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Organizations and Dunbar’s Number: Two is Company, 151 is a Crowd!

Guest post by: Ben Nash

Article Overview: How many people do you know? By that I mean how many people do you recognize by sight, know their name, and a little about their background? 40? 60 ? 100? 150? How many people do you think you can possibly know before you start forgetting names and faces? (If you are like me you will probably recognize more faces than remember the names) These are interesting questions, and the answers have important implications for how we organize ourselves in groups, teams, and society in general. Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist was one of the first researchers to look into this phenomenon and he theorized in an article in 1992 that the average person could meaningfully interact with about 150 others. More than 150, Dunbar said, and we are not be able to remember who is who!

Organizations and Dunbar’s Number: Two is Company, 151 is a Crowd!

How many people do you know? By that I mean how many people do you recognize by sight, know their name, and a little about their background? 40? 60 ? 100? 150? How many people do you think you can possibly know before you start forgetting names and faces? (If you are like me you will probably recognize more faces than remember the names) These are interesting questions, and the answers have important implications for how we organize ourselves in groups, teams, and society in general. Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist was one of the first researchers to look into this phenomenon and he theorized in an article in 1992 that the average person could meaningfully interact with about 150 others. More than 150, Dunbar said, and we are not be able to remember who is who!

Subsequent research has indicated that the Dunbar number (i.e. 150) is probably the upper limit of the group size we can deal with comfortably, and groups of 45 to 50 are what most people prefer. Think about your own circle of friends and work colleagues—can you name more than 50 people?

So what does this mean for organizational design? Answer: a lot! When designing work spaces, about 50 people in one area is optimal. Go much further than that number and people feel somewhat uncomfortable. Companies like Apple and Google take this seriously and have designed their work spaces with this in mind! Further, when you move from work groups into work teams the optimum size seems to be about 9 to 12 people. More than 12 people and effective communication starts to break down within the team, while fewer than 9 and the team may have too few resources.

Here is the moral of the story – when designing your ideal organizational work spaces, do so for no more than you and 150 of your closest friends!

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Article Tags: dunbars number, human resources, organizational development, robin dunbar, teams, work groups



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