Driven: How Human Nature Shapes our Choices

Driven: How Human Nature Shapes our Choices

Released October 2001
Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9780787957858

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Book description

A touchstone for understanding how we behave on the job

"This is a stimulating and provocative book in bringing together important ideas from different fields, and, thereby, giving us a whole new slant on 'human nature.'" --Edgar H. Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus and Senior Lecturer, MIT

In this astonishing, provocative, and solidly researched book, two Harvard Business School professors synthesize 200 years of thought along with the latest research drawn from the biological and social sciences to propose a new theory, a unified synthesis of human nature. Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria have studied the way people behave in that most fascinating arena of human behavior-the workplace-and from their work they produce a book that examines the four separate and distinct emotive drives that guide human behavior and influence the choices people make: the drives to acquire, bond, learn, and defend. They ultimately show that, just as advances in information technology have spurred the New Economy in the last quarter of the twentieth century, current advances in biology will be the key to understanding humans and organizations in the new millennium.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. CONTENTS
  5. FIGURES AND TABLE
  6. EDITOR'S NOTE
  7. FOREWORD
  8. THE AUTHORS
  9. DEDICATION
  10. PREFACE
    1. THE ROOTS OF THE CONCEPT
    2. POTENTIAL AUDIENCE
    3. WHAT THIS BOOK OFFERS
    4. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  11. PART ONE: BRIDGING GAPS
    1. CHAPTER 1: TOWARD A UNIFIED UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN NATURE
      1. NO SINGLE ANSWER
      2. WHY LOOK FOR DRIVES?
      3. A CASE IN POINT: POST-COMMUNIST RUSSIA
      4. BUILDING A NEW THEORY
      5. WHO ARE WE TO FORGE AHEAD?
    2. CHAPTER 2: HOW THE MODERN HUMAN MIND EVOLVED
      1. DARWIN'S THEORY
      2. THE BRAIN AS A COMPUTATIONAL MECHANISM
      3. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIND/BRAIN; CONCEPTION TO MATURITY
      4. EVOLUTIONARY STEPS TOWARD THE HUMAN MIND
      5. THE GAGE EPISODE
      6. THE MIND/BRAIN AS A REPRESENTATIONAL MECHANISM
      7. THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE
    3. CHAPTER 3: INNATE DRIVES AND SKILLS
      1. THE INTERMINGLING OF SKILL SETS
      2. THE CONTRIBUTION OF BRAIN SCANNING
      3. ADDING FOUR-DRIVE THEORY TO THE PUZZLE
  12. PART TWO: THE FOUR DRIVES BEHIND HUMAN CHOICES
    1. CHAPTER 4: THE DRIVE TO ACQUIRE (D1)
      1. A WAR OF ALL AGAINST ALL?
      2. REASON AND DRIVES: ECONOMICS VERSUS EVOLUTION
      3. DRIVES AND SURVIVAL
      4. THE DARK SIDE OF THE DRIVE TO ACQUIRE—THERE'S NEVER ENOUGH
      5. RELATIVE STATUS BEATS ABSOLUTE WELL-BEING
      6. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF THE DRIVE TO ACQUIRE
      7. COMPETITION AND COOPERATION
      8. THE DRIVE TO ACQUIRE AND THE SENSE OF FAIRNESS
    2. CHAPTER 5: THE DRIVE TO BOND (D2)
      1. CONVENTIONAL WISDOM AND SOCIAL BONDING
      2. EVIDENCE FOR THE DRIVE TO BOND
      3. EVOLUTION AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE DRIVE TO BOND
      4. BONDING IN RELATION TO ACQUIRING
      5. THE FORMING OF SOCIAL BONDS
      6. BONDING AND MORALITY
      7. BONDING AND ORGANIZATIONAL LIFE
      8. THE DARK SIDE OF THE DRIVE TO BOND
    3. CHAPTER 6: THE DRIVE TO LEARN (D3)
      1. CONVENTIONAL WISDOM AND THE DRIVE TO LEARN
      2. DEFINING THE DRIVE TO LEARN
      3. EVIDENCE OF THE DRIVE TO LEARN VIA CURIOSITY
      4. EVIDENCE OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE LEARNING DRIVE
      5. THE LEARNING DRIVE AND INNATE SKILL SETS
      6. THE DARK SIDE OF THE DRIVE TO LEARN
    4. CHAPTER 7: THE DRIVE TO DEFEND (D4)
      1. OVERVIEW OF THE DRIVE TO DEFEND
      2. NEUROSCIENCE AND THE DRIVE TO DEFEND
      3. THE DRIVE TO DEFEND IN RELATION TO THE OTHER DRIVES
      4. THE DARK SIDE OF THE DRIVE TO DEFEND
      5. FOUR DRIVES
  13. PART THREE: THE DRIVES IN ACTION
    1. CHAPTER 8: CULTURE, SKILLS, EMOTIONS: OTHER PIECES OF THE PUZZLE
      1. THE ROLE OF EMOTIONS
      2. COGNITION AND SELF-DETERMINATION
      3. SKILL SETS
    2. CHAPTER 9: ORIGINS OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
      1. HOW THE DRIVES EVOLVED
      2. THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION
    3. CHAPTER 10: WHY SO MUCH DIVERSITY?
      1. BIOGEOGRAPHIC RESOURCES AND COEVOLUTION
      2. PHYSICAL ISOLATION AND COEVOLUTION
      3. STAGES OF TECHNOLOGY AND COEVOLUTION
      4. IDEOLOGY AND COEVOLUTION
      5. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND COEVOLUTION
  14. PART FOUR: HUMAN NATURE AND SOCIETY
    1. CHAPTER 11: HUMAN NATURE IN ORGANIZATIONAL LIFE
      1. AN ORGANIZATION DESIGNED FOR FOUR-DRIVE PEOPLE
      2. GENERAL MOTORS AND THE FOUR-DRIVE BLUEPRINT
      3. THE HIGH-TECH SECTOR AND FOUR-DRIVE THEORY
      4. HEWLETT-PACKARD AND THE FOUR-DRIVE BLUEPRINT
      5. CORPORATE LEADERSHIP
    2. CHAPTER 12: THE ROAD FORWARD
      1. IS THE THEORY UNIVERSAL?
      2. IS THE THEORY SIMPLE AND PARSIMONIOUS?
      3. IS THE THEORY TESTABLE AND FALSIFIABLE?
      4. DOES THE THEORY WORK ACROSS MULTIPLE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS?
      5. IS THE THEORY USEFUL IN PRACTICE?
      6. DOES THE THEORY PROMOTE CONSILIENCE?
      7. CONSILIENCE BETWEEN THE ARTS AND THE SCIENCES
      8. THE ROAD FORWARD
  15. AFTERWORD FUTURE RESEARCH PROPOSALS
    1. TESTING FOUR-DRIVE THEORY AT THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS
    2. TESTING FOUR-DRIVE THEORY AT THE ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS
    3. TESTING FOUR-DRIVE THEORY AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL OF ANALYSIS
  16. NOTES
  17. BIBLIOGRAPHY
  18. INDEX

Product information

  • Title: Driven: How Human Nature Shapes our Choices
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: October 2001
  • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
  • ISBN: 9780787957858