How many major contributions does Confucianism make to our current business management?

Part 3: Confucian Management Thought and Modern Enterprise Management

As Marx pointed out, "all the traditions of the dead forefathers haunt the minds of the living like nightmares." Any kind of management must be adapted to its own national cultural soil and socio-historical background, must be combined with its own national culture. Therefore, the Confucian management thought to inherit, carry forward, for improving the level of modern enterprise management, has an important role.

The Chinese nation has a long history of culture, as far back as the pre-Qin Dynasty to the early Han Dynasty has formed a large number of schools. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "dismissed the hundred schools, exclusive respect for Confucianism", established Confucianism as the main body compatible with the various schools of thought and theory system, from then on, Confucianism has become the guiding ideology of feudal rule, and throughout the political, economic, military, cultural and other aspects. In today's era, the development of modern science and technology is getting faster and faster, and the competition in the market is getting more and more intense. It is very meaningful if the essence of Confucian culture can be applied to enterprise management.

Confucian "people-oriented" management ideas

People-oriented philosophy refers to the management of the main body of the management practice from the people, people as the fundamental, and then mobilize the initiative, creativity and enthusiasm of the ideological concept. Confucian management philosophy with a distinctive "anthropology" color, its management ideas and modern business management in human nature management trend has convergence. The modern management philosophy of "people-oriented" has very similar principles with the Confucian management idea of "people-oriented", which is mainly reflected in the following points.

Ren science. "Benevolence" is the core and theoretical foundation of Confucian management thought. There are many definitions of "benevolence", the most important of which is "love of people", such as "a gentleman is faithful to his relatives", "the old friend is not left behind The most important of them is "loving people", such as "a gentleman is devoted to his relatives", "a friend does not leave a friend behind", and "love all people", all of which refer to "loving people", and the spiritual essence of Renxue is "loving people". As a system of thought, renology includes a series of spiritual disciplines such as philosophy, ethics, morality and religion. Jenism advocates taking benevolence as the core of management, taking benevolence as the principle in everything, putting oneself in the shoes of others: to establish oneself and to establish others, to reach out and to reach out to others, and to do not do unto others as you would not have them do unto you. Ren requires caring for people, valuing them and loving them. Confucian management thought not only discovers the "human being", but also reveals the universal nature of human beings - benevolence, focusing on the value of human beings, "for benevolence is by oneself, but by human beings, it is". "The aspirant is not seeking life in order to harm benevolence, but to kill oneself in order to become benevolent".

Concerns about virtue and law, honoring the virtuous and listening to the good. Confucianism, respect for virtue and law management point of view, is to say that from the "virtue and law" two aspects of management. "Virtue" that is, positive virtue, correct character: "law" refers to the criminal law. "The way is governed by politics, and the people are exempted from shame. The way of virtue, Qi Shi Li, there is a shame and the character", very clearly the moral education and criminal law as two aspects of management, "criminal to support virtue to help rule", "wide to help fierce, fierce to help wide, the government to be and". Confucian management thought believes that only moralization can turn the reasonable intention of the manager into the conscious action of the managed, and the management of the manager into the self-management of the managed. However, moralization cannot replace everything. Without excellent law, it cannot give people's thoughts and behaviors the right guidance and norms, and it is impossible to talk about efficient management. Confucianism's management practice of combining rigidity and flexibility, using both kindness and authority, and applying leniency and ferocity together has positive reference significance for modern management.

Confucianism also further believes that respect for the wise and good to listen to the group is to achieve the management objectives of the guarantee. First of all, we must honor the virtuous, Confucianism believes that to do a good job of management, it must be "the virtuous in the position, the capable in the job". So how to raise the virtuous? First, we must know people, "listen to their words and observe their behavior". Second, we must not be divided into affinity, meritocracy is not nepotism, "all evil must be investigated, all good must be investigated," meaning that the world can not blindly follow the reputation, must be in-depth practical, serious investigation, to find out the truth, so as to draw the correct conclusions. Third, we must not stick to one pattern to select talents, and appoint outstanding talents with both integrity and talent. Fourth, we must "not seek to prepare for a person", for any one person do not seek to blame.

"People and" the overall management strategy, highlighting the "harmony is precious", "and different". "Harmony, harmony", refers to the harmony and unity of different things, it emphasizes the organic combination of different things, factors, components, moderate adjustments, the appropriate placement. The goal that Confucian management thought constantly pursues is harmony. "Harmony" is an important value criterion in Confucian management thought. It can be said that the Confucian "harmony" management thinking reflects the values of unity and teamwork.

Confucianism advocates "harmony is precious", but insists on "harmony and difference", requires people to adhere to the principle of the premise, allows the existence of differences, diversity, "and in the just, just in the soft, just and soft together! ". From a socio-historical point of view, "harmony and difference" requires that managers must face the masses of people, with the humanistic ideology of "universal love and benevolence".

Managers should "cultivate themselves", "be virtuous and self-disciplined", and "be robust and enterprising". Confucian management thought attaches great importance to the requirements of the manager's own quality, that the perfection of the moral character of the manager, the formation of a good social atmosphere has a very critical role. "The gentleman de wind, the small man de grass, grass on the wind, must be supine" "the gentleman, the instrument is also, the people, the scene is also, the instrument is correct and the scene is correct; the gentleman, the disk is also, the people, the water is also, the disk is round and the water is round". Therefore, managers should continue to strengthen their own quality, strict requirements for themselves, to establish their own good image. Strengthen management, must emphasize the cultivation of the body, that is, to strengthen the personal cultivation of managers. "The body repair and after the family Qi, family Qi and after the country rule, the country rule and after the world peace."

Confucian management thought in emphasizing the cultivation of the body at the same time, advocate just healthy and active, "just healthy and not trapped, its righteousness is not trapped in the poor," "just and mute near the benevolence", sure that "just "is a management ethical virtue of great value.

Confucian management thought in modern enterprise management

Scientific management of enterprises is to apply scientific management concepts, rationally organize and maximize the use of the various resources established in the enterprise itself, and mobilize the enthusiasm of all aspects of the enterprise. As China's ancient very influential Confucian management thinking, its value, role is beyond doubt, the Confucian management thinking well used in modern enterprise management, will certainly improve the competitiveness of enterprises, expanding the survival of enterprises.

Establish the concept of people-oriented management. People are the most active, the most positive, decisive factors in the enterprise system components, and thus enterprise management must be people-oriented. Enterprises should pay attention to employees, care for employees, respect the personal characteristics of employees, fully mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity of employees. Of course, emphasize the importance of the staff's own value is not to promote personal egoism, but more emphasis on group value. Enterprises should be good at transforming the personal value of employees into corporate value, good at choosing the best talent, through a fair and transparent competition mechanism and protection mechanism, to exercise the will of the employees, cultivate their character, and create a good atmosphere for their growth.

Establish the management concept of "governance by virtue". Confucianism's "governance by virtue" management idea is still of great significance to modern enterprise management. A qualified modern enterprise managers, to speak of moral image, and not just to power over people. At the same time, no matter in any case, enterprise managers, especially the main managers, should abide by the rules and regulations, self-restraint, accept the supervision; do things fair and unselfish, open-minded, hard working, innovative. Managers should "cultivate themselves and others", constantly improve their own quality, faithful and true. The style of the manager greatly affects the operation of the enterprise. Confucian management thought that managers must learn and cultivate from many aspects, in order to make their own quality commensurate with their position, that is, "cultivate oneself". Moreover, it is also necessary to move from "cultivating oneself" to "settling others", i.e. from self-management to social management. Enterprise managers, especially high-level managers, must talk about "trust". If the appearance of inconsistency, words and deeds contradict each other, can not win the trust of the public. Managers should be "faithful words, deeds of honor", here the "letter", one is to be credible, the second is to obtain the trust of others. The former is the premise of the latter, trust is the first condition of management. "A gentleman's faith and then labor his people", the manager's credit not only refers to the words of faith, words and will do, but also refers to his management of the enterprise in the policy, regulations, and other aspects of the continuity.

Modern enterprise management should emphasize "people and". Modern enterprise is a comprehensive system, is a multi-level organic integration. How to coordinate all kinds of relations, how to mobilize the enthusiasm of the staff, Confucianism, "peace is precious" management thinking has a certain role to learn from. "and" is a modern enterprise management is extremely important factors, to maintain harmony in the enterprise, we must strengthen from the organization and personal aspects. In the organizational aspect: first, to establish an excellent leadership group. Leadership collective ideological quality, business capacity is the organization of interpersonal relations within the indispensable conditions of harmony. The second is to establish a reasonable organizational structure. The organizational structure with clear division of labor and clear responsibilities is conducive to improving interpersonal relationships. On the personal side: every employee of the enterprise should treat people sincerely, give people a sense of affinity and care for others; managers should have a broad mind, dare to sacrifice their own interests, and deal with superior and subordinate relations, especially deal with the relationship between people who have different opinions from their own.

In summary, management is, in the final analysis, the management of people, and a person, a nation can not be cut off from the influence of traditional culture, business management activities can not be separated from the imprint of a particular national culture. As Marx pointed out, "all the traditions of the dead predecessors, like a nightmare entangled in the minds of the living". Any kind of management must be adapted to its own national cultural soil and socio-historical background, and must be combined with its own national culture. Therefore, the Confucian management thought to inherit, carry forward, for improving the level of modern enterprise management, has an important role.