MIM-Kyiv Starts Its “Talking Management Practices” Series

Acknowledgment of successes of MIM’s community (22 MIM people ranked among TOP 100 Ukraine’s executives and 3 – among top 5 in Global Management Game) generated a wide discussion on how to convert managerial competitiveness into national competitiveness. To respond to raised questions MIM-Kyiv starts its “Talking Management Practices” where MIM’s community opinion leaders will discuss the hottest issues related to managerial practices, impact of business to the society and complex relationship between business and society. Mr. Volodymyr Bantser, professor of organizational behavior and management psychology talks about Oriental, namely Chinese managerial practices underpinned by traditional philosophy.

Lao-tzu once mentioned that man’s understanding of divine laws and even human laws ended when he divided internal and external world. A man as a manifestation of the undividable universe is a creature combining yin and yang opposites that exist in harmony rather than contradiction. Moreover, they compliment and generate each other. Yin is related to the intuition, seeing the future, ability to create flexible structures and adapt to changes. On the other hand, yang is about creating changes and change reality according to its needs.

In the Western tradition the best minds looked for components rather than for the whole. And that approach influenced Western managerial practices for quite a long period. But in 20^th of XX century the Western world urgently needed something dramatically innovative in order to increase of labor effectiveness. Something like Japan demonstrated. That phenomenon generated business’s interest to Oriental philosophic approaches. And it somehow turned out that humanistic psychology pays back.

Blending Oriental synthesizing and Western analytical approaches creates the best managerial (and societal) practices. Holistic rather than atomistic approach to human resources provides for competitive company, industry and society. You may read complete version of Mr. Bantser interview (in Ukrainian) here.