HR needs the affection and cruelty of burying beetle

HR needs the affection and cruelty of burying beetle
x
Highlights

The HR function in every corporate must ask whether the ‘burying beetle’ are truly affectionate or ‘merciless’ parents? The corporate leaders must have both the affection (care and concern) for the employees who work in the organization as well as they also have to be merciless with reference to the total interest of the organization is the management message, the burying beetles conveys to the corporate world.

The HR function in every corporate must ask whether the ‘burying beetle’ are truly affectionate or ‘merciless’ parents? The corporate leaders must have both the affection (care and concern) for the employees who work in the organization as well as they also have to be merciless with reference to the total interest of the organization is the management message, the burying beetles conveys to the corporate world.

The burying bettle, unlike other insects, would first secure ‘food for the larva’ (carcasses of rat or squirrel or birds) and only then it mate and lays its eggs.

The burying beetle usually searches for a carcass of small animal like rat, squirrel or birds during pre breeding season. Once they locate one, they attract the partner through a specialized chemical called – pheromone. The insects then burry the carcass inside the soil and then the female burying beetle lays eggs nearby.

Only because of the above behaviour, they earned the popular name ‘burying beetle’. They burry the carcass carefully and do the needful to prevent its early decomposition. The larvae that hatch out from the eggs move towards the carcass to eat and then grow quickly to an adult.

The more fascinating point is that the parent beetles do kills the weaker larvae in order to balance the brood size vis-à-vis the food resource/reserve. If the carcass is large (rat or squirrel), then they accordingly adjust the size of the brood by allowing large number of larvae to grow and if the carcass is small, then they trim the size of the brood to match the available food resource. Therefore they kill certain weaker larvae.

The behaviour of making the food resource ready much before the eggs are laid shows the greatest sense of parental affection, care and concern of burying beetle. Once the larvae are hatched, the behaviour of culling the weaker larvae to adjust or balance the brood size versus the food shows their absolute future vision and sense of responsibility.

One may really wonder whether they are kind or cruel towards their larvae. If they are kind, how they can be so cruel? If they are cruel, why they should reserve the food for the larvae much before they are born or hatched out? The corporate leaders must realize the fact that while offering the best remuneration and career opportunity; they also must be merciless in removing the employees if they found them to be of no use or adding any value.

Otherwise, they would scavenge the resource and cause nothing but destruction to the corporate. In the name of best HR practice, some corporate necessarily engineer ‘people friendly/centric’ culture. It is fine. But the scope of such culture should never be made at the cost of corporate goal and its growth.

By: Dr S Ranganathan,
Show Full Article
Print Article
Next Story
More Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENTS