Xunzi's Management Philosophy And Modern Management

As the last foremost mastermind of Pre-Qin Dynasty Confucianism, Xunzi developed a whole set of unique system of management philosophy, which has aroused great attention from the scholars throughout the world. However the study upon this topic in academic field is still rare and not systematic. In this thesis, from the perspective of modern management ,I try to make a more thorough and thoughtful analysis and description of Xunzi's management philosophy .This thesis adopted diachronic research approaches, filed and analyzed the research material from Xunzi's literature and the thoughts related. Focusing on Xunzi's various arguments, including:"Huaxingqiwei","Mingfenshiqun","Jinlunjinzhi","Longlizhongfa","Qiuzhiquluan",which respectively share a lot of common ideas with the modern management science in many fields, such as management precondition ,management organization, management subject, management methods , management purposes, etc.In aspect of management precondition, Xunzi proposed the idea of"evil-nature"-- human nature is evil, with a false"good"appearance. Xunzi thought, people were apt to disobeying moral modes when pursuing interests, since human instincts were evil. The management system will lose control unless there exist appropriate management measures to limit human desires. So rulers must set certain moral criteria and give proper direction to common people and make them worship well and follow well. Only in this way can administer the country well. This transformation course of humanity from natural structure to social structure was the course that human nature was molded and the goodwill was cultivated, which was the cornerstone of Xunzi's management philosophy.Xunzi's thoughts on organization fell into three parts:"group","division"and"justice". It seemed to Xunzi that the reason that mankind was superior to other living beings lay in mankind's social nature-"group", namely, people could form certain organization and could live organically."division"referred to institutional frameworks that were already formed, which could be divided into social rank framework, social career framework and state administration institutions. Human society was not only the aggregation of groups, but also had self-conscious organizational forms. It was marked by the set of self-conscious codes of conducts between people in this organization, that is ,"justice". The"justice"contained that the norms of the organization management system and the organization's ethical principles.Xunzi's thought that the management subject should understand the human relations and thorough knowledge of the system and norms. He thought that the country not only need the right political system, but also need a good administer. The good administer could choose useful manager to help him, love his people, and do the right decision. He also could educate the people, organize social production, adjust various material interests and coordinate relationships to make the society balance and harmony. And he must well up in the relation between various objects, and be a courageous, talented, ethical person.Xunzi's thought about management methods was that used the"etiquette and justice"to educate people, with " etiquette and justice " as the center of moral concepts and values to translating people's "natural essence" into "social essence ". He thought that focus on "etiquette" while also focusing on the "law". The manager should both reward and punishment and combine the punishment and the etiquette. In addition, he should love the people, make them affluence, at the same time, select the able men to administer people. The selection process should be based on people's real talent, depend on the morality and the ability to arrange the position.Xunzi pointed out that the ultimate goal of management was to stabilize people so that the country could not disorder. The fundamental requirement to stabilize people was to satisfy their corporeal desire. Only by this way could pacify the contest between people, steady the country, develop the economy. Xunzi thought that governed the country should make the world peace, people happy and harmony as a goal. And also achieved saving, less tax to make the people rich. Only towards the goal can harness the country well.In addition, this thesis compares the management philosophy between Xunzi and the west. From the analysis, I try to figure out the commonness and difference between them both, and make the better understanding of Xunzi's management philosophy.