Toleration in Practice (2): The Governance of Absenteeism

Abstract

In this chapter, the author illustrates the tolerating strategy through the example of absenteeism management at Jinjiang Factory. The author argues that it embodies the group leaders’ tolerance and consideration toward every member’s exceptional circumstances. In so doing, the leaders win the members’ recognition and support. More importantly, through the solicitation of others’ assistance, this tolerance and consideration is exchanged among members, through which the group’s internal cohesion is gradually strengthened. In order to accumulate material support for this form of governance, group leaders invent a series of tactics. These help them to provide their members with more free time while maintaining their income at a certain level. In a word, it is the toleration that strengthens the group’s internal connections and guarantees the basic production in the face of interruptions.

The workshop was a battlefield. Whether you could win the war depended on your own talents. You needed to know how to unite this disparate group of individuals (sanjiao jiuliu)

Fu Jinhai, December 22, 2013