Magazine Summer 2014 Research Feature

The Dandelion Principle: Redesigning Work for the Innovation Economy

Like weeds in a green lawn, people who are “different” — whether behaviorally or neurologically — don’t always fit into standard job categories. But if you can arrange working conditions to align with the abilities of such individuals, they can add significant value.

Robert D. Austin and Thorkil Sonne Reading Time: 15 min 

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Dandelions
Dandelions, the authors point out, have many beneficial qualities but are considered weeds in the context of a uniform green lawn.

At its annual user conference in May 2013, German multinational software giant SAP AG announced plans to hire hundreds of people diagnosed with autism, with a target of having people with autism represent 1% of the company’s work force by 2020.1 The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines autism as a developmental disorder associated with “impairment of the ability to communicate with others” and “preoccupation with repetitive activities of restricted focus.”2 Companies don’t typically seek out these characteristics in new hires. In fact, the social struggles and behavioral patterns that accompany autism often make individuals on the autism spectrum unemployable.3 So why did SAP take this unusual step? As a charitable gesture? An act of corporate citizenship?

Actually, there was a strong business rationale for the decision. “We share a common belief that innovation comes from the ‘edges,’” one SAP executive stated in the company’s press release. “Only by employing people who think differently and spark innovation will SAP be prepared to handle the challenges of the 21st century.”4 More specifically, the company had discovered that some people with autism have abilities that are extremely well-suited to performing some vital information technology tasks. The motivation was to hire people who are among the best in the world at jobs other people are not able to perform as well.

We believe this kind of thinking can be extended much further, to provide significant benefits for companies and society. SAP’s move embodies an emerging management principle — we call it “the dandelion principle” — and offers an alternative way of thinking about human resources management. In some ways, it turns some of the basic tenets about how to recruit and manage people inside out.

Discovering a Gift for Software Testing

SAP’s initiative was inspired by the experience of Danish consulting company Specialisterne, which was founded by one of the authors of this article (Thorkil Sonne). Specialisterne’s clients have included Microsoft, Cisco, SAP and other multinationals. About 75% of its skilled employees have some form of autism spectrum disorder, which makes them well-suited to certain jobs, such as software testing, quality control and security monitoring.

It turns out that there are good reasons for this.

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About the Authors

Robert D. Austin is a professor of management of creativity and innovation at Copenhagen Business School as well as an adjunct professor at Western University’s Ivey Business School in London, Ontario. Thorkil Sonne is founder and chairman of Specialisterne Denmark and the Specialist People Foundation and CEO of Specialisterne USA.

References

1. See D. Klobucher, “Autism and Asperger’s Are Assets, Not Disabilities, at SAP,” June, 3, 2013, SAP News Center, www.news-sap.com; and “SAP to Work With Specialisterne to Employ People With Autism,” press release, SAP, May 21, 2013.

2. Merriam Webster Online: Dictionary and Thesaurus, www.merriam-webster.com.

3. A. Fradd and I. Joy, “A Life Less Ordinary: People With Autism, A Guide for Donors and Funders,” New Philanthropy Capital (September 2007).

4. “SAP to Work With Specialisterne,” SAP.

5. K.L. Sckerl, “Her kan jeg være mig selv,” Urban, Copenhagen, Denmark, Oct. 10, 2005, 6.

6. “Dandelion Tea Touted as Possible Cancer Killer,” CBC News, February 16, 2012, www.cbc.ca; and “Cancer-Killing Dandelion Tea Gets $157K Research Grant,” CBC News, April 20, 2012, www.cbc.ca.

7. See, for example, J. Jack, “‘The Extreme Male Brain?’ Incrementum and the Rhetorical Gendering of Autism,” Disability Studies Quarterly 31, no. 3 (2011), http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/1672/1599.

8. See R.D. Austin and R.L. Nolan, “Bridging the Gap Between Stewards and Creators,” MIT Sloan Management Review 48, no. 2 (winter 2007): 29-36.

9. “The Organizational Dilemma of Stewards and Creators,” Seattle Innovation Symposium video podcast, released April 23, 2008, https://itunes.apple.com.

10. B. Sterling, “The Wonderful Power of Storytelling” (speech at the Computer Game Developers Conference, San Jose, California, March 1991), http://lib.ru/STERLINGB/story.txt.

11. “Organizational Dilemma,” Seattle Innovation Symposium.

12. J. McGregor, “Zappos Says Goodbye to Bosses,” Washington Post “On Leadership” blog, January 3, 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership.

i. For a more detailed version of this story, see R.D. Austin, J. Wareham and J. Busquets, “Specialisterne: Sense and Details,” Harvard Business School case no 608-109 (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2008).

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Comments (4)
Lucas Blanco
It called my attention the words "widening variance" on the traditional x dandelion approach chart, there is a math model who states how growth is dependent upon innovation and how diversity leads to innovation. Diversity is wider variance!
Jon Vanhala
the notion of embracing "different" is something i've believed in since my youth and continue to find lasting value in by remaining open to and having empathy for the differences. I wish that you'd chosen a different name without the negative connotation baggage for the article - but love that it was written and the work was done. Kudos.
David Hurst
This is a specific example of a far more general phenomenon: it is enormously fruitful to look at organizations as ecological processes rather than as mere economic entities. In ecosystems novelty enters the system in the edges and open patches because the core is choked with hierarchy (usually trees) that hog the resources. Only in the open patches, where there is equal access to sun and rain , can small-scale experimentation take place.

Thus dandelions and weeds in general can be seen as the entrepreneurs of the floral world - early movers and quick replicators - that mark the start of the classic forest succession. They will be succeeded by shrubs and trees, larger scale organisms that emerge as competition breaks out for resources. They are more efficient users of resources than the weeds but reduce the variety in the system, eventually making it brittle and vulnerable to sudden change.

Ecosystems renew themselves by using destruction to open up patches within mature parts of the system to allow variety and experimentation back into it. Capitalism itself can be seen as an ecological process of creative destruction. One suspects that Schumpeter would have approved.
akindele famurewa
Kudos to Austin and Sonne for this informative and interesting article.  The content is real,  and its illustration by the "dandelion principle" is apt and ingenuous. I view this publication as a collector's item for innovation -conscious managing executives anywhere in the (business) World. Thanks to MITSloan Management Review for granting access to this knowlege.