Learn the known and unknown management wisdom from Ichneumon wasp

Only when the corporate leaders and the HR function attempts to learn about the management message associated with Ichneumon fly (wasp) and their unique behaviour, can able to do a much better job in the organization.

The Ichneumon fly or wasp exhibits two totally contradictory or opposite phenomena. If the corporate world fails to read both the phenomena together, total and collectively, may allow many people with the behaviour of Ichneumon wasp not only to exist but to occupy even the highest position in corporate just to destroy and ruin the entire organization and its culture.

Compared to many other species of wasps, Ichneumon wasp doesn’t sting human or other animal. If one look at this behaviour of Ichneumon wasp, they are indeed harmless when compared to other wasps. If the corporate have to have a ‘wasp’ means, naturally the Ichneumon will be the best choice for the appointment. All corporate leaders and the HR function would definitely prefer these insects over others if they have to necessarily accommodate any wasp. The Ichneumon wasp deserves to be so as they are harmless. This is only one level of understanding. Certainly such an understanding is right and correct one. In fact, no one can dispute such truth.

But the understanding also must come from the next level. The harmless Ichneumon wasp may have a strong reason to be harmless. Or in other word, may be only to hide the most harmful intent and behaviour, this insect might have preferred to be ‘harmless’ to humans.

The most harmful side of the insect is that they lay its eggs inside the live larva of other species of insects by injecting its eggs through an ovipositor.

The eggs hatch inside the host larvae and eat the larvae from inside and resulting in the death of the host. Then the larvae of the Ichneumon wasp moves to the next phase in its life cycle – pupa stage, and later becomes an adult and move forward with the above style of rearing the young ones.

The message is that what appears to be harmless need not be harmless if the corporate limits its search or understanding to a limited extend.

Many people in the corporate may appear superficially soft and harmless. But they may be secretly poisoning the thought and actions of other people in the corporate. In most occasions, such working style of these ‘people’ may not be visible. These otherwise ‘harmless’ Ichneumon people in the corporate will be smartly achieving their goals and sinister designs through many innocent people. At the end they would ruin many innocent people causing great harm both to the people and the corporate. They are truly Ichneumon wasps.

Most of the corporate will have such people. The existence of such people, the corporate leaders and the respective HR function can understand only if they study the people in totality. Superficial evaluation or judgment will never provide the knowledge required to know the true behavioural instincts of people and its true manifestations.

Dr S Ranganathan