Status Signals / Costly Signaling
Good signals: office location, budget authority, project assignment.
Status signals work at scale when they're honest (can't be faked), costly (require real capability), and stable (change rarely). Then actual combat becomes unnecessary.
Once established, hierarchies are maintained not through repeated combat but through status displays that remind subordinates of rank without actual conflict. Fighting damages both parties, so evolution favors systems where dominance can be assessed without combat through costly signals that honestly indicate fighting ability.
Red deer stags: Roar rate correlates with body size (r=0.89). 80% of contests decided by roaring alone, no combat. Elephant seals: Inflatable nasal proboscis as status display - visual + auditory signal is 92% accurate predictor of combat outcome. Wolves: Tail position, gaze direction, spatial positioning, feeding order all indicate rank.
Energy cost of status signal maintenance: 0.1-0.5% of daily caloric budget. Energy cost of repeated combat: 15-25% of daily budget. Savings: 98-99% efficiency gain through signaling. But signals only work when honest - if subordinates can fake signals, the system breaks down. This requires occasional 'spot checks' where signals are tested through combat.
Business Application of Status Signals / Costly Signaling
Good organizational status signals must be honest (can't be faked without capability), costly (only high-rank can afford them), visible (everyone observes them), and stable (don't change constantly). Good signals: office location, budget authority, project assignment. Bad signals: parking spots, inflated job titles, meeting attendance - they create political overhead without hierarchical clarity.