Wang Dao Management as Wise Management

Abstract

The spectacular rise of China as a world economic power has prompted management scholars to probe the management aspect of China’s business. One major question asked is whether there is a uniquely Chinese management approach and practice that has emerged in the process (Leung, 2012; Chen and Miller, 2010). This chapter primarily responds to this question by critically examining one traditional Chinese concept that may have relevance to today’s management. The chapter reconstructs a concept of Wang Dao (王道, Kingly Way of Governance, or Kingly Way), originally proposed in the Confucian classics, and articulates its modern meanings in the context of business. The idea of Wang Dao (or Wangdao) was first advocated by Mencius as the supreme moral principle of political governance. The idea of Wang Dao stood as a minority view of governance amid a dominant ethos of governance during the Warring States period (476–221 bce) in China. The dominant way of governance in that period was by force and conquest, which resembles the way a hegemon would rule a country. This way of governance was fittingly named Ba Dao (霸道, the Hegemonly Way) at that time. Wang Dao, in contrast, is governance by benevolence and moral rightness or appropriateness. Its corporate version is articulated as Wang Dao management.