Tao Te Ching and Wuwei Management

Chapter 59 2 "I do nothing and the people transform themselves": Integrating love into corporate culture

Love your employees, and employees will love the company even more.

I do nothing but self-cultivation.

—— "Tao Te Ching" Chapter 57
Business management is a high art.If the enterprise is regarded as a cold machine, then employees will always only complete tasks mechanically. Such an enterprise is blunt and lifeless.However, if the enterprise is regarded as a person full of life characteristics and filled with love, employees will work for the enterprise with an automatic, independent and spontaneous attitude, contributing their passion and wisdom.This has reached the realm of "I do nothing and the people transform themselves" in "management by doing nothing".

In the workplace, there are two diametrically opposed phenomena: some companies have a high rate of employees quitting the company, and after leaving the company angrily, the employees still post online to criticize the company's "bad state", advising future generations not to go to that perverted company The company; and some companies have a very stable team, and employees have high satisfaction with the company. Even if they resign, they will keep in touch frequently, and even "go home and visit often".This has a lot to do with corporate culture. A company that is cohesive with love is much more stable than one that is held together by fear.Whether the corporate culture is reasonable or not will not only affect the psychology of employees, but also indirectly affect the benefits of the company.

An experiment in psychology is called "needle threading psychology": when threading a sewing needle, the more nervous you are, the more difficult it is to thread it through.The same is true at work, the more nervous you are, the harder it is to perform at your level.In many companies, many managers like to rely on intimidation and reprimand to lead employees.However, this kind of research has found that most companies based on strict management and high pressure will not have good results.

Henry Ford is a banner of the American auto industry. He has changed the way of life of the American people and is a hero of the American people. He is known as "the greatest entrepreneur of the 20th century".However, Ford's "authoritarian management" led to antagonism between him and his employees, but it almost ruined Ford's car business.Ford believes that all his employees are hired by him with money, and they are no different from commodities. If an employee cannot absolutely obey him, he will be kicked out immediately.Anyway, as long as you pay money, you can "buy" new employees at any time.

For as long as 20 years, Ford has only provided the market with a single color and a single model T car.His salesperson has repeatedly proposed to increase the color of the car's appearance, but Ford's answer is: "Customers can choose any color, as long as it is black." Because they do not want to adapt to market demand to change their car design, Ford stopped. step forward.Because of Ford's arbitrariness, employees also left one after another. In the end, even his most powerful management expert, Kuzens, had no choice but to find another place. In 1928, Ford's market share was surpassed by General Motors.By the end of Henry Ford's life, the Ford Motor Company was on the verge of collapse.

Different from Ford's authoritarian style, Hewlett-Packard's humanized management.

With its enterprise spirit of valuing, respecting and trusting people, HP has not only achieved outstanding performance, but also won wide recognition in the industry, and is known as one of the most respected companies in the world today. The core of the "HP Way" is "emphasis on employees".

HP's entrepreneurial spirit is reflected in the introduction of its "goal": "HP should not adopt a strict military organization, but should give full freedom to all employees, so that each person can complete his or her job in the way that he thinks is most beneficial to him. , so that they can make their respective contributions to the company's goals." HP's managers firmly believe: "These policies and measures of HP all come from a belief that HP employees can do a good job and create something. As long as Give them the right environment and they can do better."

The company believes that the dignity and value of every employee is an extremely important part of the HP way, and firmly believes that "regardless of men and women, everyone wants to have a creative and good job, a good working environment, and everyone will do their job well."In Hewlett-Packard, leaders at any level do not have their own independent offices, and there are only a small number of meeting rooms for collective use.When they meet each other at get off work, they always call them by their first names rather than their titles.Hewlett-Packard also has an unwritten rule: Once every employee is hired, he will never be dismissed easily.All of these reflect respect for employees.Because of this, HP has a strong cohesive force for its employees.Going to any organization of HP can make people feel how satisfied HP employees are with their jobs. They work in a friendly, easy-going and less stressful atmosphere.

What can better reflect the "thought of love" in the corporate culture is the British Clark Company, which is a very small company. Its business is only to fertilize and spray lawns for customers.But its business philosophy and management policy are very special.Since its inception, the company has adhered to a credo: "Employees come first, customers come second. If you do this, everything will go well." Clarke treats its employees like a family member, and does its best to provide services to users.Here, the spraying and fertilizing workers are the most important people in the company, and they are respectfully called "lawn maintenance experts".It is this "unconventional" business philosophy and method emphasizing "love" that has enabled the company to achieve great success: when Clark started its business, there were only 5 employees and 2 cars. Ten years later, it had 5000 employees. Turnover of £3 million.

There is a famous saying in French business circles: "Love your employees, and he will love your company a hundred times." There is a very important "principle of reciprocity" in interpersonal relationships. Give it back with gratitude."Enterprises must learn to love, the most important manifestation is that enterprise managers must learn to love the company's employees.The relationship between employees and enterprises is not only a material employment and employment relationship, but also a harmonious and common development "friendship relationship".The bond of maintaining this "friendship" is that the company should give employees a feeling of "the company is home".Only a manager who knows how to respect and care for his employees, and who values ​​humanized management, can his business run more harmoniously and normally.

(End of this chapter)