Overshooting of (Useful) Cultural Practices 

Business research has examined how useful practices can be made to spread and develop in organizations. However, practices have been observed “overshooting”: either over-diffusing—too many employees adopt them, including some whose usage is unproductive; or becoming over-sophisticated—the practice becomes too elaborate, reducing organizational performance. Independent models of over-diffusion and over-sophistication have been proposed; this paper integrates both aspects in a simple, unified model of overshooting. We offer a cultural evolution model that studies how interaction dynamics among employees are able to diffuse and stabilize an equilibrium of underperforming cultural practices, at the same time over-developing the practice so its sophistication goes beyond productive levels. People adopt practices from others based on information about the practice’s true productive value, but also influenced by social dynamics with other employees, such as status. Our model clarifies the circumstances in which over-diffusion and over-sophistication can arise, and how these two elements of overshooting relate to each other. We map our model in detail to two cases—process management practices (e.g., six sigma) and Uber’s aggressive culture—and discuss the managerial