Governing by doing nothing and modern enterprise management

Original text

Doing nothing and doing everything ("Laozi·Chapter 48"

Translation: If you can follow nature without acting rashly, nothing can be done.

Laozi’s ideological system is profound and all-encompassing, and it also contains rich and exquisite management wisdom. They are still relevant to modern times today. Business management has extraordinary far-reaching influence and enlightenment. The main influence of Taoism on modern business management is as follows:

1. The pursuit of the state of governing by doing nothing Laozi mentioned in his philosophical thought: "Taoism" First, I don’t know about it, secondly, I am familiar with it and praise it, secondly, I am afraid of it, thirdly, I insult it, I don’t believe it enough, and I don’t believe it! Youxi, its noble words, achievements are achieved, the people all say, I am natural." Translated into modern times The meaning of words is: the best leader, subordinates have no personal relationship with him, and people only know his existence; the second-class leader, subordinates are close to him and praise him; the third-class leader makes subordinates fear him Fear; and the worst leaders are looked down upon and despised by their subordinates. Moreover, leaders should pay attention to integrity. Without integrity, they will not get the trust and support of their subordinates.

I believe. , the best leader should have a leisurely and natural attitude. He does not give orders easily, encourages his subordinates more and blames them less. If he does this, everything will go smoothly and success will be achieved, and everyone will say: "We are what we are. Like this."

Laozi believes that everything must develop in accordance with its own objective laws and cannot be forcibly restricted by external will. Things themselves have potential and possibility. "Nature" is Tao, it is the law, it is the law. These discussions of Laozi actually advocate the idea of ??"governing by doing nothing, Tao follows nature"

If we think about it from the perspective of managing an enterprise, these ideas. It is similar to the management concepts and methods of modern enterprises. Laozi's thoughts enlighten us that in modern enterprise management, if we want to make enterprise management "successful", we must pursue a kind of "governing by doing nothing, following the natural way". Only in this way can the enterprise be invincible; and only business managers with such qualities are truly competent and excellent leaders

2. Management strategies for dealing with the turbulent society in modern times. The business competition in society is becoming increasingly diversified, from unipolar to multipolar, from regional to global, science and technology are changing with each passing day, and information is emerging in an increasingly fierce manner. It will be an effective, flexible and flexible management strategy to deal with the great changes in society.

As the scale of enterprises continues to expand, departments will continue to increase, personnel will continue to expand, and the levels involved in corporate activities will continue to increase. It is also getting wider and deeper. Under this situation, even the most capable and intelligent leaders cannot cover everything and do everything well. Therefore, in modern business management, leaders must be successful in everything. In decision-making, we should "do something and do something not to do." This requires managers to distinguish between priorities and priorities, and do something about "big things" that are related to the overall situation and long-term interests, while not doing something about trivial "little things" that are insignificant.

For modern enterprises, a truly smart manager should be a "director" who leads and commands everyone, rather than an "actor" who plays a specific role. Contemporary management emphasizes management efficiency and advocates scientific management, which actually coincides with Laozi's idea of ??"governing by doing nothing, Tao follows nature". The famous French management scholar Fayol strongly opposed the style of upper-level leaders who "spend a lot of time on work details" and "always busy" on small things. He has always advocated that "in an enterprise, managers should always try to maintain the freedom of thinking and necessary freedom of action to research, lead and inspect major matters." This means that managers of modern enterprises must pay attention to management strategies and be good at "grasping big things" and "giving up small things."

From another perspective, the implementation of the management principle of "governing by doing nothing, following nature" is also an inevitable choice for enterprises to comply with objective laws, respect the laws of nature, and achieve success.

When Konosuke Matsushita, known as the "God of Management" in Japan, answered "What is your business secret?", he once emphasized: "I don't have any secrets. The only way I manage is to always follow nature." Do things according to the rules." Matsushita Konosuke's management philosophy is actually a side interpretation of Lao Tzu's "governing by doing nothing, Tao follows nature".

3. "Do something and not do anything" in selecting talents. If an enterprise wants to achieve the state of "governing by doing nothing, following the natural way", it must make efforts in the following aspects:

< p> (1) Enterprise managers are required to have the qualities of being open-minded and broad-minded; they must have the tolerance and demeanor to "accommodate people and things"; they must "do something" in recognizing and seeking talents, and "do something" in using talents. Don't do anything."

For a successful modern enterprise leader, if he wants to achieve "governing by doing nothing, and the way follows nature", he must implement the management of "the emperor does nothing and the ministers do something" in the use of cadres and employees Method, this requires business managers to have the spirit of Bole looking for a thousand-mile horse and Liu Bei looking for the thatched cottage, and truly "employ people without doubting them, and do not use doubtful people", so as to fully mobilize the initiative and creativity of managers at all levels and all employees of the enterprise; and It’s not about setting limits everywhere, intervening in everything, and it’s also not about giving blind orders without knowing how.

(2) From the perspective of enterprise management, it is necessary to establish a management mechanism that is suitable for the characteristics of the enterprise, is forward-looking, and advances with the times. Only in this way can the enterprise operate flexibly and with ease. .

To achieve this goal, the following measures must be taken:

(1) Establish a reasonable organizational structure so that departments can form mutual coordination and mutual understanding. restricted state.

(2) According to the requirements of modern enterprises and combined with the company's development plan, formulate management concepts consistent with them.

(3) Improve work efficiency and manage enterprises scientifically and effectively through authorization and decentralization.

In fact, the management scope of any capable business manager is limited. If it exceeds a certain range, it will inevitably lead to a state of overwhelm and low efficiency, and ultimately lead to the disorder and disorder of the entire management system. Imbalance; only hierarchical management and implementation of delegation can free managers from the shackles of trivial matters and concentrate on the overall situation and strategy.

When talking about the qualities and abilities of entrepreneurs, the American management scientist W.J. Powell also emphasized that a real entrepreneur must be "good at delegation", that is, "monopolize big power and monopolize small power." Decentralized, focusing on strategic decision-making and daily production, operation and management activities, mainly delegated to subordinates.”

The famous Bell Labs in New York, USA, has made outstanding achievements in research work and has produced more than a dozen world No. 1 companies. The invention of one. When talking about the way to govern, Dr. Chen Yuyao, the head of the institute, would point to Lao Tzu’s “Governing by doing nothing” banner hanging in his office and explain: “The responsibility of a leader is to ensure that you are leading others and also Make sure that others don't think you are interfering with them." Dr. Chen's words hit the mark. The success of Bell Labs is a vivid example of the successful application of Laozi's "governing by doing nothing" management philosophy in modern enterprises. .

In fact, only by implementing hierarchical management can managers get rid of the interference of daily trivial matters and concentrate on doing their own work; from another perspective, for a certain enterprise, , if you rely too much on a strong leader, when personnel changes occur one day, the company may not be able to operate normally, which will also have a serious impact on the long-term development and expansion of the company.

4. Move forward firmly on the established path. An enterprise's rules, regulations, general guidelines, and general principles cannot be changed overnight. Once formulated, it must maintain its continuity and consistency and not act recklessly. In other words, as long as the selected project is determined to be needed by society and can be achieved based on its own characteristics and relevant conditions, once it is determined and selected, it should "keep the center" and "hold the same" and follow the established path. , move forward down-to-earth and unswervingly.

If we "look at the height of this mountain" and change projects all day long for our own benefit or be greedy for big things and seek new things, and be too "promising", in the end I am afraid that our subordinates will not know what to do during the implementation process. Take measures, make a mess, and achieve nothing.

With the development of economic globalization and the intensification of market competition, especially the rise of Japanese business circles in the world business market in recent decades, more and more Western management scholars have begun to pay attention to Chinese Taoism. Especially Lao Tzu’s management thoughts and principles. In his book "The Way of Leadership - Leadership Strategies for the New Era", American management scientist John Hyde quoted many famous aphorisms from "Laozi". He highly praised Laozi's thought of "quiet and inactive" and also used it from The perspective of management has given its own brand-new interpretation to this idea.

In fact, this kind of craze for studying Laozi’s thoughts has been going on for a long time. I hope that the discussions and insights in this article can provide some reference and inspiration for everyone to study Laozi’s thoughts from the perspective of management practice.