CAUTIONARY

TALES FROM KALAHARI: HOW HUNTERS BECAME

HERDERS (AND MAY HAVE TROUBLE CHANGING BACK AGAIN)

KARAN SINGH-16P145

Through this case the author tries to explain the transformation of the Kalahari
Bushmen from hunters to herders and uses this analogy to explain the
transformation of organizations from entrepreneurial ventures to settled
bureaucracies. He explains how the stable environment of an organization is
difficult to change. He goes on to state that bureaucracies can excel in low variation
environment but are vulnerable to sudden change and how they must transform
themselves to have the characteristics of a hunter to be able to excel. He explains
that the peripheral events in an organization and the significance given to their
interpretation are critical elements in initiation of process of change of the existing
structures.

In the case the author tries to throw light on the basic characteristics of a hunter
society. Hunters have been characterized to have good ties with families, sharing
of success within the team and not an individual and have open-door layout
systems. The characteristics have been shown to have certain benefits such as it
encourages openness in communication and interaction within the band. This can
be seen in companies like Maruti Suzuki who have used the principle of
Knowledge Management which encourages all the employees to come together to
discuss innovations and possible scenarios of improvements which have led to
significant cost savings for the company. On the other hand, settled organizations
(as denoted by herds in the case) tend to have a settled bureaucracy like
atmosphere and are difficult to transform and prone to fail by a sudden change in
environment. The author highlights the difference between American and
Japanese organizations to explain the difference in approach they follow towards
team building, communication and knowledge management.
The author wants to explain the objective and benefits of transformation and cites
the case of General Electric which was a large organization which attempted
transformation. He states that the objective of the transformation should be to
explore and the understand the past to visualize the future effectively and be ready
for unexpected scenarios. Performance and learning in an organization can be
enhanced by the use of woven matrix organization which links both learning and
performance aspects of the organization and looks forward to weaving together of
vertical elements of formal organizations with horizontal communication
processes.
In the ever changing dynamic environment, the managers have to ensure that core
competencies are preserved and improved upon while at the same time they must
harness the hunting skills, like an entrepreneur, to leverage new opportunities. This
can be seen in many big organizations and family-owned businesses which have
now started encouraging their managers to have an entrepreneurial streak to be
able to drive their business to new heights of success. However, this change is just
a recent phenomenon and is yet to transform into a full-fledged practice.