International Organizational Behavior

MONTHLY WEB UPDATE

November 1, 2000 - Exploring Human Nature

Is There Human Nature?

At a time when pioneering research on the human genome has the potential to predict such seemingly inexplicable events as the likelihood of an individual, based on their genetic structure, committing suicide in their teenage years, is it:

  • Meaningful to talk about human nature?
  • Possible that something independent of biology exists that we can call human nature?
  • Increasingly likely that genetics is destiny?

What is Human Nature?

If the idea of human nature is a useful idea, another set of questions arises:

  • Are human beings basically all the same or are they fundamentally different?
  • What are the important similarities and differences?
  • If there is such a thing as human nature, how does it affect the behavior of individuals in organizations?
  • How does it influence group behavior in organizations?
  • Is it possible that human nature is the cause of human beings acting together to create organizations in the first place?

Evolutionary psychology, a relatively new discipline, attempts to answer questions like these. Some evolutionary psychologists argue that human nature puts limits on our ability to behave in new ways. For example, it has been argued that because of historically determined attributes, human beings prefer small organizations and attempts to create large organizations will fail. In this view social history, not genetics, creates the possibilities of human behavior.

Is Human Nature the Same in all Societies?

However human nature is defined, it can be asked whether human nature is universal or particular to specific cultures. In  Human Natures: Gene, Cultures, and the Human Prospect (Island Press) Paul R. Ehrlich writes:

    I argue, contrary to the prevailing notion, that human nature is not the same from society to society or from individual to individual, nor is it a permanent attribute of  Homo sapiens. Human natures are the behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes of  Homo sapiens and the changing physical structures that govern, support, and participate in our unique mental functioning. There are many such natures, a diversity generated especially by the overwhelming power of cultural evolution--the super-rapid kind of evolution in which our species excels. The human nature of a Chinese man living in Beijing is somewhat different from the human nature of a Parisian woman; the nature of a great musician is not identical with that of a fine soccer player; the nature of an inner-city gang member is different from the nature of a child being raised in an affluent suburb; the nature of someone who habitually votes Republican is different from that of her identical twin who is a Democrat; and my human nature, despite many shared features, is different from yours.

Of course, as Ehrlich acknowledges, other scholars think that human nature is universal. The underlying attributes of human nature are the same for people in China and Bolivia, for example, altruism or the fear of death.

Web Exercise

Using the Internet, explore the concept of human nature in different societies. The basic issues include: Are there different conceptions of human nature in different societies? What are the implications of human nature for organizational behavior?

A good place to begin is a consideration of your own view of human nature and your understanding of how your society thinks about human nature. Of course, you and your society may have the same views.

Some interesting Web Sites to begin a search are: