Transfer Swarm Intelligence To Business Case Study

Why it might be problematic to transfer it to business / Why it might be a good idea to transfer it to business

1. Transfer Swarm Intelligence to Business (Martin)
Companies in almost every industry operate in an increasingly dynamic and agile environment with volatile conditions. The global markets are progressively saturated and the competition regarding market share increases. This urges the need for a successful differentiation from competitors. Furthermore, the intensified competition and the changing consumer behavior, lead to additional pressure for companies. The competitive environment changes drastically and overstimulation leads consumers to the limits of their powers of perception and decision making capabilities. Because products

Visitors had to guess how much the meat of a slaughtered and dissected ox weighs. He was quite amazed when, after evaluating all 787 estimates, the mean value deviated only by 0.8 percent from the actual weight of the ox meat. The question that appears, is if this astonishing precise answer can be compared to swarm intelligence. Such high accuracy is more likely attributable to the law of large numbers, because this means that the average value of a large number of estimates approximates the actual value, although individual estimates may deviate significantly. The higher the number of opinions, the higher the quality and meaningfulness of the cumulative assessment. Instead of swarm intelligence this phenomenon is rather explained by a stochastic regularity. But not only those classic examples cast doubt on, whether the concept of swarm intelligence is discussed in the proper context. Lately swarm intelligence also served to explain social processes, including the Arab Spring or the rise of the Pirate Party in Germany. In addition, many companies contribute to the inflationary use of the term - for example, if they clamp their customers for product improvements and customer service. The character of the swarm behavior may be given in many cases, but it is questionable if this is a matter of swarm Intelligence. According to behavioral

The companies should begin with the obvious, if they want to benefit from the collective intelligence: their employees. It could be a start to use the intelligence of our employees for the development and improvement of products, services, and above all internal processes and procedures. Analyzing this path leads to the conclusion, that most companies do exactly this for decades already. Employees get rewarded for suggestions that help to improve processes, services and products. Therefore, it becomes clear that the most probable way to success is proper leadership, that enables each individual in a swarm to perform at their individual maximum capabilities. Swarm intelligence is limited in its applicability because it is in contrast to hierarchy levels that are necessary in order to lead a company. Furthermore, if a swarm of animals gathers in nature, they accomplish something that comes natural to them. The work environment in companies has nothing to do with how humans act normally. Social norms, expectations and group pressure lead often to an artificial environment and power games and political games add more complexity to this issue. Therefore, it might be able to apply the concept of swarm intelligence to areas where new ideas are developed and creative ways of thinking are needed to solve unsolved problems. But in order to increase the efficiency of a company or develop a new strategy, the input of all the people would make