Organizational political tactics : Hanfei’s Legalist doctrines of leadership

Hanfei or Hanfeizi (ca. 280-233 BC.) is considered one of the most influential political philosophers in the Chinese history. His extraordinarily complex and sophisticated discourse made him a legend of his age and beyond. Based on Hanfei’s political philosophy on law, tact, position and Taosim, the paper proposes a Chinese perspective in understanding organizational political tactics. Specifically, the paper introduces Hanfei’s legalist doctrines of leadership and simultaneously compares his political discourse with the Western developed approaches of political behavior and influence tactics. The paper identifies ten political tactics: definite punishment, bestowing reward, surveillance, pseudo-consultation, stratification, manipulating information, inverting words, strategic persuasion, inaction and centralization. Additionally, two hypotheses based on Haifei’s strategic persuasion are also proposed. Discussion and directions for future research are also addressed.