produce so that she continues to birth healthy young until her death.
Bee society is an absolute marvel in efficient management. Each bee has a
role, knows their role, is good at their role and has no desire or opportunity to
advance. Whether they are happy in their role or not isn’t part of the
equation. There is no questioning of hierarchy. For the hive’s survival it only
matters that each bee does their job and takes care of the Queen. They have
done this for thousands perhaps millions of years. A successful system
indeed... One that mankind relies upon a great deal for the production of our
food. That bee colonies in recent years are dying in great numbers possibly
due to environmental factors could be an absolute disaster for mankind.
Have you ever heard personnel in a company referred to as worker bees? This
is not an accidental or frivolous reference. Employees have assigned tasks.
One of which they may rarely think about, but it too involves the care and
feeding of those at the top, in this case the CEO and upper management.
The one difference between the pyramidal system used by a bee colony and
human organizations is that humans can think. What a bee does willingly (at
least it appears so) a person may question, decide to work even harder than
others in the same position, withhold labor or quit.
It is this human ability to think that causes a major problem in the
organizational pyramid. You soon learn that working harder, more
effectively, more efficiently, and contributing more to the enterprise may not
be rewarded. You have no control. You request a pay raise which may be
denied when the company is losing money or does not value your efforts to
the same degree. You expect to be recognized for your exemplary efforts yet
seldom does recognition occur. If your expectations are not met, you may
ultimately decide to leave. All of these actions must be managed by the
enterprise. Your labor must be replaced unless the company decides to
downsize.
Working for a company with someone else directing your efforts may bring a
certain level of security though that is increasingly doubtful. Not that long
ago a secure job meant working for a company for forty years and retiring
with a pension sufficient to reasonably continue you and your spouse’s
lifestyle. Coupled with Social Security this was a pretty good retirement
system for tens of millions of folks. This “ideal” has morphed into absolute