Corporate Darwinism refers to a belief in the
business world that there is process of 'natural'
evolution of professional staff over time in a corporate setting where employees who operate well within an institutional structure eventually migrate to larger roles in the organization.
Ethics,
politics,
integrity, and agendas inconsistent with company goals all tend to upset Corporate Darwinism, which indicates it is based on beliefs absent of
morality.
Corporate Darwinism is seen to be slower to occur where ineffectiveness has permeated into higher levels of
leadership and
management.
Moderate forms of 'Corporate Darwinsm' include staff turnover or
top grading.
More intense examples include company downsizing or eventual
chapter 11 of an organization.
Terminology
The word 'Darwinism' of course, has no relevance to the process of evolution, which is incredibly complex, and involves just as much
cooperation as natural selection.
In fact, the most famous evolutionary theorist alive today,
Richard Dawkins, devoted an entire chapter of his book,
The Selfish Gene; 'Nice guys finish first', which attempts to explain the role of
altruism and cooperation in evolution and how social animals cannot survive without such traits.
He also made a documentary of the same name <ref>
Nice guys finish first</ref> According to the documentary, Dawkins added the chapter, 'Nice guys finish first', as a way of overcoming modern day misinterpretations of the concept of "survival of the fittest".
The maladaptation of 'Darwinist' terminology in the business world has led some to believe this is clear evidence of
elitism and
immorality that eventuates from
corporate capitalism <ref>
Descent of Man, chapter 6 ISBN 1-57392-176-9</ref>.
References
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