Three Questions Of Management

At the morning meeting of all cadres on November 20, 2021, Mr. Wang expounded that management cadres should correctly understand the three questions of management: “who am I, where am I from and where am I going”, and establish a reflection mechanism in management activities to achieve truth-seeking, pragmatic and continuous improvement.

Who am I?

The famous philosopher Socrates put forward three philosophical questions: “who am I? Where am I from? Where am I going?”。 “Who am I” for Ouhai management cadres is to correctly understand themselves and find their own role orientation. Laozi said: “those who know people are wise, those who know themselves are clear. Those who win are powerful, and those who win themselves are strong”. It means that those who can understand others are wise, and those who can understand themselves are wise. Those who can defeat others are powerful, and those who can defeat themselves are really strong. The correct role orientation is to understand my responsibilities, obligations and rights. To put it more popularly, it is what I should do. Only when you have a clear understanding of your role can you solve problems without complaining or procrastinating, integrate resources and complete tasks based on results, and finish the work day by day without reminding or supervision from your boss or other departments. Correct self-awareness is also reflected in the fact that management cadres should clearly understand what expertise the company attaches importance to when promoting you or appointing you as a management cadre -- whether it is “red” or “expert”? “Red” means to identify with the company's management philosophy, be loyal to the enterprise, and understand the company's culture, system and process. “Expert” refers to a senior expert in a certain field with a deep technical background or a special talent that can’t be replaced by others. For enterprises, if they are both“red”and “expert”, of course, they are the first choice. If you only account for one of“expert” and “red”, then you should recognize your strengths and weaknesses. At work, we give full play to our strengths, and we can make up for our shortcomings by learning, studying and thinking. In addition to recognizing themselves, management cadres should also understand the advantages and disadvantages of the team they lead. Only when the management cadres really understand “who I am”, can they understand what they should do, understand self-improvement, and let the team be refined in practice.

Where am I from?

Since ancient times, China has a tradition of tracing its roots and pursuing its ancestors. Many rural areas built clan ancestral halls before the founding of new China. As the younger generation of the family, they have to bring some tributes to pay homage to the deceased ancestors, light a few incense sticks and burn some paper money. Other families trace their surname, which branch the family comes from or where their ancestral origin comes from through genealogical activities, and record the number of members of each generation, kinship and the distribution of relevant genetic traits in the family. The essence of these traditional activities in China is to find out the problem of " Where am I from ". For the functional departments of Ouhai, find out “where I come from”. We should understand the purpose of the company's establishment of this department at a certain stage of development and what problems to solve. For example, in 2018, the company established central logistics, which aims to improve product delivery capacity and meet customers' delivery services. Through MPs planning, the company plans the production plan, integrates human, machine, material and other resources, so that salesmen don't have to go to the workshop to track the production progress and concentrate on expanding new markets and developing new customers. If the central logistics can’t solve the problem of delivery time, do a good job in supporting materials and play a comprehensive coordination role, it will lose the significance of establishing this department. Or as a logistics team, I don't have a deep understanding of where I come from. To understand where the department comes from, we should not only understand the original intention of the Department, but also understand the historical origin, development track and achievements of each milestone. For example, the newly established Yager metal should understand the development history of the metal production department and the performance indicators such as output, human efficiency and labor cost at each development stage. By comparing with each milestone, let the newly established department find the direction and goal, and inspire the team to strive for the performance of its predecessor. This is also the purpose of the company to require the human resources department to implement the milestone plan for each newly established department and newly appointed management cadre

Where am I going?

"Where am I going" is to have a strong sense of purpose. For Ouhai, our goal is to “build a service-oriented manufacturing enterprise, achieve the best overall scale, become the best supplier for customers, and make each product category the best”. This is the company's strategic project and the goal of team members. In the process of achieving this goal, we should focus on the following aspects. 1. Establish a reflection mechanism. We should carefully analyze, summarize and reflect on every decision-making error, every customer complaint and every abnormal loss, and find the direction of improvement through reflection. We should learn to learn from failures, find methods in summary and improve ourselves in problems. 2. Be realistic and pragmatic. In my work, I want to learn the truth-seeking and pragmatic spirit of communists that “without investigation, I have no right to speak” and “practice is the only standard for testing truth”. Whether it is standard setting or NPI and MPS planning, we should go deep into the site, conduct research and make scientific planning. In the process of implementing the planning scheme or implementing the standard, we should let users or executors verify whether the standard is scientific and whether NPI and MPs planning comply with logic. If the planning scheme or standard is not conducive to employees' operation, easy work and grass-roots implementation, we should adjust or revise it in time. 3. Continuous improvement. The realization of any goal can’t be achieved overnight. In the process of realizing the overall goal, it may need to be decomposed into several phased goals according to the actual situation. After the goal of the current stage is achieved, we should pursue the next goal. If we lack the desire for continuous improvement and can not use PDCA cycle scientifically, it is difficult to achieve the ultimate goal.

“Who am I” means to have a clear understanding of my role, do not complain or procrastinate when encountering problems, actively find solutions, integrate resources to complete tasks based on results, and finish the work day by day without being reminded or supervised by my boss. “Where am I from” is to recognize the original intention and personal value of the Department. By comparing with each milestone, let the newly established department or newly appointed cadres find the direction and goal, and stimulate the team to strive for the performance of their predecessors. “Where am I going” is to have a strong sense of goal. In the process of achieving the goal, we should establish a reflection mechanism, be realistic and pragmatic to implement each work, and make full use of PDCA cycle tools to continuously improve and constantly challenge new goals.