Human resource professionals wear a lot of hats – that’s one of the greatest things about the field. If you’re a “jack of all trades” person, or if you get bored doing the same thing every day, the profession is right up your alley. But HR managers have a job that most don’t even realize: business anthropologist.

When I was an undergrad, I majored in anthropology. I found it incredibly interesting, but by the end of my junior year, I realized that as much as I loved learning about it, I didn’t actually want to be an anthropologist for a living. Or so I thought.

The Business Anthropologist

That summer, I obtained an internship in human resources. I was amazed by how many parallels there were between what I had been learning in my anthropology courses and what I was seeing on the job. The connections weren’t literal, of course – the VP of HR didn’t have me conducting any archaeological digs in the marketing department – but my experience that summer made me realize that HR is anthropology for the business world.

Whenever I tell people that, they usually look at me like I have a booger hanging out of my left nostril. Allow me to explain…

The Cultural Anthropologist

I had the pleasure of studying under Professor Richard Pollnac, one of the world’s foremost authorities on coastal fishing communities (I kid you not!). He was also a working professor – he spent six months teaching and another six in the field doing research on coastal communities.

Organizational Development

During his time in the field, he conducted work for the UN. They would hire him to study a group of coastal peoples, and issue a report on the impact that a program or policy they wanted to implement would have. This required him to develop a deep understanding of the culture, and assess how the programs would impact that culture long-term. Professor Pollnac once told us a story about a development program that was enacted in a tiny village in Indonesia.

The village was a fishing community, and the people there used hand-carved wooden boats (they look sort of like this). They lasted about one season before they deteriorated and were replaced. The UN thought, “Why not give them stainless steel boats. They’re more durable and won’t have to be replaced as often.” So they UN spent a whole bunch of money on these expensive metal boats with expensive outboard motors.

Understanding the culture – or not!

The program was a glorious failure. After one season, the boats sat upside down and unused on the beach, protecting fishing nets and other gear from the elements. What went wrong? The UN failed to understand the culture of the community.

First, the metal boats were less maneuverable in rough water than the simple outriggers. Also, the people lacked enough knowledge about outboard motors to repair them when they broke, and it was too expensive to have them fixed elsewhere. The boats were heavier, which meant they were harder to drag onto the beach at the end of the day.

Finally, fisherman did not carve their own boats. That was a skilled job that only certain people were able to do. They would make boats for the fisherman, and in exchange, would receive a portion of their fish for the season. The metal boats undermined the basics of the community’s economy and their cultural ethics. And one season (and who knows how many dollars) later, the program had failed.

Conducting Field Research

Does that sound all that different from what HR does? It didn’t to me! Human resource professionals truly are anthropologists of the business world. And the lesson to be learned from this story: before you implement a program, make sure you understand the unique culture of your organization.

So, how do you evaluate your company’s culture?

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