Suggestions and Preliminary Ideas for a Management Model with Chinese Characteristics

[Abstract] Taking the basic framework of modern management theory as a clue, we explore the main fit between China's excellent traditional culture and the basic laws in modern management from four aspects, such as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, and put forward the suggestions and preliminary ideas for shaping a management model with Chinese characteristics.

[Keywords] Modern Management Theory Chinese Traditional Culture Future Management Model

§1 The Problem

Harold Kuntz, a famous American management scholar, believes that "management is a process of change, and it is not a matter of how it is done". According to Kuntz, "Management is the design and maintenance of a favorable environment that enables people in a group to accomplish the set goals efficiently." (1) Specifically, the implementation of management goals and plans, the design and operation of organizational structure, the deployment and placement of human and material resources, as well as the control and adjustment of the whole process of management, are inseparable from the participation of people. Since modern management is centered on human beings, it is inevitable that the research process of its theory and practice involves reflection on the traditional culture of mankind.

The earliest study of the impact of corporate values and social and cultural traditions on business management is the famous American management scientist Chester Barnard (C.L. Barnard). C.L. Barnard and Phineippe Selznick (P.L. Barnard), the first to study the impact of corporate values and social and cultural traditions on business management. In 1970, S.M. Davis, a professor of organizational behavior at Boston University, explicitly and systematically researched management theories from the perspectives of national culture, social culture, and organizational culture in "Comparative Management - Perspectives on Organizational Culture". 1971, Drucker directly linked management and culture. In 1971, Drucker made a direct connection between management and culture, arguing that "management is a social function, hidden in the traditions of values, customs, and beliefs, as well as in the political system of government, and that management is - and should be - governed by culture ...... Management is also 'cultural'. It is not a values-free science." (2) Unfortunately, at the time, this assertion failed to attract the attention it deserved in the American business and management communities. Until the late 70's, due to the Japanese enterprises in the international market competition showed amazing resilience and strong competitiveness, only to force the U.S. management community to seriously study and analyze Japan's business management, found that the two countries in the system, structure, strategy, and other "hardware" and no difference, the difference is only in the personnel, skills, style and culture of the highest goals and other "hardware". The differences are only in the "software" aspects of culture such as people, skills, style and highest goals, thus confirming that culture and values play a more important role than management theories and methods. Since then, the question of the cultural background and roots of management differences has increasingly become a new topic in modern management theory.

With the acceleration of the globalization process, if Chinese enterprises want to win in the increasingly fierce international competition, they must be guided by Chinese management theories based on the characteristics of their own thinking and action modes, and oriented to the global cultural space. In this paper, by examining the excellent traditional culture of China, we explore the fit between modern management and traditional culture, with a view to grasping the basic features of the management model with Chinese characteristics.

§2 Comparison between Modern Management Theory and Chinese Traditional Culture

Modern management originates from the West and is rooted in Western culture, however, many of its basic philosophies have a deep origin and a high degree of integration with Chinese traditional culture. In traditional Chinese culture, the ancient wisdom of understanding the law of all things by the concept of the oneness of life, and of realizing the mystery of the origin of the universe, which is very brilliant, subtle and profound, is still preserved. (3) In this regard, Mr. C.Y. Cheng, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii and President of the International Institute of Chinese Management Studies (IICMS), combines the ancient Chinese theory of wu xing with the Western management theory, and through the integration, puts forward a highly original theory - Theory C, which has caused a great response in the international arena (4).

In the following, we will take the main framework of modern management theory as the basic clue, and make a summary analysis and discussion of the Chinese traditional management concepts that fit into it.

2.1 Strategic Management and Ancient Chinese Concepts of Strategy Design

Effective management begins with strategy formulation. In the process of strategy formulation, a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the internal and external environment of the enterprise is a crucial step.

China's pre-Qin sons of the idea of governing the country and the theory of military management, mainly Sun Tzu's Art of War, contains many general principles and methods that can be used to study the analysis of strategic decision-making in enterprises. The goal of Taoist personal management is "inner saint and outer king"; Confucianism advocates the realization of "commonwealth" through "self-cultivation" and "peace of mind", of which "self-cultivation" and "peace of mind" are the most important. Confucianism advocates the realization of the "commonwealth" through "cultivating oneself" and "settling others", in which "cultivating oneself" and "settling others" embody the dialectical relationship between the goal of personal management and the goal of organizational management. Individual management gradually realizes the leap from self-discipline to self-awareness, and realizes the organization's . The goal.

For modern enterprises, it is necessary to focus on creating a coordinated personal, group and even social interests of the target chain, so that the completion of the former goal becomes the premise and foundation for the realization of the latter goal, the latter achievement is the proof of the former and the sublimation of the cycle and the formation of a reasonable goal process network, contributing to the realization of the enterprise's highest strategic goals.

"Sun Tzu The Art of War" clearly puts forward the "five things", "seven plans" is to determine the success or failure of strategic decision-making basic factors (5). The "five things" are "the way, the sky, the earth, the general and the law". According to the modern meaning to understand, "Tao" is a macro, comprehensive, objective political and economic environment; "heaven", that is, timing, refers to the opportunity, or an objective situation; "earth" is the geographical location, that is, the micro-environment of the enterprise, including the enterprise's geographical location, the capital, technical equipment, information, production capacity, product marketing and transportation; will, refers to the quality of managers, including talent, integrity, kindness, bravery and majesty, etc.; the law is the rule of law, the structure of the organization, hierarchical relationships and the corresponding norms, guidelines, and so on. The above "five things" can be used as a general outline for the enterprise to formulate business strategy and analyze the enterprise environment. The "Seven Strategies" are: "Who is the master, who is the general, who is capable, who has access to heaven and earth, who has the decree, who is the strongest soldier, who is the best trained soldier, and who has the clearest rewards and punishments." For modern enterprises, in the fierce market competition, to analyze and compare themselves with competitors in these seven aspects, only know yourself and know your enemy, in order to fight a hundred battles. In short, five things mainly to analyze the external environment, the threat of the existence of opportunities, the enterprise's own capabilities and shortcomings, "seven" more focus on the comparison with competitors.

Of course, enterprises in the decision-making process, not only to understand the "five things", "seven techniques", it is more important to study them as strategic elements of the primary and secondary relationships and their interconnectedness, the role of time, mode and degree, from the overall observation of various factors Interaction mechanism in order to make a comprehensive evaluation.

2.2 The basic principles of modern organization and the traditional "division" and "unity"

The realization of any management goal depends on a certain organization to complete. The task of the organization is to design a decision-making and communication network, so that members of the organization to do what, who is responsible for what results, and eliminate the obstacles in the implementation of the division of labor due to ambiguity. An effective organization should follow the basic principles of unity of purpose, reasonable span, unity of command, separation of authority and responsibility, and clarity of function (6). This is the basic viewpoint of modern management theory about organization.

In China, the book Xunzi concentrates on organizational issues. Xunzi believes that the group is one of the nature of human beings, and "division" is a necessary prerequisite for human beings to form a social group, and without the limitations of the hierarchical division, there will be competition within the group. According to the modern interpretation, "points" actually contains two meanings (1):

1. Clearly for the completion of management objectives, policies and programs necessary activities and to be divided into categories.

2. Divide the above activities into groups based on available human and material resources and the best way to use them in the light of the environment.

"Group division" is caused by the social division of labor and occupational differences, and it is also a necessary means of resolving conflicts in various organizations, and it is a prerequisite for the healthy functioning of the organization. Therefore, Xunzi believes that "if the group is not divided, then it will fight, and if it is poor, then it will suffer, and if it fights, then it will be a disaster. To save the trouble and get rid of the disaster, there is no better way than to make the group clear." And "there is a division of righteousness, then allow the world to rule" (5).

On the basis of the division, the core of the organization's work should be to cultivate the spirit of unity and collaboration among the members of the organization, in order to improve the efficiency of the whole organization to achieve its goals. Accordingly, in the Zhou Yi, there is the assertion that "Heaven and earth are intertwined and all things are connected, and up and down are intertwined and their aspirations are the same." This assertion means that organizational goals are achieved through upward and downward communication between managers and members of the organization. Sun Tzu's The Art of War further elaborates on this idea, "Therefore, those who are good at war, seek the situation, not to blame it on the person, so they can choose the person and let the situation." "Therefore, the good warrior's potential, into turning round stones in a thousand-foot mountain, the potential." (6) That is, the requirements of the organization, more in its function, in particular, the organization itself can produce a fighting force, which is the "potential", once the formation of such an organization, and can "choose people and Ren potential", according to the organization's functional needs of the use of the people long, the organization will have a kind of "not move already, move will be thunderous, a successful, unstoppable momentum." (6)

3 Leadership Theory and Traditional Chinese Motivational Approaches

In modern management theory, leadership refers to "the process of influencing people to contribute to the goals of the organization and the collective." (1) The essence of leadership is to achieve organizational goals by establishing a following relationship. Since people tend to follow those who they believe provide the means to achieve their wants, demands and needs, leadership and motivation are closely related, and it is only by understanding people's real needs and behavioral drivers that motivation can be better understood, and thus effective leadership can be achieved.

Over the years, Western scholars have put forward a variety of views on human nature from different sides, including Shain, Porter, Douglas McGregor's hypothesis of human nature is the most important. The human nature hypothesis of Shain, Porter, and Douglas McGregor is the most classic. They generally agree that human beings have gone through an evolution from "economic man", "social man", "self-actualized man" to "complex man". The evolution of "complex human being". (1) The representative theories of human nature in ancient China include Confucianism's "plasticity of human nature" (which includes Xunzi's theory of sexual evil and Mencius's theory of sexual goodness), Taoism's "naturalness of human nature", and Legalism's "goodness of human nature" (which includes Xunzi's theory of sexual evil). "

The human nature of human beings is not a matter of opinion.

The human nature hypothesis is a necessary precondition for managers to take management measures. Western behavioral science assumes that human nature is not a "variable", managers can only try to adapt to human nature. This coincides with the views of Taoism and Legalism in China. Only Confucianism believes that human nature is variable, such as Xunzi advocates "guide people to go false", Mencius advocates "to understand the good end". They emphasize more on the shape and guidance of the acquired nature, which will achieve better management results than simply passive adaptation to human nature.