The striking similarity in functioning of a human body and an organisation

It was an ‘AWE’ moment when I realized, how close the human body resembles to an organization. Think about it and you will start getting the same ‘AWE’ feeling like me. The point here is not just the comparison, but what’s the best approach to run an organization by studying how well does the human body function with minimal interventions. Think of the human body as an organization and all the body parts as different functions. (Just a small caveat, I have studied biology 2 decades before so please ignore any biological errors)

• Why does the human body function so seamlessly? Think about it and you will see, all the decisions are taken by one central unit, the brain, which sends signals through the central nervous system to all other body parts on what to do next. Its like the core group or the top management deciding what to do next and then through various organization channels, the decisions permeate down to all the departments which function in their areas of expertise. Its important for every function to focus on their core business and allow the core team to manage the decision making.
• Every body part is supposed to be expert in one major area and no one can control that expertise –Eyes to see, ears to hear, nose to smell, hands to hold, legs to walk/run, heart to pump the blood and list goes on. And this smooth functioning is possible primarily because one body part, the brain coordinates everything and none of these individual body parts try to intervene with other parts functionality. This is a great learning for us. We have specialist departments sales, marketing, accounts, finance, IT, strategy, operations, HR, supply chain, admin. If we can execute each function with highest level of expertise and one or two functions control the coordination aspect, we would be one seamless unit!
• The world sees the external body parts, but they may not be the most important ones. Undoubtedly the brain, heart, kidney etc are more important than the eye, ear, hands or limbs. So, you may not be the front face of the organization, but you may still be the most critical function running the show. Every function, whether you do a routine job or perform a specialist activity, is as important as any other function.
• The organization is as sensitive unit as a body. If you may get pricked or burnt, its not just the part which suffers, it’s the whole body which is impacted. Similarly, if sales are are impacted or the operations are impacted or the human resource function is in jeopardy, the whole organization feels the impact. Its one unit.
• Inorganic acquisition is like cosmetic surgery, if done well, it may integrate with your body features else it takes away even your basic charm.
• The energy which is required to run the body is derived from external sources like food & water; similarly, the cashflow required to run an organization is collected from external customers and is required on a continuous basis for the unit to run. You may fast for a day or a week, but ultimately you need energy to survive.
• Lastly, the blood of the body resembles to the culture of the organization and the blood cells are the people. Although they are the basic units, they can make or break the organization. You cannot change the culture overnight, the same way you cannot change the blood group of the person.

I found this to be an interesting observation and so thought of sharing with you. Do share other similarities which you have observed.