The concept of the 'alpha wolf' - that an organization needs an authoritarian leader to stay united - is likely a misconception.
Wolves often live in packs of 3 to 11 wolves, and the individual at the top of the pack is called the 'alpha wolf.' Alpha wolves are aggressive and dominant, and are often thought of as a symbol of the strict hierarchical structure and leadership of wolf packs, but in recent years, research has shown that the social structure surrounding alpha wolves is likely a misunderstanding, and most wolf packs are simply families.
The Alpha Myth: How Captive Wolves Led Us Astray
Is the Alpha Wolf Idea a Myth? | Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-alpha-wolf-idea-a-myth/
In 1947, zoologist Rudolf Schenkel meticulously documented captive wolf colonies and proposed the concept of the 'alpha wolf,' a pack of wolves led by an aggressive, dominant leader. In 1970, biologist L. David Meck published a book, The Wolf: Adult Behavior of an Endangered Species , which solidified the concept of the alpha wolf in the scientific literature and in the public's imagination.
However, a few years later, while studying wolves living in the wild in Minnesota, Meck realized that there was a major misunderstanding about the ecology of wolves. According to Meck, the concept of the alpha wolf that Schenkel had observed was the ecology of 'wolves in captivity in zoos,' and that in the wild, wolves were not hierarchical, maintained by aggression, but were based on a parent-led family unit. Meck later said of his early research, 'I felt responsible for unleashing a monster (of the alpha wolf concept).'
The concept of alpha wolves is not only a wolf ecology, but can also refer to human relationships such as 'dominant masculinity' and 'aggressive dominance hierarchy'. However, according to Mek, the concept of alpha wolves is applied to wolf packs only in captivity, where unrelated individuals are kept together in packs, which is different from the wild, where blood ties are the norm. If the concept of alpha wolves were to be applied to human relationships, it would be closer to 'human relationships in prisons' rather than a patriarchal family structure. After publishing '
Anthony David Adams, who runs a blog on topics such as leadership, points out that the myth of the alpha wolf is a typical 'captive male syndrome.' For example, in Silicon Valley, concepts such as 'move fast and break things,' a motto created by Mark Zuckerberg, dominate, and while it is rapidly developing technology, there are cases where it is a poor environment, with surveys showing that more than 57% of technical employees suffer from depression and anxiety, and reports of low interpersonal satisfaction. According to Adams, this is a 'relationship structure with unnatural confinement pressure,' just like the concept of the alpha wolf, and it is thought that dominant pressure is generated.
The concept of the alpha wolf is sometimes used in the context of affirming the idea that a dominant leader is necessary to lead a pack, but the dominant pack is a distorted structure in the biology of wolves and is likely a complete misunderstanding. Adams points out that 'to break away from a pressured organization, it is not enough to first deny the myth of the alpha wolf. If the structure is alpha wolf-like, people are likely under confinement pressure, so it is necessary to rethink everything from the social climate to the way the company is run.'
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in Creature, Posted by log1e_dh