Editor’s Note: This article, translated from the Chinese magazine Vista expounds on a recent British article’s analysis of "Maoist management" compared to "Ford-style management." The author disagrees with the original article’s conclusions, and defends Maoist management as a very suitable approach for the contemporary business world, though not for government.

A recent article by the British magazine The Economist discussed the art of Maoist management style. According to the article, Ford management styles typical in the Western world are more suited for successful celebrities and enterprises, whereas a Maoist management approach was more commonly found in struggling businesses still trying to survive.

But what exactly do the writers mean by “Maoist management style?”

Of course, one aspect is the way Mao managed people. He emphasized training and worked to inspire and cautiously evaluate even the lowest level cadres. The Chairman encouraged competition among his subordinates, promoted a willingness to make sacrifices and widespread use of self criticisms, etc. More importantly, the article discusses Maoist management at a more philosophical level, pointing to the use of resounding slogans to disguise motives of self interest, using the media to create personality cults, not being afraid to desert current allies and an unhesitating willingness to collaborate with current enemies, as well as the instigation of top-to-bottom scourges to deal with each and every practical difficulty encountered at work as a means to solidify your own position. The Economist’s article concludes that Maoist management can only function properly for a short while.

Re-analysis

Personally, I believe the business world won’t see an end to Maoist management any time soon, and that effectiveness for this style of work doesn’t have such a short lifespan. If Western supervisors started applying a few Maoist principles, they would subconsciously begin to agree with most of them. Today in China, for the many companies acting out these ideas, Maoist management has already become an accepted, automatic way of life. In the ranks of these Maoist managers, you’ll find famous failures, but there are also plenty of success stories like millionaire (in USD) Ren Zhengfei, the CEO of the powerful technology company Huawei, and billionaire Shi Yuzhu, CEO and Chairman of the Board at Giant Interactive, one of China’s largest online gaming companies.

Let’s take Shi Yuzhu as an example. Many people in the mainstream Chinese media are suspicious of Shi Yuzhu’s Maoist tactics. He is constantly being called out for new scandals and you’d be hard pressed to find Shi Yuzhu admirers in a crowd. Whether you’re talking about Naobaijin (脑白金, a health care product), Golden Partner, or ZT game, the products Shi Yuzhu has created have never really lived up to consumers’ expectations for “quality products,” and the marketing tricks he pulls are low and rotten. Is this what we call a successful businessman?

Businessmen are not philosophers

The Economist and Chinese media have both applied lofty intellectual ideals to the business world, pushing for corporate elitism, a sense of mission for corporate leaders, who are apparently expected to sit around a tea table together discussing these noble concepts and living elegant lives, conducting business as honestly as a textbook model and promoting popular new ideas like environmentalism, improved working conditions for individuals and corporate responsibility.

Unfortunately, this kind of elite management is just like legendary fighting tricks in martial art novels. Once you mastered them, you were guaranteed to be unrivaled on this earth. The only problem was they were impossible to master. The corporate world can never eradicate businesses rising up from the grassroots level. Managers here often have never received a higher education. They don’t have MBAs or EMBAs, and they can’t spout out philosophical aphorisms in foreign languages. They just have one goal: making money. To achieve that, they’ll do just about anything, including what intellectuals refer to as “lowbrow” tactics.

Business must be exempt from moral codes

To accurately judge Maoist management styles, you have to avoid mixing up business ethics with social principles, a mistake widespread among the Chinese masses. Business ethics are just standards of professional conduct. Classic example: lawyers. The ethics of their profession require them to cover up the truth and defend even the worst scoundrels imaginable. This kind of professional standard undeniably conflicts with social morality.

Many intellectuals fear corporate use of Maoist management principles threatens to revive dangerous leftist ideology. This accusation is unfounded. Sure, in martial arts tales, only bad guys can practice “evil kungfu,” but in real life, all businessmen operate in a grey area between “good” and “bad.” Often, an immoral businessman is a saint on his days off. Bill Gates is a perfect example. In business, this gentleman is cold as a fish, called a greedy bastard by competitors and unsatisfied customers alike. He’s also the biggest philanthropist in the world. On the same note, a “Maoist” manager could easily be a tireless defender of individual freedom in the political arena.

This is actually where the limit of Maoist management lies, on the line between business and politics. Maoist management promotes groupthink and communal devotion, making it exceptionally effective at achieving a singular clear-cut objective. This proves useful for military matters (goal = victory) and company matters (goal = wealth). Ruling a country, on the other hand, requires juggling a huge host of different goals and conflicting interests, something more suited for a democratic approach and divided government. If we can see Maoist management as an effective and innovative way to run a business, we should also be prepared to accept that it is a political anachronism, and toss it out accordingly.

Source: Vista magazine, 174th issue, May28-June7, 2011, page 65

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Keywords: Maoist corporate management Maoist business culture Maoist corporate culture Maoist ideas in business mao vs. ford style management