2. Literature Review
In one of his books, Peter Drunker, considered by many as the father of modern management, said: “Management is about human beings. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant. This is what organization is about, and it is the reason that management is the critical, determining factor.” (Drucker, 1990: 221)
In enterprises, people are offering their working hours, creativity and commitment to achieve certain goals, to produce certain goods and services. In that case, we can see people as human resources, who are the group of inpiduals and make up the workforce of an organization. Human resource is the most precious resource of enterprises because it has the potential for powerful creativity and can bring constant competitive advantage to enterprises.
The role of human resource management (HRM) is to hire, train and develop staff and to discipline or dismiss them when necessary. Through effective training and development, employees at enterprises achieve promotion and reach their full potential.
HRM system can be the source of organizational capabilities that allow enterprises to learn and capitalize on new opportunities. It ensures that the organization obtains and retains the skilled, committed and well-motivated workforce it needs and that equal opportunities are available to all and that an ethical approach to managing employees is adopted based on concern for people, fairness and transparency. It creates a climate in which productive and harmonious relationships can be maintained through partnerships between management and employees and where teamwork can flourish.
From the researches of the ancient, we know that Confucian thoughts put too much emphasis on the whole community, ignoring the inpidual requirements as a reasonable desire, thus causing social development to lack motivation and to long hover in the feudal agrarian economy of low quality and low levels of livelihood development, and eventually leading to the backward development in the modern times. When developing our traditional culture we must be vigilant, can not make the same mistake. Western humanism overemphasizes human conquest of nature, resulting in today’s environmental crisis, energy depletion, a direct impact on sustainable human development. Too much emphasis on various human desires and requirements, resulting in a variety of evil human natures, and causing social confusion, moral decline, brings to anxiety and fear. These phenomena are the adverse consequences of western humanism, which must be judged and evaluated scientifically.源`自,751`.论"文'网[www.751com.cn
3. Introduction to Confucianism and Western Humanism
3.1 Introduction of Confucianism
Developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher and educator Confucius (551-479 BC), Confucianism has been established as an undeniable, unofficial, but powerful system of moral, political and social principles governing nearly every aspect of Chinese life since the Han era (206 BC-AD 220). It is developed by Mengzi, Xunzi and other Chinese philosophers. The core of Confucianism is humanism, which rests on the belief that human beings are teachable, improvable and perfectible through personal and communal endeavor especially self-cultivation and self-creation. Some of the basic Confucian ethical concepts and practices are represented by five virtues: ren (humanity, benevolence),yi (righteousness), li (propriety), zhi (wisdom) and xin (trustworthiness).
Ren (humanity, benevolence) is an act of kindness with the inclination or tendency to help or do well to others. Yi (righteousness) is acting in an upright, moral way; Li (propriety) is the conformity to established standards of good or proper behavior or manners and appropriateness to the purpose or circumstances. Zhi (wisdom) means the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight. Xin (trustworthiness) means the deserving of trust or confidence, and reliability. Among them, ren is the source of all virtues. It nurtures the inner character of the person and furthers his or her ethical maturation. Thus, if one side of Confucianism is the conformity and acceptance of social roles, the other side is the cultivation of conscience and character through education and reflection on one’s actions, as well as a lifetime commitment to character building (Berling, 1982: 5-7).