Employee Management and Motivation: Exploring Wisdom from Classic Stories
In the grand landscape of corporate operations, employee management and motivation are like a complex jigsaw puzzle. The difficulty of it makes many managers feel as if they are lost in a foggy forest, often at a loss and even extremely troubled. Especially in sales management, it is often impossible to conduct on - site real - time control, and can only be carried out remotely. This management model is like putting shackles on managers invisibly, greatly increasing the difficulty of management. Let's take a break and enter the following five classic stories together. Perhaps we can experience a different artistic conception of management from them.
Division of labor: Scientific division of labor enables the enterprise to operate efficiently
There was a young artillery officer. After taking up his new post, he went to inspect the drill situation of his subordinate troops. He keenly noticed that there was a common phenomenon during the drills in several troops: there was always a soldier standing motionless under the cannon barrel from beginning to end. After inquiring, he learned that this was in accordance with the regulations of the drill. It turned out that this regulation was inherited from the era when cannons were pulled by horses. At that time, the soldier standing under the cannon barrel was responsible for holding the reins of the horse to prevent the cannon from deviating in distance due to recoil after firing, thus reducing the time for re - aiming. However, nowadays, cannons no longer need this role, but the regulation has not been adjusted in time, so the phenomenon of "soldiers who don't pull the horses" emerged. The officer's discovery won him the commendation from the Ministry of National Defense.
From this story, we can deeply realize that the primary task of management is scientific division of labor. In an enterprise, each employee is like a part of a precision instrument. Only by clarifying their respective job responsibilities can we avoid the emergence of negative phenomena such as shifting blame and wrangling. An enterprise is like a huge machine, and employees' dedication to their work is the key to the machine's sound operation. At the same time, an enterprise is in a state of continuous development and change. Managers must adjust the number of personnel and the division of labor in a timely manner according to the actual dynamic situation. If there are "soldiers who don't pull the horses" in the team, that is, someone is just making up the numbers, the losses brought to the enterprise will not only be an increase in wage costs, but also cause psychological imbalance among other employees, ultimately leading to a decline in the work efficiency of the entire company.
Standard: Define clear standards to guide employees forward
There was a young monk who was in charge of tolling the bell. After half a year, he found the job extremely boring and just "tolled the bell as long as he was a monk". One day, the abbot announced that he would be transferred to the back yard to chop wood and carry water, on the grounds that he was not qualified for the bell - tolling job. The young monk was very indignant and questioned why he was considered unqualified when the bell he tolled was both punctual and loud. The old abbot patiently explained that although the bell he tolled was punctual and loud, it was empty, weak and lacked appeal. The function of the bell is to awaken sentient beings who are lost in delusion. Therefore, the sound of the bell should not only be loud, but also mellow, deep, sonorous and far - reaching.
In this story, the abbot made a common management mistake. The situation of "just going through the motions" occurred precisely because the abbot didn't announce the work standards in advance. If the young monk had been clear about the standards and importance of bell - ringing when he first entered the temple, perhaps he wouldn't have been removed from his post for slacking off. Work standards are the guide for employees' actions and the basis for assessment. Without work standards, employees' efforts are likely to deviate from the company's overall development direction, resulting in a great waste of human and material resources. Moreover, due to the lack of a reference, employees tend to develop complacency over time, leading to work slackness. Therefore, when formulating work standards, they should be as digital as possible and closely combined with assessment to ensure operability.
System: A reasonable system can stimulate employees' self - discipline
Seven people lived together and shared a bucket of porridge every day. Obviously, the amount of porridge was not enough. At first, they decided who would distribute the porridge by drawing lots and took turns every day. As a result, at the end of the week, each person could only have their fill on the day when they were in charge of distributing the porridge. Later, they elected a person of high moral character to distribute the porridge. However, power tends to breed corruption. Everyone began to curry favor with and bribe the porridge - distributor, and the whole small group became a mess. Then, they formed a three - person porridge - distribution committee and a four - person evaluation committee. However, after they attacked and bickered with each other, the porridge was cold by the time it reached their mouths. Finally, they came up with a method: taking turns to distribute the porridge, and the person who distributed the porridge had to take the last remaining bowl after the others had chosen. In order not to get the least amount of porridge, everyone would try to distribute it as evenly as possible. From then on, everyone was happy and harmonious, and their lives got better and better.
This story tells us that the essence of management lies in "reasoning" rather than "controlling". The main responsibility of managers is to establish reasonable game rules such as "taking turns to distribute porridge, and the distributor takes last", so that employees can manage themselves according to the rules. The game rules should take into account both the company's interests and individual interests, so as to unify individual interests with the overall interests of the company. Responsibility, power, and interests are the three pillars of the management platform, and none of them can be missing. Without responsibility, the company will breed corruption and decline; without power, the manager's decisions cannot be effectively implemented; without interests, the employees' enthusiasm will decline, and the phenomenon of passive work will appear. Only by building a management platform of "responsibility, power, and interests" can employees give full play to their talents.
Role model: Lead by example and unite the team
During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a prison official named Li Li in the State of Jin. When he was handling a case, he credulously believed the one - sided story of his subordinate, which led to the unjust death of a person. After the truth came out, Li Li was prepared to atone for his sin with his life. Duke Wen of Jin advised him that there were differences in the ranks of officials and also in the severity of punishments. Moreover, the main fault lay with the subordinate, not with him. However, Li Li thought that he usually didn't share the official position and salary with his subordinate, so he couldn't shift the responsibility to the subordinate when he made a mistake. In the end, he refused Duke Wen of Jin's persuasion and committed suicide by falling on his sword.
As the saying goes, "To correct others, one must first correct oneself; to do things well, one must first conduct oneself well." Managers who want to manage their subordinates effectively must lead by example. The power of demonstration is immense. Managers should not only be as brave as Li Li in taking responsibility for their subordinates but also set a good example in everything, strictly demanding themselves and following the principle of "Do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you." When managers establish their prestige among employees through their exemplary behavior, they can achieve unity between the leadership and the staff, greatly enhancing the overall combat effectiveness of the team. Those who win the hearts of the people will win the world. Once a manager becomes a leader respected by subordinates, management work will yield twice the result with half the effort.
Competition: Introduce competition to activate the vitality of enterprises
There is a forest park abroad that once raised hundreds of sika deer. The environment here is serene, with abundant water and lush grass, and there are no natural enemies. However, after a few years, instead of growing, the deer population suffered from diseases and deaths, showing a negative growth. Later, the park management bought several wolves and released them into the park. Under the pursuit and predation of the wolves, the deer had to run for their lives nervously. Except for the old, weak, sick and disabled ones that were preyed upon by the wolves, the physical fitness of the other deer gradually improved, and the population also increased rapidly.
"Running water never gets stale and a door-hinge never gets worm-eaten." Humans are naturally inert. Without competition, they will stand still and be content with the status quo. Competitors are like wolves chasing sika deer, constantly reminding the sika deer of the wolves' positions and those of their companions. The sika deer running in the front can get better food, while those running at the end will become the wolves' prey. Enterprises should, in accordance with market rules, reward the outstanding "leading deer" and let the underperforming "straggling deer" be eliminated by the market. By introducing a competition mechanism, they can stimulate the vitality and potential of employees and promote the continuous development of the enterprise.