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Author: Peter Drucker,
born in 1909, obtained a doctorate in international law the University of Frankfurt in 1931.
He has won the "McKinsey Award" 7 times and was awarded the "Presidential Medal of Freedom" in 2002,
which is the highest honor a US citizen can obtain.
His works are published in more than 30 languages, and the total sales volume exceeds 6 million.
Original excerpt:
- Most people recognize the importance of decision-making in management, but most discussions in this area focus on solving problems, in other words, emphasizing "find the answer." This is wrong. The most common mistake in management decision-making is to emphasize only finding the right answer instead of asking the right question.
- We have the ability and way to control how well we want to do our work, instead of passively reacting to pre-determined stimuli.
- Since the purpose of an enterprise is to create customers, any enterprise has two basic functions, and only two basic functions: marketing and innovation.
- Only when managers can dominate the economic environment and change the economic environment with conscious and directional actions, can they be regarded as real management.
In the book "Management Practice", the author will discuss how to scientifically manage enterprises, managers and employees, and systematically introduce how to establish an effective enterprise management mechanism. The book was written in 1954, but many of the concepts in the book are still not outdated.
The author Peter Drucker has established his position as the pioneer of management discipline because of this book, and is known as the "father of modern management." Liu Lan, editor-in-chief of "World Manager" once said: "If you only read a management author, then read Drucker; if you only read a management book, then read "Management Practice"."
1. Is human resources a resource?
We often hear the term "human resources" and regard human resources as resources, as if humans are no different from resources such as oil and coal,
but this is not the case. The biggest difference between humans and other resources is that humans can control their behavior. .
People have a distinctive feature that distinguishes them from other resources-absolute autonomy.
People can decide whether to do their work well and how much work they do.
When people abandon negative attitudes and actively participate in work, the quality and efficiency of work will be improved.
Therefore, when people work, they must provide appropriate incentives to ensure that employees can complete their homework efficiently. This is the philosophy of management.
2. How do managers lead the enterprise to "create customers" (Sears)
At the beginning of the twentieth century, American farmers were in a special market. Their living habits were isolated from the rest of the world, they could not access the existing sales channels, and their consumption needs were different from those of urban consumers.
Sears keenly discovered that this group has huge purchasing power.
After bold reforms, by the end of the First World War, Sears successfully became a national institution.
In the mid-1920s, the market situation changed again.
Farmers are no longer a closed group. The advent of cars provides them with shopping opportunities in towns.
Their way of life changed to the urban middle class, breaking the original market.
In addition, the low- and middle-income earners in the urban market have become relatively abundant, and their desire to buy has gradually expanded.
Sears decided to shift the company's focus to retail stores.
He redesigned products that originally belonged to the upper-class market, such as refrigerators, and promoted them to the mass market. He also equipped many store managers to meet the needs of the retail business.
This reform allowed Sears to develop from a few mail-order factories to supply the country to 700 stores.
In 1954, new changes appeared.
In most cities, traffic congestion and parking difficulties make driving and shopping a burden.
In addition, the typical customers of Sears, housewives, have gradually become professional women. They have to take care of both work and children, and their shopping time is greatly reduced.
Sears re-planned its sales strategy. After receiving orders from customers, salespersons drove door-to-door sales.
Companies can't just conform to the market, but "create customers."
Customers feel that there is a need in their minds all the time, but they don't know what this need is.
Entrepreneurs need to find this kind of thing and refine it to satisfy customers.
Marketing alone is not enough. Companies must also pay attention to the role of innovation, create new needs for customers,
or launch better products to meet customer needs.
Sometimes, finding new uses for old products is also a kind of innovation.
For example, when a salesman sells refrigerators to Eskimos to keep things cool, he has discovered a new market.
If you look at it from another perspective, selling it to Eskimos to prevent food from freezing and freezing, this is equivalent to creating a new product.
3. The importance of management and how to manage managers (Ford Motor)
In the early 1920s, Ford once occupied two-thirds of the American car market,
but 15 years later, this figure fell to one-fifth.
Ford's rapid decline has a very important factor-old Ford's dictatorship and secret police management.
Old Ford firmly grasped the power in his own hands and did not give anyone the opportunity to manage.
All supervisors are his personal assistants, who can only listen to his orders.
Secret police Bennett rose up all the way during this time and became the head of the company
because he had no ability and could only be dispatched by Old Ford.
After 15 years in this way, Ford has suffered a severe decline and its talents are dying.
Finally, when the grandson of the old Ford, Ford II, came to power, things began to change.
Ford II introduced talents from outside the company.
He cleaned up internally, selected new supervisors, and delegated powers to let them work independently and shoulder important responsibilities.
He terminated the centralized management of Old Ford and divided the company into 15 independent business units.
Each business department has a sound management team that can formulate policies on its own and enjoy full authorization.
After these reforms, Ford once again created a miracle. In only 10 years, it had the strength to compete with Chevrolet for the championship in the market.
This story deeply shows the importance of management.
There is a very representative story:
a person asked three stonemasons what they were doing.
The first stonemason replied: "I am raising a family." The
second stonemason replied: "I am doing the best mason work in the country." The
third stonemason said, "I am building a cathedral."
These three masons are typical representatives of the three types of employees: the
first mason: in exchange for labor, which is reasonable, but he will not become a manager.
The second stonemason: It is a typical performance of most managers who only care about their own profession and strive to improve their professional standards, but it is easy to lead to deviations from the overall goal and regard functional work as a goal. If the managers of various departments are like this, the organization will become very loose.
The third stonemason: firmly grasping the goal of "building a cathedral" and not deviating from the main line, this is the attitude that a qualified manager should have.
4. Giving employees a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction is the key to building an efficient organization (IBM)
One day, IBM President Thomas J. Watson saw a female operator doing nothing,
Watson went to ask, the female operator said: "I am waiting for the installer to change the machine settings."
Watson asked: "You can't Do you do it yourself?" The
female operator said, "Of course, but this is not my job."
Watson found that this situation is very common in the company, and workers spend multiple hours a week waiting for installers.
But they only need a few days to train these employees to learn how to set up the machine.
As a result, he broadened the operator’s business and added the item of machine setting.
This has led to a significant increase in the company's productivity, and more importantly, the employee's pride in their work has also increased.
When IBM developed the first new electronic computer, due to tight time and high demand, engineers, foremen, and workers had to work together to complete the detailed design on the production line. The worker knew what he was doing, not a simple operation.
The results showed that because workers participated in process planning, not only productivity increased, but product quality also improved.
Humans are not machines, and machines work on the principle of mechanization.
The work done by people should be based on the principle of integration.
Machines have the advantage of being efficient and flawless, while humans have the advantages of planning, judgment and adaptability.
Regardless of how the managers reward and punished, the efficiency and quality of work is always controlled by the employees themselves.
Therefore, an incentive is needed to maintain the work efficiency of workers.
Traditionally, the motivating factor for workers is fear. Workers are afraid of losing their jobs, so they work hard in fear.
Now, this method is basically abolished in the West, which is the inevitable result of economic growth.
When the unemployed can receive the living expenses that guarantee their basic living, the power of fear is weak.
After eliminating the motivating factor of fear, other factors must be found to replace it.
This is the main task facing managers today.
Managers should provide employees with stimulus factors, give them a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction,
so that everyone's strengths, enterprising spirit and sense of responsibility can be brought into play, guiding and encouraging employees to grow actively.