Human beings and the power of others
People are profoundly social beings. Our thoughts, behaviour and performance are influenced far more than we want to admit by the people around us.
And yet much of our management and Human Resources “best practice” ignores this fact and acts as if the target for performance improvement or change in organisations should almost exclusively be the individual – whether that is individual leaders or employees generally. This ignores the evidence of research that emerged in the 1960’s with the famous work of Stanley Milgram at Yale and that has continued on over the decades demonstrating that the vast majority of people will be strongly influenced by authority figures and by their peers. This influence can be for good or for ill, but rarely can people resist the influence of the group or of social hierarchy.
Social context has a powerful influence on people’s behaviour and performance
Milgram’s and others’ research showed how people could be easily influenced to support answers they would otherwise know were factually incorrect and to act in morally reprehensible ways they would individually not support. Milgram’s famous experiments showed that, regardless of almost all social or individual demographic characteristics, under certain circumstances 62 percent of people will conform to the point of inflicting significant pain and potentially death on someone who has done nothing to harm them when instructed to do so by an apparent authority figure and when their peers appear to go along with this. Up to about 25-30 percent of people appear to be able to dissent and hold out for some time against the pressure to conform, although who those individuals are and when they break ranks will usually vary depending on the particular circumstances. (Michael Bond, The Power of Others, 2015 p. 63-103)
Social context and the need to connect with others plays a major role in people’s behaviour, attitudes and performance. But other than rather generalised references to that mysterious dimension of “culture”, our management and human resource practices largely ignore the powerful forces of social influence that can make otherwise good people do evil things and otherwise average individuals act as heros. This power extends to performance in organisations.
An ideology that blinds?
The unwillingness to acknowledge the power of social influence in organisations is all the more strange when we see other disciplines and groups in our society that are clearly drawing on this knowledge and research as their life blood. Marketing and advertising, politicians and political campaigners, the media and social media, power brokers and intelligence agencies, all use the research on the effect of social influence on human behaviour to shape their power and influence. But not business management and human resources – at least not overtly. Why is that?
Is it because the ideology of western capitalism that underpins business and human resource management promotes individualism, rationalism and monetary rewards for individual effort as primary drivers of action, rather than the social group. It’s hard to reconcile this mindset with data which shows that people’s performance is more influenced by the power of the group, by authority figures, and by appeals to emotion over human reason. Research also shows that social rewards are usually far more powerful incentives than monetary rewards in shaping performance in groups.
The data has been around for decades and we are surrounded by other groups that use it as their bread and butter. Managing the social context in organisations is critical for effective people management.
Human resource management practices ignore the design of people
Human Resources practices are almost exclusively focused on the individual - from recruitment and selection practices, to performance management and reward practices, leadership philosophies, managing change, and understanding organisational performance. These processes usually overlook issues like the impact of social context on an individual’s behaviour and performance, how people work together to produce results that are very different to the sum of their individual capabilities, and how a person's interpretation of what behaviour is expected and rewarded by the group and authority figures significantly affects their actual behaviour and performance. Ignoring this complexity undermines the effectiveness of organisational systems and people management practices.
We like to think the capability of individuals in organisations is the critical factor in performance, and we ignore the research that one of the most powerful forces for performance improvement is the power of the social group. As social psychologist and neuroscientist Matthew Lieberman (Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect, 2013 p.9) says:
"…our brains are wired for reaching out to, and interacting with others. These are design features, not flaws. These social adaptations are central to making us the most successful species on the planet.”
So why not use these design features deliberately for good in organisations? This should be the focus of a mindset shift that would reinvent Human Resource practices and people and performance management in organisations.
Susan Kehoe
Consultant | Coach | Change Leader
Work with Susan
Susan specialises in people-focused strategy from development through to implementation and performance improvement, people, leadership and culture change, and transformation and innovation. She brings practical experience and thought leadership gained from many years of leading successful performance improvement and change in some of Australia’s leading businesses and government. Her approach engages people and unlocks potential to improve service delivery and performance.
And yet much of our management and Human Resources “best practice” ignores this fact and acts as if the target for performance improvement or change in organisations should almost exclusively be the individual – whether that is individual leaders or employees generally. This ignores the evidence of research that emerged in the 1960’s with the famous work of Stanley Milgram at Yale and that has continued on over the decades demonstrating that the vast majority of people will be strongly influenced by authority figures and by their peers. This influence can be for good or for ill, but rarely can people resist the influence of the group or of social hierarchy.
Social context has a powerful influence on people’s behaviour and performance
Milgram’s and others’ research showed how people could be easily influenced to support answers they would otherwise know were factually incorrect and to act in morally reprehensible ways they would individually not support. Milgram’s famous experiments showed that, regardless of almost all social or individual demographic characteristics, under certain circumstances 62 percent of people will conform to the point of inflicting significant pain and potentially death on someone who has done nothing to harm them when instructed to do so by an apparent authority figure and when their peers appear to go along with this. Up to about 25-30 percent of people appear to be able to dissent and hold out for some time against the pressure to conform, although who those individuals are and when they break ranks will usually vary depending on the particular circumstances. (Michael Bond, The Power of Others, 2015 p. 63-103)
Social context and the need to connect with others plays a major role in people’s behaviour, attitudes and performance. But other than rather generalised references to that mysterious dimension of “culture”, our management and human resource practices largely ignore the powerful forces of social influence that can make otherwise good people do evil things and otherwise average individuals act as heros. This power extends to performance in organisations.
An ideology that blinds?
The unwillingness to acknowledge the power of social influence in organisations is all the more strange when we see other disciplines and groups in our society that are clearly drawing on this knowledge and research as their life blood. Marketing and advertising, politicians and political campaigners, the media and social media, power brokers and intelligence agencies, all use the research on the effect of social influence on human behaviour to shape their power and influence. But not business management and human resources – at least not overtly. Why is that?
Is it because the ideology of western capitalism that underpins business and human resource management promotes individualism, rationalism and monetary rewards for individual effort as primary drivers of action, rather than the social group. It’s hard to reconcile this mindset with data which shows that people’s performance is more influenced by the power of the group, by authority figures, and by appeals to emotion over human reason. Research also shows that social rewards are usually far more powerful incentives than monetary rewards in shaping performance in groups.
The data has been around for decades and we are surrounded by other groups that use it as their bread and butter. Managing the social context in organisations is critical for effective people management.
Human resource management practices ignore the design of people
Human Resources practices are almost exclusively focused on the individual - from recruitment and selection practices, to performance management and reward practices, leadership philosophies, managing change, and understanding organisational performance. These processes usually overlook issues like the impact of social context on an individual’s behaviour and performance, how people work together to produce results that are very different to the sum of their individual capabilities, and how a person's interpretation of what behaviour is expected and rewarded by the group and authority figures significantly affects their actual behaviour and performance. Ignoring this complexity undermines the effectiveness of organisational systems and people management practices.
We like to think the capability of individuals in organisations is the critical factor in performance, and we ignore the research that one of the most powerful forces for performance improvement is the power of the social group. As social psychologist and neuroscientist Matthew Lieberman (Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect, 2013 p.9) says:
"…our brains are wired for reaching out to, and interacting with others. These are design features, not flaws. These social adaptations are central to making us the most successful species on the planet.”
So why not use these design features deliberately for good in organisations? This should be the focus of a mindset shift that would reinvent Human Resource practices and people and performance management in organisations.
Susan Kehoe
Consultant | Coach | Change Leader
Work with Susan
Susan specialises in people-focused strategy from development through to implementation and performance improvement, people, leadership and culture change, and transformation and innovation. She brings practical experience and thought leadership gained from many years of leading successful performance improvement and change in some of Australia’s leading businesses and government. Her approach engages people and unlocks potential to improve service delivery and performance.