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Scientific management theory: Key figure – Frederick Taylor (1856–1915). 1. It proposes scientific methods of operation for workers, in order to make effective use of working time and improve efficiency. Study the rationality of workers’ movements at work, eliminate unnecessary movements, improve necessary ones, establish standard times for completing each unit of operation, and set labor time quotas. 2. Select, train, and promote workers scientifically. Select appropriate workers to assign to suitable positions, and train them in standard operating procedures to enable them to grow gradually through their work. 3. Develop scientific process procedures to standardize tools, machines, and materials, as well as to standardize the working environment, and document these standards. 4. Implement an incentive-based piece-rate wage system. Workers who complete or exceed their work quotas are paid at a higher hourly rate ； Workers who fail to meet the quota are paid at a lower wage rate. 5. Separation of management and labor. Managers and workers work closely together at work to ensure that tasks are carried out in accordance with the standard procedures. Organizational theory. Key figure: Max Weber (1864–1920). Weber outlined an ideal model of a bureaucratic organization, which has the following characteristics: 1. Personnel within the organization should have fixed and formal responsibilities, and they must exercise their powers in accordance with the law. An organization is established through legal procedures, has clear objectives, and relies on a comprehensive set of rules and regulations to regulate the behavior of its members, in order to effectively pursue and achieve those objectives. 2. The structure of an organization is a system of hierarchical control. Within an organization, the relationship of command and obedience among members is established according to their hierarchical status. 3. The relationship between people and work. The relationship among members is based solely on matters, not on individuals. 4. Selection and support of members. Each position is filled based on its qualification requirements (experience or educational background), in accordance with the principle of free contract, through successful public examinations, so as to enable individuals to utilize their full potential. 5. Specialized division of labor and technical training. Assign reasonable tasks to team members, clarify each person’s scope of work and responsibilities, and then improve work efficiency through technical training. 6. Members’ salaries and promotions. Salaries should be paid according to positions, and a system of rewards, punishments, and promotions should be established to enable members to work with peace of mind and foster their sense of dedication to their careers. General management theory: Key figure – Henri Fayol (1841–1925). Taylor’s research began with the worker at the lathe, focusing on the efficiency of specific tasks within a company. Fayol’s research started with the \"general manager at the desk,\" taking the entire enterprise as the object of study. Fayol distinguished between management and administration, considering them to be two different concepts, with administration being included within management. Through an analysis of all activities within an enterprise, management activities are extracted from the operational functions (which include five major functions: technology, commerce, operations, safety, and accounting), thereby becoming the sixth functional area of operations. A broader definition of management was further derived, namely that “management is a universal distinct activity with its own set of knowledge systems, composed of various functions; it is a process through which managers achieve goals by carrying out these functions.” ” Fayol also analyzed the relative requirements for various skills among managers at different management levels. As a company grows from small to large and positions move from lower to higher, managerial skills become increasingly important among the necessary skills for managers, while the importance of other skills such as technical expertise, business acumen, financial knowledge, safety awareness, and accounting skills decreases relatively. Fayol proposed 14 principles of general management: 1. Division of labor ； 2. Power and Responsibility ； 3. Discipline ； 4. Unified command ； 5. Unified leadership ； 6. Personal interests should be subordinated to the overall interests ； 7. Personnel compensation ； 8. Concentration ； 9. Hierarchy system ； 10. Order ； 11. Fairness ； 12. Staff stability ； 13. Entrepreneurship ； 14. Team spirit. Theory of interpersonal relationships: Key figure – Mayo (1880–1949). Outstanding representatives of classical management theory such as Taylor and Fayol made significant contributions to the development of management ideas and theories in various aspects, exerting a profound influence on management practices. However, what they had in common was their emphasis on the scientific nature, rationality, and discipline of management, without giving sufficient attention to the human factors and their role in management. The nine-year experimental study conducted by Mayo at the Hawthorne Plant of Western Electric Company in the United States—the Hawthorne experiments—truly marked the beginning of research on human behavior within organizations. The findings of the Hawthorne experiments contradicted the assumptions about human beings made by traditional management theories. They showed that workers are not passive, isolated individuals; their behavior is not solely motivated by wages. The most important factor affecting productivity is not pay or working conditions, but interpersonal relationships at work. Based on this, Mayo put forward his own views: 1. Workers are “social beings” rather than “economic beings”. 2. Informal organizations exist within enterprises. 3. New leadership lies in improving workers’ satisfaction. Hierarchy of Needs Theory: Representative figure – Maslow (1908–1970). This theory is based on three fundamental assumptions: 1. In order to survive, people’s needs influence their behavior. Only unmet needs can influence behavior; met needs cannot serve as a motivator. 2. Human needs are arranged in a certain order based on their importance and hierarchy, ranging from basic needs (such as food and shelter) to more complex ones (such as self-actualization). 3. Only after a person’s needs at a certain level have been met to a minimum will they strive for higher-level needs, and this process continues step by step, serving as an internal drive to keep striving. Maslow identified the five levels of needs as follows: 1. Physiological needs, which are the basic requirements for an individual’s survival. Such as food, drink, and accommodation. 2. Safety needs, including psychological and material security, such as protection from theft, prevention of dangerous accidents, job security, as well as social insurance and pension funds. 3. Social needs: As members of society, people need friendship and a sense of belonging to a group; interpersonal interactions require empathy, mutual assistance, and recognition. 4. Respect for needs, including the desire to be respected by others and having an inner sense of self-respect. 5. The need for self-actualization refers to achieving one’s own expectations for life through one’s own efforts, thereby feeling that life and work truly have meaning. X-Y Theory: Representative figure – Douglas McGregor (1906–1964). 1. People generally are not inherently averse to work; the physical and mental effort required in work is as natural as playing games or taking breaks. Work can be a source of satisfaction, and thus one undertakes it voluntarily ； It might also be a form of punishment, so one tries to avoid it whenever possible. It depends on the circumstances. 2. External control and punishment are not the only ways to motivate people to work toward achieving an organization’s goals. It is even a threat and obstacle to humans, slowing down the pace of their maturation. People are willing to practice self-management and self-control to achieve the goals that need to be accomplished. 3. There is no conflict between a person’s need for self-actualization and the behaviors required by the organization. If people are given appropriate opportunities, it is possible to align individual goals with organizational goals. 4. Under appropriate conditions, ordinary people not only learn to accept responsibilities but also learn to seek them out. Avoiding responsibility, a lack of ambition, and an emphasis on security are usually the result of experience, rather than human nature. 5. It is the majority, rather than the minority, who are able to exert high levels of imagination, intelligence, and creativity when addressing difficult problems within an organization. 6. Under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potential of ordinary people is only partially utilized. Management Grid Theory: Representative figure – Robert Blake. This theory advocates for using a grid diagram to represent and study leadership styles. The vertical and horizontal axes represent, respectively, the level of concern shown by business leaders toward people and production. In the Management Grid, a 1.1 orientation indicates poor management, with very little concern for both production and people ； 9.1 The orientation indicates task management, with emphasis on production tasks while paying little attention to human factors ； 1.9 Orientation refers to the so-called club-style management, which focuses on caring for people; the company has a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, with little emphasis on production tasks ； 5.5 Directional indicates a middle-of-the-road or mediocre management style; it pays equal attention to neither production nor people, resulting in unremarkable performance in task completion ； 9.9 orientation represents ideal management; it shows concern for both production and people, enabling the optimal and most effective integration of organizational goals and individual needs. Research on effective managers. Representative figure: Drucker. He believed that to become an effective manager, one must develop five mental habits: 1. Knowing where to allocate one’s time. Managers should be aware that the time at their disposal is very limited, and they must use this limited time to carry out systematic work. 2. Effective managers focus on external factors and channel their efforts toward achieving results, rather than on the work itself. 3. Effective managers build their work on strengths—their own strengths, the strengths of their superiors, colleagues, and subordinates, as well as the strengths of the situation; in other words, they base their work on what they can do. They don’t build their work on weaknesses. 4. Effective managers focus their energy on a few key areas. In these fields, excellent work will yield outstanding results. They set priorities for themselves and adhere to the principle of giving priority to those matters. They know they have no choice but to do the most important things first and ignore the less important ones. Otherwise, nothing will be achieved. 5. Finally, effective managers make effective decisions. They know that effective decisions are often made based on \"disagreeing opinions,\" rather than being grounded in \"unified views.\" Representative figure of Theory Z: William Ouchi. In the course of his research on Theory Z, Ouchi selected some typical companies from Japan and the United States for study. These companies have subsidiaries or factories in their home countries as well as in the other country, adopting different types of management methods. Research by Ouchi shows that Japan’s management style is generally more efficient than that in the United States, which is consistent with the aggressive momentum of the Japanese economy starting from the late 1970s. The author therefore suggests that American companies should take into account their own national characteristics, learn from Japanese management practices*, and develop their own management styles. He attributed this management approach to the Z-type management style and developed it theoretically, naming it “Theory Z”. Theory Z holds that the success of all businesses depends on trust, sensitivity, and closeness; therefore, it advocates honesty, openness, and communication as the fundamental principles for **management**. McKinsey’s 7-S model views strategy, structure, and systems as the \"hardware\" for a company’s success, while style, people, skills, and shared values are considered the \"software\" that enables effective business operations. McKinsey’s 7-S model reminds managers around the world that software and hardware are equally important. The two scholars point out that human aspects such as irrationality, stubbornness, intuition, and a preference for informal organizational structures – which companies have long ignored – can actually be managed; these factors are closely related to a company’s success or failure and must not be overlooked. Flexible working hours: The concept of flexible working hours was introduced in the 1960s by economists in Germany, primarily to address the problem of traffic congestion for employees on their way to and from work. Since the 1970s, this system has developed steadily in Europe and the United States. In Europe, in 1975 there were about 700,000 workers in the UK; in 1977, it is estimated that 40% of industrial workers in Switzerland adopted this system, and about a quarter of workers in Germany did as well. In the United States, flexible working hours are also being introduced in some industries where mental work plays a significant role. By the 1990s, about 40% of large companies adopted flexible working arrangements, including well-known corporations such as DuPont and HP. In Japan, Hitachi Manufacturing introduced this system in 1988; aside from workers on the production lines, 40,000 people were able to freely choose their working hours. Large companies such as Fuji Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Electric also pursued similar reforms with this as a goal. Change management: The core of corporate change lies in managing change, and the success of managing change depends on change management. The success rate of change is not 100%, or even lower, which often fosters a fear that \"change means death, and staying the same also means death.\" However, due to the pressure of market competition, frequent technological updates, and the need for self-improvement, \"change may fail, but staying the same will definitely fail.\" Therefore, knowing how to change is more important than knowing why and what to change. Change Management refers to the need for businesses to adopt organizational change strategies when growth slows down, internal problems arise, and it becomes increasingly difficult to adapt to changes in the business environment. Such strategies involve making necessary adjustments and improvements to internal structures, work processes, and corporate culture in order to enable smooth transformation of the company. The three basic methods of change management are: First, thawing: acknowledging that the current situation is poor and releasing previously concealed negative messages within the organization. II. Change: By utilizing communication and introducing learning-oriented organizations, it is possible to help organization members gradually embrace the idea that change holds positive value. III. Plan before acting: First, determine the change strategy by setting clear goals, conducting an environmental assessment, formulating an action plan, and identifying various supporting measures. HP’s philosophy: Profit is the top priority. Product sales are made on a cash basis, with no credit given; market share is expanded by providing customers with high-quality products and services rather than by reducing prices. The main profits are used for reinvestment, along with funds from employees’ stock purchases and other cash inflows, to provide the capital needed for development, without relying on long-term loans. Since 1959, HP has implemented an employee stock purchase plan that allows workers to buy shares of HP at a discounted price equal to a certain percentage of their salary, with the difference covered by the company – this has provided HP with significant funding for its development. This self-financing policy requires a fairly high level of profits and proper management of inventory and accounts receivable, which is different from the practice common in industry of meeting funding needs through stock issuance and long-term borrowing. Panasonic’s dam-style management: Panasonic believes that maintaining steady growth for the company is an inherent responsibility, and to ensure consistent development, the dam-style management concept is very important. The purpose of a dam is to hold back and store river water, ensuring an adequate supply of water as seasons or climate conditions change. Enterprises also need such mechanisms for regulation and application in order to develop steadily. The concept of “dam-style management” is such that if all departments of a company can function like dams, remaining unaffected by changes in the external environment and maintaining stable development despite these changes. In a company, dams must be in place in all areas such as equipment, capital, personnel, inventory, technology, planning, and the development of new products, and they must fulfill their functions. In other words, a degree of flexibility in management across all aspects should be maintained. The Boston Matrix method: Since most companies operate multiple businesses, it is necessary to allocate resources among them in a rational manner in order to enable the company’s development to adapt effectively to the ever-changing market opportunities. In this process, one should not allocate resources based solely on impressions about which business areas have potential; rather, the position of each business within the company should be determined through an analysis of potential profits. The Boston Matrix is a well-known approach used to evaluate a company’s investment portfolio. CI Strategy: CI is an abbreviation for Corporate Identity; in some literature it is also referred to as CIS, which is the abbreviation for Corporate Identity System. Its literal translation is corporate image recognition system, while its implied meaning is corporate image design. CI refers to a company’s conscious and planned effort to actively present and disseminate various characteristics of its business to the public, so that the public can develop a standardized and differentiated perception of that specific company in the market environment, thereby enabling easier identification and the creation of a positive impression. CI is generally divided into three aspects: the corporate mind identity – Mind Identity (MI), the behavioral identity – Behavior Identity (BI), and the visual identity – Visual Identity (VI). ERP, or Enterprise Resource Planning, is an advanced concept of business management that enables the optimal allocation and balance of various resources within a company. It provides multiple solutions to help businesses gain a competitive advantage in the fierce market competition. 80% of the world’s top 500 companies use ERP software as a tool for making decisions and managing daily operations, which demonstrates its effectiveness. The EPR project is a massive systems engineering effort; it cannot be resolved simply by purchasing software. ERP is more of an advanced management concept; it involves a wide range of aspects, requires significant investment, has a long implementation period, is complex to implement, and entails certain risks. Scientific methods must be employed to ensure the successful completion of the project. The \"doom management\" of Little Swan: \"Doom management\" refers to the need for business owners and all employees, in the face of market conditions and competition, to maintain a sense of crisis. They must understand that the company and its products have a limited lifespan; they should not use the overall economic downturn as an excuse for their own failures, nor should they become complacent because of past successes. Because our enterprises are often accustomed to operating in an environment shaped by a planned economy; it seems they can adapt more easily to a rapidly developing market economy, while finding it difficult to cope with steady development. In fact, the market is both limited and infinite; the market for a particular product from Little Swan is limited in a given period, but a company’s market can be expanded indefinitely. Even though Little Swan has seen development over these years, it still faces a sense of crisis. Today’s success of Little Swan does not guarantee success in the future; the best times for a company are often the beginning of its worst struggles. Haier’s international star-level one-stop service: Haier’s high quality has a profound meaning – it isn’t merely about meeting the standards set by factories or regulations, but rather about meeting market demands and creating high quality through the use of advanced technology. In 1996, Haier Group introduced the \"International Star-Level One-Stop Service\" to the public. Its core focus is on continuously meeting users’ new requirements, from product design and manufacturing to purchase, from on-site design services to on-site installation, from product use to follow-up services; it also aims to institutionalize and standardize the services in the six stages of development, manufacturing, pre-sales, sales, after-sales, and follow-up through specific measures. Handan Iron and Steel’s “cost reverse calculation method” establishes an internal business mechanism based on “simulated market accounting and cost rejection.” In other words, this method introduces market principles into the company’s internal management through simulation. While maintaining the advantages of modern industrial enterprises, such as specialized and scientific division of labor, highly centralized management (i.e., unified planning, procurement, and sales within the company; only one bank account is used, and subordinate factories do not operate independently nor possess legal status), it focuses on cost as a key factor. Based on objective laws of value, it uses a reverse calculation approach: starting from the price at which the product is accepted by consumers in the market, it works backward, identifies potential areas for improvement by comparing with industry standards, determines the target cost for each production stage, and then breaks down these targets step by step until they reach every individual employee. The concept of strategic alliances was first proposed by J. Hopland, president of the American company DEC, and management expert R. Nigel. They defined strategic alliances as a loose form of cooperation in which two or more companies with common strategic interests and equal operational capabilities come together, through various agreements and contracts, to achieve strategic goals such as sharing markets and resources. This cooperation enables complementary strengths, mutual benefit, shared risks, and two-way or multi-way flow of production factors. The format is as follows: 1. Joint venture ； An enterprise formed by two or more companies that jointly invest capital, share risks, and share profits ； It is a common pattern in countries that are currently developing, **especially in regions such as Asia and Africa. The cooperating parties contribute their respective advantageous resources to the joint venture, thereby enabling it to achieve benefits that no single company could attain on its own. 2. R&D Agreement ； For a certain new product or technology, the cooperating parties establish a joint development agreement ； By combining the strengths of all parties, **it increases the chances of success and speeds up development; moreover, the costs of development are shared among them, thereby reducing each party’s expenses and risks. 3. Custom production ； If one party has a well-known brand but lacks productivity ； The other party has excess production capacity ； Then the other party can produce goods under custom order for the first party. One party can make full use of its idle production capacity to gain certain benefits ； For those who own a brand, it can also reduce the risks associated with investment or acquisition. 4. Franchising ； Strategic alliances can be formed through franchising; when one party possesses significant intangible assets, it can enter into franchise agreements with other parties, allowing them to use its brand, patents, or proprietary technologies, thereby creating a strategic alliance. The owner can not only generate profits but also leverage scale advantages to improve the maintenance of intangible assets, while the licensee is certainly able to expand sales and earn profits. 5. Mutual shareholding ； The cooperating parties hold a certain amount of shares in each other’s companies in order to strengthen their mutual ties ； In such strategic alliances, the relationships between the parties are relatively closer, and it is not necessary to merge all of their personnel and assets. The Five Forces Analysis Model was proposed by Michael Porter in the early 1980s, and it has had a profound global impact on corporate strategy formulation. Used for competitive strategy analysis, it can effectively analyze a customer’s competitive environment. The five forces are: the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of buyers, the ability of potential competitors to enter the market, the substitution threat from alternatives, and the competitive intensity among existing competitors in the industry. Different combinations of these five forces ultimately affect changes in the industry’s profit potential. The Delphi method, also known as the expert survey method, is a technique in which the issues that need to be addressed are sent individually to various experts via communication channels to seek their opinions. Once the opinions from all experts have been collected, they are compiled together to form a comprehensive view. Subsequently, this comprehensive opinion and the prediction issues are fed back to the experts respectively to seek further input; each expert modifies their original opinions based on the comprehensive opinion, after which they are compiled together again. A decision-making method that repeats this process multiple times to gradually obtain relatively consistent prediction results. In 1946, Rand Corporation used this method for forecasting for the first time, and it was later adopted widely and rapidly. Source: Internet