The Structural Function of “Virtue” in Zhenguan Zhengyao 1. Question Can virtue be understood only as an ethical concept, or can it also be understood as a control variable that stabilizes a governance system? 2. Abstract In Zhenguan Zhengyao, Emperor Taizong considered virtue to be as necessary as talent for governance in the preservation phase. … Read more
The Structure of Loyal-Minister Exclusion and Organizational Rigidity in Zhenguan Zhengyao 1. Question Why do exclusionary personnel decisions make an organization rigid and ultimately lead it to collapse? 2. Abstract For a state or an organization, human talent is originally one of its most important resources. Even so, when we look back at history, there … Read more
A Structural Crisis of the Preservation Phase in Zhenguan Zhengyao 1. Question Why can “peace,” although it is originally the most desirable condition, become a trigger for the deterioration of a state or an organization? 2. Abstract In a state or an organization, peace is usually regarded as the most desirable condition. When war and … Read more
A Self-Correcting Structure of Governance in Zhenguan Zhengyao 1. Question Why do organizations remain stable not through arbitrary rule, but through a deliberative system of cognitive correction? 2. Abstract In organizations, it is often said that the ideal leader is one who judges everything, decides everything, and directs everything alone. However, all human beings make … Read more
A Structural Analysis of Personnel Evaluation in Zhenguan Zhengyao 1. Question Why do rewards and punishments serve as a device by which the OS, a decision-making governing institution, maintains itself? 2. Abstract In an organization, personnel evaluation, rewards, and punishments are not merely matters of human resource administration. Whom the organization rewards, whom it punishes, … Read more
1. Question At what point is the information needed for decision-making blocked in an organization, and at what moment does that process become irreversible? 2. Abstract In any organization, the governing body—management in a company, or what this theory calls the OS—needs not only external information but also internal information in order to make sound … Read more
1. Question Why does the success or failure of governance depend not on the formal design of institutions themselves, but on the awareness of the actors who operate them? 2. Abstract A Three-Layer Analysis (TLA) reading of Zhenguan Zhengyao shows that the success or failure of state governance is not determined simply by whether institutions … Read more
A Method for Translating Zhenguan Zhengyao into Modern Organizational Theory 1. Question What kind of abstraction is necessary to translate Zhenguan Zhengyao, a classic of Eastern statecraft, into modern organizational theory? 2. Research Abstract Zhenguan Zhengyao is a record of the words and actions of Emperor Taizong of Tang (Li Shimin), the second emperor of … Read more
1. Core Question Is Machiavelli’s proposition — “forced promises do not need to be kept” — really correct? 2. Abstract In Chapter 42 of Book III of Discourses, Machiavelli presents the proposition that forced promises do not need to be kept.However, a promise is not merely a spoken statement. It is the visible form of … Read more
1. Problem Awareness What is personal growth? At first glance, this question appears simple. In reality, however, it is not easy to define. In general, growth is often understood as the accumulation of success, the overcoming of hardship, or the mere passage of time through experience. Yet actual life does not support such a simple … Read more
