Chapter 33 4. Selected Quotations of Webster's Management Science

The biggest problem in management is "uncontrollable variables". Uncontrollable variables refer to the unpredictable managed persons, unpredictable processes and unpredictable results faced by managers. No enterprise develops due to the self-promotion of uncontrollable variables, but almost every failed project or failed enterprise is due to the emergence of uncontrollable variables that lead to the collapse of the system. When an employee is regarded as "uncontrollable", it is difficult for this employee to gain the trust of the supervisor, because the supervisor cannot predict the effect of his work, and if there is a mistake, the supervisor must bear the corresponding responsibility.

When a supervisor is regarded as "uncontrollable", it is difficult for the supervisor to be reused. Executives who rashly entrust important tasks to uncontrollable supervisors will take great risks. When an "uncontrollable" phenomenon occurs in an executive, great turmoil will be caused within the organizational system. No one knows what the purpose of a job is, and no one knows how the next job will be arranged. Such behaviors will lead to the loss of goals, bumping around like headless chickens, not only will the great opportunities for development be lost, what is even more frightening is that this kind of irrational force will trigger the outbreak of deep-seated contradictions in the enterprise, and eventually lead to the collapse of the system.

Therefore, for the asset owner, its management must be controllable. The owner needs to know what the management is doing, to what extent, and what effect it will achieve. If the asset owner loses this basic condition, This means the loss of the owner's rights and assets. As far as the management is concerned, its management must be controllable, otherwise, it will be difficult to effectively implement the market strategy of the operator, and it will deviate from the direction of operation, resulting in the inability to achieve business goals. For the management, the employees of its subordinates must be controllable. The job of the manager is to coordinate the specific behaviors of the subordinates so that they can be carried out in an orderly and progressive manner. Once a certain link is out of control, it means systematic The work will be ineffective, and the integration of management functions will be out of the question.

Therefore, as a social organization system, an enterprise is a control system in which asset owners exercise control over operators, operators exercise control over managers, and managers implement work for their subordinate employees. Control is everywhere. The reason why control exists is because of the natural unstable factors of the management object "people". People are the most active factor in the management system, but also the most unstable factor. Affected by their habits, styles, cultural background, traditional customs and thinking concepts, people show an extraordinary active state in the management system, breaking inertia and breaking control, so as to reflect people's creative consciousness and development initiative, which is human nature .

The positive effect of this nature is to promote the development of the enterprise, but the negative effect cannot be overestimated. The implementation of control is to suppress the negative effects of human nature to the greatest extent. Inhibition or control, its own biggest problem is precisely "uncontrollable".Therefore, requiring the controlled to accept or obey control has always been an impossible task. The only way to solve this management problem is still to turn to the "uncontrollable factors" of human nature. So, when the controller is confronted with a behavior or project that has the potential to harm its interests but cannot be controlled or stopped, internal attacks within the organizational system occur.

There will always be a place in the enterprise for natural attackers who will never be able to finish a single project, but who are talented enough to kill the projects they are involved in.When a project that is potentially harmful to the organizational system is launched, this control device will be activated immediately to let the suspicious project die in its womb and prevent its consequences from endangering the healthy operation of the enterprise. This is what they are function. To be clear, when the manager is not sure about the harmful effect of a certain project on the enterprise and cannot stop the implementation of the project, some mischievous employees who have nothing to do will be hired and asked to participate in the project. Until these suspicious projects are completely killed to ensure the normal operation of the enterprise.

This is the invisible safety control valve that exists in almost all enterprises, but this control system has never surfaced, and has always been hidden in the dark and quietly operating in a hidden way.