Short description
This work bridges the gap between the findings from evolutionary biology and insights about humanity derived from the social sciences. It reveals the way people behave in the most fascinating setting of human behaviour: the workplace.
Long description
A touchstone for understanding how we behave on the job "This is a stimulating and provocative book in bringing together important ideas from different fields, and, thereby, giving us a whole new slant on 'human nature. '" --Edgar H. Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus and Senior Lecturer, MIT In this astonishing, provocative, and solidly researched book, two Harvard Business School professors synthesize 200 years of thought along with the latest research drawn from the biological and social sciences to propose a new theory, a unified synthesis of human nature. Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria have studied the way people behave in that most fascinating arena of human behavior--the workplace--and from their work they produce a book that examines the four separate and distinct emotive drives that guide human behavior and influence the choices people make: the drives to acquire, bond, learn, and defend. They ultimately show that, just as advances in information technology have spurred the New Economy in the last quarter of the twentieth century, current advances in biology will be the key to understanding humans and organizations in the new millennium.
Review
"...an interesting book which explores and integrates findings from several disciplines and which contributes further to the field of evolutionary psychology in a readable manner..." (The Occupational Psychologist, April 2002)
Table of contents
- CHAPTER I TOWARD A UNIFIED SCIENCE OF HUMAN NATURE
- CHAPTER EVOLUTION OF THE MODERN HUMAN MIND
- CHAPTER INNATE DRIVES AND SKILLS
- CHAPTER THE DRIVE TO ACQUIRE (D)
- CHAPTER THE DRIVE TO BOND (D)
- CHAPTER THE DRIVE TO LEARN (D)
- CHAPTER THE DRIVE TO DEFEND (D)
- CHAPTER HUMAN NATURE AND HUMAN CULTURE
- CHAPTER WHY SO MUCH DIVERSITY? CHAPTER ORIGIN OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
- CHAPTER HUMAN NATURE IN ORGANIZATIONAL LIFE
- CHAPTER THE ROAD FORWARD