Author: Jin Manlou
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, there were two figures from jinshi who were born and even had meritorious titles and Hanlin Qinggui who abandoned the official field to invest in the commercial sea, coincidentally, they were all surnamed Zhang, which was Zhang Jian who founded the Dasheng Company and Zhang Yuanji of the Commercial Press.
Although the experiences are similar, the two are very different in their business methods and their successes and failures, such as in the employment of personnel, that is, there are obvious differences.
In factual terms, most of the old employees in the founding period of the Commercial Press are relatives, friends or hometowns and classmates, such as the founder Xia Ruifang and Bao Xian'en, Bao Xianchang brothers are Lang uncles, Bao Xianchang and Bao Qinglin, Bao Qingjia are father and son;
In addition, there are cases such as Bao Wende and Bao Wenxin, Xu Duzhai and Xu Shanzhai, Yu Houpei and Yu Houkun, Zhuang Yu and Zhuang Shi, Du Yaquan and Du Xiaotian, Du Qibao, etc. are all close relatives such as father and son or brother, and there are even cases where a family of five people work together in business.
After Zhang Yuanji presided over the Commercial Press, he has always advocated that it is appropriate for the children of the company's senior management not to enter the company under normal circumstances, so as to prevent people from being selfish, and there are two reasons for this:
First, the company has a heavy relationship with others, all have years in the company, and there are thin reserves. His sons and sons will not be as difficult as their fathers and brothers know. Those who do not know the difficulties will see things easily, and they will spend money;
Second, since the father and brother occupy an important position in the company, and their sons are in the company,There is no discord, and others will not speak because of the face of their father and brother, then the company has been damaged a lot invisibly. Even if it is known, and the master of the matter is hindered by the love of his father and brother, it is inconvenient to refute, so the employment of people is unfair, and the company is harmed.
To be fair, Zhang Yuanji's views were very pertinent, but the social concept at that time, "father and son successively, the son inherits the father's business" is a matter of course, and Zhang Yuanji's employment policy also encountered many challenges.
For example, Bao Xianchang, one of the founders of the Commercial Press at the time and then general manager of commerce and director of the printing house, deliberately arranged for his son Bao Qinglin to serve as the deputy director of the printing house.
Subsequently, Wang Lianxi, chief accountant of the Commercial Press, also found Zhang Yuanji, who said that Bao's son could enter the company, then my son would also come in, and the children of important employees should be given priority in the future and arrange a way out.
After Zhang Yuanji listened, he couldn't help but refute it on the spot: "Everyone has a son, if they all have to enter the company, what is it?!" ”
The next day, Zhang Yuanji wrote a long letter to Bao Xianchang, in which he lamented the stakes and said, "The death of the Manchu Qing dynasty will be due to the pro-nobles; the decline of the company will also be due to the pro-nobles." ”
In the end, Bao Xianchang was persuaded to give up his previous idea. Since then, the proposition that the children of the top business executives should not enter the company has become the norm.
Of course, the lawyer must first discipline himself, and the iron must be hard himself. In 1932, Zhang Yuanji's only son, Zhang Shunian, returned from studying in the United States and wanted to enter the Commercial Press. Zhang immediately expressed his position after listening: "You can't enter the business, my career is not passed down from generation to generation." ”
Afterwards, Zhang Yuanji explained: "You have three disadvantages in entering the business.
The first is not good for yourself. Because of my position in business, after you go in, there must be people and even a bunch of people who will praise you, which will make you lose the opportunity to exercise hard, float on it, get a high salary, won't you ruin your life?
Second, it's not good for me. Father and son work in the same place, in the company's internal administrative work, I will be constrained everywhere, especially in the personnel arrangement, it is difficult to preside over justice, and I am powerless to speak;
Third, it is not good for the company. This will create an extremely bad atmosphere, and there will inevitably be someone who will ask for help. Everyone has a son, everyone has to put a son in, what kind of business is this like? ”
Finally, Zhang Yuanji said: "I have always advocated that the children of senior employees should not enter the company. I should lead by example and match my words with my deeds. ”
Zhang Jian
Zhang Xiao, who also abandoned the official field and invested in industry, since 1899, he set up a series of enterprises such as the Tonghai Reclamation Animal Husbandry Company, the Guangsheng Oil Factory, and the Shisheng Iron Factory.
By 1921, the total capital of the various industries operated by Zhang Xiao was close to 40 million yuan, and its enterprise scale was much larger than that of the Commercial Press, but the good times were not long, and after only a few years, for various reasons, the enterprise kingdom constructed by Zhang Xiao was declared bankrupt.
Liu Housheng, the author of "Zhang Jian's Biography" and also from an industrial background, once made a comparative study of Zhang Yuanji and Zhang Xiao, and he believed:
Although there are many reasons for Zhang Xiao's failure, one of the important reasons is that Zhang Xiao implemented feudal family-style management of the enterprise, and relatives and children entered the company at will, so that the talent was poor and could not play its due role.
From this, Liu Housheng could not help but sigh: "Therefore, I associate Zhang Jusheng (Zhang Yuanji) with the Commercial Press, and Ye Yuchu with Zhejiang Xingye (Bank), whose situation is not as good as Nantong (referring to Zhang Xiao) and can ask for people for things. ”
This comment, at least in terms of employing people, is relatively objective and middle-of-the-road.