Macho business muscle gives itself a feminine makeover
What a turnabout. When the ruthless “Neutron” Jack Welch was running General Electric, the company was better known among environmentalists for its history of polluting New York's Hudson River with polychlorinated biphenyls than for any tendency towards touchy-feely tree-hugging. But in an astonishing move last week, Jeffrey Immelt, Mr Welch's successor, announced that GE was going green, pledging to double the company's investment in energy- efficient and environmental technology, introduce greener products and cut its greenhouse gas emissions as part of a new, planet-friendly “Ecoimagination” initiative.
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All I can say is: how damned soppy. Whatever happened to the good old days when men were men, chief executives were bastards and it was the proper role of companies to maximise profits by exploiting, plundering and ravaging to the full extent of the law?
Among large US companies, even Exxon Mobil, widely regarded as a pariah by environmentalists for its opposition to the Kyoto protocol on climate change and its reluctance to embrace renewable energy sources, has published a good citizenship report and places the running of “safe and environmentally responsible operations” above all other objectives.
These days, most big companies in the west want to be loved - and not just for their green credentials. The whole vocabulary of business has changed. Bosses who were once gruff, tough, macho, dominant and bold are now expected to be open, approachable, caring, persuasive and kind. Command-and-control systems of management, with their rigid hierarchies and strict rules, have given way to flexibility, collaboration and teamwork. We hear a lot less about risk, conflict and conquest and a lot more about ethics, values and responsibility.
In short, business has become feminised. I mean this not in the sense that women have seized the reins of power - they are still lamentably under-represented in the upper tiers of management - but in the sense that stereotypically female values are in the ascendant and stereotypically male ones are in decline. These days bad companies are from Mars, good companies are from Venus.
The reason is that in the rich countries of the west, times have changed since the days when a company's main function was to manufacture products. In the post-industrial society, making things is out of fashion. The service sector has overtaken manufacturing, and even companies that still supply tangible goods tend not to bother with the manufacturing process any more, preferring to outsource it to countries where costs are lower.
As a result, brands have replaced factories as companies' most important assets. A high-quality product is just the price of entry to a market. Beyond that, what companies are really selling is the thing they can use to differentiate their products from those of their competitors: the set of emotions, ideas and beliefs that their brands convey.
With this in mind, it is easy to see why business is becoming feminised. Companies no longer sell products to the public simply on the basis of rational attributes such as functionality and utility. Emotion is now just as important - perhaps even more so. The most successful brands and companies are those that establish a relationship with consumers based on communicating with them, understanding their needs and empathising with them. Social responsibility is an essential ingredient of this relationship: companies can hardly claim to be listening and caring if they are simultaneously ill-treating people and looting the planet.
Interestingly, the effects of feminisation have been just as visible within corporations as in their relations with the outside world. It is always possible to think of exceptions but in general, the days of confrontational management, us-and-them attitudes and labour strife are over.
Why? Because, as well as their brands, the other big differentiator that companies possess is their people - first, to the extent that their enthusiasm and creativity can be turned to the company's advantage and second, to the extent that they enhance the image of their company and its brands when dealing with customers. The latter - too rarely achieved with much distinction - is particularly important in the case of service companies, where employees more or less are the brand.
In the old days, the Martian method of management was to coerce employees into working through a combination of supervision, direction and fear of punishment. But most companies realised long ago that they would get a lot more out of their employees if they could convince them that bosses and workers were on the same side. Now, bosses and workers are just one big team working towards a common goal, conflict and confrontation have been replaced by co-operation and communication and the workplace has become suffused with Venusian harmony and bliss. (Well, mine has, anyway.)
Who said profit was ugly? I always knew capitalism would turn out all right in the end. Heavens, if it gets much nicer, we will not need advertisements to make us buy stuff or wages to make us work. We will do it for love.
现代企业的“女人气”
这是一场彻底的大转型。在铁面“中子弹”杰克?韦尔奇(Jack Welch)执掌通用电气(General Electric)时，通用电气在环保主义者中的印象，更多的是其长期带给纽约市哈德逊河(Hudson River)多氯化联(二)苯污染，而非任何环保温情。
但韦尔奇先生的继任者杰弗里?伊梅尔特(Jeffrey Immelt) 上周做出一个令人惊讶的举动，他宣布通用电气正在进行绿色革命，并承诺公司在高效能源和环保技术方面的投入将增加一倍，引入绿色产品，降低温室气体排放，这是通用电气“Ecoimagination”尊重地球环境新举措的部分内容。
我只能说：这太娘娘腔了。男人是男人、首席执行官是畜生、企业在法律允许的范围内，通过盘剥和盗用，实现利润最大化，这样美好的旧时代到哪儿去了？
美国的大公司，甚至包括埃克森美孚(Exxon Mobil)这样的公司，都被广大环保主义者视为品格低劣，因为它们反对有关气候变化的《京都议定书》，也不愿采用可再生能源。然而，就连埃克森美孚也公布了一份很好的公民义务报告，把“安全和对环境负责的经营”作为压倒一切的首要目标。
现在西方的多数大公司都希望争取民意，而不仅仅是要在环保方面赢得认可。整个商业领域的词汇都发生了变革。以前的老板粗暴、苛刻、咄咄逼人、盛气凌人、恣意妄为；而现在，人们则期望老板们坦诚、具亲和力、关爱、以理服人，并且态度和善。等级森严、规定严格的指挥和控制型管理机制，已经被灵活、合作和协调工作所取代。我们听闻的风险、冲突和强迫少了很多，而道德、价值观和责任这样的字眼大行其道。
总而言之，企业已经呈现女性化特征。我的意思不是说女性已经夺取了支配权，女性在高级管理层中的代表性仍不够大，这令人感到缺憾。我的意思是，传统的女性价值观地位正在上升，而传统的男性价值观地位在下降。在现代公司中，经营不善的公司“来自火星”，经营良好的公司则“来自金星” (编者注：此话出自欧美畅销书《男人来自火星，女人来自金星》) 。
原因在于，在西方富裕国家中，公司将产品制造作为主要职能的时代已经过去。在后工业化社会中，产品制造已经过时。服务业超越了制造业，即便是仍然提供有形产品的公司，通常也不再涉足制造流程，而是倾向于将制造流程外包给成本更低的国家。
结果是，品牌替代工厂，成为公司最重要的资产。高质量产品只是进入市场的基本资格。除此以外，公司真正销售的，是品牌所传递的感情、理念和信仰，企业用这些特质实现与竞争对手的差异化。
认识到这一点，就很容易理解为何企业正在呈现出女性化特质了。企业在向公众销售产品时，不再仅仅以功能和效用等理性属性为基础。如今，感情具有同样的重要性，甚至可能更为重要。与消费者沟通，了解消费者的需求，能与消费者将心比心进行换位思考，并以此为基础建立与消费者之间的关系，这样的品牌和企业才是最成功的。社会责任也是这种关系的一个核心组成要素：企业如果无法善待人员，同时又掠夺地球资源，就没有资格声称自己能够听取意见，具有关爱精神。
有趣的一点是，公司在与外界联系方面呈现的女性化倾向，在公司内部同样明显。尽管我们总能找出特例，但一般而言，冲突型管理方式、劳资敌对心态以及劳工争斗等现象已经不复存在。
原因何在？除了公司品牌，企业所具备的另外一个重要的差异化要素，就是其员工。首先，员工的热情和创造力可以转化为公司的优势；其次，员工在与顾客打交道时，可以提升公司和品牌形象；最后(也是难以做好的一点)，就是员工多多少少就是品牌，这对于服务型企业尤为重要。
以往男性风格的管理方法，是通过综合运用监督、命令和惩戒的方式，强制员工进行工作。但很久以前，很多公司就已经意识到，如果公司能够使员工相信老板和员工属于同一阵营，就可从员工身上获得更多的东西。在现代企业中，老板和员工就是为共同目标奋斗的一个大团队，冲突和对抗已经被合作和沟通所取代，公司上下充溢着女性的和谐和温馨(至少，我的公司是这样)。
是谁说过利润是丑恶的？我一向认为资本主义最终会解决一切问题。天，再这样温馨下去，我们将不再需要广告劝说我们买东西，也不需要工资激励我们工作，我们会出于爱就做这些事。
