In comparison, only Barnard studies organization and management issues from the perspective of people themselves, and is the true "father of humanistic management." With the development of the times, scientific management has entered a mature stage, but the humanistic management pioneered by Barnard is still a field full of vitality.

Barnard has not written many books, but his most famous ones are "The Functions of the Executive" and "Organization and Management". Although "Organization and Management" was originally published in 1948, Barnard's perspective and thoughts are still thought-provoking. As the leader of the New Jersey Bell Company at that time, his insights rooted in management practice have brought me a lot of inspiration and have influenced me to this day.

As Barnard said in the opening chapter of this book: "The purpose of this chapter is to expand the definition of organization in "The Functions of Managers", to start a discussion of the definition of organization, and to point out the relationship between this definition and organizational theory. The definition of organization has confused many readers, and they feel that the discussion of these issues is either unsatisfactory or confusing. Acceptance will either make people feel incomprehensible or unrealistic. We have to admit that on the one hand, this is because our interpretation of the definition of organization is not precise enough; on the other hand, it is also because the concept of organization has just emerged, and people are still just understanding the many elements that constitute an organization, such as authorization, incentive mechanisms and inter-organizational communication. ”

Following this line of thinking, and focusing on the two most basic propositions of organization and management, Barnard gave me the following inspiration.

One of the revelations: The key to the existence of an organization is the service of individuals to the organization, that is, the behavior that contributes to the goals of the organization. Barnard believes that "an organization is nothing more than a collection of cooperative behaviors." "When two or more individuals cooperate, that is, systematically coordinate their actions, in my opinion, an organization is formed." "The simplest organization in the world is the exchange of goods between two people, A and B." Whether an organization can be effective depends on whether the organization itself can drive consistent behavior among organizational members. In most cases, organizational members have different purposes and behavioral choices. How to bring people with different purposes and behaviors together? What are its key elements? Barnard tells us the key is collaboration. Barnard said: "From a personnel perspective, the purpose of (achieving organizational goals) can only be ranked second, but it is equally important as the purpose of personal development. The combination of these two goals is a reasonable goal for the entire manager and personnel."

Barnard starts from the special perspective of the relationship between customers and organizations, and analyzes the cooperative relationship between organizations and members through purchasing behavior, allowing us to more intuitively feel the cooperative relationship between individuals and organizations. "Therefore, every behavior of the organization is also the behavior of an individual and his contribution to the organization."

I really like Barnard's definition of organization and his assertion that the key ingredient in bringing people together is cooperation. This definition clearly and simply expounds the internal elements and core values ​​of the organization, coordinates actions with each other, and jointly contributes to the goals. This understanding allows each member of the organization to clearly understand their relationship with the organization and their relationship with other members of the organization. If you agree with Barnard's point of view, each member of the organization will not focus on power;It focuses on contribution; it does not focus on self, but on collaboration. An organization composed of members with such awareness will definitely be a productive organization, and the organizational goals will be achieved as expected.

Revelation 2: We often focus on the problems of the organization and ignore the individuals in the organization. When organizations emerged, management gradually focused on organizational goals and the organization itself, while ignoring individuals. In reviewing history, Barnard found that "our era has ushered in a wave of modern companies and labor organizations, which all emphasize interdependence, cooperation, and collaboration among individuals as the main aspects of social life. Ultimately, the understanding that individuals are subject to the state, society, and economic machines has formed. This kind of thinking has become people's habitual thinking. People rarely consider individuals."

The fact we face is that it is individuals who create organizations. Although the efficiency of a team depends on the organization and role of the entire group, it also depends on the role of each individual in the team. In actual work, it is difficult for us to ignore any individual among them. In the companies I observed, the phenomenon of ignoring individuals abounds. The organization establishes many systems, constantly breaks down goals, and emphasizes efficiency and obedience. However, it does not take into account that individuals are the key factor for the success of organizational collaboration.

In response to this phenomenon, Barnard asked managers that "if focusing on individual development is the focus of the organization's personnel work, it must be done out of sincerity, not strategy, nor just to improve work efficiency. If focusing on individuals is just a corporate gimmick, the purpose is to stimulate production and stimulate morale, then this can only end in failure." Therefore, he raised the issue of welfare systems in personnel relations, especially emphasizing that enterprises should establish cooperative labor-management relations, and clearly reminded people that the identity system in formal organizations can provide motivation for organizational members to move forward.

As for the identity system, Barnard spent a lot of space to explain it, because he is very clear: the so-called "identity" of a person in the organization refers to the various conditions that the person possesses under the existing circumstances. These conditions consist of his rights, privileges, immunities, responsibilities and obligations in the organization. In other words, it consists of the limits, regulations, and constraints on his behavior that determine what others expect of him.

In an organization, when correctly identifying someone's identity becomes a task, and all members complete this task seriously, and when people's identities are known to the public through different titles, titles, titles, status symbols, or external behavior patterns, identity gradually becomes institutionalized. Therefore, we need to deal particularly well with the issue of identity systems in formal organizations.

Barnard’s discussion of the above issues has very clear practical value. The problem of organizations ignoring individuals and the problem of organizational "identity" are all problems that managers often encounter in their daily work. Barnard's research reminds us that we must sincerely pay attention to the members of the organization, and we must correctly handle the identity system in the organization so that each member understands the true meaning of identity and how to make identity effective, instead of rigidity and disunity caused by identity. Barnard's discussion of these issues can help managers understand that the cooperative relationship between individuals and organizations requires special attention. If the individual capabilities in the organization cannot be properly handled, organizational goals will not be achieved.

Revelation Three: “ScenarioThe concept of "leadership". "Situational leadership" has a major influence on today's leadership theory. After reading Barnard's book, I discovered that this part of thinking has already been included in the scope of his research.

"Leadership is a function of three variables including leaders, followers and various conditions", and "these factors contained in leadership may have countless possible combinations." For this reason, Barnard believes that no leader can be suitable for all management situations. So how meaningful is it to discuss the personal qualities of leaders in ordinary situations? Barnard tells us that "emphasis should be placed on the characteristics of the organization, not the individual." This means that as a leader, you must truly understand the characteristics of the organization and have the ability to build the characteristics of the organization and create your own organizational atmosphere for leadership effectiveness, rather than relying on personal abilities to solve problems.

However, he also gave us advice on general situations. The "five important qualities of a leader are: (1) vitality and endurance; (2) decisiveness; (3) persuasiveness; (4) sense of responsibility; (5) intelligence level." In addition to finding these five elements of a leader, Barnard ranked them in order of importance. Food for thought is that “intelligence” ranks last. Barnard's reasoning is that intelligence may be crucial to becoming a senior professional, but it is secondary to effective leadership. If we carefully understand this reason, on the one hand, we can see that Barnard pays more attention to the responsibility and responsibility of leaders than to the judgment of the leader's intelligence; on the other hand, it can also remind us that as a leader, we need to pay more attention to the responsibility to the organization rather than relying on personal abilities.

Finally, Barnard believes that "the essence of leadership is to be pragmatic and be able to see the necessity of action. Even if the results of the action are unforeseeable, leaders must have ideals and set a lofty goal. This goal must be achieved through the efforts of several generations of leaders." In this last part, Barnard expresses the requirements for leaders: they must be down-to-earth but also long-term. Although this may not seem easy to do, if you really want to be a qualified leader, you must be able to meet Barnard's standards.

Inspiration 4: The basic qualities of future social managers. What qualities managers should possess has always been the focus of people's attention. In most cases, under the premise of the same moral character, managers each have different advantages and disadvantages, so it seems difficult to decide which qualities are more important. In fact, the standard for measuring this issue is not to discuss what qualities a manager should have, but to look at the effectiveness of his actual behavior. However, by the time we judge the effectiveness of a behavior, something has already happened, so measuring it by results makes sense in practice, but it is not the best method. If we can understand what the basic qualities a manager must possess are, we will know how to better train managers, and we will be better able to address many of the challenges facing society today.

It is from this perspective that Barnard proposes the basic qualities of managers needed by future society. He believes that the first quality is formal education; the second quality is superior intelligence; the third quality is a correct understanding of human relations; the fourth quality isThe first quality is the ability to persuade, express and change thinking patterns; the fifth quality is understanding the estimability and inestimability of risks.

All friends who read this book may wish to check for themselves to see if you have the five qualities of managers that the future society will need. Perhaps in most cases, managers are still concerned about organizational capabilities, power and their own experience. Comparing Barnard's basic elements, it is not difficult to find that Barnard is more concerned about the manager's ability to deal with the unforeseen future and the value creation of collaborative resources, rather than the manager's own experience. This part has been very helpful to me. I recommend that everyone read it carefully.

Revelation 5: We must face up to the key influencing factors of organizational survival. In this book, Barnard discusses issues related to democratic management. In the book, he puts forward four propositions: "First, the behavior referred to by 'democracy' exists in a cooperative system. If a society is full of hostility, opposition, isolation, or non-cooperation, then there is no democracy in such a society. Second, democracy is related to the behavior of governance, which is a system that helps rulers make decisions. Third, democratic decision-making is a major decision-making, and must be made through correct decision-making. This kind of decision is not determined by random exchanges between several individuals in society. That is to say, democracy is not only about society, it is definitely related to the government of the country. Fourth, the various efforts in society are regulated and due attention, and they constitute a formal organization. Usually, democracy itself provides a process or a set of procedures under which the formal organization operates and maintains the work of the organization.

By unfolding the proposition of "democratic management", Barnard allows us to understand the key factors affecting the survival of an organization: (1) The effectiveness of the management system relative to the external relationship of the organization; (2) The internal efficiency of the system, that is, whether the system has the ability to ensure the cohesion, collaboration and obedience of organizational members to specific instructions. To a large extent, these two points are interdependent. If a system cannot determine which behaviors of the organization are effective, then the system cannot ensure or maintain the cohesion, cooperation, and obedience that the organization requires, either because the system fails or because people in the organization believe that the system does not work. On the contrary, a system that cannot bring cohesion, obedience and cooperation to the organization cannot effectively guide the organization's actions. Therefore, the question we need to ask for every management system is: Can this system determine the organization's actions while taking into account the organization's external environment? Can this system enable organizational members to obey organizational decisions, so that the organization can effectively implement decisions? These two fundamental questions can enable us to judge whether the system we have established is appropriate and effective.

Issues related to organization and management are issues that every manager must face. Reading this masterpiece can help us understand the nature of organization and management more clearly, and make managers' behaviors more effective. If you still don’t really understand organizational management, the basic qualities that a professional manager must possess, the true connotation of leadership, and the definition of an organization, I highly recommend you read this book carefully.

Book title: "I Read Management Classics"

Author: Chen Chunhua

Published by: Machinery Industry Press

Published: January 2015