A Comparison Between I-Ching's Early Management Decision-Making Model and Western Management Decision-Making Models

Chinese Management Studies
A comparison between I-Ching's early management decision-making model and western

management decision-making models
Mu-Lan Hsu Kuan-Yao Chiu
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2,1 A comparison between I-Ching’s
early management
decision-making model
52
and western management
decision-making models
Mu-Lan Hsu and Kuan-Yao Chiu
Shih Hsin University, Taipei, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the value of I-Ching (also called Book of
Changes), the ancient Chinese book of wisdom, which has been used for thousands of years to help
people make decisions in daily life. Recently, eastern and western scholars have begun discussing how
to apply the wisdom of I-Ching to the field of business administration, particularly decision-making
practices.
Design/methodology/approach – A content analysis method was adopted to uncover possible
modern management decision-making constructs. The single words approach did not find frequently
appearing words that integrated decision-making constructs in the context of I-Ching. Further
uncovering I-Ching’s administrative decision-making approach, the managerial decision-making
model of I-Ching is explained, including the premises, the decision contingencies, and the decision
process.
Findings – By using an academic comparative analysis method, as it applies to managerial decision
making, I-Ching’s early management decision-making model is subsequently compared with western
management decision models, which include rational decision making, bounded-rationality
decision making, intuitive decision making, implicit favorite decision making, and garbage-can
decision making.
Research limitations/implications – The majority of scholars that study I-Ching focus on
“practice divination” research, paying attention to the interpretation or critique of the text only.
Unfortunately, related literature based upon a social science research foundation is limited.
Originality/value – The value of I-Ching was determined to lie in allowing flexibility in the
decision-making process.
Keywords Managers, Decision making, China, Business administration, Oriental philosophy
Paper type General review
Introduction
The study to uncover managerial wisdom in ancient Chinese literature has received
considerable attention in recent years. Some Chinese scholars who are dedicated to the
study of managerial wisdom in ancient China are now examining and analyzing
ancient thought and literature including:
Chinese Management Studies
.
I-Ching (Zeng, 1991, 1997; Hsu, 1991; Lin, 1997; Guang, 1998; Shi and Sun, 2000).
Vol. 2 No. 1, 2008
pp. 52-75
.
Taoism thoughts and “Tao Te Ching” (Yu, 1996; S.Y. Yang, 1996).
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1750-614X
.
Confucius and Mencius thoughts or Confucianism (Yu, 1996; S.Y. Yang, 1996;
DOI 10.1108/17506140810866241 Luo, 1996; Hsieh and Fang, 1986).
.
The Art of War thoughts (Huang, 1986; Li et al., 1995; Zhang, 1994; Lin, 1994; I-Ching’s
Lo, 1995). decision-making
.
Legalism thoughts (Hsieh, 1995). model
.
Enterprise ethics theories of Discourse on Salt and Iron and Biographies of
Merchants (Hsu et al., 1997).
Foreign scholars generally attach great importance to the study of Confucius thoughts, 53
as is the case in “Tao Te Ching” and The Art of War (Frosch, 2000; Hensler et al., 2000;
Wong et al., 1998; Rarick, 1996; Boar, 1995; Wee, 1994; Floyd, 1992) which dealt with
the study of ancient Chinese managerial thought. Such an approach may lead to a new
solution to the managerial academic bottleneck that Chinese scholars face in finding
managerial wisdom in ancient Chinese literature. If intuitive perception, as interpreted
in I-Ching, can be further compared and integrated with corresponding modern
western managerial thoughts, it may possibly lead to significant contributions to
managerial academic studies.
I-Ching, known as the Ching of Chings, describes the core of ancient Chinese
wisdom integrating the empirical achievements of the exploration of natural and social
rules in the long historical development of Chinese civilization by summing them up
into subtle philosophical thinking (Cheng and He, 1999). Recently, many scholars have
interpreted I-Ching from different aspects including philosophy, medicine, chemistry
and mathematics. And, with the changing life style and the emerging industrial and
commercial focus, scholars have started gradually to explore the relationship of
I-Ching to managerial philosophy. For example, Cheng and He (1999) believed that the
I-Ching philosophy could enhance the philosophical thinking of a manager as
suggested by Katz (1974). The latter stated that managerial skills are different at
different managerial hierarchies. The manager at a high level of responsibility
regarding the major development of the organization is most urgently in need of
conceptual skills in addition to technical and interpersonal skills. He must have the
ability to analyze himself and the environment he is into conceptualize the complex
situation and consider the organization from all viewpoints. Only in this way can the
manager prove to be excellent. If a manager can apply the spirit of I-Ching in a flexible
way in managerial behavior, he will be able to predict successfully and conduct
accordingly.
The Chinese academic world has not paid enough attention to exploring the treasure
of I-Ching. Any hidden managerial thoughts and the spirit in which to understand
them have not been discerned and elaborated in a scientific way. Most scholars have
been involved in the study of “Practice Divination” paying attention to the tracing and
interpretation of text only. Therefore, I-Ching’s own values and functions are limited
within a small and narrow range. If we can sum up and integrate the spirit, principles,
thoughts and methods of I-Ching in a scientific and systematic way in keeping with
modern managerial academics, we may be able to establish an empirical managerial
system based on combining the thoughts from ancient Chinese with those of
modern western world managerial approaches (Cheng and He, 1999). Within the
above-described framework, the authors intend here to explore I-Ching’s early
managerial decision-making model.
Literature references that apply I-Ching to management are few both in Asia and
abroad. Most deal with the interpretation and deduction of specific Kwas (pictures),
CMS and are difficult to compare and integrate with existing modern western managerial
2,1 thought. Most of the literature is in books covering practical management and
expresses those authors’ personal limited experience, demonstrating questionable
applications of I-Ching. Scholars mainly take a humanistic approach and rarely
consider a social science framework. It is difficult to elaborate on Chinese-style
decision-making contained in I-Ching in a framework of science and theory. It is
54 equally difficult to conduct any comparative study and dialogue of Chinese and
western management decision-making thoughts.
Purpose of study
The challenges presented above caused the authors to undertake by content analysis, a
single-word, classified statistical approach aimed at interpretations of Kwa, Kwa Ts’i,
and Yao Ts’i (Chinese words) that may show possible common but hidden constructs
or meanings related to modern managerial decision making.
The major research effort followed a social science approach. By systematic and
scientific analysis of I-Ching, we attempted to distill and explain Chinese-style
decision-making thoughts using modern management language and vocabulary. Also, the
paper expounded on similarities and difference between I-Ching and renowned western
models to identify common thoughts that may have led to creation and development of
Chinese-style management. This assumes that the early management decision-making
model is a typical example and that creativity and development are similarly addressed in
cross-cultural comparative managerial academics. I-Ching, however, has been developed
during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC) extending across Han, Tang, Song,
Ming and Qing dynasties with respective different new philosophies at different ages. The
authors, to grasp as much as possible the original meanings of I-Ching decision-making
philosophy, limit the study range and purpose to the early management decision model of
I-Ching of the Spring and Autumn Period.
Literature review
The Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), and the Warring States Period
(475-221BC) constituted the golden age of knowledge in Chinese history allowing
the co-emergence of several schools of thoughts. The philosophical systems of these
schools have had deep impacts on the core values, life attitudes and behavior of the
Chinese for thousands of years. Many of these philosophies contain managerial
conceptual frameworks or models, into which scholars from China and the western
world have directed attention in recent years. A general conclusion is that these
long-standing traditional managerial approaches have some aspects identical to
modern western management and some are even deemed better. The Ching of Chings,
I-Ching is the most familiar and most influential. It uses simple pictures ( Kwa and Yao)
and words (Kwa Ts’i, and Yao Ts’i) to represent the boundless things of the universe.
The content is perceived to be very abstract and hard for people to understand. Hence,
the authors will first explain I-Ching to help clarify the evaluation being presented.
The origin and content of I-Ching

I-Ching, is a classic book for divination used in ancient China. Three editions of I-Ching
were used in ancient days (Lianshan in Xia Dynasty; Guicang in Shang Dynasty; and
Zhouyi in Zhou Dynasty). The currently known I-Ching dates to the Zhou Dynasty.
I-Ching is believed to have been created by Fuxi in early ancient times. He used I-Ching’s
symbols to represent “Ying” and “Yang” to designate things and the changing decision-making
combinations of the two symbols (2 £ 2 £ 2 ¼ 8) to represent eight natural
phenomena (the basic eight Kwas). However, no names or interpretations were model
attached to Kwas at that time; rather each was represented only by a symbol. The eight
symbols and the natural phenomena they represent are shown in Table I.
The eight Kwas created by Fuxi are used to predict what will happen to people in 55
only eight different situations. With the expansion of land and population as well as
the increasingly complex human relationships after Xia (2070-1600 BC) and Shang
Dynasties (1600-1046 BC), the eight Kwa system was too simple to predict what would
happen in a complex world and the system was unable to characterize the complexities
of the rapid social development. Following the eight Kwa I-Ching, later versions were
developed during the three Dynasties noted in the preceding paragraph and these
comprised a more complex Kwa I-Ching system with 64 different symbols each with
corresponding names and interpretations. As the Zhouyi edition with Zhuxi’s
annotations was regarded as being canon from then on, the authors elaborated on the
Kwa, Kwa Ts’i, and Yao Ts’i of the Zhouyi edition only.
When Zhuxi made his annotations, he pointed out in the Upper Ching of Zhouyi (See
A Complete Version of I-Ching compiled by Nan Huaijin with Zhuxi’s annotations) that
Emperor Zhou Wenwang created Kwa Ts’i and Duke Zhou created Yao Ts’i. Emperor
Zhou Wenwang divided the eight Kwas into upper Kwas and lower Kwas and the
separation created altogether 64 Kwas. Namely, each Kwa has six Yaos for divination to
explain the recycling of things. This is the origin of I-Ching diagrams, which are termed
as “King Wenwang eight-Kwa” or “The Late eight-Kwa.” Subsequently, interpretations
of each of the 64 Kwas were added to explain the diagrams’ meanings. These were the
Kwa Ts’i of I-Ching. Duke Zhou, the son of Emperor Wenwang, believed that Kwa Ts’i
could not represent the complexity of Kwa changes. Hence, he explained the symbols
known as “Yao” one by one, thus creating the Yao Ts’i of I-Ching. Therefore, I-Ching
became more colorful and diversified assuring its acceptance as the major tool for
divination practiced by ancient Chinese (Shi and Sun, 2000; Cheng and He, 1999).
Each Kwa Ts’i represents a general statement as well as generalization of the Kwa
while the six Yao Ts’i of each Kwa are the detailed explanations of six situations,
which define six changes of that Kwa. It is believed that Confucius explained the
meanings of Kwa symbols by words in his book I-Ching Interpretations to upgrade the
practice of divination to philosophical thinking (Shi and Sun, 2000; Cheng and He,
1999). Confucianism tried to understand I-Ching with respect to life and education
while Taoism, Ying and Yangism and Moism tried to interpret I-Ching from aspects of
science and technology as well as philosophy and business management. Things in the
universe have long been interpreted by I-Ching. But, the interpretations and
applications of I-Ching differed because of situation differences associated with the
various dynasties and ages. In the course of history, I-Ching has been extended in its
application to astronomy, science, management and decision making (namely, the
application in management decision making).
The concept and meaning of Kwa and Yao

As mentioned before, the eight Kwas refer to the representation of eight natural
phenomena in the universe. Three Yaos represent the diagram of each Kwa; therefore,
2,1
56
CMS
Table I.
natural phenomena
Eight Kwa symbols and
Kwa symbols
Kwa name Qian Dui Li Zhen Xu Kan Geng Kun
Natural Heaven Pond Fire Thunder Wind Water Mountain Earth
phenomenon
Kwa Te Strong Gentle Complimentary Vibration Lying Low Risky Knowing Humble
(characteristics) limit
Corresponding Aggressive, CI, product Promotion, Mobilization, MIS Crisis Financial Change
modern sustainable packing brands and execution and information management management management
management development, advertising, sales, sales human resources management
concept or meaning strategic organizational management management,
management culture, salary organizational
management behavior
it is called a three-Yao Kwa. According to the Zhou Dynasty feudalism system, the I-Ching’s
Preliminary 9, the 2nd 9 and the 3rd 9 of the lower Kwas represent the people on the decision-making
street, the bureaucrats and the three senior Dukes (equivalent to mid- and senior levels
of management in modern companies), respectively. They comprise the management model
team without kinship while the 4th 9, the 5th 9 and the Highest 9 of the upper Kwas
represent feudal servants (directors and major shareholders), emperor (president, CEO)
and the temple (board of directors), respectively. They are representative of the 57
business management team and their kinship. Hence, in a family businesses, talented
strangers can only climb as high as the 3rd 9 level (mid- and senior-management level
such as the general manager). See Table II for status classification of Yao positions for
the Qian Kwa as an example.
Relationship between I-Ching and modern management philosophy

Shi and Sun (2000) pointed out that I-Ching contains a type of philosophical thinking
that changes with time (to fit the existing world changes). The philosophy is
characterized by prudent and practical values (based on human affairs with the
common feeling as the foundation from which to give advice for behavior regarding
things known to everybody and deduce the reasons for the existing affairs and ways of
dealing from simple Kwa symbols). It is a kind of practice philosophy (sing praise of
life and cherish life, point out the ups and downs of life, explain the meaning of life,
show the path for struggle in life and stress the harmony of Tao and the human heart)
or a recycling philosophy (to harmonize Ying and Yang, to compliment Gang (rigid)
and Rou (Gentle) instead of pursuing extremes), and a revolutionizing philosophy (the
essence of changes is revolution, rebirth is revolution).
Cheng and He (1999) believed that the real managerial spirit and theoretical values
of I-Ching lie in providing a series of scientific managerial principles and viewpoints
forming a type of unique managerial thinking system similar to modern management
thought. They proposed, for example, that managers embrace viewpoints of “change
and development” and take into consideration different types of schemes and
strategies in solving problems as well as be forward looking and flexible in the pursuit
of predetermined objectives by applying the principle of change.
I-Ching’s impact on modern decision making

Simon (1986) addressed that “Management is decision-making, decision-making is
management.” Furthermore, decision making must be carried out on the basis of
scientific prediction. Without scientific prediction, there will be no successful
managerial decision-making. Cheng and He (1999) regarded I-Ching as the science of
prediction. I-Ching provides the necessary inspiration for people to devise predictions.
People in ancient times created unique mystery symbols for divination (the Kwa
Symbol system), a unique type of combinations and Kwa structures that can be used to
Temple Highest 9 Upper Kwa (out Kwa) Qian Kwa Highest 9 Yao
Emperor 5th 9 Qian Kwa 5th 9 Yao
Feudal servants 4th 9 Qian Kwa 4th 9 Yao Table II.
Dukes 3rd 9 Lower Kwa (in Kwa) Qian Kwa 3rd 9 Yao The meaning of Yao
Bureaucrats 2nd 9 Qian Kwa 2nd 9 Yao positions of I-Ching (take
Common people 1st 9 Qian Kwa 1st 9 Yao Qian Kwa as an example)
CMS predict the changes of nature, society and human affairs. When people explore the
2,1 characteristics and types of changes of heaven, earth, things and affairs by each Kwa
and the special relationship between Kwas as well as Kwa interpretations in an
appropriate and unique way, they can discern advice regarding fortune or misfortune,
success or failure.
For more than 2,000 years, I-Ching has remained a very important decision-making
58 tool and a foundation for intuitive perception or a guideline for regulating mind and
behavior of Chinese people. Business people often apply I-Ching in predicting what will
happen to their business. A variety of applications in obtaining predictions are
commonly employed. These include applying Kwa by money, time, position, object, size,
number as well as character, pronunciation and color. Additionally, some still use the
ancient tortoise bone cracks and the grass method. To date, however, there is no
quantitative application known. The divination results often serve as references for
establishing factories, making investments or even arranging human resources. To
convert I-Ching into practical principles and methods, people in ancient as well as
contemporary times created concrete prediction methods to deduce astronomy,
geographical changes, climate changes and the fate of the nation and the people. Less
global applications involved subjects such as family, individual lot and concrete things.
Published reports attest to a very high accuracy of these uses (Cheng and He, 1999).
Shi and Sun (2000) discussed enterprise business management principles that may be
deduced from the content Kwa Ts’i. For example, from the evaluation of Ying and Yang,
they deduced that people or business can benefit by changing their attitude. Principles
set down by ancient scholars should be adhered to in business management in addition
to collecting advice from others, practicing retrospective thinking, evaluating key points
and discussing business management from the aspect of Kwa principles. One example is
that an incapable senior leader shall treat his capable subordinates in a pleasant and
humble way as illustrated by the Dui Kwa of the Preliminary eight Kwa. The 64-Kwa
may illustrate possible business management troubles. Moreover, the 384 Yao Ts’i can
be used to explain 384 possible situations and decision-making strategies.
Based on the creation, change and evolution theory of Ying and Yang reigning over
things, Hsu (1991) considered that I-Ching regarded the world as a harmonious entity
by stressing the harmony of heaven and human affairs as an appropriate way of
reigning over the state. His approach was to take a Kwa, illustrate its meaning and
deduce the appropriate way of governing the state. Lin (1997), according to the
concepts of fortune and misfortune stated in I-Ching interpretations, took the
foodstuffs industry as an example and devised a related co-efficient equation of theory
in business management from the aspect of mathematics. One aspect of this example
was that proprietor’s rights were conjoined to wood, the profits to water, and fixed
assets to dirt and so on. Zeng (1991), by way of divination, analyzed managerial
problems. He measured the related accessible data to find out why and how to improve
management by applying I-Ching widely in power allocation, organizational
development, organizational managerial decision making, exception management,
target management, time management, self-control, human nature management and
mid-level personnel management. Analyses of applications of I-Ching, by the above
authors are generally descriptions of individual experiences.
Guang (1998) weighed organizational climate based on the theoretical framework of
I-Ching to perceive eight different spirits of the organizational system by integrating
the Chinese philosophical foundation and managerial scientific statistical methods I-Ching’s
(factor analysis). Such a research approach has a relatively more modern scientific decision-making
foundation. However, the discussion, comparison and integration of corresponding
Chinese and western managerial thoughts are seldom considered and there are still model
many doubts on the objectivity of weighing organizational climate.
I-Ching was introduced to western countries as early as the sixteenth century when
first translated by a French Jesuit missionary. Up to the present time, the translations 59
and academic studies of I-Ching are flourishing in countries across Europe and
America. However, these studies are conducted from aspects such as linguistics,
comparative religion, and Chinese history, literature and even philosophy, particularly
Confucianism. They are known as Iology or I-Ching studies. Nevertheless, any study
related to management is seldom undertaken (Yang, 1996a, b, c).
It may prove beneficial to study the hidden messages contained in I-Ching, which can
serve as counterparts for dialogue or comparison to modern western managerial
decision-making concepts from the academic aspect of modern business management.
Independently, I-Ching is often applied to help in making personal decisions. For this
reason, the authors began examining individual managerial decision-making to determine
whether there are some hidden messages or concepts contained in I-Ching, which can be
converted into modern decision-making management thinking. Additionally, the authors
conducted a comparative study between these hidden messages and western individual
decision-making models to explore for similarities and differences, expecting to make
contributions to cross-cultural comparative management studies.
Methodology
Intuitive perception (divination) using Kwas and the resulting interpretations as well
as Yao Ts’i are often applied as a reference in making personal decisions and
evaluating behavioral criteria. Therefore, this research began by interviewing a
renowned domestic I-Ching master to become familiar with the Kwa names, the
meanings and applications of Kwa Ts’i, and Yao Ts’i. Subsequently, by content
analysis, the authors note the word content of all the Kwas, Kwa Ts’i, and Yao Ts’i to
find out any possible important decision-making concepts and meanings hidden in
I-Ching. Next, a preliminary sum up of the premises, situations, methods and
procedures integrated into steps for using I-Ching in making personal decisions would
be undertaken. Finally, we conducted a comparative study between the Chinese model
and several renowned western managerial decision-making models to identify
differences and similarities.
To achieve the aforesaid research objectives, we first developed a considerable
understanding of the basic content and framework of I-Ching in order to compare it
with western individual managerial decision-making models. This comprehensive
understanding allowed us to elaborate on the managerial decision-making concepts
contained in the wording of I-Ching. That effort consisted of interviews with Dr Henry
Lee (The Director of I-Ching Association) numerous times including five sessions of
question and answer discussions for a total time of 18 hours spent with him on July
14-30, August 6-29 and September 5 in 2003. From these sessions, we gained
confidence in our ability to apply I-Ching to managerial decision making.
The explanations and applications of early managerial decision-making concepts
in of I-Ching used in this research trace back to two main resources: the first,
CMS A Complete Version of I-Ching” recommended by Dr Henry Lee (Published by Laogu
2,1 Culture Co., Ltd) and secondly, recordings as well as dictation taken from discussions
with Dr Henry Lee. The first provided the original texts defining Kwa, Kwa Ts’i, and
Yao Ts’i of I-Ching and the latter provided explanations of those texts and the sharing
of his personal of experiences in applying I-Ching in managerial decision making.
60 Data analysis
The authors, using content analysis with a single word as the analysis unit, initially
attempted to list the 100 most commonly repeated words in all Kwas, Kwa Ts’i, and
Yao Ts’i as well as their total number of appearances relating to an understanding of
any possible concepts or meanings in managerial decision-making theory.
Content analysis also known as information analysis or documentary analysis
refers to the analysis of information concretely broadcast by mass media, particularly
the content of newspapers or magazines in a format of words. At present, content
analysis has been widely applied in many social sciences and behavior sciences and
has become a major data analysis method. The analysis uses the contents of interviews
or literature examinations as the analysis targets. By taking advantage of previously
developed analysis classifications as the foundation, results are obtained to reach
conclusions on the contents of interviews or literature reviews. The research reported
herein adopted a theme as the analysis unit to sum up words of similar meanings into a
theme that constitutes a single analysis unit..
Bowers (1970) focused on the value of content analysis believing that real content
analysis should be directed toward the content of speech of specific people to find out
some relevant point. The main value of content analysis is in the classified statistics
reported in systematic, objective and quantified ways and in the descriptive
explanations based on the statistics.
The major focus of research reported herein is a comparative literature study that
first focuses on the fundamental spirit and management decision-making process of
several major western individual managerial models and sums up the basic spirit and
the managerial decision-making process of I-Ching’s early management model.
Additionally, a comparative discussion of eastern and western decision-making
models is presented with emphasis on their similarities and differences.
Results and data analysis

As I-Ching is widely used in making individual managerial decisions, we began by
collating the words contained in all the Kwa Ts’i and Yao Ts’i of I-Ching using content
analysis. By calculating the number of appearances of words found in I-Ching, we
expected to determine if modern managerial decision-making constructs are integrated
there. The absence of definite and meaningful results, however, prompted the focus to
adopt another type of analysis, namely, a comparative study of I-Ching’s early
management decision-making approach relative to modern western individual
management decision-making models. The comparison was designed to evaluate
characteristics, common features, applications, the decision process and advantages
and disadvantages of each.
All the Kwa Ts’i in the 64-Kwa I-Ching are interpretations by Duke Zhou while all
the Yao Ts’i are interpretations by Zhu Xi regarding the divination results of Kwas.
Both are interpretations from the original text without fabrication. Hence, the initial
analysis examined them by content analysis summing up 1,080 words and selected the I-Ching’s
most commonly used 100 words shown in the Appendix (the 101st commonly used decision-making
word appears only 21 times, making no significance for repetition and discussion,
therefore, words used less commonly are left out of the list and discussion). model
Most of the words which appear at considerably high frequency are auxiliaries such
as “YEH, YI, CHIH, ERH, YU” and commonly seen in ancient Chinese literature.
Adjectives describing management decision-making situations represented by various 61
Kwas such as “CHI, CHEN, CHIU, HSIUNG” also commonly appear. Other single
words are types of nouns, verbs, adjectives and auxiliaries, which are not relevant in
terms of modern management decision-making construct or meaning. Even,
combinations of two single words or more cannot be easily interpreted in relation to
modern decision-making concepts. The interpretations of Chinese single words rely
often on context and consideration of complete phrases containing them can only allow
understanding of the correct expression. Therefore, we would be able to define the
meaning of these words only in terms of a complete phrase that includes the Kwa, Yao
Ts’i, and Kwa Ts’i.
A comparison between I-Ching early management decision-making model and western

Content analysis of Kwa, Kwa Ts’i, and Yao Ts’i only yield elaborations on the
decision-making results and do not allow us to identify the premises, steps and
applications of I-Ching’s early management decision-making model. The limited results
fail to make a definite contribution to management decision-making academic studies.
Another approach is needed to establish and explain I-Ching’s early management
decision-making model. The comparative study of Chinese and western management
decision-making models adopted in this research has been a more productive research
path. The outstanding advantages or features of the latter approach is that it also
permits a determination of whether the two models have something in common. Hence,
this section elaborates the contents of western decision-making models and I-Ching’s
early management decision-making model in sequence comparison.
There are five main types of western individual management decision-making
models: rational, bounded rationality, implicit favorite, intuitive, and garbage-can. We
will briefly introduce the five type models by describing premises, applications and the
decision-making process for each; then, elaborate on I-Ching’s early management
decision-making model within the role and scope of western theory.
Western decision-making models.
Rational decision-making model. The rational decision-making model indicates that
individuals can fully and completely search for and process all the necessary
information related to the decision-making; thus, individuals can make the most ideal
management alternatives. The management decision-making model believes that six
conditions of understanding allow individuals to make final management decisions.
In sequence, these are:
(1) define the problem;
(2) confirm the management decision-making principles;
(3) weigh the principles in preferential order;
(4) find out all the feasible schemes;
CMS (5) evaluate all the feasible schemes; and
2,1 (6) select the optimized scheme (Harrison, 1981; GreenBerg, 1999; Robbins, 2003).
The rational management decision-making model is also known as the optimizing

decision-making model.
Bounded rationality decision-making model. Simon (1997) believed that the decision
62 maker has to be confined by certain limitations when making decisions, being unable
to reach full rationality. Hence, he proposed the modifications to the rational

decision-making model whish became known as the Simon model or satisfying model.
This model states that individuals are limited in processing information, being unable
to acquire and absorb an optimum level of information. Therefore, the decision maker
cannot take into consideration and compare all the feasible schemes; instead, he can
only take a few key points to simplify the complexity of the requirements for rational
decision-making. The first feasible scheme chosen by the decision maker is usually the
one satisfying him. And the production of this scheme is often influenced by the
accumulation of past experiences. Hence, when making decision for similar problems,
the decision maker relies unconsciously on intuitive concept standards of his past
experiences to make the final decision. Owing to limitations of time and capabilities,
the feasible scheme reaching the lowest requirements can impinge on the decision
making, so that, the decision maker pursues a stratified solution instead of an
optimized solution (Forester, 1984).
The bounded rationality decision-making model steps are:
(1) confirm and define the problem and the need to make managerial decisions;
(2) simplify the problem to work out enough satisfying management
decision-making principles;
(3) identify familiar common feasible schemes (it is not necessary and impossible to
find out all the feasible schemes);
(4) evaluate all the schemes according to the management decision-making
principles; and
(5) find enough satisfying feasible schemes, namely, the stratifying solutions if
possible, or reconsider other alternative schemes and repeat steps (3)-(5) until
finding out enough stratifying feasible schemes (GreenBerg, 1999; Daft and
Noe, 2001; Kreitner and Kinicki, 2001; Robbins, 2003).
Implicit favorite decision-making model. This model is similar to the bounded
rationality decision-making model, believing that the decision maker tends to simplify
the management decision-making problem and process. However, this model is
relatively irrational and un-objective compared with the bounded rationality model.
Faced with a problem, a manager’s favorite solution likely appeared in his mind earlier
(although, he himself may never realize this implicit favorite solution!). This type of
favorite solution is arrived at from personal values, favors, disfavors, past experience
and expectations (Soelberg, 1967; Power and Aldag, 1985).
The management’s decision-making steps are:
(1) confirm and define the problem and the need to make managerial decisions;
(2) select the favorite scheme in mind (even though the decision maker may not
have realized it himself);
(3) confirm types of alternative schemes and select one of them (most favorable) to I-Ching’s
server as the comparison scheme; decision-making
(4) establish several management principles and weigh the favorable against the model
favorite scheme; and
(5) adopt the favorite scheme as the final management decision making result and
stop considering alternative feasible schemes.
63
This management decision-making process is similar to the bounded rationality

decision-making model. But it differs because it is manipulated by the implicit favorite
scheme of the decision maker giving it a bounded rationality form (by evaluation, it
looks similar to rationality, because the manager persuades himself and others to
believe that the selected scheme is the optimized solution). In fact, it is an irrational (the
favor in mind plays the major role in making decisions, affecting the alternative and
establishment of the management decision-making principles) decision-making
process (Soelberg, 1967; Power and Aldag, 1985; Robbins, 2003).
Intuitive decision-making model. When solving problems, the decision maker may
know the aforesaid bounded rationality decision-making process by which he selects
and confirms the final scheme. Instead, he is led by and reacts to the sub-consciousness
tempered by his past experiences to make the final managerial decision rapidly. The
intuitive decision-making model may not leave out rationality completely; instead, it
may be the integration and combination of rationality and intuition (Simon, 1987;
Behling and Eckel, 1991; Klein, 1998; Robbins, 2003). As the intuitive response is the
management decision-making process based on past-repeated cases and similar
problems, therefore, the decision maker gets used to applying the model to form the
rapid intuitive response with the help of his rich experiences and databank in his mind.
When faced with similar problems demanding management decision making, the
decision maker can rapidly select the final scheme by intuitively processing all the
rationality management decision-making steps.
Garbage-can decision-making model. Researchers learn from empirical studies that
the rationality model does not comply with real management decision-making cases as
defined by the rationality model. Rather, they are driven by a favorite behavior. In fact,
favor is created by customary behaviors. In reality, the management decision making
is a rational selection based on the expectation of behaviors to achieve the said
objectives. Individual favorites are different in nature and will change as the results of
selections, being inconsistent and imprecise. However, the ambiguity of bounded
rationality, conflicts and favorability is the controlling aspect. Hence, the rationality
management decision-making theory underestimates the difficulty and complexity of
real decision-making leading to a weak relatedness between the problem and the
solution. Therefore, the garbage-can decision-making model is considered as a type of
extension, but not a viewpoint replacing rationality model, a type of general framework
for management decision-making cases of complex participants’ mobility, problems
and solutions. In this model’s management decision-making procedure, events can be
understood or predicted but do not surpass the favorites (March and Olsen, 1986;
Kreitner and Kinicki, 2001).
The garbage-can decision-making model hypothesizes that the problem
(the difference between reality and an ideal case), the solution (solution to the
problem), the decision maker (the decision-making participants’ values, attitudes and
CMS experiences that may affect the management decision making) and the selection
2,1 opportunities (the management decision-making event) are all independent. They flow
from outside into the system and connect with each other, in some order of arrival time
and departure time, as well as do all the related problems, solutions, participants and
selection opportunities, together with the randomly produced interlinks, affecting the
management decision making. The final management decision-making is the result
64 produced by the random interactions of the four factors at a given time. The ideal
management decision will appear when the four factors become interlinked (March and
Olsen, 1986; Kreitner and Kinicki, 2001).

The decision maker usually does not know what he wants, what he can get and
there may be no relativity between the problem and the solution. Some problems have
solutions while others may have no solutions. Generally, important problems may
be solved however important selections (management decision-making scheme)
may have relatively impossible utility in solving the problem. Failure usually occurs at
the most important or least important selection. Even, when the problem does not
emerge, the decision maker may already have a consistent solution, however, the
solution may not be able to explain and solve the problem (Kreitner and Kinicki, 2001).
Generally speaking, the garbage-can management decision-making model tries to
understandthephenomenabycontemporary(temporary)situationalcommunicationandthe
current rules, believing that problems, solutions, the decision makers and selection
opportunitiesshallconnectatthesametime.However,becauseitscentralconceptistoreplace
thecauseandeffectrulebyacurrent(temporary)order,itsnatureisatypeoflooseconnection
withanexpectedimperfectmanagementdecision-makingprocess.
I-Ching’s early management decision-making model

Book 9, Volume I of I-Ching Interpretations states “The eight Kwas start from
insignificance and extend and expand to cover all the things in the world.” Book 10,
Volume I states:
[. . .] thereby gentlemen will ask for divination and follow it while proceeding; they are so
devoted to it that, be it far or near, deep or shallow, the future can be known. If it were not the
ultimate essence of nature, how could this happen? Numbers change, learn its changing rule,
then the law of nature can be derived; master its variation, then the graph of nature can be
determined. If it were not an ultimate variation of nature, how could it occur like this? I-Ching,
neither thinking, nor acting, be motionless, understand it and know its essence, if it were not
ultimate divinity of nature, how can it occur like this? Hence, the I-Ching, was what the sages
studied in-depth (Zhu, 2003).
WelearnfromtheabovecitationthatI-Chingcanbeusedfordivinationandexplanationofallthe
thingsintheworldmainlybywayof“HeavenandManTelepathy”thusunderstandingthe
changesofallthethingsintheworldservingasbehaviorprinciplesofgentlemen.
In other words, I-Ching builds upon the principle of:
[. . .] change in order to solve some problem (or trouble), change brings forward a solution
(a way to overcome the trouble), the proposed solution brings a new but different permanent
(action or behavior) and permanence once again identifies a problem.
I-Ching itself is the theory for the study of changes and new solutions that are put in
place: change Kwa depending on whether there is an active Yao. It requires skill to
change something at a certain time and in a certain form. The concept of heaven and
man becoming one underscores the consistency of the will of heaven and the heart of I-Ching’s
man. The will of heaven is the will of nature meaning the stimulus from the outside decision-making
world, which is able to “change” if the human heart will “act” to comply with it. In the
present ever-changing business management environment, the key to a manger’s model
successful decision making is to choose high flexibility according to his judgment,
professional skills and business management experiences thus ensuring chances of
sustainable development. The spirit of I-Ching’s early management decision-making 65
model exactly complies with the essence of a modern business manager’s

behavior. Hence, the I-Ching’s decision-making model can be termed as a flexible
decision-making model (integrating the will of heaven and the human heart).
I-Ching’s early management decision-making model suggests that we can gain
inspiration (and direction) by practicing intuitive perception (divination) when we are
limited by intelligence and information processing capabilities while making decisions
to solve a problem. The practicing of divination can be carried out with coins, tortoise
bones and grass. Such a decision-making method is regarded as receiving guidance
from natural phenomena (the will of heaven). The decision maker then further
interprets the will of heaven according to the explanations and interpretations of the
Kwa, Kwa Ts’i, and Yao Ts’i to make the final decision complying with the integrated
will of heaven and the human heart. The original Kwa names, Kwa Ts’i and Yao Ts’i
were all written by ancient Chinese (including Emperor Zhou Wenwang, Duke Zhou,
and Zhuxi) aimed at guiding their offspring to apply I-Ching in dealing with real cases
of difficulty as well as providing guidance on how to react correspondingly to avoid
misfortune or to welcome fortune. Hence, the contemporary decision makers should
understand the original meaning of such ancient texts and interpret them in solving the
phenomena with which they are confronted. In this way, final management decisions
can be made regarding the problems faced and one can undertake an appropriate
action plan.
The eight Kwas representing eight natural phenomena are the eight fundamental
constructs determining the management decision. By the overlapping of the upper eight
Kwas and the lower eight Kwas (each with six Yaos), we obtain altogether 64
(8 £ 8 ¼ 64) management decision-making results. In addition, during the practice of
divination, attention should be paid to the change of Yaos to provide the decision maker
with possible changes of a potential problem as well as corresponding responses.
Furthermore, one must judge whether the Kwa is consistent with the principles of
being in the right place (Yang Yaos at Yang places while Ying Yaos at Ying Places),
e.g. Dezhong, (the second Yao and the fifth Yao) and having a response (the first Yao
and the fourth Yao are complimentary to each other in terms of Ying and Yang; the
second Yao and the fifth Yao are complimentary to each other in terms of Ying and
Yang; the third Yao and the upper Yao are complimentary to each other in terms of
Ying and Yang; not all the Yaos, however, are Ying or Yang). Thus, the management
decision making represented by a Kwa has the possibility of turning fortune to
additional fortune or changing misfortune to fortune. This thinking is rarely seen in
western management decision-making models. Considering the optimized solution or
the most satisfying solution in western management decision-making theories, the
final management decision-making result chosen by an individual is clearly and
definitely a fixed and only solution with no consideration of possible changes of
weightings in the decision. The possibility of changes, however, may be presented
CMS during the process of individual rational analysis or while setting management
2,1 principles and favors as well as the choosing feasible evaluation plans in any pending
evaluation.
I-Ching’s premises or norms regarding the practice of divination are three cases of
no practicing and three cases of no divining. The former include the case of being not
strange, the case of being not turbulent, and the case of being not troublesome and the
66 latter refer to the case of being doubtful, the case of game, and the case of no trouble.
The purpose is to expect the decision maker can confirm the need to apply the practice
of divination in management decision-making and concentrate during that practice.

I-Ching’s early management decision-making model’s steps can be summed up as
follows: the decision maker:
(1) confirms the problem and the feasible action plans;
(2) confirms the need to apply the practice of divination in management decision
making;
(3) practice divination to get the Kwa;
(4) match the Kwa with the explanation and interpretation of Kwa, Kwa Ts’i, and
Yao Ts’i of I-Ching;
(5) the decision maker interprets the meanings of Kwa, Kwa Ts’i, and Yao Ts’i of
I-Ching and applies them in solving the problem; and
(6) take actions according to the suggestion given by I-Ching.
Comparison between I-Ching early management decision-making model and western

According to the aforesaid premises, procedural methods and efforts toward applying
I-Ching in management decision making, this research characterizes it as a
“flexible management decision-making model.” After analyzing Chinese and western
decision-making models separately, the research was extended to compare and analyze
similarities and differences of eastern and western decision-making models in terms of
some management decision-making characteristics.
Regarding the premises of executing management decision making, I-Ching’s early
management decision-making model shows similarity with the bounded rationality
model, the implicit favorite decision-making model, the intuitive decision-making model
and the garbage-can decision-making model. These similarities are based on the belief
that individuals cannot achieve complete rationality. In case of bounded rationality,
difficulty in management decisions is most noteworthy. However, the bounded
rationality decision model, the implicit favorite decision-making model and the intuitive
decision-making model all point out that the decision maker may get used to relying on
his past experience to choose a final solution plan, underlining the go-ahead ability of
the decision maker. The decision maker is highly involved in aspects including the
favorite decision of management decision-making principles, the selection of feasible
actions and subsequent cost-effectiveness evaluation.
I-Ching’s flexible management decision-making model stresses that the decision maker
can, by practicing divination, get considerable management decision-making inspiration
together with reference to corresponding ancient Chinese life and management
decision-making experiences (namely, the Kwa Ts’i and Yao Ts’i of I-Ching).
Additional input comes from the personal life experience, practices and deductive
capabilities of the practicing manager that assist him in understanding the current I-Ching’s
situations and actions to be taken. Hence, the decision maker is not as consciously involved decision-making
as in western decision-making models. In other words, the I-Ching flexible management
decision-making model underlines that the decision maker is in the state of mid-rationality model
(the degree of bounded rationality is lower than for the stratifying decision-making model
and the intuitive decision-making model) without grasping enough information necessary
for management decision-making. Therefore, the final management decision is made 67
relying on probability or other factors including the life wisdom of ancient Chinese in
predictive information.
In the garbage-can decision-making model, the final solution comes via a random
process, relying on the concurrent interactions of the problem, the solution, the
participant and the selection opportunities. This aspect is similar in some degree with
I-Ching’s flexible management decision-making model (regarded as a random method).
The two models mainly differ in that the decision maker in the garbage-can model
cannot manipulate to get a specific management decision-making reference result, or in
other words he cannot know or manipulate the concurrent interactions of the four
factors in the random process. In the practice of divination, however, the decision
maker can get a given management decision-making reference by way of a definite
self-serving behavior and activity.
In the rational model, the bounded rationality model, the implicit favorite model and
the intuitive model the decision maker can choose the management decision-making
principles and feasible action plans by his favoring and disfavoring, experiences and
expectations leading to relatively high flexibility. However, in I-Ching’s flexible
management decision-making model, the decision maker relies on the will of Heaven to
get the Kwa (which is the stimulation or change of the natural phenomena) and he
relies heavily on his understanding and interpretation of the Kwa Ts’i and Yao Ts’i.
This is the so-called concept of “harmony of heaven and man” in I-Ching.
The garbage can model relies mainly on process and is unable to involve highly
definite personal favorites of the decision maker. Hence, by comparison, it is relatively
rigid, more limited by probability and lacks flexibility.
Another point regarding the aforesaid western management decision-making
models is that they seldom talk about or offer possibilities to accommodate the
changing trends of the final management decision. Particularly, they are relatively
lacking in management decision-making weightings of various factors. By contrast,
I-Ching’s flexible management decision-making model offers changing viewpoints that
are able to foretell the decision maker the probability of rapid changes and the
responses including the aforesaid active Yaos (the Yaos may lead to a change of Kwa)
as well as the demands on whether the Kwa is in place plus Dezhong or having a
response. This makes the decision maker psychologically prepared to foretell or accept
the results of the final decision. The decision maker can even fine tune during
implementation to control the appearance of the final decision-making results.
Practicing divination regarding the prediction and understanding of the future
development of things is to conduct self-approval and self-modification continuously in
the development process without knowing certain conditions that may offer a similar
reference system. This offers a direction in which things develop and creates a positive
attitude for people, in spite of uncertainty, to be active in the development of things
allowing them to achieve the development ends (Cheng and He, 1999).
CMS It is notable that once the final management decision is made according to western
2,1 management decision-making models, it is axiomatic to implement the winning action
plan by steps. However, as far as I-Ching’s flexible management decision-making
model is concerned, besides the six possible management decision-making approaches,
the Kwa, Kwa Ts’i, and Yao Ts’i which were created by ancient Chinese during a
different epic and its social and cultural background are now expected to cause current
68 operatives to differ in interpretations thanks to different backgrounds, traditional
Chinese proficiencies, values, ideals, attitudes, experiences and expectations. Hence,

I-Ching’s flexible management decision-making model is relatively greater than
western decision-making models in terms of interpretative flexibility.
In an attempt to allow one to envision, all at once the main concepts and contents of
the several management decision-making models, they are presented in a comparative
way listed in Table III.
Cheng and He (1999) believed that management decision making is a subjective
behavior of rational and subjective decisions taken on the basis of understanding of
outside things. I-Ching as a way of practicing divination is proposed to help people
make better decision. Therefore, they suggested that we not treat I-Ching as mysticism.
The reason I-Ching can predict accurately, lies not in any mystic force helping us in
prediction but in inherent philosophical reasons. It should be stressed that the
philosophy of I-Ching contains scientific and logical observation and dynamic thinking
about surroundings to correctly master the divination prediction function for proper
presentation of the possible meanings denoted therein.
Confirmation of the non-mystic character of I-Ching by Cheng and He (1999) is
supported by Confucius who wrote appendices to it and by Zhu Xi who made
annotations to I-Ching. Confucius mentioned nothing about supernatural things, gods,
or monsters; rather, he tried to explain the humanities contained in I-Ching by Four
Books and Five Classics used in educating his students. As mentioned in Book 10,
Volume I, and in I-Ching Interpretation:
[. . .] a gentlemen will ask for divination and follow it before taking action; people are so
devoted to it that, be it far or near, deep or shallow, the future can be known; if it were not the
ultimate essence of nature, how could things occur like this? (Zhu, 2003).
Confucius believed that a gentleman could live by the instructions of I-Ching. “I-Ching
with Zhu Xi’s Annotations” was required reading for national civil servant
examination candidates during that period. Zhu Xi, strongly believed in the practice
of divination, and in support specifically drew four diagrams for I-Ching to assist the
convenience of learning. It therefore may be accepted that I-Ching is not a form of
mysticism because it is so highly extolled, ascertained and trusted by the two major
scholars, Confucius and Zhu Xi.
The authors of this paper believe that the practice of divination is useful to solve
problems through a decision maker’s personal understanding of Kwa, Kwa Ts’i, and
Yao Ts’i and deduction. When a decision maker relies on the flexibility of
interpretation of the Kwa Ts’i and Yao Ts’i of the Kwa and possible Yao changes as
well any preparation of development trends of things that continuously self-correct and
self-modify, this allows the establishing of an information reference system.
Hence, personal subjections are involved at this stage, and have nothing to do with
mysticism.
Model/factor I-Ching Rational Bounded rationality Implicit favorite Intuitive Garbage-can
Premises Uncertain with no Relative consistent Relative consistent Very explicit favor Consistent favor with Ambiguous and
understanding of favor, grasping favor, grasping with final solution in enough related hetero-nature favor,
principles management management mind management problem, solution and
principles and action principles and action decision-making participant as well as
plans plans experiences selection opportunity
Information Medium High Low medium Low Medium Low
Decision Probability or Decision maker Decision maker Decision maker Decision maker Problem, participant,
maker natural force solution and selection
opportunity
Rationality Process-limited Fully rational Medium-bounded Rational in form but Medium-bounded Low-bounded
degree result – high rationality irrational in nature rationality rationality
Procedure See text supra See text supra See text supra See text supra See text supra See text supra
Assisting Coins, bones, time, Rational Rational Rational Past experience Random results of
tools etc. management management management four factors
decision-making decision-making decision-making
steps steps steps in form, the
irrational one led by
implicit favor
Applications Cases of high Cases of high Relatively unstable Moderately stable High uncertainty, High instability, high
uncertainty no certainty and and uncertain cases of no precedent uncertainty and high
precedent or clue stability or clue, time-pressing complexity
Type Descriptive Normative Descriptive (random) Descriptive (random) Descriptive (random) Descriptive (random)
(random) (customary)
Objective Satisfying solution Optimized solution Satisfying solution Favorite solution Satisfying solution Random unstable
solution
Flexibility Procedure-low Procedure-high Procedure-high Procedure-high Procedure-low Procedure-low
Result-high Result-low Result-low Result-low Result-high Result-low
decision-making
and western management

decision-making models
decision-making model
Comparison between
model
I-Ching’s
I-Ching’s early
Table III.
69
CMS Compared with the spirit and procedures of western rational decision-making models,
2,1 it must be conceded that the management decision-making behavior presented by
practicing divination is relatively lower in rationality. It can be understandably
assumed to have something to do with random process and hence mysticism. After all,
it is difficult to prove that tossing coins or burning bones to determine an event has
high degree of modern rationality.
70 Nevertheless, the authors agree with Cheng and He in their viewpoint about the
philosophical reason that incorporates science and logic in I-Ching. As mentioned

before, the thinking system and constructs of the original I-Ching can hardly be
described precisely and accurately. In a word, I-Ching and Iology are characterized as
rational, however the medium for applying I-Ching – the practice of divination, can be
regarded as including some amount of mysticism.
Conclusions
I-Ching has been the standard reference for Chinese people in deciding major things in
life from ancient times up to the present. The decision-making element is the most
important element of I-Ching. Therefore, it should be useful to apply this approach to
decisions in business administration. An initial study to sum up the classifications and
appearances of single words in all the Kwas, Kwa Ts’i, and Yao Ts’i of I-Ching hoped
to identify possible management decision-making constructs contained therein. It was
determined that most of the single words are auxiliaries and nouns or adjectives
related to misfortune or fortune. The analysis, therefore, was unable to distinguish any
type of modern management decision-making construct or concept within 100 of the
most commonly occurring single words. A likely reason for this is that combinations of
words make sense in the context of management decision-making situations instead of
single words. I-Ching is so holistic in its approach to problem solving, it is almost
axiomatic that a single-word content analysis would fail in identifying constructs that
could directly relate to the decision-making process. The I-Ching model allows for
change to occur and be incorporated during the decision process thus de-contextualized
words would not be expected to offer appreciable reference to principles for managerial
practices. Furthermore, one cannot fully and precisely determine the original meaning
of I-Ching’s management decision-making structure.
A second and more successful approach was a comparative study of the Chinese and
western management decision-making models attempting to explain their similarities
and differences. Under the comparative analysis approach, the research first explained
how the eastern societies apply I-Ching widely to help in making management decision;
then looked for the similarities and differences between the Chinese flexible
management decision-making model and western modern management
decision-making models. This yielded a glimpse of ancient Chinese management
decision-making philosophy and modern western management decision-making
theories regarding thinking, method of implementation, uniqueness of procedures and
degree of compliance. Extending understanding of both systems should assist the
Chinese to more successfully apply the flexible management decision-making model of
I-Ching, which represents the eastern management decision-making philosophy that has
lasted for more than 1,000 years and allow us to translate it into modern management
decision-making vocabulary.
Yang (1988) proposed two concepts of the Taiwan Chinese, that of the traditional I-Ching’s
personality and behavior and a contrasting modern personality and behavior. The decision-making
former refers to that gestated in a traditional agricultural economy, social structure and
social pattern including extra-controlled attitude, submission to nature, past-oriented model
and reliance mentality. While the modern personality and behavior characterizes
personalities and behaviors gestated in the transition from traditional agricultural to a
modern industrial society, social structure and pattern including inner-controlled 71
attitude, supremacy over nature, future-oriented and possessing independence

mentality. Tradition and modernism need not oppose each other. The personalities
and behaviors of Chinese have undergone metamorphosis; however, this does not mean
that the earlier patterns have been discarded. Rather, with the rising degree of
modernism the Chinese personality and behavior gradually have developed with a
certain degree of traditional characteristics remaining.
It in now known from the comparative results of I-Ching’s and western management
decision-making models that Chinese and westerners differ markedly in personality
traits that define decision-making processes and behavior patterns. Chinese believe that
in their situation, success and failure are determined by gods, fate and other matters
(extra-controlled attitude), underscoring the harmony of heaven and man and the fusion
and submission of man to the universe (submission to nature). In addition, Chinese
believe that the traditional things are of highest value and they should respect the
traditions and follow their ancestors’ footsteps. Moreover, Chinese are usually diffident,
lacking in judgment and often in need of help or guidance (dependence mentality) from
others (usually seniors either in age or title, the respected and cherished ancient wisdoms
are also very important sources of opinions). Hence, Chinese usualy cannot make
decision independently when faced with trouble and are inclined to turn to I-Ching for
help or mystic guidance (Kwa) to which they are submissive. However, the decision
maker will never choose the interpretation of any guidance recklessly. Hence, a decision
maker must respect and rely on ancient Chinese interpretations of the Kwa (the Kwa Ts’i
by Emperor Zhou Wenwang, the Yao Ts’i by Duke Zhou and annotations by Zhu Xi) for
helping in formulating a final decision-making plan or action plan.
On the contrary, the modern personalities and behaviors of western people allow
them to make independent decisions by rationality when faced with problems. They
may interpret the problem, judge the advantages and disadvantages of various
solutions to control the environment and create opportunities and accept the results of
the implementation of the action plan.
“I-Ching’s decision-making thinking has a long history and its original
decision-making framework can hardly be identified.” It also seems impossible to
determine from their annotations how Duke Zhou and Zhu Xi created the original
framework of I-Ching. Furthermore, it is impossible to know how Duke Zhou and Zhu
Xi first interpreted the original framework and meanings of I-Ching. Even, if we knew,
we could not make sure whether the interpretations were done properly. Modern
statements on I-Ching applications, Emperor Wenwang’s Kwa Ts’i and Duke Zhou’s
Yao Ts’i and Zhu Xi’s annotations have nothing to do with the original meanings and
philosophical thinking of I-Ching. Therefore, the original I-Ching’s early management
decision-making framework cannot be precisely presented. The majority of the current
related literature agrees that I-Ching must have had a logic framework. However, no
literature is able to make the perfect judgment and presentation of I-Ching framework.
CMS This is a precondition limiting this research in trying to get the management
2,1 decision-making constructs of I-Ching.
This research sums up I-Ching’s early management decision-making model of the
Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, taking no consideration of
the new I-Ching decision-making models of Han, Tang, Song, Ming and Qing. Hence,
the research results are limited in the subsequent discussions and applications.
72 From a social science approach, it is appropriate, to analyze I-Ching’s early
management decision-making model to determine the modern management constructs

contained in Kwa, Kwa Ts’i, and Yao Ts’i. It is worthwhile to follow the several steps
which are required to complete this analysis. However, research topics are not limited in
management decision-making behavior and we should try to apply I-Ching widely to
important modern management concepts or behavior for comparative and dialectic
analyses. For example, modern enterprise functions mainly include research and
development, sales, production, finances, human resources, information and knowledge
management, which together create a very complex management environment, while the
eight basic fundamentals in I-Ching- namely the eight Kwas have unique and
corresponding modern management concepts or meanings (see details in Table I). The
Kwa combinations leading to 64 Kwas and 384 Yaos represent many types of
management situations resulting from intertwining and overlapping of different
enterprise functions.
I-Ching’s early management decision-making model thus can provide a reference
basis for managers in making managerial decisions. Additionally, because the relative
importance of various factors is also a very important basic character in modern
management, the changing results of decision making of I-Ching’s early management
decision-making model can provide modern managers with flexibility and response
needed to make decisions.
Examining the management utility of I-Ching and comparing it with western
models leads to the conclusion that one particular value of the former lies in its
nonlinear approach to decision making. I-Ching, the Book of Changes, can be assumed
to be a philosophical approach that fits well into decision making because it recognizes
and deals with the changes in the situation that nearly always occur when
management addresses problems. The evolving environment related to a problem is no
barrier to I-Ching’s approach which accommodates consideration of change as the
problem-solving activity progresses. The use of more linear method’s (western) to
problem solving are theoretically less suitable than the nonlinear I-Ching approach.
Especially, appropriate today is the belief that management functions successfully
when in harmony with nature. I-Ching is shown during its early development and
application to have been born from observing the harmony in natural systems.
Concomitantly the system brought human life into the pattern that sought harmony
with heaven and earth. Observing how things work in the harmony seems to be a
useful key in modern management.
I-Ching has been most often applied in practicing divination; however, its values are
not limited to that (Cheng and He, 1999) and may be adopted elsewhere as one develops
full understanding of their meanings and contents. From a philosophical viewpoint,
researchers should underscore and master the fundamental philosophical framework
and logic of I-Ching regarding the universe as well as the reality and methodology of
determining its meanings. I-Ching thus can be correctly applied in management.
Applying its functions and it becomes necessary to find out the original system and I-Ching’s
construction principles of I-Ching to get the precise grasp and statement on I-Ching’s decision-making
early management decision-making framework and concepts. This is a task of great
difficulty. Alternately, we may try less hard and undertake to determine whether Duke model
Zhou and Zhu Xi had already found out the logic for the interpretation of I-Ching as a
suggestion for future studies.
73
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Appendix
A total of 100 most commonly used words in Kwa Ts’i and Yao Ts’i
Yeh (653) Pu (288) Yu (257) Chi (252) Yi (239)

Chih (236) Chi (229) Li (185) Ta (169) Chen (168)
Erh (167) Chiu (147) Jen (129) Chung (127) Yu (124)
Tzu (123) Hsing (113) Chun (110) Wang (97) Yung (96)
Hsiang (95) Tien (95) Shen (92) Hsiung (88) Te (81)
Wu (76) Kang (75) Hsiao (71) Hsia (70) Fu (69)
Chih (68) Chung (67) Cheng (64) Wei (61) Ko (59)
Tao (57) Lai (55) Wei (54) Ming (52) Tsai (50)
Ti (50) Yu (49) Ju (47) Jou (45) Chien (45)
Wang (44) Hui (43) Yuan (43) Hu (42) Shun (41)
Shih (41) Li (40) Tang (39) Tzu (39) Tse (37)
Nai (37) Fu (36) Shih (36) Jih (35) Kuan (33)
Chu (33) Wu (33) Kuo (32) Yi (31) San (31)
Shuo (30) Cheng (30) Shih (30) Te (29) Wang (29)
Ming (28) Lu (27) Kuang (27) Ying (26) Yu (26)
Chuah (26) Shih (26) Huo (26) Tung (25) Wu (25)
So (25) Chen (24) Yu (24) Yi (24) Yeh (24)
No (24) Lin (24) Nu (24) Chia (23) Tung (23)
Min (23) Liu (23) Ching (23) Chiung (22) Chieh (22)
Tsugn (22) Yi (22) He (21) Kuei (21) Chien (21)
Note: Numbers in “( )” represent the total appearances of the words Table AI.
Corresponding author
Mu-Lan Hsu can be contacted at: mulan@cc.shu.edu.tw
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A comparison between I-Ching's early management decision-making model and western

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*Related content and download information correct at time of download.

The origin and content of I-Ching

The concept and meaning of Kwa and Yao

Relationship between I-Ching and modern management philosophy

I-Ching’s impact on modern decision making

Results and data analysis

A comparison between I-Ching early management decision-making model and western

The rational management decision-making model is also known as the optimizing

to reach full rationality. Hence, he proposed the modifications to the rational

This management decision-making process is similar to the bounded rationality

Olsen, 1986; Kreitner and Kinicki, 2001).

I-Ching’s early management decision-making model

model exactly complies with the essence of a modern business manager’s

of divination in management decision-making and concentrate during that practice.

Comparison between I-Ching early management decision-making model and western

Chinese proficiencies, values, ideals, attitudes, experiences and expectations. Hence,

Model/factor I-Ching Rational Bounded rationality Implicit favorite Intuitive Garbage-can

and western management

philosophical reason that incorporates science and logic in I-Ching. As mentioned

attitude, supremacy over nature, future-oriented and possessing independence

management decision-making model to determine the modern management constructs

supplies manufacturing”, Chiao Da Management Review, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 81-97

Taipei (in Chinese).

Yeh (653) Pu (288) Yu (257) Chi (252) Yi (239)

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com

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