RE: "Survival of the fittest"

["Aidan Ward" <aidan_ward@antelopes.com>]

Denizens,

This piece of theory is a bit out of date, and in my opinion is an example
of people imposing social theory on the natural world:

> According to this theory (avoiding the alternative theories such as
> creationism),  this process went on randomly (common cause variation?) for
> millions of years.

> For organizations, "Survival of the fittest" can then be the result of a
> random process.  Perhaps the Ford Motor Company example being discussed on
> the DEN may fit.

> So we can have survival of the fittest in organizations by blind
> luck, or we
> can intervene and propagate those things that allow one organization to be
> successful.

While there are examples of competition for ecological niches that could be
described as "survival of the fittest" most evolution seems driven by a
collaborative stabilising of an environment where many species can flourish,
and of diversity of species that gives great redundancy and robustness to
the systems involved.

When we concentrate on competitive advantage as a matter of trashing the
opposition or being trashed in return we will never be able to see the
larger systems that need the attention of people who understand systems the
way Deming did. We seem to be able to see this in the public sphere (as in
the debates about education) but not in the business sphere. Why?

Regards,

Aidan

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