Chapter 8 Don't be a "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom"

When a company is established, it is necessary to start arranging seats. When we founded the company, the position of the chairman was not particularly important, but the legal representative and general manager were more important. These two positions are the focus of everyone's attention.We set up a board of directors, and I was not the chairman at first, because at that time there had to be an investment supervisory unit, and a public figure was appointed as the chairman.I am the vice chairman, but I printed my business card as the executive chairman, emphasizing that I am working, and I have positioned myself.At that time, everyone agreed that it was more appropriate for Gong Quan to be the legal representative and general manager, and there was no dispute.There is an executive chairman, a general manager, and the remaining three vice presidents. After the arrangement, everyone's psychology changed a little bit.When Pan Shiyi first came here in early 1992, he was the assistant to the general manager and the manager of the financial department, and later became the vice president. 6 people got together.

Although they are all vice presidents, there is no way to define power in detail, so a situation of "big pot of power" and "big pot of emotion" has formed, and all matters must be discussed and decided by six people present.At this time, the situation becomes more subtle. Who has the final say?Business cards and positions are different, but the psychology is equal.Later, Gongquan said that he was the legal representative, and he had to decide to take responsibility, but if everyone was unhappy, he might not be responsible in the future, so most of the time he would compromise.

I was the executive chairman, and there was no "Company Law" for reference at that time, so I didn't know what I should do, but I decided to lead by example, to go up when encountering bad things, and to find money quickly if I had no money, so I didn't have to raise my whip. We use ourselves as cadres.Because of the small number of people, there were only two or three people after the business cards were printed, one was Gong Quan's wife, and the other was Wang Qifu's brother.At the beginning of the business, no salary was paid for 4 months, and everyone ate together for meals. Under such circumstances, they could only treat their own people as cadres.During this period of time, the basis of organization is enthusiasm, and everyone works together with the highest energy.For example, when borrowing the first sum of money, the investor wants to see the project, which is the 8 villas we built.We usually don't have serious clothes, so we looked at how much money everyone had in their pockets and bought shirts and ties now.At that time, Goldlion ties were relatively high-end, so we reluctantly bought ties and gave them to investors.Finally, I rode my bicycle to the Asian Games Village to sign an agreement with them. At the end of 1991, we got the company's first large loan - 5 million. When Gongquan went to Dongguan to get it back, we were so excited that we almost jumped up.

What I want to emphasize is that the ranking in the stage of organizational evolution has no practical significance, but a psychological concept. Earning the first pot of money depends entirely on collective decision-making and collective responsibility. The role in the organization is a natural division of labor, but the more important later. After earning the first sum of money in the first half of 1992, we paid all the wages owed to everyone, invited family members out, and began to absorb new people. Once new people appeared, there was a real superior-subordinate relationship.At this time, a problem arose. No one at the top could restrain anyone, making it very difficult for the people at the bottom.Due to the ambiguous arrangement of seats above, the evolution was not enough, and finally the company formed factions.This faction form is very similar to the factions in the traditional arena, and the organizational efficiency is extremely low. The upper level controls some points through the lower level, and the lower level seeks their own local interests through the upper level.Therefore, there has always been such a situation among partners: equity becomes the second, and control becomes the first.For projects in the Northeast, Gongquan has the greatest influence; for projects in the Northwest, my words are more important.

Thus, the organization is divided.Because the status of the ranking is different from the fact, but different rankings have the same power, so the power system has no legal basis in fact, and it is divided into different systems during operation.The basis of the legitimacy of capital formation power is that you really pay for it. If you don’t pay for it, you don’t have the right to be the chairman.But our initial shareholder level was virtual, mainly funded by human capital, which made the basis of power legitimacy an empty shell.Gaining authority in this kind of organization is exactly like any peasant uprising in Chinese history. Only by having the courage to sacrifice, foresight, and self-denial can one become an actual authority.No matter how many partners there are at the beginning, there will be such a person in the end, and this person will rely on time, sacrifice, and continuous doing the right thing to lead everyone from one victory to another, and finally lay the foundation for power legitimacy.As a result, this authority will sooner or later become a god.

This kind of organizational differentiation in the early days of Chinese private enterprises is the process of establishing an extremely traditional Jianghu organization without any innovation. Look at Liangshan heroes row seat.There are three criteria for seating in non-contractual organizations.First, the natural standard, the older ones sit on the table, and the elders are respected.If one of the partners is in his forties and the rest are in their twenties, generally speaking he can be the boss.Second, past experience will make everyone rely on and respect someone in the organization.For example, before starting a business, one person was the chief of the bureau, and the rest were directors of the division. Generally, the chief of the bureau is the boss.This point can be clearly seen in the book: Lin Chong did not go up the mountain without Zhu Guizao, but his ranking was very high, because Lin Chong had a high starting point and was an official in the court.Therefore, experience inside the system still plays a role outside the system, determining the order of seating.Third, the divine right of kings.This has to do with conspiracy.

In the story, the heavenly king Chao Gai was shot by Shi Wengong. Before he died, he said that whoever caught Shi Wengong would be the master of Liangshan Po.Lu Junyi caught Shi Wengong, and according to the will, he must be the first.As a result, Song Jiang pretended to live up to Chao Gai's last words and wanted to cede the throne to Lu Junyi, Wu used it to show others, and everyone expressed dissatisfaction.Later, Song Jiang played "God's Will", and after praying to the sky with Lu Junyi Fanxiang, they each cast a lot and led troops to attack Dongping Mansion and Dongchang Mansion respectively, and the one who broke the city first became the master of Liangshan.After returning from victory, Wu Yong arranged things like this again.While drinking the next day, someone reported that a big hole suddenly collapsed outside, and there were two stones. When I dug them out, it was clearly written, "Tiangangdisha, one hundred and eight generals", the first one is Song Gongming.This is God's arrangement, hurry up and worship him as your eldest brother.Wu Yong is really smart, and he changed the situation by burying two stones.

When there are few people, the first two rules of the game come into play, and when there are many people, the third rule is activated, taking the will of heaven as the basis for changing the rules.In the early stages of development, private enterprises operate at a low level of traditional Chinese culture, and their organizations are very immature.Later, when the stage got bigger and more resources were available, the matter of the seats in the back row became more sensitive. In 1993, we completed the reform of property rights. Hainan Agricultural High-tech Joint Development and Investment Corporation became Wantong Group Corporation, and a new board of directors was established. This time I was the chairman and legal representative. At that time, the total assets were more than 100 million yuan, and there were also liabilities.We set up an executive board of directors, one person, one vote when making decisions, and all major events must be unanimously passed, and each partner has a veto power, and in the end it was impossible to continue, and rewards and punishments assessments could not be carried out normally, resulting in low organizational efficiency, diversity of rights and wrongs, and Uneven bitterness and happiness, the capable people around are very annoyed.

The basis of the previous rules is emotion and ethics; to solve the problem of organizational evolution and become a new rule based on actual funding and creation of interests, it is bound to face a split.At this time, organizational fission is the most normal, but there are two possibilities for fission. The high-level approach is to reorganize according to procedures and laws; the other is fierce fighting and fission at a low level. Repeat the previous story, and break it again in a few years.Therefore, the organizational evolution of Chinese private enterprises cannot be completed because of such a low-level cycle.

For a while I studied the organizational structure of bandits.Why didn't the bandit organization grow up?Its organization is repeated at a low level.During the period of the Republic of China, there was a group of bandits in Henan, whose leader was Bai Lang.The Bailang Army was the largest modern peasant uprising army in China before the emergence of the Communist Party, with more than 40,000 people.Bai Lang was born in a bodyguard company, and the people around him were farmers. They began to struggle according to the instinctive organization of farmers. The eldest brother still had the courage to sacrifice and take responsibility, but the way of organizing and motivating him was very simple.There was a woman among the bandits, her husband died.At that time, I was not as particular about clothes as I am now, and my upper body was covered with a big coat.When attacking the top of the mountain, she shouted: "You charge up, whoever goes up first will sleep with whom my aunt will sleep with at night." closed.Their ideological and political work is as simple as that.Every time the government and army encircle and suppress, everyone splits up, and after the split, some people are pulled out to continue working.

The most complete and successful solution to the organizational structure is the Communists. The Communist Party has integrated the rules of the game for Chinese peasants with the organizational rules of the Communist Party. It has a new set of standards, which are ideological standards and party discipline and party constitution, and then it has gradually become stronger. Woke up.The Kuomintang also has a set of military organizations, with discipline and state machinery in operation, which can be regarded as an improvement to some extent. There are two forms of non-contractual organizations, one is family-style, and the other is quack-style.If it doesn't work according to the rules of the rivers and lakes, seek a way out within the family.The ability of the family to resist splitting is stronger, so there are two options for private enterprises. The life of the existence of the rivers and lakes is very short, and the life of the family is longer.When there is no new way of organizational evolution, the latter is actually a good choice. Because we have three opportunities (see the next section for details), know the business rules, and find a reasonable way to transform the organization and resolve differences.Businessman culture and business ethics are a huge improvement. Now Chinese entrepreneurs have a high probability of success and don't need to spend too much energy on organizational structure.This is really a huge progress. The organizational form of Chinese folk development is a great restraint on wealth creation.There was a particularly popular Daye City Credit Cooperative in Hainan back then, which was founded by some classmates of Wudaokou postgraduate students.After conflicts and personal interests conflicted, the result was sending each other to prison, and hiring each other to hunt down and kill each other, which is embarrassing. The organizational structure of Hengtong Company is the same as ours. They were the first to get the capital and the first to be listed on the NET system, and their scale is much larger than ours.At that time, Yang Bo was the eldest brother, and then there were also control problems. The three partners each controlled a share, and many things could not be controlled.Every private enterprise will encounter a "Zunyi meeting". If the business fails, the partners will question the authority of the leader and have to hold a meeting to change the leader.They held a meeting in Xinglong for two days and two nights, and in the end, Lao Yang was promoted to the second line, and Shaojie became a first-line partner.Shaojie did not sign an agreement to change his identity, and later Lao Yang came back, and Shaojie was forced to leave with a severance package that was not at the partner level.In traditional rivers and lakes organizations, leaders must go from one victory to another, and business failure is often the time when the organization collapses.Later, Hengtong's business failed, and no new rules were found, and the organization did not grow, and the company disappeared.