Citation
Foo, C.T. (2014), "Towards research on genealogy for management", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 8 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/CMS-07-2014-0131
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Towards research on genealogy for management
Article Type: Editorial From: Chinese Management Studies, Volume 8, Issue 2
As founding editor of Chinese Management Studies (CMS), I had asked myself, besides mere replication of Western-derived instruments, are there unique insights that Chinese can offer? During a keynote speech at 2010 Third Chinese Management in China Conference in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, I highlighted as one of the rich areas for professors in China to research on: how the Chinese, by their practices, are transforming American MBA management. By so doing, the world will be enriched with a deeper, more profound understanding of the art and science in managing people. How management itself is transformed by contextual influences.
Further, in the context of China, there are rich data for enriching management through research on genealogy. Insights from such research may enrich how we manage people and technology, the theme of this issue. In prior issues of CMS, Professor Lin Song and Professor David Lamond had brought out papers that relate to HRM inside China. The topics are wide-ranging and in-depth. These encompassed leadership, stress, traits, job performance, job satisfaction, occupational commitment, self-esteem, collectivism, industrial relations and psychological analyses. Yet, there is still more that ought to be embarked upon by Chinese professors.
To begin with, I will elaborate on the basic difference between Chinese and Western names. For any corporation to organize their human resources, their employees must all have names for identification. In addition, without a name, it is just simply impossible to compile any genealogical records. Interestingly, by UN Convention on the Rights of the Child[#fn1], Article 7: "The child […] shall have the right from birth to a name […]". So, unwittingly, parents by granting names may be said to be partaking in the act of organizing HRM! China, with a still growing population of 1.3 billion, you can then imagine HRM managers having difficulties of coping with staff having same names.
In the West or the UK at least, there is customarily the family name (Figure 1) as last, followed by a given, personal first name. However, in China, as it is for overseas Chinese, the structure in placement of words in a name is somewhat different. This mode of practice in naming has been in place for (as in my case, as to be illustrated) for more than 2,000 years. The focus is on the clan name (mistakenly attributed, following the West as surname). There is a classical, a 1,000-year-old text (early Song dynasty) recording the historical origins of clan names in Bai-jia-xing literally, a 100 names[#fn2].
Figure 1. Placing of Chinese and Western names
The first word or Chinese character in a name is for identifying a person’s clan or the clan name. In my case, it is FOO (
). To complicate matters, although the Chinese character is the same, in mainland China, Taiwan and Macau, it is spelt as FU, but FOO remains for Hong Kong and Malaysia besides Singapore. Next and in the middle is a Chinese character that is allocated on the basis of a person’s generation within the family of the clan. In my case, it is Check (
pinyin ji), and this puts me being 70th generation after the clan’s founder, Gong-ya. The final Chinese character Teck (
; de) is what is my given, personal name.
So, if you are aware of this naming convention, you will realize that for a Chinese, his foremost priority is not in the self but the organization (as in the clan). Typically, my name is re-ordered in Western publications as Check-Teck Foo, yet properly in Chinese, it should be FOO Check-Teck (
). My suggestion is to keep this ancient tradition by capitalizing the clan’s name (surname) and combining through a hyphen, the generational prefix (Check) and personal given name (Teck). Thus, for the past 5,000 years, the Chinese consciousness is on the group (clan) rather than the individual. Many Chinese professors themselves I encountered simply adopted the Western convention without realizing that there is a significant difference between the two cultures.
Just to complete the story on genealogical roots. My interest in thousands of years old Chinese records springs from an encounter in China. After making a keynote lecture on Sun Tzu Art of War, a Chinese history professor spoke to me thus "Oh you are from the FOO (Fu, 
) Clan, no wonder you are so deeply into art of war strategy!" In making this deduction, he is implicitly arguing for a role of genes as the basis of one’s aptitude, skills and inclination. Or simply, his theory relies on nature (less on nurture) for explaining the drivers behind my interest in strategy. With his guidance, I quickly embarked on my own search of my genealogical roots. The result is summarized in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Genealogical roots, source of information, Bai-Jia-Xing under
(foo, fu; shi)[
]
Clan name FOO (meaning the object of seal) came about through my First Ancestor, Gong-Ya. He was the Imperial Seal Keeper for the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi-Huang. During the Spring and Autumn periods, a pair of tiger seals is utilized for mobilizing an army. The General in charge of the army would demand to see a matching tiger seal. So, the clan of FOO existed for more than 2,000 years. Yet, the ancestry goes far greater back into the mist of time. For the clan name of Gong-ya was 
(pinyin, Ji), and according to the classical text, Bai-Jia-Xing, you can trace back to King Wen of Zhou and the August Yellow Emperor or Huang Di. 
, Ji is, according to legendary beliefs, the name of the river near where the Yellow Emperor was born. So much for what may lie hidden behind a name!
I am using my case only as an illustration. Due to this unique organizational, clan-based HRM practice in keeping genealogical records over thousands of years, the Chinese may have with them a most rare, wonderful mega-size database for empirically grounded research. Imagine keeping on a continuous basis of written records, generation after generation of descendants all from one ancestor? Perhaps, a remodeling of databases should be done for testing of this hypothesis:
Traits and talents: do genes matter?
There are many other stories waiting to be discovered.
For example, how by keeping these ancestral records – highlighting those who excel as kings, generals, ministers, scholars, writers, painters – the Chinese had intended to inspire later generations of the same organization (read, clan) to higher performances. Maybe even provide models of how one ought to be living one’s life for the common good.
It is time for professors to begin to contribute ideas, concepts and theories that are rooted in 5,000 years of recorded Chinese history for the discipline of management. An apt Chinese phrase to describe such original sources of ideology for management is: 
(in pinyin: bent tu sheng, tu chang). That will make CMS, an insightful read for global readers.
Check Teck Foo
Founding Editor-in-Chief
Notes
http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx