The last few years have seen considerable interest in self-organizing systems, with many advocates positioning them as the antithesis of stodgy and rigid hierarchies that don’t provide sufficient flexibility to allow us to adapt to the rapidly changing nature of the modern world.

Ants are often cited as an example of a highly complex, self-organizing system that is capable of achieving incredible things even without any form of real hierarchy or leadership.  A recent paper from INSEAD explores what lessons we might learn from ants in the way we organize our own teams.

Non-hierarchical organizations

The researchers examined three key characteristics of an ant colony that provide particular insights into how human organizations can evolve to remove, or at least reduce, hierarchies.

Simplicity

The first of these revolves around the heuristics that govern how we behave.  The authors argue that these rules of thumb should provide us with guidance on what to do while also leaving space for adaptation.

We should ideally strike a balance between improvisation and bureaucracy, with the researchers suggesting that simple rules are often much more effective than extensive routines and processes that govern our behaviors.

Modularity

The authors also found that a crucial facet of ant colonies was their ability to break down problems into smaller chunks.  This essential modularity enabled them to build much bigger and more complex nests than one might ordinarily believe possible.

They argue that such modularity can also be highly effective in human organizations, especially given the intense complexity most of us face each day.  Modularity affords us greater freedom and independence to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances.

Scale

Ants can often function with this level of modularity because they have large nests with lots of ants ready and available to adapt their schedules to whatever task needs to be performed.  It’s pretty rare for human organizations to have sufficient slack and flexibility to move on a dime like that.

Of course, research from a few years ago found that some people actually quite like hierarchies, especially when they operate in a fair manner.  A second study, from Columbia Business School and INSEAD, suggests that a distinct and clear hierarchy can provide teams with coordination, organization, and a reduction in conflict during high-pressure situations.

“These processes explain why a strong hierarchy can help expeditions reach the top of the mountain: like the symphonic movement of a beehive, hierarchy helps the group become more than the sum of its parts,” the authors say.

Ultimately, flatter structures may work best when teams and organizations are relatively small, but hierarchies are often more effective when things become more complex.  As such, it is probably less a case of picking one over the other as it is being able to adapt according to one’s circumstances.