Over-adaptation to company environment

Overadaptation to company environment. The company employee way of working is a very new system if we look at history in the long run. It has only been a few hundred years at most since the establishment of modern business organizations and the spread of factory-based production that the socially accepted way of working as "being employed" became commonplace. Before that time, many people earned their living as self-employed, artisans, farmers, or in guilds and cottage industries, which are different from today's "company employees.

On the other hand, in today's society, the form of "company employee" has been a major factor in aspects such as livelihood security and social credibility. This is because the system has been developed on the premise of being employed by a company. However, corporate organizations and cultures vary widely, and the reality of "company employees" differs greatly depending on the industry, country, and size of the company. Individuals can only experience a small portion of this, so they tend to think that the "company they know" is the "common sense" of company employees.

That's where AI has advanced rapidly in recent years and is expected to change even more rapidly in the coming years, with the evolution of AI,

• Individuals can take jobs globally without belonging to a company or organization.
• Automated division of labor will be created, changing the hierarchy and management of organizational units.
• AI decision-making and negotiation will become mainstream, and the role of humans and the value of their labor will be reevaluated.

As these changes progress, it is highly likely that the so-called "company employee" way of working will become less important, and different work styles will become the norm. For example, instead of being a full-time employee of a large company, people will increasingly work in networked teams that come together for each project, or individuals and AI will work together to connect directly with the market.

In such a future, the implications of the problem traditionally referred to as "over-adaptation to the corporate environment" - becoming too steeped in the corporate culture and narrowing one's perspective - will change. As companies themselves become more diverse and fluid, and the frameworks to which people belong change in the short term, there may be fewer forms of fixed adaptation to a single organizational culture. Instead, paradoxically, "over-adaptation to AI and specific platforms" may emerge as a new problem. For example, too much emphasis on the optimal solution proposed by AI may stifle innovation.

Given this situation, we believe the following points will become important in considering future work styles and organizational views.

Acquiring a Historical Perspective

• Understand that the system of company employees is not an absolute premise, but only a mechanism that emerged from a specific modern context. Be open to the possibility that technological innovations such as AI may change the way we work in the future.

Ensure contact with diverse organizational cultures and work styles

• While the option of belonging to one company for a long time is of course effective, the key to preventing "narrowing of vision" is to learn about other work styles and cultures that are difficult to see with only one company. Try out side jobs, freelance work, project-based work, and other forms of work, or connect with people overseas to gain multifaceted experience.

Collaborative balance with AI

• While AI can dramatically increase work efficiency and information utilization, total dependence on it may bury one's own thinking ability and originality; while receiving advice from AI, one must always maintain autonomous decision-making ability by always having multiple axes of final judgment (human values, ethics, intuition, etc.).

Adapting to a changing environment while never losing sight of your axis

• As changes in the organizational and technological environment accelerate, the issue of "over-adaptation" may become even more complex. This is why it is important to regularly inspect what one values and what one aims to achieve, and to flexibly adjust one's course as necessary.

In short, given the historical shortness and diversity of the work style of company employees, "how to prevent overadaptation" will be replaced by the challenge of how to expand one's worldview without becoming attached to a single workplace or practice. And when AI evolves and transforms many jobs, what we humans need is the ability to expand our knowledge and networks and design our way of life in a flexible and proactive manner, without too easily adapting to seemingly convenient technology.

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