Insights from E=mc2 for management research

Citation

Teck Foo, C. (2013), "Insights from E=mc2 for management research", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 7 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/cms.2013.32307baa.001

Insights from E=mc2 for management research

Insights from E=mc² for management research

Article Type: Foreword From: Chinese Management Studies, Volume 7, Issue 2

Few scholars in Chinese management look towards the sciences to inspire them in thinking and writing. Many papers that I have had reviewed for Chinese Management Studies tend simply to be empirical replications of prior studies. These studies are heavily statistically oriented and based on ideas originating in the West. In this editorial foreword for a thematic issue entitled “Management across industries” I shall try to draw conceptual parallels between physics and Chinese management.

Two professors made possible this editorial foreword. First, the Guest Editor, Professor Jiang Yu, through his editorial foreword, had freed me from the task of writing an overview of the papers. As you will find, these high-quality works, though diverse, share a convergence; and that is on management across the different industries. Second, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity for many delightful discussions with Emeritus Professor Sreedharan Nair on E=mc² as well as on Bhagavad-Gita.

The ideas in sciences that fascinate me relate to breakthrough reflections on energy, mass and speed. China, like India, is a civilization size country with a concentrated, billion-size mass (M) of people. For the political leaders of these countries, their focus should be on releasing the potential energy (E) of their peoples. Think deeply, and you realize it is more than just employment through industries. Continuous creation of new technology giving birth to rising industries is a deeper strategy in releasing the energy of the population.

Symbolically, we may present both quantities simply as: M⇔E; the double-headed arrow signifying equivalence via a transformational process. Every countryhasdifferent economic structures and thus differential rates of thistransformation. In theory, ceteris paribus, the larger the mass of people, the greater is the available energy (human) to be released for enhancing industry.

One fundamental reason for the very fast growth of the Chinese economy is in China’s re-structuring of her economy: centrally planned to fierce, free-market capitalism. State-owned enterprises (SOE) pale in their transformative power as compared to the small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In other words, SMEs enable people a far greater scope for release of energy. In the latter, people may better devote their energy towards becoming adaptable, competitive and innovative.

Let me begin to draw the parallel.

I shall invoke Einstein’s E=mc². Why? Because it is one of the most enduring pieces of work in the sciences; where E – energy, m – mass, c – constant for the speed of light, squared – 2. It is probably today one of the most popularly known formulae. The original paper (written in German) is titled “Ist die Tr ägheit eines K örpers von seinem Energiegehalt”. This is translated as “Does the inertia of a body depend upon its energy-content?” The article is freely downloadable[1].

From the title, it appears that Einstein’s initial formulation is focused on qualitative attribute: “inertia” aspect of a body being mass, m. Indeed on September 27, 1905 he using different lettering with L signifying energy (instead of E) put it down as follows: m=L/c². His insight is: “The mass of a body is a measure of its energy-content” (third paragraph from the last).

The most intriguing aspect of Einstein’s thinking lies in probing into “energy-content” as embedded in a given mass of a body: for example, say a log of wood or stone and metaphorically, an organization or army. Here is where I shall take a leap and draw a parallel in conceptual thinking: 2,500 years ago, Sun Zi (pin-yin) (in the West, Sun Tzu) alluded to this in his Art of War.

Yes, on how to release the tremendous energy-content that he perceived to lie within a massive army of foot soldiers including cavalry. Illustratively, he drew on the metaphor of a log or stone (read mass). Towards the end of Chapter 5, Sun Zi wrote on bamboo strips and in a style of Chinese typical of the Spring and Autumn period, as follows:

(Such a one who realizes power in attack) (his warriors turn to be) (like unto rolling logs or stones).

He then explained, (For it is the nature of a log or stone to remain) (lying on ground, to be quiet) (on edge of a slope, to move)”. Then commenting on the shape of the logs or stones: “; (if square shape, not to roll); (round-shaped, to roll)”.

Up to here, Sun Tzu had recorded his inquiry as to the nature (shape) of the logs or stones (mass) resting on the ground (inertia) as a metaphor for the army. His investigation, like Einstein, had been inspired by the desire to realize the potential (measure) of energy-content buried in a given body (for Sun Zi, the army).

Sun Tzu then theorizes on warriors achieving tremendous energy (power) in attacking thus:

(Thus, excellent warriors’ tremendous power of attack is) (like rolling stones down a mountain thousands of feet in height) (So much on realizing power in force of attack) […]

(Translated by Dr Foo Check Teck, adopting a line-by-line approach).

It may be instructive to quote in full Lionel Gile’s more than a hundred years’ old rendering of these lines of Sun Tzu’s Art of War. He numbered the line as 23 within chapter 5, which he titled most interestingly as “Energy”)[2]:

[…] Thus, the energy developed by good fighting men is as the momentum of a round stone rolled down a mountain thousands of feet in height. So much on the subject of energy […]

Arguably, Sun Tzu had the concept of “momentum” through his acute observations of round logs rolling down a mountain. Technically, the measure of momentum is rendered by multiplying mass (m) with its velocity (v)[3]. Yet, it is clear from how Sun Tzu recorded this insight (a thousand feet) he was referring more precisely to the force generated through “acceleration” (a) in speed.

Or mathematically with t for time:To be exact, Sun Tzu was quantifying height of the mountain using an ancient measure of “” (pinyin, ren). From my research, one ren is said to be equivalent to seven or eight chi (or feet, “”). Thus, he was thinking more of force (specifically “”; pinyin shi): Wiktionary puts shi to mean power, force. In other words, Sun Tzu may possibly be describing “accelerating” force in the Newtonian sense.

The force builds up into greater power the further logs roll down a high, steep and sloping mountain. The general (CEO) who realizes such a force of power inherent in a body of army, he describes as “” (in pinyin, ren shi zhe). In other words, Sun Tzu was deriving insights for managing an army from observations of the physical world of logs rolling down mountains.

Intriguingly, it is a falling apple from a tree that inspired Sir Isaac Newton. He formulated his Second Law of Motion in his 1687 Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Latin) or as rendered in English: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. His work is widely known as Principia wherein the relationship is spelt out:and this is the force as contemplated by Sun Tzu. In Figure 1 I attempt at exploring the metaphorical equivalences in the conceptual ideas of Einstein and Newton in sciences with Sun Tzu on management of strategy.

Perhaps scholars in management too may want to explore metaphorical equivalences between sciences and management. What is the next challenge? In case you are in need of a suggestion: how about relating the Higgs boson to management? In particle physics, it is the particle that long eluded physicists despite its critical role of enabling mass (m).

In conclusion, I am very glad that the new leaders of China, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang are both very positively oriented towards the future. The former, will transform China as a nation towards a “great renaissance”.

The latter alluded to a doubling of a person’s pay if he or she speaks both in Chinese and English!

Check Teck FooEditor-in-Chief

Notes

www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/E_mc2/e_mc2.pdfwww.gutenberg.org/ebooks/132http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momentumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton’s_laws_of_motion