Tao Te Ching and Wuwei Management

Chapter 19 2 "Covenant without cords": Self-discipline is the best management system
Self-discipline is more effective than others.

Good knot, no rope can not be unsolvable. —— "Tao Te Ching" Chapter 27
A man who is good at tying a knot can untie it without a rope.Laozi here is using the metaphor of knotting to manage his subordinates.It means to use "Tao" to restrain people, without strict management system and severe sanctions, and no one will violate it.

"Fengshen Yanyi" records a legendary story of "painting the ground as a prison": King Wen of Zhou ruled the world with benevolence and morality, and the people knew their shame and kept their responsibilities.You only need to draw a circle on the ground, and let the offenders go to prison in the circle. Although there are no walls and guards, no one will escape.This kind of management method that makes people respect themselves and abide by the law consciously is exactly the "Tao" promoted by Lao Yu.

Real management depends on the voluntary initiative of the managed. If frequent and severe sanctions are required, it is often the beginning of failure.Qin Shihuang enacted severe punishments and harsh laws, killing people like hemp, but the world was in chaos.Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty had concise laws, but the world was peaceful and the people were happy.According to historical records, during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, only 9 people were executed for serious crimes across the country, which shows how low the crime rate is.Therefore, it is indeed very reasonable for Lao Tzu to think that restraining people with Tao is better than sanctions.

In an enterprise, managers and employees are like a pair of natural "enemies". They seem to be on opposite sides of the contradiction and can never be reconciled.At work, most people have complained that the boss ignores their own opinions, uses command and order to exercise leadership power, and even often ruthlessly criticizes and reprimands subordinates.Similarly, bosses are often dissatisfied with employees. They think that employees do not obey management, do not abide by the system, have insufficient production skills, are lazy, and are inefficient.For this kind of contradiction like an enemy, the American scholar Kenneth?Crocker and Joan?Goldsmith once analyzed and pointed out in the co-authored "The End of Management" that the end of management should not be coercive management, that is, using power and status to control the wishes of others, but "self-management".

The famous Siemens company has a slogan called "train yourself".It is the most successful way for Siemens to develop its own culture or value system, reflecting the company's deep insights in employee management.Like all the top companies in the world, Siemens has incorporated comprehensive vocational training and continuing education into the company's strategic development plan, and implemented it seriously. Only by concentrating on work, everyone has the opportunity to be promoted.But what they have done is not limited to this. They have put considerable attention on stimulating employees' desire to learn, guiding employees to continuously self-motivate, creating an environment for employees to take responsibility, and experiencing a sense of accomplishment in creative work, etc. aspects so that employees can grow together with the company.For Siemens, it is more valuable to support outstanding talents first and then support "successful" ideas.In the face of worldwide competition, successful management personnel are required.The premise of this philosophy is that most of the selected employees are excellent, and they must be capable, flexible and fully committed to their work.They must have good academic qualifications and actively develop their potential.Moreover, it is precisely because of these excellent employees that the company has achieved growth in performance and other benefits.

A chemical company in Yunnan is a well-known enterprise in my country. It has a history of more than 30 years and is a well-known enterprise in the phosphate fertilizer industry. The company currently has more than 1600 employees, and its sales revenue in 2004 was 15 billion yuan.The reason for such outstanding achievements is that since 2003, the company has started to implement self-management "integrity and self-discipline" team activities, emphasizing giving employees enough trust and respect, allowing teams and employees to apply voluntarily, in safety production, Self-management is carried out in terms of labor discipline, behavioral norms, on-site management, and production skill improvement. Employees formulate various codes of conduct and rules and regulations, and sign a letter of commitment. They will do what they say, and consciously correct wrong behaviors. Improve management level.The chairman of the company said: "The implementation of integrity and self-discipline teams will help enhance mutual respect and trust between managers and employees, further improve the working atmosphere of the company's employees, reduce management costs, and thus improve work efficiency."

These two cases effectively illustrate the principle that "the Dao is based on politics, and the people are exonerated without shame;For managers, the self-discipline of employees is the best management system and a magic weapon for enterprises to get twice the result with half the effort.Of course, although employee self-management is a feasible and positive goal, it is not easy to achieve it; it not only requires leaders and managers to have various skills of helping, guiding, and training, but also requires great enthusiasm, Patience, and right faith.

The most effective and sustained control is the triggering of self-control within the individual, not coercion.Many enterprises spend a lot of time and energy in the process of implementing people-oriented management, but the effect is not very satisfactory.why?It is that the most critical part is not firmly grasped-helping and guiding employees to realize self-management.Because the employees of modern enterprises have stronger self-awareness, work means not only "survival" to them, but more importantly, they have to realize their own value in their work.If a company manager does not realize this, he will not be able to win his subordinates, nor will his company be successful.

(End of this chapter)