Research by the British anthropologist and a psychologist at the University of Liverpool, Robin Dunbar indicates that stone-age hunter-gatherers lived in clans holding up to 150 people.
During his research, Professor Dunbar also saw a direct correlation between primate brain size and the average size of the social group. The bigger the troop size in primates, the larger the brain.
Dunbar’s number of 150 is a recommended cognitive limitation to the number of people with whom one can preserve stable social relationships — relationships in which a person understands who each person is and how each person relates to every other person.
This insight from Dunbar provides an answer to some of the critical questions like how many friends can one have to maintain a qualitative relationship? What should be the ideal size of a network, community or organization to function effectively?
In his book, How many friends does one person need? Dunbar declares the closest-knit circle has just five people – loved ones. That is followed by consecutive layers of 15 (good friends), 50 (friends), 150 (meaningful contacts), 500 (acquaintances) and 1500 (people one can just recognise).
When a unit holds fewer than 150 people, everyone can know everyone by first name.
The level of intimacy and engagement is higher.
There will be less friction and complexity in communication.
The decision-making can happen quickly.
As the layer expands, complexity increases.
The most innovative organizations embrace the idea of Shunk Works by choosing a group within an organization and giving them a high degree of autonomy and less choked by bureaucracy, with the task of operating on advanced or secret projects.
Skunk Works is a nickname for Lockheed Martin’s (an American aerospace, arms and defence firm) Advanced Development Programs that was responsible for developing highly improbable aircraft designs projects like P-38 Lightning in 1939 and P-80 Shooting star in 1943.
The Lockheed Martin Corporation built and delivered the impractical aircraft design orders in just 143 days by practicing the Shunk Works model.
For entrepreneurs and community managers, the Dunbar’s number reveal the implication of the organization size not just in upholding closeness among their employees but also in reducing the bureaucracy and increase the speed to the market.
Steve Jobs maxim “It’s better to be a pirate than join the navy” clearly illustrates Dunbar’s idea.
WRITER
Rajesh Srinivasan
Modern Marketing Strategist | Author | Keynote Speaker | Tedx
