Reflections on organizational management-this is a very famous book, which is often quoted by management books. Known as the father of modern American management theory and the founder of social systems school, Chester Barnard? Barnard). Its Chinese version was first published 60 years later.
It is said that Barnard has only written two books, one is Manager's Responsibility and the other is Organization and Management. At first, I had no feelings about this book. This book is Barnard's papers, speeches and his experience in dealing with some social X chaos, as well as his comments on some books. The content is incoherent and has not formed a system. But when I looked back for the second time, especially when I carefully understood the core content of these independent chapters, I felt quite deep. Barnard is indeed a great enterprise management practitioner and a theorist who is willing to think, summarize and prove in management practice. His rich management experience, meticulous and rigorous thinking and intuitive judgment have given him correct judgments in organizational management, leadership art, selection and training of managers, cooperation and development between countries, democratic understanding and leadership, and indeed pointed out the direction for future generations in many aspects. It is said that Barnard's theory directly influenced Drucker, mintzberg, Simon and others, and he can indeed be called the father of modern management.
Barnard put forward the relationship between organization and individual, and put forward the problem of cooperation and collaboration in the organization; He analyzed the quality and training methods of leaders; This paper puts forward the relationship between horizontal organization and vertical organization, and analyzes their respective characteristics, which provides guidance for us to establish a correct management foundation.
First, the relationship between organizations and individuals.
Barnard pointed out: "The key to the existence of an organization is the individual's service to the organization, that is, the behavior that helps the organization's goals." Therefore, the core of enterprise management is: 1) promoting the cooperative relationship between organizations and individuals; 2) After the organization establishes a cooperative relationship with individuals, urge individuals to serve the organization. The main function of managers is to inspire the morale of the organization, form an incentive mechanism, and strengthen the supervision, control, inspection, education and training of employees as well as deterrent means.
He particularly emphasized: "In the final analysis, an organization is just a collection of cooperative behaviors." Moreover, "although the efficiency of the team depends on the organization and role of the whole team, it also depends on the role of everyone in the team." In practical work, it is difficult for us to ignore any of them. "
Barnard clearly pointed out the relationship between team and individual in an organization: efficiency depends on the whole team, but individuals play an important role. He said: "For all industries, individuals and their willingness to participate is an effective effort."
How to get individuals involved, managers focus on: treating employees "must be sincere, not strategic, and not just to improve work efficiency." The explanation of this sentence is that employees should not be treated with the attitude of "governing people", not by various means, not for efficiency, but with sincerity. This is a far cry from our personal cultivation of ancient traditional culture in China, and then the thinking of governing the country and leveling the world. Managers should be sincere, instead of trying to control employees with the idea of "the height of the road is one foot and the height of the magic is one foot" and governing employees with a lofty attitude.
From this perspective, many of our state-owned and private enterprise bosses are wrong on the basis of organization and management. We always treat employees from the perspective of economic man, and treat employees with the mentality of "inherent vice at the beginning of life". Coupled with China's traditional mentality of "better lose the world than lose it", I can't suffer first. I must first prevent employees from taking advantage of me, otherwise I will lose face. These reasons together form the foundation of our management. We should control them first, and then talk about the rest. In our long-term hierarchical system, managers have become accustomed to putting themselves at a very high level, and employees are definitely lower than managers. In dealing with hierarchical differences, traditional culture tells us that the principle is "treat each other with courtesy", with the upper layer being a high-level ceremony and the lower layer being a low-level ceremony. As long as it doesn't violate the "courtesy", it is the correct way to treat employees. In this model, we may never treat employees.
Barnard pointed out that the key to collaboration in an organization lies in whether individuals are willing, willing and interested in participating. He believes: "Our achievements in promoting individual cooperation are limited. There may be several reasons for this, but one of the most important reasons is that individuals lack confidence in the sincerity and integrity of managers. It is this lack of self-confidence, not any technical or ability limitations, that seriously hinders individuals from exerting their maximum energy. "
Barnard also stressed: "The importance of all people working together in Qixin is immeasurable. You can't give orders or ask for it. Only when the organization inspires the confidence of employees can you get such cooperation. To achieve this result, it is not through what someone said today or yesterday, but through long-term words and deeds. " This is another requirement for managers: long-term performance of words and deeds, to gain the trust of employees. In fact, Confucius said as early as in the Analects of Confucius: "People cannot stand without faith."
Barnard believes: "Leadership is the result of efforts of all parties, and coordination and cooperation are often the result of leadership. In fact, leadership means cooperation. Organization is the product of Qi Xin's cooperation. "
Barnard realized that organizational development needs cooperation more than 60 years ago, and cooperation can improve organizational efficiency and produce organizational strength. The key is to give full play to the strength of each organization member and let them participate willingly, willingly and actively, so as to give full play to the innovative role of employees. This is the law of organizational development that we have summed up. Only by relying on the whole and giving full play to the innovative role of employees can organizations develop and managers perform their duties. For a detailed demonstration of the legal system of organizational development, please refer to the book Means-Secrets of Management.
Reflections on organizational management II Management Behavior is an important work of Simon. Simon said that people usually discuss management as the art of "completing tasks", which emphasizes the process and method of ensuring the in-depth development of actions. The purpose of formulating management principles is to make team members take coordinated actions. But this discussion pays little attention to the choice before action. That is, what to do before action. Therefore, this book mainly focuses on the theme of the selection process that leads to action. He believes that the essence of management is decision-making, and the decision-making process is a selection process. Decision-making includes two factors: fact factor and value factor, which are included in all concrete decisions. This feature determines that decision-making is to achieve specific goals, and the task of management should focus on decision-making under specific goals. Simon said that the purpose of writing this book is to tell readers how to understand an organization from its decision-making process.
The first is about the two elements of decision making. Simon said that the two elements in the decision-making process are the fact element and the value element. A fact element is a description of the environment and how it works. The value element is to explain the manager's preference for something, thus reflecting the degree of judgment on something. In short, the value element is the goal of decision-making, while the fact element is the means used in the decision-making process. He believes that decision-making is a systematic process, and decision-making should not be isolated, but interrelated.
The second is about procedural decision-making and non-procedural decision-making The so-called procedural decision-making is a decision with a fixed mode of thinking. After many exercises, the corresponding solutions to the corresponding problems. In other words, experience. Simon believes that it is very important for managers to consciously cultivate their procedural decision-making ability. Because it can save a lot of energy and time. But non-procedural decision-making is also very important, which mainly refers to the individual's ability to improvise. In the process of real work, various environments that affect decision-making are ever-changing and unpredictable. How to make correct and creative decisions in the changing reality is also an important test for decision makers. Therefore, as leaders and decision makers, both of these decision-making abilities should be cultivated and valued.
Then Simon thinks that the factors that affect individual decision-making behavior are: ① authority. Authority gives someone the decision-making power to guide others' behavior. ② Organizational identity, that is, members' loyalty to the organization. When making decisions, managers can only make reasonable and efficient decisions if they agree with organizational goals. ③ Information communication. Without information communication, there is no decision, and without information communication, there is no organization. The information communication of an organization is a two-way process: on the one hand, it transmits information to the decision-making center, on the other hand, the decision-making center transmits information to all aspects. 4 training. Organize training for members to influence them and enable them to make satisfactory decisions on their own. ⑤ Efficiency, the organization requires members to use the shortest path and the most economical method to achieve the expected goals when making decisions.