The Taos Of Public Administration Strategy: An Introduction

Network of Asia-Pacific Schools and Institutes of Public Administration and Governance (NAPSIPAG) Annual Conference 2005 BEIJING, PRC, 5-7 DECEMBER 2005 THEME: THE ROLE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN BUILDING A HARMONIOUS SOCIETY WORKSHOP ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION STRATEGIES THAT HELP OR HINDER SOCIETAL HARMONY The Taos Of Public Administration Strategy: An Introduction Prof Xuefeng LI Economics Department, China National School of Administration 1

Abstract This paper reviewed the twelve schools of strategic management theories, and pointed out that the schools themselves could not act as fully guidance to public administration strategy for societal harmony. The paper then discussed the three Taos in Chinese philosophy. They are the Tao of Yin-yang, the Tao of Zhong-yong, and the Tao of Wu-wei. The paper analyzed their implications to public administration in building societal harmony. Key Words: Taos in Chinese philosophy, Public Administration Strategy, Societal Harmony I. Introduction Nowadays, there are many strategic management theories, which were especially developed by business management researchers. In the 1990 s, some researchers tried to classify the theories of strategic management into different schools (Bowman, 1995; Martinet, 1996; and Lauriol, 1996). For example, Martinet has divided the field into four schools, i.e. Teleologic, and sociologic, ideologic and ecologic ones. The latest division were taken by H. Mintzburg et al. (1998), who identified 10 different schools. Here we find there are at least 12 schools that could be identified. The Design School takes strategic formation as a process of conception. Its main sources are Selznick(1957), and Andrews (1965). The Planning School takes strategic formation as a formal process. Its main source is Ansoff (1965). The Positioning School takes strategic formation as an analytical process. Its main source is Porter (1980, 1985). The Entrepreneurial School takes strategic formation as a visionary process. Its main sources are Schumpeter (1950) and Cole (1959). The Cognitive School takes strategic formation as a mental process. Its main sources are Simon (1947, 1957), and March and Simon (1958). The Learning School takes strategic formation as an emergent process. Its main sources are Lindblom (1959, 1968), Cyert and March (1963), Quinn (1980) and Prahalad and Hamel (1990). The Power School takes strategic formation as a process of negotiation. Its main sources are Allison (1971), Pfeiffer and Salancik (1978), and Astley (1984). The Cultural School takes strategic formation as a collective process. Its main sources are Rhenman (1973), and Normann (1977). The Environmental School takes strategic formation as a reactive process. Its main sources are Hannan and Freeman (1977). The Configuration School takes strategic formation as a process of adapting to its organisation. Its main sources are Chandler (1962), Miller and Mintzberg (1983). The Transformation School takes strategic formation as a transforming process. Its main sources are Pettigrew (1985,1987). The Resource-based School takes strategic formation as a process of resource and competence building. Its main sources are Prahalad and Hamel (1990) etc. These strategic management theories are helpful in planning and implementing pubic management strategies in a changing era. But most of them are developed in business context, and none of them focuses on the societal harmony. In this case, we need to develop better theories especially useful for public administration. The Chinese Taos are good methodologies in this aspect. II. Taos in Chinese Philosophy The Chinese culture is one of the oldest cultures in the world. In the land of China, the first kingdom of Xia was set up around 21BC. The first written historical files were found between 14-11BC. The period of 770-221BC is important. The country goes from 140 states at the beginning to the first united Empire of Qin for the first time in history. Sharp conflicts between states gave birth to many different thoughts. It is a time called a hundred schools of thoughts contends. All the important schools of thoughts, like 2

Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, Legalism etc rose at this time. This period really laid the foundation of the Chinese culture. With the above background, ancient Chinese scholars were trying to find the eternal laws that would lead to long-term win. They called these laws as Taos. Different schools of thoughts gave different answers to what is the Tao, and how to exert the Tao. Among them, there are three Taos got recognized widely. They are the Tao of Yin-yang, the Tao of Zhong-yong, and the Tao of Wu-wei. 1.The Tao of Yin-yang The concept of Yin-yang first appeared in I Ching or the Book of Change. According to Laotzu, The created universe carries the yin at its back and the yang in front; Through the union of the pervading principles it reaches harmony. (Tao-te Ching, chapter 42) the Tao of Yin-yang contain the following meanings: Firstly, Yin and Yang stand for two different features of the world. Yin originally meant "shady, secret, dark, mysterious, cold." It thus could mean the shaded, north side of a mountain or the shaded, south bank of a river. Yang in turn meant "clear, bright, the sun, heat," the opposite of yin and so the lit, south side of a mountain or the lit, north bank of a river. From these basic opposites, a complete system of opposites was elaborated. Yin represents everything about the world that is dark, hidden, passive, receptive, yielding, cool, soft, and feminine. Yang represents everything about the world that is illuminated, evident, active, aggressive, controlling, hot, hard, and masculine. Everything in the world can be identified with either yin or yang. Earth is the ultimate yin object. Heaven is the ultimate yang object. Secondly, the yin and yang represent all the opposite principles one finds in the universe. Each of these opposites produce the other: Heaven creates the ideas of things under yang, the earth produces their material forms under yin, and vice versa; creation occurs under the principle of yang, the completion of the created thing occurs under yin, and vice versa, and so on. This production of yin from yang and yang from yin occurs cyclically and constantly, so that no one principle continually dominates the other or determines the other. All opposites that one experiences health and sickness, wealth and poverty, power and submission can be explained in reference to the temporary dominance of one principle over the other. Since no one principle dominates eternally, that means that all conditions are subject to change into their opposites. Thirdly, Yin and Yang are in one entity. The two sides in one is not simply head and tail of one coin. It is even more than I am inside you while you are inside me type of co-existence. Yin is originated from Yang and Yang is originated from Yin. They encircled and embrace each other. The constant moving balance is the ideal image of harmony. 2. The Tao of Zhong-yong If the Tao of yin-yang explain the movement of the whole world, the Tao of Zhong-yong then governs the success of a gentleman. The first meaning of Zhong-yong is impartial. Confucian view of desire means harmony between ritual and desire, avoiding the deficiency of indulgence and mortification, which incarnates Zhong-yong-- the Tao of Golden Mean he advocated, which Zhu Xi, a renowned philosopher in the Ming Dynasty, explained in The Variorum Analects, Zhong means impartial, neither exceed nor fall short; Yong means mediocrity. Confucius thought of the Golden Mean as the indispensable character of Gentlemen, saying in The Doctrine of the Mean, The Gentlemen embody the course of the Golden Mean, the common act contrary to it. The Gentlemen embody the course of the Golden Mean, because they are superior men, and always maintain the Mean. The common act contrary to it because they are inferior men, and have no caution. Confucius applauded, How transcendent the moral power of the Golden Mean is! (The Analects, Yong Ye) This means the Golden Mean is the highest and perfect merit. To exceed is as bad as to fall short (The Analects, Xian Jing), said Confucius, because they are not virtuous and both deviate from the appropriate way. 3

The second meaning of Zhong-yong is to be morally modest. Confucius believed, Pleasure not carried to the point of debauchery, grief not carried to the point of self injury (The Analects, Ba Yi).Thus it can be seen that, as the excellent feature of Gentlemen, the Mean is not only an impartial methodology, but also a moderate philosophy. Confucius assumed that He who keeps himself within the bounds of the rules of ritual seldom errs. (The Analects, Li Ren) This proves rational restriction can guarantee the realization of Goodness. The third meaning of Zhong-yong is keep progress with time. Confucius said, the Zhong-yong of a gentleman is to follow the time.(zhong-yong) So the Tao of Zhong-yong is not the opposite force to progress or innovation. It approves progress in its nature actually. 3.The Tao of Wu Wei Similar to the Tao of yin-yang, the Tao of Wu-wei is the result of learning from the nature. And similar to the Tao of Zhong-yong, the Tao of Wu-wei is the result of learning from successful gentlemen, too. The most famous explanation to Wu-wei is Laotzu s idea about the highest people. He said, Of the highest the people merely know that such a one exists; The next they draw near to and praise; The next they shrink from, intimidated; The next they revile. (Tao-de Ching, chapter 17) Wu-wei means that mankind must follow the nature or the law of the world. Wu-wei refers to behavior that arises from a sense of oneself as connected to others and to one's environment. It is not motivated by a sense of separateness. It is action that is spontaneous and effortless. At the same time it is not to be considered inertia, laziness, or mere passivity. Rather, it is the experience of going with the grain or swimming with the current. Our contemporary expression, "going with the flow," is a direct expression of this fundamental Taoist principle, which in its most basic form refers to behavior occurring in response to the flow of the Tao. III. The Application of the Taos Today, in order to help societal harmony, public administration must try to learn every good idea from both east and west, ancient and modern. From the above discussion, we could see that the Taos could be useful methodology for public administration to grasp the situation as a whole. The Taos discussed above could give us several useful implications. 1. The Tao of Yin-yang Tao of Yin-yang give us a sense of balancing. According to the Tao of Yin-yang, public administration should try to balance the following strategies. Firstly, government governance should balance the governance of benevolence and the governance of law or rules. The governance of benevolence or goodness includes all policies that could show love and care to the mass. The governance of law means to set up a law system and follow it. For a developing country like China, governments tend to emphasis the governance of law, in order to build a modern society. The lack of benevolence from government cause the lost of good tradition of harmony. Secondly, in the social reform area, the government should balance the reform and social stability. The market-oriented reforms in social area usually mean the reassignment of benefits. Sharp reform may cause social instability. Although a good reform may bring long tem stability, the short-term social stability should not be ignored. China has basically done well in the past 20 years. But some new policies in recent years, such as give-your-money-and-go policy in many state-own enterprises have proved to be a foolish policy. Thirdly, the government should balance equity and efficiency. The Chinese government has raised the "five balances" (balancing urban and rural development, balancing development among regions, balancing economic and social development, balancing development of man and nature, and balancing 4

domestic development and opening wider to the outside world). They are really the summary of years of experience and lessons. 2. The Tao of Zhong-yong The Tao of Zhong-yong makes us consider that public administration should do the right thing with a right manner at the right time. In this aspect, several policies should be discussed. Firstly, the governance should not be too tough in certain area. In the past years in China, GDP was merely the only important index for local government. This has cause severe problems. The lag of social development is the result of this policy. Secondly, public policy should be accordant with the country s context. East and west have different tradition. Modernization could not be seen as westernization, or even Americanization. People usually know this in knowledge, but forget it in mind. In China, the reform of state-own enterprise s corporategovernance has been more or less lost its way. The key problem is they try to imitate American way. Thirdly, public policies should keep dynamic with the time. Different time needs different policy. Try to make improvement of policies in the past 20 years is a key experience for the success of China s reform. 3. The Tao of Wu-wei The Tao of Wu-wei requires public administration focus on real efficiency. Doing more does not necessarily means high efficiency. Firstly, the government should try to do less in area which the market could do better. Although socialist market economy has been spoken for many years in China, many government officials are still prefer to control the economic development by means of order or direct regulation. The inefficiency of the price control of real estate this year is one such typical example. Secondly, public administration should respects sciences and laws of governance. Nowadays, more and more people believe that good governance should relay on innovation. In this case, some officials try to invent some thing new in public policy and public service area. But the result may turn to be only the name of the reform is new. There is no real result or only bad results. Thirdly, government officials should take themselves as moral examples to the public. If they are honest in performing their official duties, and have integrity and be public-spirited, the behavior themselves could be the best way to promote societal harmony. IV.Conclusions Though the analysis of this paper, we could conclude that: -The western strategic management theories could not fully satisfy the public administration strategy. -The Taos in Chinese philosophy contain lots of valuable ideas. -The Taos could be valuable methodology for public administration strategies to build societal harmony. References Confucius: The Analects. Laotzu: Tao-de Ching. Zhi-si: Zhong-yong. Cummings and Wilson, Images of Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, 2003. Feng Youlan: A Concious History Chinese Philosophy, Peking University Press, 1988. Zhang Dainian: The Outline of Chinese Philosophy, China Social Science Press, 1982. Li Xuefeng: Chinese Management, Renmin University of China Press, 2005. 5

Li Xuefeng: Striving for the Customer-oriented Government: Two Public Service Reform Cases and their Implies to Government Reengineering, IIAS Second Specialized International Conference, New Delhi, 2002. Li Xuefeng: Taichi Model: An Introduction to a Comprehensive Strategic Management Model, the Twentyfifth International Congress of Administrative Sciences, Athens, Greece, 9-13 July 2001. Li Xuefeng: Taichi Wisdom, China International Broadcasting Press, 2001. Mintzburg H., Ahlstrand, B. and Lampel, J., Strategy Safari, London: Prentice Hall, 1995. About the Author Dr Xuefeng Li, professor at Economics Department, China National School of Administration, Beijing, PRC. He gained his first degree in Library and Information Science, Master s degree in Philosophy of Science and Technology. In 1998, he gained his PhD in Industrial Economics in the People s University of China. In 1999-2000, he was a visiting scholar in Cambridge University Institute for Manufacturing, sponsored the British Council Chevening Scholarship. 6