409659
MLQXXX10.1177/1350507611409659Xing and SimsManagement Learning
Article
Leadership, Daoist Wu Wei
and reflexivity: Flow,
self-protection and excuse
in Chinese bank managers’
leadership practice
Management Learning
43(1) 97­–112
© The Author(s) 2011
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DOI: 10.1177/1350507611409659
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Yijun Xing
Beijing Jiaotong University, China
David Sims
City University London, UK
Abstract
Previous studies of Chinese leadership have identified Daoism as the main philosophical tradition that
makes Chinese leadership behaviour different from western leadership behaviour in terms of its modesty,
harmony and submissiveness to authority. However, less attention has been paid to Chinese managers’ own
perceptions and representations of traditional thinking in Daoist Wu Wei. In this article, we offer a new,
more nuanced understanding of Daoist Wu Wei. We critically explored the link between Wu Wei and selfreflexivity. As a result, this study offers a new understanding of the influence of Daoism on leadership by
showing that our participants exhibited three different forms of reflexivity in their ways of believing in Wu
Wei, namely: flow, self-protection and an excuse for failing.
Keywords
leadership, narrative, reflexivity
Introduction
A considerable body of leadership studies has grown up in the West within the last hundred years,
and leadership as practised in other cultures tends to start from this body as the norm. Our study
goes beyond the assumptions that are built into such approaches by listening to how Chinese bank
managers account for their leadership actions. Rather than take the western tradition as the norm,
the benchmark for leadership in China, we wished to explore whether there were factors in Chinese
Corresponding author:
Yijun Xing, Economics and Management School, Beijing Jiaotong University, Haidian District, Beijing, China 100044
Email: [email protected]
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Management Learning 43(1)
traditions and culture which could help us to make more sense of what managers in Chinese banks
told us about their leadership activities.
Research on Chinese managers’ leadership behaviour has argued that some Chinese managers
follow Daoist views of flow, and make compromises in the spirit of Wu Wei (Cheung and Chan,
2005; Johnson, 2000; Prince, 2005). Although it has been regarded as an influential principle in
Chinese leadership, the explanations of Wu Wei in the academic literature tend to be partial and
unhelpful, e.g. describing Wu Wei as ‘non-activity’, or ‘governing by doing nothing’. These do not
help us to understand how its introspective aspect can apply to managerial behaviour. In this article, we suggest that the principles of Wu Wei can be secularized by managers through their selfreflexivity. Daoism raises fundamental questions about the introspection and reflexivity that allow
people to capture the complex and interactional learning nature of their social experience and leadership, and this article argues that there are fundamental insights that we can gain into the leadership actions of people who have been raised in a culture rooted (despite the best efforts of the
Cultural Revolution) in Daoism.
We focus on influences from the Daoist tradition, and we present an unanticipated finding from
the research, which was the relationship between Daoist thinking and some propositions that have
come recently from the study of reflexivity. In particular, the Daoist tradition functions in quite
different ways for different situations through the process of managers’ self-reflexivity. We show
this from the way that the managers in the study treat the relationship between the Daoist core
concept of Wu Wei and self-reflexivity.
In this article, we shall first discuss Daoism and self-reflexivity, and explain why we describe
some of the stories from the bank managers as coming from a Daoist tradition. We focus on the
concept of Wu Wei, which turned out to be particularly relevant to understanding our participants.
We explore a new way of understanding Wu Wei by making the link with self-reflexivity. We shall
then discuss the methodology of the research, and proceed to consider the three different ways of
using the traditional thought of Wu Wei through self-reflexivity: Wu Wei as flow, Wu Wei as selfprotection and Wu Wei as an excuse for failing. We link these with reflexivity, as we argue that our
studies of traditional thinking and the understanding of reflexive managerial thought are mutually
illuminating.
Our contribution is in three main areas. First there is an empirical contribution to the understanding of Chinese leadership, which we are able to make from our lengthy discussions with the
practitioners in our study. Second, there is a contribution to the discussion of reflexivity in the
management literature, particularly because we see it illuminated by the concerns and the ways of
thinking of Chinese managers, Third, we believe that an understanding of how Daoism promotes
self-reflexivity in Chinese managers could be of interest to western managers and educators who
believe that self-reflexivity can be helpful, and may find some aspects of Daoism that can help
them to promote it.
Daoism in management research
Recent research on Chinese leadership has discussed the impact of Daoism (Chen, 2002; Cheung
and Chan, 2005; Johnson, 2000). It has been suggested that Daoism is the main philosophical tradition that differentiates Chinese managers’ ideas and behaviour from westerners’ (Chen, 2002;
Cheung and Chan, 2005; Leung et al., 2002). For example, Cheung and Chan (2005) have discussed Daoism as one of the Chinese philosophical foundations that influences Chinese managers’
forbearance, humility and self-effacement (Cheung and Chan, 2005, 2008; Davis, 2004). Prince
(2005) compared western leadership with Daoist leadership, suggesting that western leadership is
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about actively shaping and controlling, whereas Daoist leadership is about engaging with circumstances and accommodating. They suggested that successful Chinese leaders are spontaneously
attuned to the nuances of local circumstances, not burdened by concerns about what is or is not the
right rule to apply. However, there is still a lack of empirical research that systematically examines
the impact of Daoism on Chinese leadership especially from the perspective of Chinese managers’
self-concept. Our study aims to fill this gap.
We have been struck by the relationship between Daoist thinking and narratives and some of the
propositions that have come recently from the study of reflexivity (Antonacopoulou and Bento,
2003; Cunliffe, 2002, 2004, 2009), and this article examines our data from Chinese bank managers
to illuminate the contribution to understanding how leadership is learned which can be gained from
examining these concepts together.
Some researchers have suggested that Chinese social characteristics can be viewed as inoffensive and submissive to social orientation and authority (Cheung and Chan, 2005; Fairbank
and Reischauer, 1978; Feng, 2000). Many cross-cultural studies, comparing Chinese and
American employees, show that Chinese employees tend to be less autonomous, less aggressive,
more submissive and subservient to authority, more susceptible to the influence of powerful
people and more likely to make compromises (Black and Porter, 1991; Hofstede and Bond,
1984; Ralston et al., 1992). However, these studies do not take account of what lies behind the
submissive or soft manner, the reflexive managerial thought and intelligence of Wu Wei.
Wu Wei as a core principle in Daoism
The founder of Daoism, Lao Tzu (600–470 BC) lived in China at a time when the country was
besieged by warlords. Although living in a chaotic world, he developed his philosophical idea of
personal development by following nature, and recommended its application to politics. He
explains his theory of natural thinking in his book Dao Te Ching. According to Lao Tzu, ‘Dao’, is
the philosophy or the way, which naturally exists prior to and gives rise to all other things such as
the physical universe (Feng, 2000; Oldstone-Moore, 2003;). The ‘Dao’ can be found by experiencing and fulfilling one’s life with a peaceful and natural self and it is used to represent the natural
principle that the world changes (Feng, 2000). ‘Te’, by which the way (Dao) is constituted, refers
to virtue and a sense of morality (Feng, 1947, 2000; Oldstone-Moore, 2003). ‘Dao Te’ reflects an
inner power and personal virtue that is the active manifestation of the natural order (Feng, 1947;
Waley, 1968).
Based on the discussion of ‘Dao’ and ‘Te’, Lao Tzu proposes the core principle of Daoism—
Wu Wei, which is often translated as ‘governing by doing nothing’. ‘Wu’ indicates nothing. ‘Wei’
indicates action. In Daoism, it refers to the relaxed and serene state of one’s mind or heart when
following the flow of nature (Peterson et al., 1994; Yu, 1987). Therefore practically, Wu Wei
indicates unimpeded action performed through cultivating and freeing oneself from burdens
and stress. Daoism advocates that instead of desperately trying to do things by forcing the situation or acting against the flow of nature in the desire to achieve goals, one adopts Wu Wei and
focuses on the cultivation of the natural self and thus gains deeper capacity to obtain success
effortlessly (Yu, 1987).
Creel (1970) identified two different approaches to Wu Wei as practised in Daoism—contemplative
Wu Wei and purposive Wu Wei. Contemplative Wu Wei indicates a genuine non-action motivated by
a lack of desire to participate in the struggle of human affairs. Purposive Wu Wei refers to a technique
for a person to gain enhanced control over human affairs. The first is purely passive while the second
is a strategy to act in and reform the world (Creel, 1970; Loy, 1985).
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Purposive Wu Wei cultivates one’s performance and attitude as a means to power. It advocates
expelling one’s desire in order to gain the things that one desires. It is by not venturing to put oneself forward that one is able to achieve first place. To quote Lao Tzu, ‘he who wishes to be above
people must behave as though he were below them’. Purposive Wu Wei treats the Dao as a method
of acquiring power and enhancing control (Creel, 1970). In Dao Te Ching, Wu Wei is less concerned with the Dao as a genuine non-action but more with the Dao as a technique for getting
control. In particular, Lao Tzu gave a great deal of advice to leaders on how to gain and maintain
their power.
Daoism suggests that people should follow an in-between road, rather than doing something too
good or something too bad. Daoist scholar Chuang Tzu (369–286 BC) argues:
The trees on the mountains are their own enemies, the leaping fire is the cause of its own quenching;
cinnamon is edible, therefore its tree is cut down (Chuang Tzu, Ch. 4 ‘Ren Jian Shi’).
For him, harm always comes from great ability or reputation. Therefore a person should neither do
too much good, nor strive too hard, but simply live in between.
Daoism argues that harm is something that is inescapable but reversible (Yu, 1987). A great part
of Lao Tzu’s (600–470 BC) book Dao Te Ching recommends effective leadership strategies that
embody the sense of reversal principle, such as ‘governing by doing nothing’, ‘being soft can conquer the hard’, or ‘resigning before achieving the top of a successful career’. In particular, Lao Tzu
highly valued soft and weak approaches and regarded abiding softness as true stoutness. He
believed that one can never be conquered if staying in the weak side. In other words one should
never over expose one’s capability and advantages but hide them. In doing so, one’s strength can
last for ever rather than being attacked or worn down.
Lao Tzu commended a natural self which is conscious of good reputation, but still maintains no
reputation, which has the ability to be powerful but maintain powerlessness. This is because,
according to Lao Tzu’s reversal principle, to maintain no reputation is the means for avoiding disgrace; to maintain powerlessness (governing by doing nothing) is the means for gaining power
(Feng, 2000).
To reduce someone’s influence, first expand it; To reduce someone’s force, first increase it; To overthrow
someone, first exalt them; To take from someone, first give to them (Lao Tzu, Dao Te Ching, Ch. 36).
People who live according to Daoism never want to reach an extreme because when an extreme is
reached a reversal occurs. Therefore people practise Wu Wei to restrict their activities and to stop
at the achievement of a certain purpose, without ever over-doing it. Only by knowing when to stop
are people free from danger.
Daoism also suggests that leaders should lead with simplicity. By following Wu Wei, Daoism
commends governing people with little restriction. Daoism suggests that leaders should not control
people with too much law, as it is believed that the more laws there are, the more people find ways
to violate those laws. In this context, Wu Wei means eliminating that aspect of the self which is
inclined to interfere. Lao Tzu likened the simplified leadership to cooking seafood—if you cook
with a strong fire or put in too much sauce, the seafood will be overcooked and lose its original
fresh flavour. Similarly, if leaders behave too actively, the organization and staff members will
become more rigid:
The more mature and advanced politics is, the more factions divide people; The more laws and taxes there
are, the more theft and corruption destroy people (Lao Tzu, Dao Te Ching, Ch. 57).
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Although as pragmatic philosophies Confucianism and Daoism both strive to clarify leadership, Confucianism offers a different view of leadership and power from Daoism. Confucians
propose a discipline of how a good leader should cultivate his self by following the sage’s moral
examples. While Daoists aim to de-emphasize power and to govern by non-action, Confucians
value power highly. Confucians strive to accumulate righteousness, to overcome weaknesses,
and to exert the virtuous self to obtain power (Fairbank and Reischauer, 1978; Feng, 2000;
Yu, 1987).
Understanding reflexivity and the link to Daoism
To engage in Wu Wei, Daoism encourages people to reflect on and understand their inner self. In
order to lead to wise introspection, Daoism values self-examination and judgement. Lao Tzu suggests that stillness may help people return from the outside dynamic, chaotic world to their internal
static state. By doing so, they can manage affairs wisely without prejudice or bias. Therefore Wu
Wei is an effective way of learning and understanding about the world through intuition about
specific issues, situations and other people’s feelings. This parallels Cunliffe’s (2002) argument on
self-reflexivity which suggests that people explore feelings and emotions from within their experience of learning. Furthermore Wu Wei requires freedom from mental stress, emotional blockages,
judgmental attitudes, selfishness, pride and prejudice. In eliminating all these, one’s natural self is
set free to trigger fundamental learning (Yu, 1987).
Self-reflexivity is a process of recognition that our beliefs shape and are shaped by our experience (Cunliffe, 2002; Cunliffe and Jun, 2005;). It is created through inner dialogues in which we
communicate with our core beliefs, question our understanding of particular events and become
aware of how to shape our responses.
In this study we explore how the understanding of Daoism that our interviewees held might
assist in promoting self-reflexivity, with the possibility that western managers might usefully
learn from this. Self-reflexivity is crucial as leaders need to question and make sense of their own
experience (Antonacopoulou and Bento, 2003; Cunliffe, 2009). Some western research has called
on a philosophical approach to form the basis for understanding the self-reflexivity of leadership.
For instance, Cunliffe’s (2009) study indicates the role of philosophy in facilitating leaders’ selfreflexivity and she proposed the theme of the philosopher leader, which implied that philosophy
has the potential to contribute to the study of leaders’ self-reflexivity. She believes that philosophy
can enhance organization and management studies of self-reflexivity by providing a framework
within which people reflect on and interpret their experiences and judge themselves and their situations (Ashman, 2007; Cunliffe, 2009; Gosling, 1996; Grint, 2007; Rice, 1960). Following her
argument, this article makes a contribution to management learning by exploring the link between
self-reflexivity and Chinese philosophy.
Reflexive action questions the basis of our understanding of particular events, our own practice
and our lives. Moreover, it encourages making sense of multiple meanings of our social experience
and exploring and recognizing our identities. This idea of self-reflexivity is vividly embodied in
Chuang Tzu’s Daoist thought. He described a day when he dreamt he was a butterfly, fluttering
carefree in a garden. Suddenly he awoke. He then wondered whether he was a man dreaming he
was a butterfly, or whether he was a butterfly dreaming he was a man. This illustrates a Daoist way
of exploring our identity in order to make sense of the multiple meanings of our life. Chuang Tzu
depicts a new identity of being a butterfly in order to explore a happy, free and unburdened life. In
this sense, he is not really questioning whether he is a person or a butterfly, but rising above a
mediocre human lifestyle dealing with common trivial things day by day. In this reflexive way he
makes sense of his life and desire for change.
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Archer (2007) suggests that through self-reflexivity individuals take stock of the situation they
confront, as well as their own desires and concerns, before deciding on a course of action. The
question that self-reflexivity frequently raises is ‘who are we’? Are we aware of all aspects of our
selves when occupied in our social activities? (Antonacopoulou and Bento, 2003; Cunliffe, 2002,
2004). Daoism addresses the importance of self-reflexivity by arguing that in the pursuit of interests, people often forget the potential danger to themselves. Chuang Tzu told a story about a mantis
who was concentrating so hard on preying on a cicada that it did not know that a bird was waiting
to prey on it. At the same time as the bird forgot itself it was also being targeted by a man who was
trying to prey on it. In our daily life we may get confused about our identities and develop a ‘butterfly identity’ when pursuing our dream. We may also put ourselves in danger by focusing on one
identity and forgetting others. For this reason self-reflexivity becomes very important.
Self-reflexivity is a process by which people question their own ways of making sense of the
world. Self-reflexivity literature suggests that sense making should be experienced as an embodied
process in which people explore and articulate feelings and emotions from within their experience
(Cunliffe, 2002, 2004). This idea is reminiscent of ‘spirit nursing’ which is a common concept
shared by Confucianism and Daoism, which both argue that since people’s ordinary life is futile
they should devote themselves to what is everlasting and unchangeable. While Confucians practise
inner reflection to cultivate their virtue and to become as perfect as a sage, Daoism advocates practising Wu Wei as a reflexive process to free oneself from the frustration of human affairs or mental
stress (Ames, 1981; Feng, 2000; Loy, 1985; Yu, 1987).
Csikszentmihalyi’s (1997) concept of flow similarly describes how some people can free themselves from frustration, moving into a sense of effortless and effective action by means of pursuing
emotional attachment. He argues that people cannot do something effectively if it makes them feel
materially comfortable but emotionally miserable. Therefore he suggests that flow generally occurs
when people are doing their favourite activity. While Csikszentmihalyi believes that people can
only enter flow with their attention focused on what they enjoy, Daoism provides a more advanced
and spontaneous idea of being in an effective flow, in which people are completely devoted to an
activity and nothing else seems to matter. This thought is vividly illustrated in Daoist Chuang Tzu’s
famous cook Ding story (Chuang, 369–286 BC).
Cook Ding was a great master of carving an ox. Compared with the harsh way in which other
cooks carved up an ox by cutting and chopping the ox’s bones, cook Ding relied on the natural
structure of the ox, with the knife flowing through the texture of skin and ‘opening among the
bones’. As a result his work was as marvellous as an art work and his knife was used for 19 years
without becoming blunt. Cook Ding’s story explains flow clearly; in addition to concentrating on
the work, the skill of feeling and making use of opportunity, every ‘opening among the bones’
could be more important than emotional attachment. This could equally be described as reflexive
action or as performing Wu Wei. The person is aware of what they are doing and follows the tendency in the situation rather than forcing the situation, because they are in the flow. This Daoist
approach can be seen as pursuing flow as a result of self-reflexivity in one’s daily activities.
We might presume that people will pursue constant success with the hope of becoming more
and more successful. However, further success might incur envy from outside and conceit from
inside, which would lead to failure. Daoism recognizes this paradox and actively explores ways to
solve it by exercising Wu Wei. Again this is a self-reflexive process because the person is aware of
the dangers of being too successful, and of the wisdom of pretending to be a ‘fool’. Wu Wei also
suggests the advantage of camouflage, the strength of weakness and the simplicity of true sophistication. Behind such thinking is the willingness to put up with temporary losses and bide one’s
time. With nature operating by the law of action and reaction, nobody has a permanent advantage
over others.
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Daoism argues that tall trees are the first to be felled. Sweet wells are soonest exhausted. Selfreflexivity in this sense entails suspicion of one’s own advantages and capabilities. Daoism
therefore advocates lying low. Confucianism also highly values humility. While Confucianism
advocates humility as a virtue for a person to establish a good character, Daoism discusses the
value of humility for effective leadership by concealing one’s advantages and superiority.
Daoism identifies three most important qualities of effective leadership—mercy, frugality and
not to be ahead of others.
From mercy comes courage;
From frugality comes generosity;
From humility comes leadership (Lao Tzu, Dao Te Ching, Ch. 67).
Some may argue that Chinese business leaders now tend to develop a sharper, tougher and more
ruthless westernized edge rather than remaining submissive (Willis, 2009), but when they deal with
their partners or their superiors they are inclined to be humble (Cheung and Chan, 2005; Tjosvold
et al., 2001; Wong et al., 2010). Cheung and Chan (2005) suggest that Daoist doctrine is one of the
main philosophical foundations of Chinese leadership. They argue that Chinese leaders who practise Daoist doctrines emphasize humility, forbearance and even self-effacement, especially when
they are confronting frustration (Cheung and Chan, 2005, 2008).
A famous Chinese politician Zheng Banqiao (1693–1765) in the 18th century said: ‘it is difficult
to be muddle-headed. It is difficult to be clever, but still more difficult to graduate from cleverness
to muddle-headedness’. He became suspicious of the advantages of his cleverness which incurred
endless jealousy and criticism. He then chose to act according to Wu Wei—transforming to
muddle-headedness (i.e. concealing his merits and pretending to be muddle-headed) to secure
himself from incurring any more disadvantages. Thus in daily life, Wu Wei can be viewed as a selfprotection, never competing to be first in order to protect oneself from being criticized.
Because Wu Wei advocates lying low rather than competing to be first, and not forcing situations,
it may also be used as a consolation for people who fail to achieve success. This resembles Creel’s
(1970) definition of contemplative Wu Wei, pursuing a genuine non-action refraining from the
desire to struggling in human affairs. When people use Wu Wei as an excuse for judging their failure, they attribute their failure to the result of practising Daoist philosophy and so this justification
brings comfort to them in their failure. Daoist reflection is here being used to decrease stress levels
by offering an excuse for lack of success, producing a comforting scenario from which the person
can explore their feelings from within their experience of learning. (Cunliffe, 2002, 2009; Cunliffe
and Jun, 2005). This is a reflexive way of explaining to yourself that your failure was not your fault,
but is because you are following Wu Wei. In this article we suggest that this is a third aspect of Wu
Wei, for managers to protect their view of themselves when their career does not go well.
In this section we have been discussing the links between the ideas of Daoism and reflexivity,
and we now offer a study which goes further, looking at how Chinese managers understand their
own leadership in practice, how they discuss concepts relating to Daoism and reflexivity in talking about their leadership histories, and what we can deduce from this which might be of value
outside a Daoist culture.
Method
In this section we discuss the method of our study. We carried out unstructured biographical narrative interviews (Wengraf, 2001) to elicit managers’ narratives of leadership. We interviewed 20
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informants including five top executives such as the president, chairman or CEO from the bank’s
head office, and 15 senior managers such as department managers from head office or general
managers from branch banks. The banks include: Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank,
Agriculture Bank of China, Asset Management Corporation, China CITIC Bank, Hua Xia Bank,
China Merchants Bank, China Minsheng Banking Corporation. The interviews were carried out
individually and each lasted for two to three hours.
We asked each of the interviewees to describe their experience of leadership from the beginning
of their career until the present. Because leaders’ feelings, thoughts, intentions and evaluations are
difficult to access directly, this narrative approach enables the expressive abilities of leaders to be
used to convey the embedded meaning and thinking behind their actions (Gabriel, 2000; Labov and
Waletzky, 1967).
We designed each interview as two sub-sessions. In the first, we asked one initial question to
elicit the full narrative of informants’ work experience, such as: ‘Please tell me your working experiences, all the events and experiences which are important for your career up to now’. During this
process, we noted important topics that we would like to ask them to clarify afterwards. In the
second session we ask probing questions to elicit more narratives about some of the topics that
were emerging as important, such as: ‘How do you find Wu Wei useful in your career?’
We adopted a grounded theory approach to the coding and analysis of qualitative data (Strauss
and Corbin, 1990). We began with open coding by highlighting narratives and classified them into
categories. The second step was conceptual coding by drawing on common statements (Miles and
Huberman, 1994). We engaged in a constant comparative process by travelling back and forth
between the data and the emerging theoretical structure (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Strauss and
Corbin, 1990). These methods provide the basis for delineating themes and identifying several data
fragments that relate to informants’ understanding.
During the process of analysis we realized that Wu Wei was coming through very frequently as
an organizing concept for our interviewees, both as an expression of their view or as a means for
them to contrast and highlight their views. From that point our analysis for this article focused
more on concepts relating to Wu Wei, and we only report here that part of the analysis which fitted
naturally within such a framework. In total, 293 stories were obtained through the 20 interviews
and 120 stories were to do with Daoist leadership behaviour.
We were unable to do conventional coding checks because only one of the authors spoke Chinese.
We resolved this by continuous challenging within the research team of the way that data was being
used, where one person would say what had been said in the interview, and the interpretation that
they put on it, and the other person would then challenge the interpretation and the meaning that the
statement had been given. This was more laborious than having two people code the same transcript
independently, but we believe that it gave us an equivalent check on the quality of our coding.
Findings
Ten strategic principles for practising Wu Wei were identified as themes, and these are shown in
the outer part of Figure 1. The analysis then moves to examining relationships among these initial
categories, assembling them into second-order categories, which are shown in the inner part of
Figure 1 (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Table 1 gives examples of the quotations on which the concepts in Figure 1 are based.
To illustrate, from Figure 1, the statements ‘concentrate on the work not the result’, ‘seek for
opening to stick in a pin’ (i.e. seek an opening which provides the least effort and most effective
result) and ‘follow the flow rather than forcing the situation’ represent managers’ reflexivity on the
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Figure 1. A mapping of the framework of Chinese managers’ perceptions on the meaning of Wu Wei
philosophy and its related strategies for them
thinking of Wu Wei as flow. The coding statements of ‘stopping at the right time’, ‘the heavy is the
root of the light’, ‘to be the second best’, ‘seeking to take collective responsibility’ and ‘the head is
supervised by the bum’ that some managers had discussed in their self-narratives illustrate Wu Wei
as a means of self-protection. The statements about ‘psychological consolation and relief from
stress’ and ‘abdicate leadership role’ show Wu Wei as a means of justifying the passivity and frustration of a flagging career.
In their narratives, our interviewees reported that Daoism strongly influenced their leadership
behaviour. Many interviewees referred to the ideas of Daoism when they explained and evaluated their
past experiences and their theory of themselves as leaders. Many people valued the principle of Wu
Wei, especially when they encountered difficulties, conflicts or dilemmas. Based on their reflexivity
about their experience, they saw this principle as an effective way of avoiding conflicts and reducing
risks, especially political risks. For example, one manager told a story about how he avoided conflict
in negotiation. While telling the story, he mentioned Wu Wei as an effective strategy which helped him
solve the problem. In their life stories, many of these managers applied Daoist thinking to some extent.
Table 1 further clarifies each aspect of Wu Wei practice with a brief narrative example of these
10 themes. When talking about how they adapted Wu Wei to guide their leadership, managers were
characterized by the three approaches we have been discussing: flow, self-protection and excuse for
failing. ‘Flow experience’ refers to focusing attention on the opportunities and results in a perfection
of skills; ‘self-protection’ means managers were aware of the risks they could take and decided that
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Table 1. Ten strategies of Wu Wei and narrative examples of each theme
Principle of Wu
Wei
Strategies for practising
each principle of Wu Wei
Wu Wei as flow
Follow the flow rather
than forcing the situation
Concentrate on the
work not the result
Seek for opening to stick
in a pin
Wu Wei as self
protection
To be the second best
Stopping at the right
time
The heavy is the root of
the light
The head is supervised
by the bum
Seeking to take
collective responsibility
As an excuse for
failure
Psychological
consolation and relief
from stress
Abdicate leadership role
Exemplary quotation
“Instead of forcing her, this requires you to be
able to control the trend and find a third way
to solve the matter.”
“I do not worry about the result. I only
concentrate on my job. Don’t allow other
things to disturb you…”
“…I look for a third person to tenderly
deliver my consideration and intention to him.
This is like finding an opening to stick a pin in
which saves a lot effort…”
“ I …only strive for being the second best…
because to reach the top is like sitting on top
of a wave, where you easily get criticisms and
can never stay long….”
“This is the wisdom of Chinese philosophy, to
stop when you achieve some certain success,
not to be too greedy. At least you can keep
your current achievement otherwise you will
fail.”
“I not only focus on the current profit but
also think about its future impact on my bank,
as Daoism said, ‘the heavy is the root of the
light’.”
“…Your action is taken only for protecting
your position not for others. Therefore I call
it ‘the head is supervised by the bum’…”
‘Rather than being an individual hero, we
would seek to take collective responsibility
because you cannot punish everyone.’
“Now I just drift through my life and it is not
to give up, because I am acting according to
Daoism - Wu Wei to live wisely and to make
life easy.”
“I don’t think I am a leader because I have
no authority in making any big decisions.
Therefore I just behave with Wu Wei by
not taking too much action to bother my
subordinates.”
those risks were not worthwhile; ‘excuse for failing’ refers to the use of Wu Wei to comfort the less
successful, and to say that their failure was not their fault so that they did not feel too bad about it.
Wu Wei as flow
Wu Wei suggests that leaders should utilize the strength of others (Feng, 2000; Yu, 1987). This
approach is like practising Tai Chi. It employs the strategy of Wu Wei and defeats opponents
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with its slow, gentle action. It is important to hide one’s power behind soft actions and follow the
flow. When being attacked by someone, the Tai Chi practitioner does not return the attack immediately but goes with the direction of the opponent’s actions, and then suddenly defends in a way
which surprises the attacker. The harder and the more forceful the attack, the softer will be the
response. In Wu Wei, individuals spread their attention over the whole situation, freeing themselves from their total absorption in the object so that they can react spontaneously with confidence and precision (Feng, 1947).
Apart from Csikszentmihalyi’s (1997) flow theory, which suggested that concentration is significant in flow, another two strategies emerged from our data which also facilitate the Daoist idea
of exercising flow: to follow the flow rather than forcing the situation; and to seek for an opening
to stick in a pin. As discussed above, in a process of flow, we work with current circumstances
rather than forcing the situation. In this way we save our energy and meanwhile we make use of
time and space, just like cook Ding who never had to sharpen or replace his knife because he was
able to feel and follow the space and openings between the bones so that there was never any friction to blunt the knife. This is flow as consistent with Wu Wei which means to do a job with subtle
skill and ease.
For example, some managers used a third party to solve conflicts in dealing with their business
partners. One of the managers (XJ) told us a story about how he and his negotiator crossed swords
in a complicated business negotiation:
Sometimes we cannot reach an agreement, nor can we find a solution to it. Instead of forcing him to agree,
I look for a third person to tenderly deliver my consideration and intention to him. This is like finding an
opening to stick a pin in which saves a lot effort and it is more likely to be done (XJ).
XJ followed the flow of negotiation and did not aggressively force his negotiator to agree with him.
At the same time he effectively found an ‘opening’ (the right person) to help him to stick in the
knife and ‘carve up the ox’. In this sense flow was experienced as a reflexive awareness process.
Another factor in flow that emerged from our data was shown by TG. When he was assigned
to a bank as general manager, he found the staff members had what he regarded as a very bad
custom of playing mahjong after work. The custom had been nurtured by his predecessor who
loved gambling. TG told of his experience of stopping the staff’s gambling custom while not
offending his predecessor:
I don’t want to offend my predecessor so I cannot interfere with staff playing mahjong in their off time.
But I certainly cannot endure this (gambling after work), because it would affect staff’s working attitude
and lead to a very bad influence in the workforce. But at the beginning I just bore with the custom and
tolerated their gambling. As a result some staff became more and more unrestrained. One day, I was told
that two department managers and two staff gathered together to play mahjong during work hours. I then
seized this opportunity. I fined them one month’s wages and I also asked them to confess their wrongdoing
in front of all the bank staff. From then on no one in my bank ever plays mahjong (TG).
In this story, TG did not force the situation by prohibiting the custom harshly, but first tolerated this
and until he saw an opening. His staff made the mistake themselves, when they played mahjong
during their work time; he then quickly took action ‘to stick in a pin’. By doing so he avoided friction with his predecessor and solved the problem effectively and effortlessly.
These excerpts illustrate the Daoist idea of flow. In dealing with conflicts or frustrations, managers acted as if they are carving an ox; they follow the ‘texture’ of the situation (skin) and make
use of any chance (opening and space) to guide their way to a satisfactory solution of the matter.
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Wu Wei as self-protection
Daoism espouses a very reflexive principle, advising people to be reflexively aware in doing everything and never go too far. This is because the thinking of Daoism about reversal is that to pursue
something too actively may run counter to the desired effect. Wu Wei implies that successful people are those who know when to stop. This is a strategy of self-protection.
In our data we found that one important issue for most managers when practising leadership is
to know when to stop. Managers believed that they should follow Wu Wei by stopping when they
have reached a certain level. They should not attempt to attain the perfect goal. As soon as they
achieve what they consider ‘perfection’, trouble is just around the corner. In this sense, Wu Wei
advocates a form of ‘non-competing leadership’ which is highly valued and loyally followed by
some of the managers we interviewed. The view of FX embodied this idea clearly:
I never expect my department to be ranked as the best one in our bank but only strive for being the second
best. This is because to reach the top is like sitting on top of a wave, where you easily get criticisms and
can never stay long. But you can maintain being the second best forever (FX).
Managers believed that they should be aware that successes of today could lead to failures tomorrow. As a problem emerges, people focus on solution areas without recognizing that this focus
could become the cause of further problems. The sequence of events is seen in Daoist thinking as
a cycle. In Lao Tzu’s time, the Chou emperor built up his dynasty by defeating an isolated and
autocratic monarchy. By taking lessons from previous kingdoms, the emperor broke his country
into many feudal states, hoping that these feudal states would help him to consolidate his rule. This
action, however, did not solve the problem. The different feudal states eventually grew stronger
and overthrew the emperor who originally gave them their feudal rights.
The managers we interviewed said that they should not be too impressed by their current successes and advantages. Managers adopted Wu Wei as a strategy to protect their authority and position by following the thinking that today’s best solution may be reversed and become the cause of
future problems. What appears ‘heavy’ now may have ‘light’ roots.
We also heard that ‘to stop at the right time’, ‘to seek for collective responsibility’, ‘the head is
supervised by the bum’ were other ways of practising Wu Wei as a self-protecting strategy. Other
stories told us that a way of practising Wu Wei is to seek for a partner to share responsibility. In
order to avoid putting oneself in danger, Daoism suggests that people should not undertake risky
tasks such as reform. A way of diminishing this danger is to invite more partners to work together.
The story from LW illustrated this idea:
Chinese managers never take responsibility alone. They share common responsibility with other people.
This is aimed to protect their positions. Rather than being an individual hero, we would seek to take
collective responsibility because you cannot punish everyone (LW).
Allison (1971) depicted American political life as ‘where you stand depends on where you sit’.
A similar expression was proposed by XJ that ‘the head is supervised by the bum’. As stated by the
manager himself, this may mean giving up some business opportunities for the sake of avoiding
risk and protecting his position:
Although it may be a good business opportunity, if I fail, it is going to influence my position and therefore
I would rather not do it. Your action is taken only for protecting your position not for others. Therefore I
call it ‘the head is supervised by the bum’. Bum refers to the position you sit in (XJ).
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Wu Wei as an excuse for failing
As discussed, the meaning of Wu Wei is not really ‘doing nothing’, but through not being forceful,
achieving one’s ambition. As we found from the stories of some of our participants, they also
adopted Wu Wei as a form of self-protection to secure their authority and position through seeking
collective responsibility. Interestingly, however, despite Wu Wei theoretically implying that by
doing nothing (Feng, 2000; Yu, 1987), one can do everything, it appears that some managers
understood Wu Wei as passively ‘doing nothing’ or ‘drifting through life’. In the next story, provided by HX, he presented himself as a timeserver holding a passive view of his career and finding
consolation in this understanding of Wu Wei:
As I am getting older, my official career is more hopeless and my chance is getting less … I am 40 now.
My superior is younger than me. Young managers have creative ability but my active energy has run out.
When new techniques emerge, I really feel a lack of energy and knowledge to deal with them. Now I just
drift through my life and it is not to give up, because I am acting according to Daoism-Wu Wei to live
wisely and to make life easy (HX).
In contrast to managers who saw Wu Wei as leading to effective action or as a self-protection strategy, manager HX understood Wu Wei as ‘drifting through life’—a wholly passive approach. He
appeared to adopt Wu Wei as a consolation to justify his frustration over his career. When he felt
hopeless about his career, he turned to traditional culture to find comfort. His self-reflexivity has
conformed to his passive interpretation of Wu Wei.
In LY’s story, he similarly cited Daoism as a set of philosophical beliefs which might help to
restrain his desires and get rid of stress:
After I became a manager I felt heavily stressed. I cannot agree with the bank’s policy like pursuing the
business index but ignoring real profit, I also cannot agree with the management style that distances people
from the bank. I do not have any real authority although I am a middle manager of my bank. I used to feel
very depressed. This is why I choose to believe in Daoism. It helps you get rid of stress and calm your
spirits (LY).
While the intent of Wu Wei is often presented as ‘by doing nothing, one can be able to do everything’ (Feng, 2000), some of our managers did not understand it this way but instead treated Wu
Wei as a laissez faire leadership style, in which they are reluctant to lead subordinates or give
orders and direction (Stoner, 1982). ZY illustrated this in his story about feeling disappointed with
his own lack of authority, which made him refrain from exerting his leadership:
If someone in my department made mistakes in their reports, I would correct them quietly without
bothering them. I don’t think I am a leader because I have no authority in making any big decisions.
Therefore I just behave with Wu Wei by not taking too much action to bother my subordinates (ZY).
Conclusion
Our study is based on senior Chinese bankers. These managers’ values, beliefs and roles will differ
from managers in other business areas or other national cultures. Therefore the generalization of
the outcomes explored in this research remains to be tested in future research in other areas of
management in China. Indeed, as the methodology is qualitative and the data grounded in particular contexts, generalizations should be made with care and in a tentative way. However, we believe
that we have made a contribution in three areas.
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The first is that we have made an empirical contribution to understanding Chinese leaders
through allowing our participants the space to tell us their leadership narratives in their own way
and in their own language. The picture that emerges from this is that there is a set of ideas deriving
from long-standing traditions of Chinese thought which remain very current for leaders. Not only
did we find evidence for the influence of Daoism, but we found three distinct ways in which Daoist
beliefs of Wu Wei might be held:
• One way of believing in Wu Wei is not to force the situation but to participate in and to be
effectively present in it. This is a reflexive process of performing Wu Wei because the person is aware of what they are doing and who they are in the situation; they are not forcing
the situation because they are in flow. The reflexive process of this category could be
described as being concentrated in flow, following the flow rather than forcing the situation
and seeking for an opening to stick in a pin.
• Another way of holding a belief in Wu Wei enables the person to avoid risk, to stay safe
from criticism and to avoid doing anything for which they could be blamed. This can be
reflexive because the person is aware of the risks they could take, and decides that those
risks are not worthwhile. This is similar to the idea of wanting to be second best as a way of
protecting oneself from attack, also known as ‘tall poppy’ syndrome, or ‘tall trees’ for one
of our participants. This is to protect oneself in a way which can produce career advancement without any necessary external good consequences for anyone else.
• The third way of believing in Wu Wei provides a way of explaining to yourself that your
lack of success is not your fault, but is because you are following Daoist principles. This is
a way of coping with things not going well, so that you do not feel too bad about your career
not progressing. It may also be seen as the product of psychological denial, denying responsibility for lack of career success.
Our second area of contribution is to the discussion of reflexivity in the management literature,
by exploring the link between self-reflexivity and Chinese philosophy. In this article we suggest
that there is a close link between notions of reflexive inquiry and the application of Wu Wei to
managerial thinking. The three ways of believing in Wu Wei above are three different forms of
reflexivity.
As a contribution to the literature on Daoism and self-reflexivity, our article has focused attention on the experiences of managers. In coping with Wu Wei practice, they adopted different reflexive ways, which have been described and analysed in the article. Our article offers significant
insights into the growing literature on how Wu Wei and self-reflexivity are handled within life
stories. We suggest that although Wu Wei has been seen as forbearance, tolerance, compromise and
tactical submissiveness in previous research (Cheung and Chan, 2005; Feng, 2000; Johnson, 2000;
Yu, 1987), managers who practise Wu Wei may have very different understandings of it. This study
offers us a fresh research viewpoint and a new and more nuanced understanding of the influence of
Daoism on leadership. This has the implication that the development of inner impulses and introspection (i.e. Wu Wei and reflexivity), combined with opportunity, may enable wise leadership. It
also offers us some new insight on the nature of reflexivity, which we think is open to the same
range of understandings as Wu Wei.
A reflexive approach can form the basis for understanding Wu Wei and leadership from a different perspective, and therefore it can also form the basis for exploring other Chinese philosophies such as Confucianism and Legalism in leadership. This will be another topic of interest that
warrants future research.
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The third contribution that we claim is that this work may be enlightening for western managers
and educators as they consider leadership. The dominant assumption, although there has also been
plenty of critical challenge, has been that the western paradigm for understanding and developing
leadership is portable, and that leadership in other cultures should be seen as variants of the western
model, with little emphasis on what western practitioners might learn from other cultures. If we
accept the importance of reflexivity, it could be that there are many managers in western organizations who could be released and even empowered by knowing of the contribution which Daoism
could make to their understanding of leadership. This study brings a different understanding of
leadership and reflexivity, which comes from Wu Wei, that could lead managers to work more
spontaneously and freely. A manager who has mastered leadership in this way is just like cook
Ding; reflexivity, Wu Wei and flow can apply as much to the art of leading as to the art of oxcarving. We have discussed the inner theatre of the manager and illuminated how self-reflexivity
drives Daoist leadership behaviour. This can help in the understanding of the implications of Daoist
leadership, the implications of reflexivity, and the ways in which Daoism and reflexivity may be
able to illuminate and develop interdependently.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the private, commercial or not-for-profit
sectors.
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