Confucian management thought and modern enterprise management
As Marx pointed out, "all the traditions of the dead ancestors haunt the minds of the living like nightmares." Any kind of management must adapt to its own national cultural soil and social and historical background and must be combined with its own national culture. Therefore, inheriting and carrying forward Confucian management thoughts plays an important role in improving the management level of modern enterprises.
The Chinese nation has a long cultural history, and many schools were formed as early as the pre-Qin and early Han dynasties. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "ousted a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone" and established an ideological and theoretical system based on Confucianism and compatible with all factions. Since then, Confucianism has become the guiding ideology of feudal rule, and it runs through politics, economy, military affairs, culture and other aspects. With the rapid development of modern science and technology and increasingly fierce market competition, it is very meaningful to apply the essence of Confucian culture to enterprise management.
Confucian "People-oriented" Management Thought
People-oriented refers to the idea that the management subject starts from people and is people-oriented in management practice, thus mobilizing people's initiative, creativity and enthusiasm. Confucian management philosophy has a distinct "people-oriented" color, and its management thought is similar to the trend of human nature management in modern enterprise management. The modern management concept of "people-oriented" is very similar to the Confucian management thought of "people-oriented", which is mainly reflected in the following points.
Benevolence is the core and theoretical basis of Confucian management thought. There are many definitions of "benevolence", among which the most important one is "love", such as "a gentleman is loyal to his relatives", "an old friend does not abandon" and "universal love", all of which are "love", and the spiritual essence of benevolence is "love". As an ideological system, benevolence includes philosophy, ethics, morality, religion and a series of disciplines belonging to the spiritual field. Zhang Yiren, a master of benevolence, is the core of management, taking benevolence as the principle in everything, caring for others and caring for others: if you want to establish people, you can achieve others; If you want to achieve others, don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you. Kindness requires caring, valuing and caring for others. Confucian management thought not only discovered "human", but also revealed the universal essence of human beings-benevolence, attaching importance to human value, "benevolence depends on oneself, but on human beings", and "those who are benevolent have no harm to benevolence, but kill themselves to become benevolence".
Respect morality and law, respect sages and be good at listening. The Confucian management view of respecting morality and law means that management should be carried out from two aspects: morality and law. "Virtue" refers to moral integrity and moral integrity; "Law" refers to criminal law. "The road to politics, together with punishment, people are free and shameless. Moral education and criminal law are clearly regarded as two aspects of management, namely, "zod is supplemented by punishment", "leniency is supplemented by fierceness, fierceness is supplemented by leniency, and politics is harmonious". Confucian management thought holds that only through virtue can the reasonable intention of managers be transformed into the conscious action of the managed, and the management of managers be transformed into the self-management of the managed. However, moralization cannot replace everything. Without excellent articles of association, we can't give correct guidance and norms in people's thoughts and behaviors, nor can we say that it is efficient management. Confucian management practice of combining rigidity with softness, kindness with respect, leniency with strictness has positive reference significance for modern management.
Confucianism further believes that respecting the virtuous, being good at listening, and Qi Xin's cooperation are the guarantee to achieve the management objectives. First of all, we must respect the sages. Confucianism believes that to do a good job in management, it must be "the sage is in office, and the able person is in office." So how to promote the sage? First, we should know people. "Listen to what they say and watch what they do." Second, don't discriminate against relatives and friends, appoint people on merit instead of cronyism, "all evils must be investigated, all good must be investigated", that is to say, don't blindly follow the secular reputation, you must go deep into reality, seriously investigate and find out the truth before you can draw a correct conclusion. Third, we should not stick to one pattern in selecting talents, and make an exception to appoint outstanding talents with both ability and political integrity. Fourth, we should "be prepared for one person, don't expect anything", and don't blame anyone for wanting everything.
The overall management strategy of "harmony between people" emphasizes "harmony is precious", "harmony without difference", "harmony" refers to the harmonious unity of different things, emphasizing the organic combination of different things, factors and components, and properly adjusting and handling them. The constant pursuit of Confucian management thought is harmony. "Harmony" is an important value criterion in Confucian management thought. It can be said that the Confucian "harmonious" management thought embodies the values of advocating unity and emphasizing teamwork.
Confucianism advocates "harmony is precious", but insists on "harmony but difference", requiring people to allow differences and diversity on the premise of adhering to principles, and "there is rigidity in harmony, softness in rigidity, and both rigidity and softness". From the perspective of social history, "harmony without difference" requires managers to face the broad masses of the people and have the humanistic thought of "loving and caring for the people"
Managers should be "self-cultivation", "self-discipline" and "vigorous and promising". Confucian management thought attaches great importance to the requirements of managers' own quality, and believes that the improvement of managers' moral personality plays a vital role in the formation of a good social atmosphere. "A gentleman is virtuous, a villain is virtuous, and the wind on the grass will be suppressed." "Gentlemen, implements, people, scenery, implements and scenery are correct; Jun, Pan, People and Water, Pan is round and water is round. " Therefore, managers should constantly strengthen their own quality, be strict with themselves and establish their own good image. To strengthen management, we must emphasize self-cultivation, that is, strengthen the personal cultivation of managers. "After self-cultivation, the family, the family and then the country, the country is flat."
While emphasizing self-cultivation, Confucian management thought advocates vigorous and promising, "vigorous and not sleepy, but poor in meaning", "resolute and dull and close to benevolence" and affirms that "Gang is a management ethics with great value.
Application of Confucian management thought in modern enterprise management
Scientific management of enterprises is to use scientific management concepts, rationally organize and maximize the use of existing resources of enterprises, and mobilize the enthusiasm of all aspects of enterprises. As an influential Confucian management thought in ancient China, its value and function are beyond doubt. Applying Confucian management thought to modern enterprise management will certainly improve the competitiveness of enterprises and expand their living space.
Establish a people-oriented management concept. People are the most active, active and decisive factor in the enterprise system, so enterprise management must be people-oriented. Enterprises should attach importance to and care for employees, respect their personal characteristics and fully mobilize their enthusiasm and creativity. Of course, emphasizing employees' self-worth is not promoting individual egoism, but more emphasizing group value. Enterprises should be good at transforming employees' personal values into enterprise values, selecting talents, exercising employees' will, cultivating employees' character and creating a good atmosphere for employees' growth through fair and transparent competition mechanism and guarantee mechanism.
Establish the management concept of "ruling the country by virtue". Confucian management thought of "ruling by virtue" is still of great significance to modern enterprise management. A qualified modern enterprise manager should pay attention to moral image, not just oppress people with power. At the same time, in any case, enterprise managers, especially the main managers, should abide by the law, be self-disciplined and accept supervision; Be impartial, open-minded, work hard and be brave in innovation. Managers should "cultivate self-cultivation, keep the family in peace", constantly improve their own quality and be faithful. The style of managers greatly affects the operation effect of enterprises. Confucian management thought holds that managers must learn and cultivate from many aspects in order to make themselves have the quality commensurate with their duties, that is, "cultivation." But also from "self-cultivation" to "peace of mind", that is, from self-management to social management. Enterprise managers, especially top managers, must speak "faith". If what you say is not what you say, what you say is not what you say, you can't win the public's trust. Managers should "do what they say and do what they do". The "trust" here, one is to talk about credibility, and the other is to gain the trust of others. The former is the premise of the latter, and winning people's trust is the first condition of management. "A gentleman does what he believes, but a villain does what he believes." The manager's credit not only means keeping his word, but also includes the continuity of policies and regulations of the enterprises he manages.
Modern enterprise management should emphasize "harmony between people". Modern enterprise is a comprehensive system and a multi-level organic combination. How to coordinate all kinds of relationships and how to mobilize the enthusiasm of employees can be used for reference by the Confucian management thought of "harmony is precious". Harmony is an extremely important factor in modern enterprise management. To maintain enterprise harmony, we need to strengthen it from both organizational and individual aspects. In terms of organization: First, we should establish an excellent collective leader. The ideological quality and professional ability of the leading collective are indispensable conditions for the harmony of interpersonal relations within the organization. The second is to establish a reasonable organizational structure. An organizational structure with clear division of labor and clear rights and responsibilities is conducive to improving interpersonal relationships. Personally, every employee of an enterprise should treat others sincerely, give people affinity and care for others; Managers should be broad-minded, dare to sacrifice their own interests, and handle the relationship between superiors and subordinates, especially those who disagree with themselves.
To sum up, management is the management of people in the final analysis. A person or a nation cannot be separated from the influence of traditional culture, and enterprise management activities cannot be separated from the imprint of a specific national culture. As Marx pointed out, "all the traditions of the dead ancestors haunt the minds of the living like nightmares." Any kind of management must adapt to its own national cultural soil and social and historical background and must be combined with its own national culture. Therefore, inheriting and carrying forward Confucian management thoughts plays an important role in improving the management level of modern enterprises.