maximizing the income to optimizing one’s career. These individuals are characterized by self-motivation and ambition. If they can get another better paid job, they will seize this opportunity at once, without regard for loyalty to their current employer.

Darwiportunism

Darwiportunism is a phenomenon of modern work life. It is composed of the search for individual chances (Opportunism) and the collective mechanism of selection (Darwinism). Darwiportunism as a concept assumes that both components influence each other and might even escalate. Although many companies think that this phenomenon would not appear in their work at all, it is real and cannot be easily ignored. But this phenomenon is not necessarily bad but also bears chances to develop the organization.

The core question is – given the behavioral assumptions of Darwinism and Opportunism, what happens, if companies play open or hidden Darwinism and if employees look for open or hidden self-optimization….?

Combining both behavioral assumptions in different intensities, one receives four basic constellations. They are also called “implicit contracts” for the collaboration in companies. (Scholz 2003)

  

Figure 1 : Darwiportunism Matrix (Scholz 2003)

1.      Good old time.

This is describe the traditional work life. On the one hand, the employees shoe their loyalty towards the company, on the other hand the company provides the employees with a feeling of job security. If can have both positive and negative consequences.

Looking at the positive side the company will be stabilized. The enterprise and employees will work together in an atmosphere of harmony without internal competition.

The negative side of the “good old time” is characterized by a stagnation resulting from a lack of internal or external competition.

2.      Kindergarten.

Highly opportunistic behavior of the employees. They seek to maximize their benefits and chances, with little concern for the survival of the company in which they work. This behavior is typically found in the new economy. In the positive case there will be a high level of innovation and the negative case the individual opportunistic behavior will put the company in to the difficult position by a low capability to survive in competition.

3.      Feudalism

Employees must accept the main objective of the company is to survive in competition and that it cannot consider the problems and needs of the employees. The employees know that they must behave in a way dictated by the company.  They feel forced to show loyalty towards it and fear for the security of their job if they do not comply. Positive side of feudalism is the increase efficiency and the negative effect of increase absenteeism from work offset this.

4.      Pure Darwiportunism

An open communication between the two parties. Both know that the other party will only maximize his utility, but they also know that they only can maximize their utility together. The companies give the employees uncertainty and the employees show disobedience towards the company. Both parties accept this, if, on the other hand the employees will earn enough money. Furthermore, the employees often change the enterprise, when there is another better paid job, which offers more benefits for the individual. The positive is there will be a better chance for the company to survive in competition Negative is the employees will change the company again and again.

Practical Implementation of the Drawiportunism

Above all four constellations in their openly communicated from can make sense in different contexts. A problem arises the constellations are hidden. In that case the communicated position and the really intended position are differ. For an example, if the employees see themselves in the “Good old time” but if at the same time the company seeks to implement “Pure darwiportunism”, a leadership crises can be expected.

In corporate implementation the concept of Drawiportunism lead to a differentiated management and personal development. The modern work system in the global context today does not mean that “Hire and Fire” of the companies or “Sign and Leave” of the employees should be the normal situation. On the contrary, it means that new rules of behavior have to be defined which improve the range of action of the companies and of the employees, regardless how strong the competition is.

It is based on a clear communication of the behavioral intentions. Company and employees must accept their opportunism and Darwinism, and they must also reduce all mechanisms, which help to prevent Darwinism and opportunism. To accept mean not to feel insulted as a company when employees decide to leave and to follow different objectives. This is still a different to ultimate tolerance. If an employee refuse to do his work or work less or worse than he should, this special kind of opportunism has not to be tolerated by the company. To accept does also not mean that companies no longer try to keep their employees.

There are three steps to implement of Darwiportunism.

01.   The diagnosis of the current position of a managerial decision topic in the drawiportunism matrix.

02.   The target position in the Drawiportunism matrix has to be define. This leads to behavioral rules for the companies and for the employees.

03.   Specific actions can be drive based on the previous steps.

References.

·         Darwin, Charles H, The Origin of Species, London (Murray) 6.ed.1900.

·        Scholz, Christian, Darwiportunismus: Das neue Szenario im Berufsleben, in: Das Wirtschaftsstudium 28(1999), 1182-1184.

·   Scholz, Christian, Spieler ohne Stammplatzgarantie. Darwiportunismus in der neuen Arbeitswelt, Weinheim (Wiley-VCH) 2003.

·  Simon, Herbert A., Administrative Behavior. A study of Decision- Making Processwes in Administrative Organization, New York (Macmillan) 2.ed.1957

·      Williamson, Oliver E., Market and Hierarchies. Analysis and Antitrust Implications, New York (Free Press) 1975.