Memetics and Management Meme: a cognitive or behavioural pattern that can be transmitted from one individual to another.

Memetics: the theoretical and empirical sciences that studies the replication, spread and evolution of memes. What if we think of managers as meme machines, men and women who are basically transmitting memes in service of the organisation? The paradigm shifting movie, The Matrix transported us into a parallel world in which we (humans) are merely energy storing devices for another life force. We dont know this and continue to live our daily existence in a seemingly normal world until one of us breaks through and discovers that our world is more illusion than reality; we have been caught up in the matrix. Now this might sound all futuristic and mumbo jumbo yet there is a powerful metaphor in the movie that we cannot escape from: to what extent are we really in control of our lives? How does this seeming self direction play itself in the world of work where many of us are part of large, bureaucratic organisations? Susan Blackmore introduces the theory of human beings as meme machines. Building on the earlier idea of Richard Dawkins selfish gene, she suggests that the distinctiveness of human beings is our capacity to imitate one another. By this process of imitation, ideas and behaviours are transmitted from one being to another and to whole groups of people. The religion meme is one such example where people who believe in something strongly passed down to them transmit this meme to others and they to others until a web of replication is formed all operating on the common meme. Memes are different from genes. Genes can only be replicated vertically as in a bloodline but memes can be replicated both vertically and horizontally and therefore come out as more powerful. We come back to the old nature vs nurture debate. Your genetic predisposition may direct you in a certain way however this can be influenced and re-directed by the dominant memes in society. A genetic view of humans and organisations suggest static replication down the line with evolutionary adaptations in the context of environmental changes. A memetic view suggests that human beings are able to create and transmit new ideas and behavioural patterns shaping a new way of thinking or way of working. Memes can be good or bad depending on your worldview. Whats the relationship with management? In many organisations, management is the necessary chore that has to get done, given our heirachical organisation structures. Management becomes the default role for upwardly mobile individuals, many of whom take this role rather reluctantly and out of necessity. In a universal Darwinian worldview, progress into management ranks is a sign of the survival of the fittest. The rules of the game to the top demands a certain brand of ruthlessness and driven determination. In this world hard work might be an entry but political smartness wins the day. In one of Dilberts cartoons we have the boss distinguishing himself from his subordinate by reminding him that he(the worker) works much harder than the boss and gets paid less than the boss. This begs the question, what do managers do anyway? They dont produce stuff except reports 1

and memos, they dont fix machines, they dont dig trenches or drill holes. Yet they get paid much more than hard working staff in the organisation. So what is it that they do? I see managers as memetic machines. Their job is to transmit ideas or behaviours from the top to the bottom of the organisation. They do this by attending lots of meetings, strategising, and then delegating. All of this work is head work or cognitive processing. They are really replicators of the organisations real drivers whatever it takes to succeed and thrive. Every progressive layer of management become transmitters of the big boss idea which is really the shareholders idea. A successful organisation is able to transmit the same meme from the top to the bottom. Competitive advantage is determined by the speed at which memes are transmitted and the extent to which anti-memes are dealt with. Think of it managers are in reality knowledge workers transmitting ideas, directives and behaviours. By imitation the next level of aspirant manager internalises the meme and then transmits it to his next line of managers until it gets to the shopfloor where the real work happens. Whats the problem? Donald Trumps TV series The Apprentice typifies the survival of the fittest principle. The last one standing wins and so the meme for becoming a manager is competition and survival at all costs. This becomes the model that most aspirant managers are hired on. Headhunters and search firms scour the market to find those that are high on the competitiveness index. These young men and women are hired into organisations which have a strange talk about collaboration, team work, breaking down silos. All this does not fit into the behavioural pattern of survive and thrive and we have a cognitive dissonance between the real rules of organisational success and the espoused values and behaviours. Young managers that quickly work out this paradox get a passport to front of the line. We hire on competitive traits and then corporate speak our new hires into becoming collaborators. We seek out young lions ready for the hunt and then want them to behave like cute kittens playing nicely together. Many organisations obsess with collaboration as a desired way of working, paying consultants megamoney to bring their latest wares of morale building, team work and boundaryless management. They all work for a short time and then the system slowly reverts to its natural rhythm of internal competition because this is what we really reward. Something doesnt make sense. We hire using a process of natural selection seeking out the fittest assembling a team of lean, mean fighting machines. Then we reward them (meme them) to outdo one another through lucrative performance bonus, sales incentives and public recognition. This is not so different from primary school reward system; a gold star for top student and the always cherished teachers favourite. This early wiring persists into young adulthood by which time the roles of competitive engagement are entrenched. University reinforces this competitive drive in the class and on the sportsfield. The star student is the one with the trophy and string of cheerleaders. Performance is commoditized and sold to the highest bidding employer.

Further mobility requires a MBA behind your name all self respecting managers nowadays must have a M behind their names. The competition to get in is stiff. If this is not demanding in itself then you have to deal with the huge time and strain it places on the aspiring manager and her family. Sometimes mobility to the top requires a sacrifice of friends and family or so they have been memed. Back into the rat race playing by the same rules, climbing the ladder higher and higher to top. Life is lonely up there; watch your back, trust no one, make sure your tribe is staying at the top of their game. If they fail - you fail. Compete to the death. This is the unspoken meme of top management and it passes down the line as shape up or ship out. Memes for Good If managers are indeed powerful memetic messengers, how can organisations put to good this human capability? How would a meme of collaboration look like at the level of top management? How would genuine teamwork at the top transmit itself to successive levels of managers both vertically and horizontally. What would a matrix of collaborative memes look like? How can organisations succeed and thrive through internal collaboration and not competition. The dominant organisational DNA is to dispose poor performing units. With this internal focus where unit is pitched against unit, the whole organisation suffers as the competition from outside quickly comes in for the kill. Jim Collins Level 5 leadership demonstrates an alternative meme sequence. This leadership involves both humility (otherwise captured in servant leadership) with strength of decisiveness. It is more appreciative of contribution, celebrates achievement, supports growth and manages poor performance. What if the meme of management changed from a producing machine to a human body, each part having a distinct role, function and value addition? What management memes would create a space for high performance which at the same time strengthens the weaker parts of the organisation? What if the management meme we transmit takes seriously the notion that the whole is more than the sum of its parts? What if the CEOs chief job is recognised as meme creation?

Stanley Arumugam 26th May 2012

Reference: Susan Blackmore, The Meme Machine 1999