It’s only with the boss playing the good role and the middle managers playing the bad role that there can be good cooperation

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It’s not about the issue of playing a stern role or a kind role, but rather about the respective responsibilities of bosses and managers. Take our company’s project center as an example. Some consultants at the project center have requested additional invoices to be reimbursed; these requests were approved by the person in charge of the project center, but were rejected by me. It creates a situation where those in positions of authority act as good people while I’m portrayed as the bad one, and this has a very negative impact – it’s not good. It should be that at the project center, principles and regulations are followed; by bringing these matters to me, good cooperation can be achieved. I am the one who established the system; it is only right for me to be the one to modify it. You, as a cadre, go and change the systems, while I’m the one who has to maintain them – this reverses the whole logic of management; how can that work? That’s why some officials are not good at being in office. It is the middle-level managers who should truly uphold principles; what they need most is to be principled and to safeguard the integrity of the system. Our problem is that middle-level managers lack principles and do not have firmness in principle. It’s a bit awkward for me to talk about principles, as I am both the owner and the operator. If I were to insist on principles, the employees wouldn’t understand or believe me; they would think I care too much about those few dozen dollars, and that would be troublesome. If it’s the person in charge of the project center who holds back the funds, that’s quite normal, as it’s not his money. That employee then came to me, and I said, \"Let’s just charge a few dozen yuan; approve it for him, that would be better.\" This is good cooperation; that’s what it means. It must be that the boss is the good guy, while the managers are the \"bad\" guys. When I was the general manager of the group company, I offended many people. Why? Because above me is the boss, the chairman. If I’m a good person and say that you should go talk to the boss or the chairman about this, then what’s the point of me being the general manager? Being a villain here doesn’t mean breaking principles; rather, it’s about giving people the impression that such behavior only emerges when there are conflicts of interest. Reprinted from “Management Insights – 81 Management Principles to Enlighten the Mind” – “Middle Management Section”. Author: Wang Jipeng (Chairman of Beijing Renda Strategy Management Consulting Company)