
Anthropology of Mid-Sized Startups - jasim
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2012/10/29/anthropology-of-mid-sized-startups/
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jessaustin
I doubt that the phrase "masculinity vs. femininity" means the same thing to
modern eyes that it did to Hofstede. It would probably be better to call this
dimension something else, although I'm not sure that the alternative "quantity
of life vs. quality of life" label is helpful either.

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6cxs2hd6
Somewhat related: Some who advocate for workplace diversity are suspicious
that "culture fit" is often a dog whistle meaning something like "young white
brogrammers". I believe that suspicion is justified. At the same time, this
post reminds me that company culture isn't always _only_ that. It's rewarding
to look at any organization through the eyes of an anthropologist. The idea
that mid-size startups are actually closer to religions than tribes, for
example, is something I find especially interesting.

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ollieglass
If you're in London and enjoy talking about topics like this, consider joining
the London Ribbonfarm Readers meetup group [http://www.meetup.com/London-
Ribbonfarm-Readers/](http://www.meetup.com/London-Ribbonfarm-Readers/)

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ejain
It's weird how the term "tribe" is now used to describe just about any set of
people that has at least one thing or interest in common, even just
temporarily...

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otoburb
Kevin Simler, the post author, also blogs at
[http://www.meltingasphalt.com/](http://www.meltingasphalt.com/).

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MichaelMoser123
some more observations:

\- The branch of industry is important: Games/media are more likely to fire
quickly than a shop that does networking gear.

\- Background of founders may be very important; if you are on the same
wavelength or not with the management team, that's very important while
working for a startup.

\- most important: the way that conflicts are resolved/kinds of crisis
'management'. To what extend is the company going into dirty politics mode
once that things get tough? i guess the problem here is that things like
integrity/honesty are impossible to classify; not tangible enough.

Interesting if someone has thought about good questions that could help to get
a better picture with regards to the integrity thing while doing interviews;
during interviews everyone looks so reasonable ... go figure how things will
turn out in the end...

