On the basis of reflecting on the disadvantages of western traditional management thoughts, many managers and management scientists seek philosophical wisdom and new ways of thinking from Taoist thoughts, and apply Taoist management thoughts to modern organizational management, which has achieved good results. In organizational management, there are two management methods: hard management and soft management. Hard management emphasizes the rigor and stability in the process of organization operation, focusing on the level of organization management system; Soft management takes rational values as the main content, and emphasizes the rationality and scientificity of organizational management. Western traditional management thought is mostly a rigid management method, which emphasizes system over people, and gradually shows its disadvantages in the development of the times, making it increasingly difficult to meet the needs of modern management. In modern management, only by emphasizing people-centered management, that is, shaping correct people's ideals, values and codes of conduct, can other specific problems in organizational management be solved. Therefore, flexible management is a more scientific management method, which is paid more and more attention by organizations. Taoist management thought seldom talks about the specific management system, and the prominent ones are soft management such as "inaction" and "quietness", which conforms to the trend of modern management. As a result, some basic concepts of Taoism in China, such as "each in his place, acting according to nature", "governing by doing nothing", "teaching without words", "moving against the Tao" and "ruling the country by righteousness and using military force strangely" and other "soft management" management methods, have gradually been widely used in enterprise management by some famous management scientists in the world, which is also the reason why Taoist management ethics has been paid more and more attention.
Taoism's analysis and assumption of human nature laid the basic principles of Taoist management ethics. Taoist thought holds that human nature is "simple" and should be preserved as much as possible. Therefore, management does not need too much human intervention, but should be managed according to the law of rational development of human nature. This thought is deeply embodied in individual behavior, leadership behavior and organizational behavior in Taoist management ethics.
This paper mainly studies the influence of Taoism on modern enterprise management and the balanced development of Taoism and enterprises. This paper will interpret the guiding significance of "inaction" to modern enterprises, namely, inaction, establishment, longevity, belief, management, moral cultivation and application of entrepreneurs.
Keywords: Taoist thought; Enterprise management; affect
Introduction to Chapter 1
The research background of 1. 1
With the transformation from modern economy to knowledge economy and the development of management science, more and more entrepreneurs and management scientists increasingly feel that the traditional western management thought based on scientific management has its insurmountable theoretical defects-ignoring human value and lacking attention to human subjectivity. Taoist management ethics can be used as an effective remedy for this malady, because it attaches great importance to the value of "people" and the management thought it contains is really people-oriented management thought. Although Taoist philosophy has constructed a metaphysical system based on the Tao of nature, its so-called "Tao" is actually a humanized Tao of nature, and human nature is the theoretical origin and logical destination of the problem of the Tao of nature. Therefore, the problem of man has always been an internal theme of Taoist philosophy, and the discussion of "man" in Taoist philosophy is permeated with the humanitarian spirit of pursuing freedom, equality and individual liberation. Unlike Confucianism, which emphasizes moralization and socialization, Taoism pays more attention to individual value and individual freedom. From the perspective of "Taoism is natural", Taoism advocates the natural state of man and society, criticizes the restriction of alienation on man, and affirms man's pursuit of freedom and equality, which has real humanitarian spiritual connotation.
On the basis of reflecting on the disadvantages of western traditional management thoughts, many managers and management scientists seek philosophical wisdom and new ways of thinking from Taoist thoughts, and apply Taoist management thoughts to modern organizational management, which has achieved good results. In organizational management, there are two management methods: hard management and soft management. Hard management emphasizes the rigor and stability in the process of organization operation, focusing on the level of organization management system; Soft management takes rational values as the main content, and emphasizes the rationality and scientificity of organizational management. Western traditional management thought is mostly a rigid management method, which emphasizes system over people, and gradually shows its disadvantages in the development of the times, making it increasingly difficult to meet the needs of modern management. In modern management, only by emphasizing people-centered management, that is, shaping correct people's ideals, values and codes of conduct, can other specific problems in organizational management be solved. Therefore, flexible management is a more scientific management method, which is paid more and more attention by organizations. Taoist management thought seldom talks about the specific management system, and the prominent ones are soft management such as "inaction" and "quietness", which conforms to the trend of modern management. As a result, some basic concepts of Taoism in China, such as "each in his place, acting according to nature", "governing by doing nothing", "teaching without words", "moving against the Tao" and "ruling the country by righteousness and using military force strangely" and other "soft management" management methods, have gradually been widely used in enterprise management by some famous management scientists in the world, which is also the reason why Taoist management ethics has been paid more and more attention.
Since management is essentially the management of people, the understanding of human nature should be the basic premise of management cognition and management practice. The development of human management practice shows that human nature hypothesis is the highest guiding ideology and theoretical premise of every manager and every management model in philosophy and cultural concepts. Based on different understanding of human nature hypothesis, management science has put forward different management methods in different periods. The reason why Taoist management ethics has high modern value and significance and can meet the needs of modern organization and management is mainly because its human nature hypothesis is based on humanitarianism, full of concern for the world from beginning to end, completely centered on "people" and fully caters to the development needs of modern management human nature hypothesis.
The research significance of 1.2
Scientific management based on the hypothesis of human nature of "economic man" holds that man is completely driven by economic interests and self-interested, so strict and rigid management system must be adopted in the management of man. This idea has occupied a dominant position for a long time, and even today many enterprises and organizations pursue this idea. With the development of human knowledge and the popularization of humanistic management thought, people find that this thought has its obvious limitations. Nowadays, people pay more and more attention to the improvement of human nature, the quality of life, the perfection of personality, the pursuit of greater personal freedom in organization and society, and the yearning for the realm of "returning to simplicity". The hypothesis of human nature of "economic man" obviously runs counter to this trend. The Taoist hypothesis of "simplicity" of human nature is more in line with the development trend of modern human nature. The basic feature of Taoist theory of human nature is that it does not discuss human nature with "good and evil", which is different from the tendency of other philosophical schools to overemphasize the social value of human nature. This hypothesis of human nature has the characteristics and spirit of pursuing natural simplicity, freedom of heaven and criticizing unreasonable social system and ethical norms. Taoism pays more attention to the self-satisfaction and self-adaptation of life, the freedom of individual life and the satisfaction of "life feeling" Taoist hypothesis of human nature can be well applied to modern humanistic management, because its spirit of pursuing perfect human nature is consistent with the goal of modern humanistic management.
Modern humanistic management theory holds that any management activity comes from the subject of management behavior and is the result of the correct guiding ideology and hard management to optimize the allocation of various resources. Therefore, management is fundamentally the management of people, and the essence of management is how to treat people. From this perspective, management not only has economic significance, but also has moral value and ethical nature, because how to treat people and things is essentially an ethical issue, a question of good and evil. The moral value of management rhyme is also the intrinsic value that management itself deserves to cherish. Fundamentally speaking, it is to make people "become a person and respect others as human beings". Management must be people-oriented, provide as many material and cultural conditions as possible for human development, and consciously take the pursuit of human all-round development as the highest goal. Taoist human nature assumption is always full of ultimate concern for people, which is exactly what modern people-oriented management wants to pursue. Therefore, it is not only possible but also necessary to apply the Taoist hypothesis of human nature to modern management.
Chapter II Inaction of Modern Enterprises
Culture is the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created by human beings in the process of social and historical development, especially spiritual wealth, such as literature, art, education and science. At the same time, culture can also be understood as the integration of relics and relics in the same historical period and people's ability to use words and general knowledge.
Because culture is born from people, advances from people, and varies from different nationalities' understanding and habits, it reflects the differences between human beings (different from different nationalities) and even individuals in depth, spirit and consciousness, thus showing temperament and style. An enterprise is an individual enterprise organization that combines existing resources (including manpower) with overall interests based on clear development goals. Since an enterprise is a crowd organization, it is an organization that unifies the established development goals with individual people. The humanistic group of an enterprise should naturally have a certain "temperament" and "style". Compared with individuals, this kind of temperament and style has experienced collision, agitation, running-in and optimization, which represents the collective personality. It is not dominated by personal consciousness, but needs to convey and express the personality and style of this collective and organization with personal words and deeds and consciousness, which forms the corporate culture.
Enterprise culture is a culture with business philosophy and enterprise spirit as the core, with enterprise's production activities, business activities, organizational forms, rules and regulations, material environment, enterprise behavior and corporate image as the carrier, and with commodity economy culture, market competition culture, market viewpoint and competition viewpoint created by enterprises as well as behaviors, strategies and arts participating in market competition as the content.
For the connotation of corporate culture, American scholars allen Kennedy and Terrence Deere think it includes five aspects: corporate environment, values, heroes, etiquette and celebration, and cultural network. Among them, the enterprise environment is the subjective and objective condition that must be possessed in shaping the enterprise culture, which plays a restrictive and decisive role; Values are the core of corporate culture, the common belief and pursuit of all employees, and the standard for leaders and employees to judge things. Heroes, ceremonial celebrations and cultural networks all belong to the artistic category in the process of shaping corporate culture. From these aspects, corporate culture has five functions, namely, guidance, restraint, cohesion, integration and radiation.
Corporate culture is not a culture in the general sense. Practice has proved that enterprises need the participation and integration of culture for their own better development, which is reflected in corporate culture. As an effective and scarce resource, corporate culture plays a management role in the enterprise when it is formed. At first, it was only subordinate to enterprise management and developed with enterprise management. With the rapid development of economy, it was not until 1980s that corporate culture became a hot topic and a subject discussed by many scholars and became a science. In 1990s, corporate culture developed rapidly in the west. Judging from the latest achievements of corporate culture research, it is generally believed that corporate culture presents different orientations in different stages of enterprise development.
Enterprise management is to maximize the efficiency of the system through the rational allocation of resources, that is, to consider how to minimize the cost and ensure the quality from all aspects of the system while expanding the business and profit space.
Throughout the world, corporate culture has made an inestimable contribution to the survival and development of modern enterprise management. Therefore, enterprise management itself is not only a science, but also a culture with its own values, beliefs, tools and language. The application of enterprise management involves industrial, agricultural, commercial and other enterprises in various industries in various regions of the world. As the software management of enterprise management, enterprise culture is very important to the development of enterprise management.
In order to survive in the market economy, enterprises must consider the movement of enterprises. The study of the rise and fall of enterprises and the law of economic movement can be interpreted and studied with Taoist thought, and accurate conclusions can be drawn. Therefore, some ideas in Taoist culture can be used for reference in the construction and management of corporate culture. However, some Taoist ideas also have a negative impact on enterprise management.
2. 1 the relationship between "inaction" and modern society
The thought of "inaction" was put forward by Laozi in Tao Te Ching. The thought of "inaction" is the essence of Taoism, the core of Laozi's management thought, the main theme of Taoist management thought, and a basic principle provided by Taoism for us to be a man, live a life, run an enterprise, and even govern the country, rejuvenate the country and govern the world. If we really understand the thought of "inaction", we will grasp the essence of Taoist thought.
"Governing by doing nothing" is the core of Laozi's management thought and the main theme of Taoist management thought. Taoism's "Tao" is the origin of all things in the world and the fundamental law governing all things in the world, which embodies the unity of contradictions-"Tao often does nothing" and emphasizes the causal relationship of things-"You must do something first and then do nothing". Laozi's "inaction" is not inaction, not inaction, but refers to not acting rashly, not acting indiscriminately, conforming to objective conditions and respecting the laws of nature. Some people think that "doing nothing" means doing nothing, waiting passively, and resigning to fate. This is really a misunderstanding of Lao Tzu's original intention. Laozi said: "Governing by doing nothing", which means: "Don't do it without doing it." Here, "inaction" is an attitude and method based on the world, and "inaction" refers to the effect of doing nothing. In fact, the creation of the economic environment is the most "doing something". It is only a means for Taoism to apply the thought of "inaction" to the management of society and enterprises, which requires leaders' behavior to conform to the laws of nature and social development, and formulate corresponding laws and systems according to the laws, which will not be easily changed; Under such laws and systems, people can achieve "inaction" by giving full play to their intelligence, and "inaction" is the real goal of Taoism.
For thousands of years, Laozi's "inaction" thought has had a great influence on the character, behavior and outlook on life of the Chinese nation. The idea of "inaction" teaches people to conform to the laws of nature and society and treat everything in the world with a selfless and indifferent attitude, because it contains noble and upright spirit, positive patience and perseverance, and maintains a tolerant and harmonious attitude towards life. Without personal prejudice, we should look at the laws of social development and nature, and find ways to adapt to and integrate into nature and society.
But in modern society, Laozi's "inaction" still has some influence, and its value itself is beyond doubt. I think Laozi's "inaction" thought contains a profound understanding of the relationship between man and nature and beneficial enlightenment to society. Therefore, Laozi's "inaction" thought not only has the value of existence, but also needs to be carried forward.
Taoism believes that a ruler must first have a lofty state of mind of loving others, benefiting others and seeking social welfare; Secondly, he should take his exemplary moral behavior as an example and set an example. If he doesn't take the right path, the whole social atmosphere will also be corrupted. Therefore, governing the country must first cultivate one's morality and govern by doing nothing, which is the foundation of doing a good job in politics. Only by self-cultivation, housekeeping, village management and neighborhood management can we talk about governing the country. And this idea can still be applied to today's enterprise management.
In this way, the management of inaction actually constitutes such a closed circle: from inaction to promising and then inaction. Among them, the starting point of inaction is to use people, as the saying goes, "strategizing, winning a thousand miles." Employing people is to organize teams. People are not only the executors of specific work, but also do a good job in employing people, that is, to implement work measures on everyone's head, that is, "you are not a good general, but a good general." In this process, the influence of managers' own work quality is everywhere, which can prevent problems before they happen and greatly develop their advantages, which is the so-called "four or two". Finally, managers control through assessment, strengthen rights and correct deviations, and check the initial planning and operation process, thus starting a new cycle.
The current market economy emphasizes competition, and some people will question it. In such a competitive environment, how can we emphasize "inaction"? However, competition in the market economy is actually understood as competition. Because the competition is too extreme, people will feel that they will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, and such competition only satisfies the interests of a small number of people and is of no benefit to society. Market competition is not competition, but it can create a good atmosphere for everyone to learn from each other and make it more prosperous. And "inaction" is just suitable for this.
2.2 "inaction" thinking on the guiding significance of modern enterprises
Although Laozi's "inaction" thought has been applied for a long time, it still has its reference and guiding significance for modern enterprise management.
For enterprises, only by doing nothing can they be quiet. As the saying goes, "quietness can produce real flowers and fruits." From the social point of view, the quietness of the business community has greater benefits to talk about. Nature's quietness is manifested in: everything has its place and does not compete with each other. Similarly, if all enterprises in the whole business enterprise, regardless of size and different types of enterprises, do not know what the standard is, they are all uneasy about it and are in an endless "recklessness", and the result will be unimaginable. Therefore, from the perspective of social management, there should indeed be a set of sensitive and reliable "macro-control" mechanisms to use. The function of this mechanism is to "regulate" enterprise behavior, and its "regulation" goal should be to keep the enterprise "quiet" and "inaction".
Doing nothing for inaction, doing something but not doing it, is the real inaction. The real inaction of enterprises is not to do nothing, but to let the behavior of enterprises return to the right path. In other words, enterprises should have "things to do" and "things not to do", and all these are based on social and public interests. Anything that harms the public interest, even if it is something you can do (and profitable), can't be done or done inappropriately.
Inaction, in the final analysis, is actually dedication, not pursuing anything else. So when we say "inaction", the result is "doing something" (dedication). Laozi said: "Heaven is beneficial and harmless; The way to be a saint is to fight for it. "We said: The way of enterprise is to give, not to possess. This is "true inaction".
In fact, the creation of the economic environment is the most "doing something". It is only a means for Taoism to apply the thought of "inaction" to the management of society and enterprises, which requires leaders' behavior to conform to the laws of nature and social development, and formulate corresponding laws and systems according to the laws, which will not be easily changed; Under such laws and systems, people can achieve "inaction" by giving full play to their intelligence, and "inaction" is the real goal of Taoism.
In this way, the management of inaction actually constitutes such a closed circle: from inaction to promising and then inaction. Among them, the starting point of inaction is to use people, as the saying goes, "strategizing, winning a thousand miles." Employing people is to organize teams. People are not only the executors of specific work, but also do a good job in employing people, that is, to implement work measures on everyone's head, that is, "you are not a good general, but a good general." In this process, the influence of managers' own work quality is everywhere, which can prevent problems before they happen and give full play to their advantages, which is the so-called "four or two". Finally, managers control through assessment, strengthen rights and correct deviations, and check the initial planning and operation process, thus starting a new cycle.
The third chapter is the influence of Taoism on enterprise management.
3. The beneficial influence of1family thought on enterprise management
3. 1. 1 Altruism: Everything in water conservancy flows, and enterprises represent the interests of all.
"Goodness is like water, and water is the good of all things, and it is the evil of all things, so there is a bit of Tao" is a fragment in the Tao Te Ching. Starting from this clip, let's discuss "the way of enterprise management".
The benefits of water lie not in itself, but in everything. Water is good for everything. Everything benefits from water. Therefore, everything is inseparable from water, everything needs water, and everything is inseparable from water. This relationship between "all things benefit" and "altruism" of water can provide reference for our modern enterprises. In other words, if the enterprise has certain benefits to the public and society, and the public and society naturally cannot do without the enterprise, then mutual benefit is the most fundamental way for the development of the enterprise. On the contrary, if our enterprise does not have the quality of water, and what we do has no "beneficial" effect on human beings and society, then we have no place to stand and no business to establish. Because people don't need us and don't care about us.
In a word, the way of water is: endless water conservancy; The way of enterprise is: enterprise benefits the people and lasts for a long time.
3. 1.2 indisputable: stand indisputable, stand indisputable, and succeed.
In addition to altruism, which is the fundamental point of enterprise career, indisputable is an important reference point of enterprise career, and its essence can also be said to be in the way of enterprise career.
The so-called "standing without dispute, standing without dispute and achieving success" is just another beautiful quality of water. Laozi once said that "water is good for all things and does not dispute". This "struggle" means that water conservancy nourishes everything and does not strive for any benefits from everything. I understand that its essence can be called "selflessness" and there is no self-interest. The second refers to "not competing with the world", not only in the things that have been moistened by oneself, but also in the face of all things in the world. I understand that this is "no desire, no demand", and there is nothing in the world. However, although this quality has been praised, it is not suitable for today's market economy. Although this fact is very helpless, I don't think it is pessimistic. We can look at this theory from another aspect and introduce it as an auxiliary point. Just as "a profession should stand in a non-competitive field".
Why do you say that? Let's look at those areas full of competition. Generally speaking, competition should occur between at least two competitors, because there is no competition, no opponent, no competition without two competitors. The trend of modern commercial competition is multi-party competition and multi-head competition. This is a much more competitive situation than the "second". This is one of the essential characteristics of competition. Another essential feature of competition is that the struggle must be in the same field, or all competitors must fight for the same thing, otherwise there will be no struggle and no competition. If we put these two characteristics into the specific fields of enterprise production and commodity circulation, we will find that if we choose a competitive place to start a business, it will violate the two fundamental points mentioned above and the way we start a business.
Now, many people miss the "smooth sailing" enterprises, most of which contain the mystery of "standing in the wind". At the same time, they also confirmed another sentence in Laozi's "Tao Te Ching": "The husband does not dispute, so there is nothing special."
3. 1.3 Let nature take its course
"Let nature take its course" means "Tao nature", which can be understood as "Tao nature". Its principle is the spirit of Tao summarized by Laozi from all things. It is the basis of people's behavior, the principle of keeping in good health that people should follow, and it embodies Laozi's unique understanding of the objective world. "People everywhere, the earth follows the sky, the sky follows the Tao, and the Tao follows nature" warns people of the truth of doing things and requires people to let nature take its course in health-keeping activities, that is to say, people should follow objective laws in doing everything. So I think we should follow the example of the avenue and conform to the natural attributes of everything. Only when everything conforms to nature can it develop freely, give play to its own characteristics and reach the realm of "doing whatever it takes".
Humanity in Taoist thought is closely connected with nature, and the intrinsic driving energy of human beings is similar to the characteristics of "water", which can be attached to everything, everywhere and everywhere. In enterprise management, every employee has his own strengths and weaknesses, and leaders can guide him and make him fully mobile, which is in line with his nature. Through the correct guidance of leaders and the division of labor and cooperation according to the characteristics of different employees, we can stimulate each employee's love for the enterprise, give play to their specialties, and make the enterprise develop to the greatest extent.
Next is 3. 1.4.
Third, the water quality is poor. As the saying goes, "Man struggles upwards, but water flows downwards". This moderate water quality is still cited in the "entrepreneurial way" of enterprises discussed here. Moderate water quality can be used as the second reference point of our enterprise. This reference point, from a certain point of view, is a supplement and assistance to the previous reference point (that is, "foothold").
We talked about "indisputable" earlier, and the field of "indisputable" lies in "everyone hates it", which is precisely the place where Shui is modest. So I think moderate water quality can still be used as an important reference for our enterprise. And the humble water quality, the enlightenment to our cause, is to be willing to start a business where people don't want to start, to be willing to start a business in a humble place that people don't care about, to be willing to focus on the low, and to focus on "the evil of all." Only in this way can we easily find the way to benefit the people, not get lost in the "high place" where competition is dazzling and upset, and be conducive to fulfilling the bounden duty of enterprises and serving the people. With the achievements, we are not proud, do not take credit, are not complacent, do not show off, always reflect on what else we have, what shortcomings we have, and what is not in line with social development, and then correct it, always reflect on ourselves and blame ourselves, which is of great benefit to anyone and anything; On the contrary, if you climb high, you will form a small head and feet, a thin foundation, and a fog. I don't know why, once it falls, it will be destroyed and bring itself to destruction; Then there are setbacks. You can stand up after falling without hurting your bones and muscles.
3. 1.5 forbearance, accommodation, and knowing how to detour: a smooth road.
In terms of water quality, "forbearance, tolerance, knowing circuitous and lossless" is of great reference value. Water finds its place by nature, and the downward flow of water is the fundamental basis for water to determine its direction in any environment. As long as this nature remains unchanged, no matter where the water is placed, it will not lose its way. So should enterprises. It must have an unchangeable thing, an unchangeable fundamental choice, in order to be truly like water and never lose its way under different environmental conditions. The constant direction is to serve the society and benefit mankind. Such enterprises can only develop if they make contributions to society, do not take credit, are not arrogant, do not boast, are always modest and prudent, and have a low status.
3. 1.6 running water does not rot, and its nature remains unchanged.
Constantly looking for new career points, constantly updating the way to serve the society, and constantly looking for new ways and new ways to "benefit mankind". Like water, we can always maintain the flowing vitality in the leisurely "inaction" for a long time, otherwise it will be eliminated.
However, change belongs to change, and one thing must not be abandoned, that is, always adhere to the essence of the enterprise itself "benefiting mankind and serving society." Just as water can't give up the nature of "water flows downwards". Only when an enterprise corresponds to the constant subjective and objective conditions with the unchangeable nature can it be smooth and harmonious all the way and not deviate from the track of Tao.