A Problem Setting for Connecting Zhenguan Zhengyao to Machiavelli
1. Question
In OS Organizational Design Theory, Zhenguan Zhengyao is treated as an important foundational text for the principles of politics in the preservation phase. Then how should the politics of the founding phase be treated?
2. Abstract
Emperor Taizong of Tang, who became the model behind Zhenguan Zhengyao, defeated rival warlords through his exceptional military talent in the founding phase, and then led political stabilization through virtue in the preservation phase.
However, the Tang dynasty emerged through a dynastic change from the already unified Sui dynasty. This means that the framework of kingship itself was already established as a fixed concept. Therefore, Taizong did not need to build the state as an OS literally from nothing.
By contrast, in OS Organizational Design Theory, the “founding phase” means a phase in which a founder who does not yet possess an OS constructs one from the ground up. For that reason, the founding phase in this sense cannot be fully handled by Zhenguan Zhengyao alone.
This paper clarifies that problem and positions Machiavelli’s Discourses and History of Florence, together with Livy’s History of Rome as their source text, as classical materials for theorizing the founding phase.
This paper does not present a finished theory of the founding phase. Rather, it is a problem-setting paper that shows an analytical route for building such a theory.
3. Method
This paper first confirms, as Layer 1 facts, that Zhenguan Zhengyao is extremely effective for handling the principles of politics in the preservation phase, while at the same time it has limits when one tries to analyze the founding phase, in which an actor without an OS must establish order from the ground up.
It then structures the difference between the founding phase and the preservation phase in Layer 2, and in Layer 3 it shows which classical texts should be analyzed, and in what order, in order to supplement the founding phase within OS Organizational Design Theory.
4. Layer 1: Fact
1) Zhenguan Zhengyao deals with preservation politics during the Zhenguan era, after the warlords had already been defeated
Emperor Taizong of Tang, who stands behind Zhenguan Zhengyao, defeated rival powers in the founding phase and then pursued political stabilization through virtue in the preservation phase. However, what Zhenguan Zhengyao actually records is the discussion between Taizong and his senior ministers during the Zhenguan era. Its main focus is governance after the defeat of the rival warlords, that is, the political principles of the preservation phase.
Therefore, Zhenguan Zhengyao is an extremely important foundational text for thinking about how to preserve and stabilize an order that has already been won. However, it does not fully provide a theory of the founding phase in which the OS itself must be built from the ground up.
2) In OS Organizational Design Theory, “founding” means a phase in which a subject without an OS constructs one from nothing
In OS Organizational Design Theory, “founding” does not mean inheriting an already existing order. Rather, it means a phase in which a founder who does not yet possess an OS builds from scratch the principles of governance, the decision-making structure, the personnel arrangement, and the mechanism of information circulation.
Founding in this sense is different in nature from a dynastic change from one unified dynasty to another. Therefore, in order to build a theory of the founding phase, it is necessary to draw insights from classical texts other than Zhenguan Zhengyao.
3) Machiavelli, Roman history, and Florentine history can serve as materials for analyzing the founding phase
Machiavelli’s Discourses is a work of political principles based on the Roman Republic, analyzing its development from founding to the unfolding of the republican system. His History of Florence also covers the city from its founding to the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici at the height of Medici power, and thus can be read as a source covering both founding and preservation.
Furthermore, the source text behind Discourses is Livy’s History of Rome. For that reason, in constructing a theory of the founding phase, it is meaningful to analyze Livy, Machiavelli’s History of Florence, and Machiavelli’s Discourses in connection with one another.
5. Layer 2: Order
5-1. The main problem faced by the OS differs fundamentally between the founding phase and the preservation phase
The decisive difference between the preservation phase and the founding phase is this: the founding phase is a struggle in which the very survival of the OS is at stake, whereas the preservation phase is a struggle whose main purpose is to maintain an already established OS.
In the founding phase, the OS itself is still incomplete. The top priorities are survival, defeating rivals, and establishing a minimal order. By contrast, in the preservation phase, the main problem becomes how to prevent the existing order from deteriorating and how to connect it to long-term stability.
5-2. In the founding phase, the talents needed for survival come to the front more than character
Even in the founding phase, virtue is desirable. However, what comes to the front first is the talent needed to win for survival itself, namely military, political, and organizational breakthrough power.
Yet the same structure that makes talent central in the founding phase becomes dangerous if it remains unchanged after stability begins. This is because the strong breakthrough power and tendency toward decisive unilateral action that are needed in the founding phase can become factors that destroy order in the preservation phase.
5-3. The truly difficult task is the transition from founding to preservation
What follows from this is that the founding phase and the preservation phase are not simply two separate difficulties. Rather, the most difficult issue is how to shift from one to the other.
How should the people who played central roles in the founding phase be repositioned in the preservation phase?
To what extent should the military force and emergency measures that were heavily needed in the founding phase be reduced in the preservation phase?
How much of the breakthrough power of the founding phase should be preserved, and from what point should the organization move toward a preservation structure centered on virtue and moderation?
If this transition fails, collapse begins from invisible places, even when things still appear successful on the surface.
6. Layer 3: Insight
From the above, it becomes clear that in OS Organizational Design Theory, Zhenguan Zhengyao can provide a theory of the preservation phase, but it cannot sufficiently handle the founding phase by itself.
Therefore, if the founding phase is to be theorized, another line of classical texts must be introduced as a supplementary guide. The most effective candidates are Machiavelli’s Discourses and History of Florence, with Livy’s History of Rome serving as their foundational material.
Seen in this order:
- The first ten books of Livy’s History of Rome provide factual material on founding and early order formation.
- History of Florence provides case material that includes founding, prosperity, and internal conflict.
- Discourses provides theoretical material that extracts political principles from such historical cases.
Therefore, if OS Organizational Design Theory is to be expanded into a theory that can handle both the founding phase and the preservation phase, it is necessary first to analyze Livy, then History of Florence, and finally Discourses, and to compare and integrate these with the preservation-phase theory derived from Zhenguan Zhengyao.
Only through this process can one build an organizational theory that integrates both the founding phase and the preservation phase.
7. Implications for the Present
The same is true in modern organizations. Founding is a struggle for survival. Until an organization secures its place in the market, acquires resources, and rises as an organization, a certain kind of founding-phase breakthrough power is necessary.
However, once a certain level of survival has been secured, the organization must move into the preservation phase and solidify its foundation. If it continues forever under the logic of founding, business continuity becomes unstable, and the organization itself becomes exhausted by having to mobilize resources constantly.
At the same time, if the founding-phase OS is completely replaced, the organization may expose its weakness when a crisis arrives again. What matters, therefore, is to judge the balance: how much of the breakthrough power of the founding phase should remain, and from what point the organization should shift to the logic of moderation and stability in the preservation phase.
The analysis of this balance is the theoretical task that this paper presents for future work.
8. Conclusion
In Zhenguan Zhengyao, Taizong asks which is more difficult, founding or preservation. He recognizes that both are difficult. However, from the viewpoint of OS Organizational Design Theory, what is even more difficult is the transition from founding to preservation.
How should the personnel who were active in the founding phase be treated?
To what extent should the military force and emergency measures deployed in the founding phase be reduced?
At what point should the logic of survival in the founding phase be shifted into the logic of maintenance in the preservation phase?
If organizational management continues with this balance unresolved, collapse begins from invisible places even while outward success seems to continue.
For this reason, theorizing the transition from founding to preservation is the next core task for completing OS Organizational Design Theory. In order to do that, it is necessary to introduce a different line of classical texts dealing with the founding phase, and then build an OS Organizational Design Theory that integrates both founding and preservation.
9. Source Texts
Harada Tanenari, Shinshaku Kanbun Taikei: Zhenguan Zhengyao Vol. 1, Meiji Shoin, 1978.
Livy, History of Rome Vol. 1, translated by Satoshi Iwatani, Kyoto University Press, 2008.
Livy, History of Rome Vol. 2, translated by Satoshi Iwatani, Kyoto University Press, 2016.
Livy, History of Rome Vol. 3, translated by Akira Mori, Kyoto University Press, 2008.
Livy, History of Rome Vol. 4, translated by Akira Mori, Kyoto University Press, 2014.
Machiavelli, The Complete Works of Machiavelli 2: Discourses, translated by Mitsuaki Nagai, Chikuma Shobo, 1999.
Machiavelli, The Complete Works of Machiavelli 3: History of Florence, translated by Yoshikiyo Yoneyama and Kanji Arisato, Chikuma Shobo, 1999.