The essence of management is standardization, process orientation, and formatting.

In the book "Formed by Thought," the author vividly writes: "What is management? Like a square, like an arc, combined together like ancient Chinese currency, a copper coin with a square hole in the center and a round outer shape."

Now, upon careful reflection, it seems appropriate to name management as: "Unity of square and circle, the square lies within."

Peter Drucker said: "Management is principles." In other words, the essence of management is square, and the most fundamental elements are: standardization, process orientation, and formatting.

01. Management is about making "standards": grasping the scale and emphasizing norms.

A well-known international hotel CEO in the industry has always wanted to recruit promising Chinese restaurants under his brand. Once, he visited a locally famous restaurant and dined there for two consecutive days, ordering the same three dishes each time: stir-fried greens, braised old fish, and tomato pickled vegetable shredded pork soup.

He was very interested and met with the restaurant owner, expressing admiration: "I have stayed at your restaurant for two days, and what surprised me is that the same dish served three times at different times tastes and looks almost identical, which shows the kitchen's craftsmanship is very meticulous and the operational standards are well implemented..."

That CEO was very experienced and focused on standards; the owner was also very professional and was indeed implementing standards. Everything is done by standards, and everything has standards.

The father of Western scientific management, Taylor, started with research on standardization; Ford's first automated production line originated from standardization of various parts; the globally popular ISO quality system essentially unfolds from standards; the trendiest ERP is nothing but the integration of information and program standardization; the rapid rise of the PC industry in the global economy relies on standardization to activate the entire industrial chain.

One of the secrets behind the widespread success of international companies is their ability to generate and replicate internal standardization, reflected in detailed processes such as craft standardization, procedure standardization, operation standardization, and work terminology standardization, cleverly embedding human behavior and consciousness into standards to form their unique core genes. No wonder there is a saying "top enterprises make standards." Therefore, no matter how modern management evolves or how trendy the concepts become, the fundamental core remains to do standards well. This is precisely the weak point of domestic enterprises.

02. Management is about playing with "processes": clarifying ideas and emphasizing order.

If standards are a point, then processes are a chain. The ultimate wisdom of management lies in the integration technique of cutting horizontally and vertically, making processes short and effective. People often like to compare China's manufacturing industry with India's software industry; one gap is that China's software companies lag far behind Indian companies in process management. For example, in the internationally authoritative CMM Level 5 software assessment, there are only 10 domestic companies, while India has as many as 50.

In fact, an important feature of modern management is largely "playing" with processes. At the strategic level of a company: IBM selling its personal PC business essentially shortens the process, cutting off the redundant part of the value chain PC and focusing on the company's market advantages.

At the internal production chain level: how to make full use of the extremely abundant existing resources, consider turning one's backyard into someone else's front yard, handing over one's weaknesses to others to become strengths, focusing on the most effective parts, and getting closest to customers, like Dell.

At the micro level within the company: to adapt to the new demand for shorter delivery times in the foreign trade clothing industry, the company I work for is currently adjusting the existing order process, leveraging ERP information integration advantages, emphasizing doing things right the first time; first accurately capturing the customer's original order information, removing redundant procedures, and finally merging the original four documents—warehouse receipt, delivery note, shipping list, and pickup list—into one packing list; this simple and clear approach is an excellent way to improve efficiency.

03. Management is about making "grids": clear division of labor and individual responsibility.

When people realize that one person making one needle is far less efficient than dozens of people producing in batches with division of labor, they are amazed to discover the secret of why industrial economy replaced agricultural (handicraft) economy: socialized professional division of labor.

Efficiency comes from division of labor. One of the core tasks of an organization is to weave an organic grid-like entity, skillfully treating the free-willed "person" as a spirited "component" embedded within, becoming a compliant executor before standards; a faithful and strict connector before procedures, just like McDonald's employees who strictly follow craft temperatures and operation processes with almost no room for improvisation.

The concept of formatted management does not contradict humanized management; they are two aspects of the same issue. Because smart organizations follow several iron rules: giving people power gives the organization power; giving people space gives the organization space; giving people rules makes the organization efficient; giving people benefits gives the organization benefits. Therefore, placing a living person into a grid should scientifically set controllable space, including allowing people to feel their due rights, responsibilities, and benefits.

"Throughout the development of modern management theory, two goals have always coexisted: how to make management more scientific and how to make management more humanized. If one thinks the pursuit of the latter is brighter than the former, that is a big mistake," said management master Hamel.