Strategic Virtues:: Humility as a Source of Competitive Advantage
Strategic Virtues:: Humility as a Source of Competitive Advantage
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DOI：
10.1016/j.orgdyn.2004.09.006
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发表时间：
2004-12
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
Dusya Vera;Antonio Rodriguez‐Lopez
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Dusya Vera;Antonio Rodriguez‐Lopez
对于许多企业领导者来说，将谦逊和竞争力放在同一句话中似乎是矛盾的。谦虚常常与害羞、缺乏雄心、被动或缺乏自信联系在一起。我们的观点恰恰相反——谦逊为组织成员提供了对自己、公司和环境的现实视角，从而为公司提供了战略价值。事实上，我们认为谦逊对于拥有谦逊的领导者和组织来说是一项关键优势，对于缺乏谦逊的人来说则是一个危险的弱点。 Odebrecht 组织的 Norberto Odebrecht（创始人兼现任名誉主席）体现了我们对谦逊的看法。Odebrecht 组织是一家成功的巴西公司，拥有 36,000 名员工，在四大洲的多个工程和建筑领域工作。在该组织高管的一次国际会议上，奥德布雷希特（时任董事长）解释说，该公司表现出色。不过，他的语气听起来非常担心。他担心，正是因为其出色的业绩，公司可能面临陷入“成功陷阱”的风险。也就是说，他们可能会忘记最初使公司取得成功的品质，尤其是谦逊的美德。同样，日本松下电器工业有限公司的创始人松下幸之助也因其决心消除公司中的自满和傲慢而引起了商业作家的兴趣。尽管奥德布雷希特和松下来自不同的文化背景，但这两位领导者都相信，在个人和组织层面培养谦逊态度对于在各自行业取得成功至关重要。其他因在企业中重视谦逊而受到认可的高层管理人员的例子包括沃尔玛百货公司的创始人萨姆·沃尔顿（Sam Walton）；玫琳凯·阿什 (Mary Kay Ash)，玫琳凯公司创始人； Herb Kelleher，西南航空公司总裁；达尔文·史密斯 (Darwin Smith)，金佰利公司前首席执行官 (CEO)； C. William Pollard，ServiceMaster Industries Inc. 前总裁兼首席执行官；以及宜家集团创始人英格瓦·坎普拉德（Ingvar Kamprad）。本文的目的有两个。首先，我们讨论谦逊如何在商业环境中表现出来并对公司绩效产生积极影响。其次，我们提出建议，帮助管理者培养谦逊的个人和组织美德。尽管人类美德自古以来就一直是哲学辩论的话题，但它们很少成为管理者关注的焦点。
Including humility and competitiveness in the same sentence may seem an oxymoron to many business leaders. Humility is frequently associated with shyness, lack of ambition, passivity, or lack of confidence. We argue quite the opposite—that humility offers strategic value for firms by furnishing organizational members with a realistic perspective of themselves, the firm, and the environment. In fact, we propose that humility is a critical strength for leaders and organizations possessing it, and a dangerous weakness for those lacking it. Our perspective on humility can be exemplified by Norberto Odebrecht (founder and now honorary chairman) of the Odebrecht Organization—a successful Brazilian corporation of 36,000 employees working on four continents in several areas of engineering and construction. In an international meeting of the organization’s executives, Odebrecht (then chairman) explained that the corporation was delivering outstanding performance. He sounded, however, very concerned. He worried that, precisely because of its excellent results, the company might be at the risk of falling into ‘‘the success trap.’’That is, they might be forgetting the qualities–particularly the virtue of humility–that allowed the firm to become successful in the first place. Similarly, Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. in Japan, has been of interest to business writers because of his determination to eradicate complacency and arrogance in his company. Although Odebrecht and Matsushita come from different cultural backgrounds, these two leaders share the belief that developing humility at both the individual and organizational level is critical to achieving success in their industries. Other examples of top-level executives recognized for valuing humility in their businesses are Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Stores; Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Inc.; Herb Kelleher, president of Southwest Airlines Co.; Darwin Smith, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Kimberly-Clark Corporation; C. William Pollard, former president and CEO of ServiceMaster Industries Inc.; and Ingvar Kamprad, founder of the IKEA Group.The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we address how humility manifests itself in business settings and positively affects firm performance. Second, we offer suggestions to help managers develop the individual and organizational virtue of humility. Although human virtues have been a topic of philosophical debate since early times, they have rarely been the focus of managerial attention.