Which department in the Alibaba organization is responsible for corporate culture?

Alibaba’s HR is the operator of its cultural management.

Kelip Shopping will share with you how Alibaba builds a successful corporate culture.

On September 10, 2013, Alibaba announced the establishment of an online communications division, consisting of "Wangxin" and "Laiwang". On September 23, Alibaba launched a new generation of instant messaging software "Laiwang" , becoming the first product upgrade debut after the establishment of its network communications division.

After the wonderful appearance on stage, there is a little-known story behind the scenes. According to Lu Yang’s recollection, there were only 20 people in the wireless business team when it was first established. Under such circumstances, if you want to be promoted to the business department, It is unrealistic to rely solely on external recruitment, so the strategy at that time was to quickly recruit from various subsidiaries. As a result, 100 people were recruited from various business departments in just one week, and the premise was that the individuals of the business leaders and employees were fully respected. Will.

“If the culture of the entire company is purely performance-oriented, then mountain-headism will easily happen. Each department only considers personal gains and losses. Then it is very difficult for mature businesses to spontaneously support new businesses. "It's difficult to achieve." Lu Yang said that it is precisely based on Alibaba's cultural soil that emerging businesses can quickly take off. Otherwise, the more complex the group's business is, the more difficult it will be to achieve internal synergy.

Cultural construction has always been a top priority for Alibaba's development. In 2001, the "Dugu Nine Swords" emphasizing values ??such as "simplicity, passion, and openness" was regarded as a guideline within Alibaba; in 2003, Alibaba It is even more "controversial" to incorporate values ??into the performance appraisal system, accounting for 50% of the weight, and sometimes even more weight. In Alibaba’s recruitment history, there have been many cases of rejecting some elite talents due to values. According to Lu Yang, the reason is “If it is not consistent with our values, the greater the ability of a person, then Once they come in, they will be more destructive to the organization.”

In fact, Alibaba’s culture is very simple. It is consistent with the genes of the Internet, which is openness and sharing. In Lu Yang’s view, this corporate culture can not only cope with the “big problems” that may arise due to the continued complexity of the business. "Organizational disease", and can ensure that some advanced systems that are beneficial to the company's development can be truly implemented.

In order to stimulate employees' work autonomy and optimize the flow of human resources within the system, Alibaba has made adjustments to the job transfer system: in the past, employees could change jobs only after the department head nodded, but now only the recipient agrees. , the original department head will release it unconditionally.

“This system is not difficult to think of, but it is very difficult to actually implement it within the company. If the spirit of tolerance in the corporate culture is not truly accepted by each supervisor, then the system will easily compromise the actual business. development needs," Lu Yang said.

For this reason, in the ever-changing Internet environment, Alibaba, which has initiated changes in many industries, has always maintained its corporate culture. According to Lu Yang, Alibaba is building a future-oriented corporate form, which will be completely different from the existing organizational model, and the key to effective operation lies in an open and sharing corporate culture. "This will never change. Everything else is about methods and tactics. The latter requires constant innovation, but the roots of culture are fixed."

Even poisonous weeds Let him grow up in the sun

But how can a "strong" corporate culture get rid of the embarrassment of being shelved on the shelf and become an effective management tool? Alibaba's strategy is to make things real, that is, through various forms Settings, various program actions enable employees to see, feel and understand.

"Alibaba flavor" is a position for Alibaba to strengthen its corporate culture. In fact, many companies have such settings, but Alibaba's intranet has a different flavor. In this regard, employees can speak out about unfair treatment by department heads, question certain company policies and regulations, and even group executives who take office will be "besieged" by opposition. In the words of an Alibaba employee, you can discuss anything regardless of level, and express any opinion regardless of right or wrong; even the opinions of senior executives are often "cut off" by employees. ("Minus Sesame" disagrees)

It does not sound difficult to create such an atmosphere. "It is to make employees believe that they can do this. In fact, what everyone sees is the words, deeds and responses of senior executives." Lu Yang said.

Such examples can be seen everywhere. In the history of Alibaba, an employee who was fired by a senior executive posted a post to cite the unfairness of the former. After the post was posted, it triggered "one-sided" support from a large number of colleagues, but Then the senior management responded promptly, explained the reasons and opinions, and received support from the comments. In the end, when the two parties' opinions were "tit for tat", CEO Lu Zhaoxi came forward and called together the person in charge of HR, the employees involved, and the supervisor. Discussions are open, and live broadcasts are broadcast simultaneously to all employees.

"There is nothing that cannot be said about all management problems, including the immaturity of managers and the incomprehension of employees." Lu Yang said that Ali adheres to the principle that "even poisonous weeds are Let him grow in the sun." It is precisely in this subtle cultivation that every employee can participate in the discussion and execution of work in an equal and objective manner.

In another arrangement of Alibaba, project promotion is carried out in the form of "*** founding meeting". "Maybe the boss himself has an idea, but he still has to put the problem out first and let everyone * The conclusion formed after several rounds of participation may be the same as the boss’s original idea, or it may be better than the original idea,” said the above-mentioned employee, “The advantage of this is that everyone works together. As a result of participation, employees’ understanding of the project, including its future execution, will be smoother.

It is also these practices that make Alibaba’s open and transparent corporate culture truly accepted by employees. and absorption, effectively stimulating employees’ innovative capabilities. “These settings may also exist in other companies, and whether they can be implemented is the key. "Lu Yang said.

The quantification of values ??is an effective way to "do things". Ali's well-known "Six Meridians Sword" is very simple, that is, customers first, embracing change, teamwork, integrity, Passion and dedication, but each item has a specific explanation and detailed content, and can correspond to the performance appraisal one-to-one. For example, the item "passion" is defined as "optimistic and never give up", which includes 5 aspects , like your job and identify with Alibaba's corporate culture; love Alibaba, take the overall situation into consideration, and not care about personal gains and losses; face daily work with a positive and optimistic attitude, never give up when encountering difficulties and setbacks, constantly motivate yourself, and work hard Improve performance; always influence and drive colleagues and teams with a spirit of optimism and a belief in winning; constantly set higher goals, and today’s best performance is tomorrow’s minimum requirement. According to the aforementioned employee, “1 point of passion What does it look like? What does a 6-point passion look like? These all have specific details. When doing performance appraisals, employees must give examples of their own work to explain to the examiner. ”

Despite the rich extension and sufficient consideration, the complexity of the work cannot be covered by the limited text. Lu Yang also said that “even if values ??set quantitative indicators, they are not purely It is scientific, but it is done in this way, so managers and employees will invest time and energy to do more things around values. "Alibaba's managers regularly review their work with employees, and then they can have rules to follow for the specific details of values. During communication, it is often found that both parties have different perceptions of a certain aspect, and this is Ali believes that the most important thing is, “In fact, it promotes effective communication between the two parties, allowing everyone to have a more thorough understanding of values ????through the collision of views and exchange of opinions, thereby solidifying corporate culture. The real knowledge is here. "Lu Yang explained.

There are countless similar methods, but in Lu Yang's view, they are not the most important. "Whether it is a tool or a method, it is all about solving problems at the tactical level. If you really want to find it, it is not difficult; what is really decisive is the starting point. With this premise, even if there is no good way today and the attempt is unsuccessful, you will eventually find it. ”

Restrain freely: Management is not a kind of control

For Ali, the starting point of all rules and systems is to “mobilize everyone’s enthusiasm and creativity, so that employees’ energy Can be released to the maximum extent."

But another question followed. Is liberating employees naturally contrary to management? "Management cannot be imagined as a kind of control. That is the thinking of the industrial civilization era. Because standardized processes emphasize management efficiency; but in the Internet era, technological innovations are emerging one after another. At this time, it is necessary to maximize the autonomy of employees.

Lu Yang said that in the current industrial environment, human resources management should completely change its thinking, so as to form a collective brainstorming of all employees and avoid the innovation bottleneck caused by pure "top-level wisdom".

Alibaba fully It satisfies employees' room for display and innovation impulse. "Horse Racing" is a good example. As long as employees have good ideas and creativity, they can submit them to Alibaba's project committee. After approval, employees can go ahead and do it. The group will Equipped with manpower, funds, and even options, many of Alibaba's good projects were established through "horse racing"; in Alibaba's history, projects submitted by employees who had just become regular employees stood out and were later expanded to fifty or sixty people. The team has broken into the first echelon in the country in this field.

Not only does Alibaba encourage employees to create freely, but Ali also provides great patience and tolerance for this. This policy does not differentiate between high and low positions.

The results of "laissez-faire" often bring unexpected surprises. Some cases even make Alibaba's internal employees a little unbelievable. For example, an employee who just joined the company "didn't do his job properly" and spent 8 months obsessed with working with the company. Department heads also readily accepted technical problems that were not closely related to their own business, and this was a "risk" for both parties: the employees had no breakthroughs, and the executives were to blame. But in the end, the employees' technical solutions were included. Global technical standards.

“The training of employees does not simply rely on a complete training system. The latter is necessary. Alibaba has also been doing various types of training in various aspects. "Lu Yang believes that these trainings are only the basic actions of enterprise employee training, but the more important thing is to cultivate employees' autonomy. "Our entire system encourages innovation and is fault-tolerant, giving employees a certain amount of space and training in actual combat." Its growth is the most helpful. In this process, employees enjoy a sense of accomplishment and the joy of growth."

This makes the "happy work" emphasized in Alibaba culture possible, not only In terms of small institutional arrangements, Ali also adheres to the principle of "freedom" in the entire promotion system. For example, the promotion of Ali employees is not decided by the supervisor, but based on the work situation of the year. If you think you are ready for promotion, Applications for promotion are submitted at a certain level and level, and senior colleagues from each department will conduct assessments. Employees will make performance reports and judges will vote.

However, how can free and active "molecules" be included in the whole process? In the organization's organism? How does employee autonomy match the needs of the enterprise? This requires adding a premise to "freedom". For example, the promotion request is made by oneself, but the judgment standard is transparent, open, specific and micro; there is no job transfer It is restricted by the supervisor, but there are some hard conditions: first, stay in the current department for at least one year, and second, the performance appraisal must reach a certain level. "This will prevent employees from transferring due to avoidance and ensure the flow of truly outstanding talents. It is 'living water'. "Lu Yang said.

HR is in charge: 2/3 are from the business department

As the Alibaba employees interviewed emphasized, the reason why Alibaba's cultural management is successful is a series of The system and system work together, and in this system, HR plays an extremely important role. It can be said that Alibaba's HR is the operator of its cultural management.

It is different from many. The positioning of HR in the company is basically to help business departments complete resume screening, and its role is more functional and auxiliary. In Alibaba, HR is a strategic department, and its role can be summarized simply as four The point is that HR is with the business and can become a partner of the business, grow with it, promote culture, and promote communication.

To meet such expectations, HR must be familiar with and understand the department's business and employees. Therefore, Alibaba’s HR team is also very diversified in composition. Two-thirds of the more than 500 people come from various business departments such as technology, products, operations, etc., and only a few come from professional HR backgrounds.

This kind of HR can take care of Ali's "household affairs" meticulously, from daily entertainment to promotion celebrations. HR can consider the needs of employees in every detail, including Ali's annual "letter home" The plan is to send a personalized journal to the family members of all employees, which details the employee's work for one year; and in Ali's setting of "one year of fragrance, three years of mellowness, and five years of aging" During the employee's growth trajectory, the department will also send encouragement to employees as soon as possible during key growth periods. For example, in the fifth year, HR will send an email in advance to remind the department head, who will prepare for the employee like celebrating a birthday.

In addition to "humanized management", Alibaba's HR also plays an iron-fisted role. It can be said that in addition to the routine actions of HR in most companies, Alibaba's HR responsibilities are even heavier. First, they must strictly review employees' value orientations during interviews to avoid the situation where the "employing department is eager to start work and ignores the value assessment"; In the process of daily business development, Alibaba's HR also has a special design. It will allocate dedicated personnel to each business department to conduct on-site supervision and inspections: have heart-to-heart conversations with employees to see if there are any cultural problems, so that the organization can conform to Alibaba's direction. develop. As the aforementioned employee likened it, Alibaba’s HR is like a capillary, penetrating into every business. "Even if the department's business develops well, but it may violate Alibaba's values, HR will jump out and raise questions."