The Complex Competition for Relevance?

Abstract

We are all different on this planet — the flora, the fauna and ourselves — the humans. Observably we perceive different genders, our skin tones, and we find some of us are tall others short, chubby or slim: some wear spectacles, other use contact lenses. We speak many different languages, and are divided more or less naturally into different countries with individuals from each country exhibiting different habits and behaviours. Indeed the collective nature and attitudes of individuals in each country has prompted Hofstede (1991) to speak of ‘the software of the mind’ as determining the local culture, which in turn helps determine our local manners and ways of behaviour that makes them different from the others — our Welsh-ness, or German-ness and so on. From our early days of being hunter-gatherers we have looked to our leaders for guidance, and thus learn to work with their management models. Now we are globalized we observe there are both strong and weak economies. It is somewhat natural to aspire to be like the rich and powerful, and thus we might be inclined to take up their economic models — to be more like them, we hope. Yet, reverting to Hofstede’s findings, we may find that our individual and collective attributes are unsuited to take-up another’s economic model. The Americans proclaim a market-driven model, which was in total contradiction to the old Soviet-style planned economy.