Some workplace behaviors
are whispers from
distant past

Answer: In recent years, behavioral and social scientists have examined evolutionary theory for insights into human behavior. On the one hand, this work is controversial, as shown by the number of school districts where the study of evolution is restricted. On the other hand, students are bringing home ideas learned in school that they find intriguing but that are unfamiliar to their parents. Since insights from the study of evolution can be applied to the study of everyday behaviors in the workplace, they are worth examining.

One of the basic assumptions in evolutionary theory is that our distant ancestors behaved in ways that increased the chances of their survival. If certain behaviors led to survival, then they became well established and passed on from generation to generation. Some of these behaviors became so privileged that people's brains developed to make their acquisition possible. Examples are language learning, the startle reflex when there is danger nearby and the ability to form alliances with others. Another example, with implications for today's workplaces, is the interaction of males and females.

For humans to survive into future generations, they must mate and have children. Men and women look for different features in potential mates. Men look for youth and physical attractiveness. Youth is central since there are limits to the child bearing years of women. Attractiveness is a sign that women are healthy, and so babies they bear may also be healthy. Women are looking for men with status and resources. They need men able to provide resources during the nine months of pregnancy, the pains of childbirth and its aftermath, and during the years necessary to raise children until they become self-sufficient. Men with high status titles and resources that can be exchanged for food and shelter are desirable.

In today's world, remnants of this age-old exchange of youth and attractiveness lead to frequently seen behaviors. Women dress and make themselves up to be attractive to members of the opposite sex. Men learn to present themselves in ways that emphasize their status and earnings potential. They may drive expensive cars, for example, to persuade women that they have a great deal of money. Some behaviors border on the inappropriate.

Imagine a social gathering at the office that takes place at 5 p.m. on a Friday. The purpose of the gathering is to welcome the new company vice president. There are about 100 people present, some of them young and attractive and others who are older and well established in their careers. Who will, perhaps inappropriately, focus their attentions on young and attractive people so that they can improve their social lives?

Men are more likely than women to turn the gathering into opportunities for dating.

Who will focus their attentions on older and well-established people who might have favors to distribute? Women are more likely to turn the gathering into opportunities to increase their resources in the forms of improved professional networks, information about promotions, and the development of political alliances in the workplace. This quest for favors is one reason older executives learn to dislike company parties. They complain that they came to have a good time, but all that happens is that they are hustled for favors.

These tendencies are subject to cultural changes. Given recent workplace policies concerning sexual harassment, men have to be careful about their interactions with females. And given that women can now earn large salaries and can hold down high status jobs, they do not always need to be dependent upon men for resources.