Knowledge of simple management

Category: Business/Financial Management gt; gt; Business Management

Problem description:

If anyone knows about simple management, please tell me. Thank you!

Analysis:

My friend, regarding the issue of simple management, I think I have a relatively strong say. Three years ago, when I was still studying for an MBA, I consulted a lot of information on simple management. After registering on Baidu in early 2006, I created an entry for "Simple Management" on Baidu Encyclopedia (baike.baidu/view/66477). Later, I published an article in a newspaper titled "The Highest Realm of Management— —Simple Management" article. I am copying this piece of writing for you, please give me your advice. Thanks!

The highest state of management - simple management

What is ten minus one? Do you believe that this arithmetic problem that even kindergarten children can do is stumping a group of college students?

When a foreign-funded company was recruiting a group of college students, the interview asked a simple arithmetic question: What is ten minus one? Some of the college students who applied for the job mysteriously whispered in the examiner's ear: "Whatever you want it to be equal to, it will be equal to whatever it is." Some people are smart and say: "Ten minus one equals nine, that is consumption; ten minus one equals twelve, that is business; ten minus one equals fifteen, that is trade; ten minus one equals twenty, that is trade. Finance; ten minus one equals a hundred, that’s a bribe.” Only one candidate answered equal to nine, and he was hired. The reason is actually very simple. Modern enterprise management advocates simplicity and efficiency, and should not artificially complicate originally simple problems.

In the 14th century, there was a very learned Catholic priest in Ockham, England. He studied at the University of Paris and Oxford University. Because of his profound knowledge and eloquence, he was called "the irrefutable". Doctor", he is the famous British philosopher William. William put forward this principle: "Don't add entities unless necessary." This motto brought him a high reputation, and because he was an Occam man, people called it "Occam's razor." What it expresses is: only recognize what really exists, and believe that those empty universal concepts are useless burdens and should be ruthlessly "shaving off". This razor has made many people feel threatened, considered heresy, and William himself was harmed. However, this did not damage the sharpness of the knife. On the contrary, after hundreds of years, "Occam's razor" has been sharpened faster and faster by history. It has long surpassed the original narrow field and has a wider scope. , richer and deeper meaning. Many successful and great scientists have proved the function of this "razor" with their brilliant achievements. For example, Copernicus, Newton, Einstein, etc. all had the courage to use this sharp "Occam's razor" to "shave" away the cumbersomeness of theory or objective fact, and then "shave" the refined results. Scientific conclusions that can no longer be refined.

Since its birth, "Occam's razor" has gone through years of baptism and is now widely used in various fields. In business management, it can be further deepened into the law of simplicity and complexity: it is easy to make things complicated, but it is very complicated to make things simple. This law requires us to grasp the essence of things and solve the most fundamental problems when dealing with them. In particular, we must follow nature and not artificially complicate things, so that we can handle things well and achieve the highest level of management - simple management. The so-called simple management is to accurately find and grasp the laws of things in the operation process of the enterprise, remove the false and retain the true, move from here to there, from the outside to the inside, simplify each complex task, and then solve it efficiently. It is a way of thinking that "simplifies complexity". In essence, it is an execution culture that solves the common contradictions in domestic enterprises of "inconsistency between knowledge and action" and "ideas floating in the sky and behaviors crawling on the ground".

With the continuous development of the market economy, enterprises are becoming more and more confused about their own gradual development and growth. This confusion often leads to their organizational structures becoming more and more bloated as they become larger and larger. Things are becoming more mechanized and bureaucratic, management is becoming more complex, and efficiency is becoming lower and lower.

All of this is reflected in a gradually increasing overhead costs, which are growing faster than the company's profits and even sales. At this time, many of our professional managers began to realize that our company was sick, suffering from a disease with "complexity" as its symptom.

One day in 2003, Haier CEO Zhang Ruimin once again talked about his admiration for Jack Welch, the former head of GE, in an interview with a Phoenix TV financial reporter. Zhang Ruimin said: If possible, he would like to ask Welch face-to-face "how big companies solve small problems." Obviously, Zhang Ruimin, who is already a "grandmaster" in the domestic business management community, has conducted in-depth research on GE.

Jack Welch, a business legend hailed by many media as "the greatest CEO of the 20th century" and "the world's number one professional manager", has served as General Electric's CEO since 1981. ) Chairman and CEO, in just 20 years, Welch transformed GE from a very large enterprise riddled with chronic diseases into a healthy, efficient, dynamic and competitive corporate giant. By 2001, GE's market value reached US$450 billion, an increase of more than 30 times, and its ranking jumped from 10th to 2nd in the world. How was this fantastic achievement achieved? As the saying goes, "Sailing the sea depends on the helmsman", it is Jack Welch's excellent management ideas and leadership skills that created the "GE myth".

There is a very famous thesis in Jack Welch's management thinking, that is, "Success belongs to lean and agile organizations." Expressed in the speed principle he has always advocated: the least supervision, the least delay in decision-making, and the most flexible competition. He believes that business does not have to be complicated, and for him, keeping things simple is one of the key points of business. His goal, he said, is to "decomplicate everything we do and make at GE."

The world is complex, but it is also simple, but we are often imprisoned by our habitual thinking, thus making simple things complicated. How to return complex things to simplicity and eradicate the "complexity disease" of the enterprise is an issue that every professional manager needs to think about urgently. Lao Tzu once repeatedly discussed the essence of "Tao follows nature" management, and clearly put forward the highest realm of management: "Talk about nature", "Govern by inaction", "Governing a big country is like cooking small delicacies". This is not the case in governing a country, let alone managing an enterprise. Woolen cloth? The shortest straight line is between two points. Rational business management is to find a short and good straight line between the goal and the two points to achieve the goal. Jack Welch said, “As a leader, you must have the confidence to express clearly and accurately, and make sure that everyone in the organization can understand the goals of the cause. However, it is not easy to simplify the organization. People are often afraid of simplifying, and they often They are worried that if they simplify things, they will be considered simple-minded. In fact, on the contrary, only people with a clear mind and a strong will are the most simplified people."

The core of simple management is to form a natural order. Any group or organization must always do one thing around the core, which determines when to do what and to what extent in each link. There is no need for managers to point out things. A closer example is a symphony orchestra, whether it is a trumpeter or a violinist, everyone knows what to do at which point, and there is no need for the conductor to tell them. In other words, when every position, every link, and every person in the organization knows what to do when, the natural order of the enterprise is formed.

Simple management is not simple at the same time. Simple management pursues simplicity in form, but requires depth and richness in connotation, requiring a deep understanding and grasp of the laws of things. It is not easy to make a complex thing simple and effective, not to mention the word "management" that always gives professional managers a headache. "Simplicity" does not mean "giving up." If we give up management for a week in pursuit of simplicity, we can rest forever and never have to manage again. Although the realm of simple management is high, its life depends on "execution". Although there are ideas and skills of reducing complexity into simplicity and using simplicity to control complexity, if there is no "execution", everything is empty talk.

Therefore, in order to achieve the ultimate "simple management" of the enterprise, we need a group of people with good understanding, execution and very high professional capabilities. Only with them can the overall productivity of the enterprise be simpler, more practical and more practical. To move forward in an efficient direction, we need a group of middle-level managers who can find methods and tools and have the educational ability and patience to shoulder the mission of inheritance. Only then can more employees transform "simple management" from verbal talk into conscious behavior. In this way, we can do things right better and more often, and gain a sense of accomplishment and dignity as a worker from the ordinary monotony day after day.

Simple management is a university subject that can get twice the result with half the effort, and it is the highest state of management. But it needs to be pointed out that simplicity will bring great success, but it is also accompanied by huge risks. Simplicity does not mean blindly "reducing", nor does it mean "giving up". It requires serious preparation, careful understanding, and serious Practice it carefully and implement it seriously. In this way, simplicity will lead to efficiency, and management can be simple, intensive and efficient.