Glamor Economics

Chapter 140

Chapter 18, Section 2 A Good System Is the Guarantee of Collective Interests—Rules of Distributing Porridge

There is a very old story:

There are 7 people living together, each of them is ordinary and equal, without any sinister intentions, but they can't help but have a self-interested psychology.They have to share a pot of porridge every day, but there are no weighing utensils and graduated containers.

Everyone used their ingenuity and tried various methods. The main methods are as follows:
Method [-]: Designate a person to be responsible for distributing the porridge.Soon everyone found that this person distributed the most porridge for himself, so another person was changed, but the person who presided over the porridge always had the most and the best porridge in his bowl.

Method 6: Everyone takes turns presiding over the porridge, one day per person.This is tantamount to acknowledging that individuals have the right to share more porridge for themselves, and at the same time giving everyone the opportunity to share more for themselves.Although it seems to be equal, each person has enough to eat and has surplus only one day a week, and is hungry for the other [-] days.

Method [-]: Everyone elects a trustworthy person to host the porridge.At first, a person with good moral character could still be fair, but soon he began to pay more points for himself and those who swear by.

Method [-]: Elect a sub-committee and a supervisory committee to form supervision and restriction.Fairness is basically achieved, but because the supervision committee often proposes various proposals, and the porridge division committee argues hard, the porridge will be cold by the time the porridge is divided.

Method 7: Everyone takes turns to share the porridge, but the person who distributes the porridge should be the last one to receive the porridge.Surprisingly, under this system, the porridge in the 7 bowls is the same every time, as if measured with a scientific instrument.Everyone in charge of distributing porridge knows that if the porridge in the [-] bowls is different, he will definitely only get the one with the least amount.

This "porridge distribution rule" highly embodies the role of the system: fairness and justice, mutual checks and balances.The so-called system is a variety of rules that restrict people's behavior. "Without rules, there is no circle." Institutions play an important role in maintaining economic order.

The same porridge and the same person will produce completely different results because of different porridge distribution systems.

It is said that in the ancient Roman army, soldiers were given a daily ration of one loaf of bread cut from a larger loaf to serve as a ration for the whole day.In the beginning, the task of cutting and distributing the bread was performed by an officer like the squad leader. Therefore, the officer often cut the largest piece and kept it for himself, and then distributed according to the size of the cut bread according to the closeness of the relationship.Due to unfair distribution, there are many internal conflicts and even internal strife in the army.Because in the ancient Roman army, "except women and gambling, there is nothing more suitable than food to make an army with nothing to do. A fierce battle."

In order to prevent fights over food, the Romans quickly found an excellent rule: when two soldiers got a piece of bread, one soldier divided it, and the other soldier came out first to choose his half.It can be imagined that under this rule, the soldiers who divide the bread can only pursue equal distribution to the maximum out of self-interest.

The system is to protect the common interests of the group, and only in this way can it be effectively implemented.Therefore, if an enterprise wants to prosper, it should reflect on the enterprise system.

The Southeast Textile Factory was started in December 1986, with a two-shift system of 12 hours per shift.It was the turn of the night shift, and some people dozed off at three or four o'clock in the middle of the night.In order to prevent problems before they happen, the company strictly stipulates that sleepy people should be recorded as a major demerit once and fired three times.

Although the regulations are very strict, sleepers are still allowed to sleep. Even employees who usually behave well were found to have dozed off three times in one night. The then general manager Wu Xiuqi was very troubled by this matter.

After in-depth research and investigation, Wu Xiuqi found that each shift works 12 hours, the day shift is tolerable, and the night shift is exhausting. At three or four o'clock in the night, although he knows that he will be severely punished for falling asleep, he always has more energy than energy. Doze off when sitting down.

In order to solve the problem of having to doze off due to lack of physical strength, Wu Xiuqi came up with a method that is beneficial to both labor and management:

1. With the existing staff, change from two shifts to three shifts.

2. The working time of each shift is changed from 12 hours to 8 hours, and the working time is shortened by 4 hours.

3. Although the working hours are shortened, the monthly income of employees remains the same.

Although the time is shortened, the income of the employees does not decrease due to the increase in wages per unit time. Therefore, the three-shift system is very popular among employees, and they work harder.

Due to the shortened working hours and strong working spirit, not only dozing off has almost disappeared, but also the work efficiency has been greatly improved, resulting in a significant increase in productivity. The total production volume has increased by 20% compared with before the three-shift system was adopted. Its benefit.

Wu Xiuqi said: "I have never studied scientific management, but from the incident of dozing off, I realized that the so-called scientific management is just reasonable management. Just like being a person, you must pursue rationality in order to get twice the result with half the effort. "

A good system is the guarantee of collective interests and an important driving force for improving enterprise efficiency.And scientific management is to establish and implement a good enterprise system so that the enterprise can develop more steadily and healthily.

[links to related words]

Institutions refer to the rules in interpersonal communication and the structures and mechanisms of social organizations.

Institutional economics is a branch of economics that regards institutions as the research object.It studies the impact of institutions on economic behavior and economic development, and how economic development affects the evolution of institutions.

(End of this chapter)