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Evolutionary Psychology and Business Applications
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Book Description
In this remarkable book, Nigel Nicholson takes a fresh, novel, and
penetrating look at human nature and why we do what we do at work.
Why we let one piece of bad news drive out 100 pieces of good. Create the
"us versus them" problem by immediately classifying people as winners
and losers.
And think we can "tough things out," ignoring clues of disaster
staring us in the face.
The explanation of these, and hundreds of other perplexing, frequently
unproductive ways that people think and act at work lies in understanding the
emotional and behavioral hardwiring that is the legacy of our Stone Age
ancestors.
Nigel Nicholson is at the forefront of the exciting -- some would say radical --
new field of evolutionary psychology. While we have to cope with the modern
world and the complexities of working in organizations, we do so with brains
hardwired for Stone Age realities. Nicholson uses the ideas of evolutionary
psychology to challenge many conventional beliefs about human nature with a more
realistic picture of what motivates people and shapes their thoughts and actions
at work.
We constantly hear that there is no limit to what we can do and who we can be.
By force of will and the exercise of our great intelligence we can reengineer
organizations and always make rational decisions. Politics, turf wars, rumor,
and gossip can be eliminated. Status and sex differences can count for naught.
It's time to get real and end this kind of utopian daydreaming. Evolutionary
psychology shows that we are animals with a highly engineered, genetically
encoded design for our bodies and our minds. Nicholson's insights from
evolutionary psychology will intrigue and inform those looking to understand our
instincts and manage them with skill. Several of the highly practical
realizations he provides readers include:
Why we create problems for ourselves by imagining that the differences between
the sexes or their effects can be eliminated. How inborn differences
in temperament make people either fit or unfit for leadership positions and why
organizations get the kind of leaders they deserve. Why gossip and rumor
are not destructive forces but the lifeblood of communication in the world of
work. Why there is a limit to the size of organizations as integrated
communities, best described as "the rule of 150."
Nigel Nicholson's brilliant and practical Executive Instinct enables you to
manage with -- not against -- the grain of human nature.
Experimental Economics (Schools of thought in economics)
By Vernon L. Smith (Editor)
Edward Elgar Publishing, May 1990
ISBN: 1852780614
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Cartels of the Mind: Japan's Intellectual Closed Shop
By Ivan P. Hall
Hardcover
WW Norton & Co. Nov. 1997
ISBN: 0393045374
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