“Managerial grid” and Zhuge Liang’s “Art of
management”: integration for effective project
management
States that much of the
existing management litera-
ture was written entirely from
a Western perspective with-
out any reference to practices
in the East. Explains that, in
the booming East Asian mar-
ket, project managers from
the West would need to pay
special attention to Oriental
beliefs, cultures and philoso-
phies. Attempts, for the
purpose of integration, to put
together the managerial grid
framework from the West with
an ancient Chinese strategic
treatise written by Zhuge
Liang 1,600 years ago. Sug-
gests that there are many
similarities between the
“Managerial grid” and Zhuge
Liang’s “Art of management”
when used to resolve prob-
lems related to project man-
agement.
Management Decision
35/5 [1997] 382–391
© MCB University Press
[ISSN 0025-1747]
[ 382 ]
Low Sui Pheng
School of Building and Estate Management, National University of Singapore,
Singapore
Ben S.K. Lee
School of Building and Estate Management, National University of Singapore,
Singapore
Introduction
The Chinese expression Shang Chang Ru
Zhan Chang is translated to mean “the mar-
ketplace is a battlefield”. Because the market-
place, in the eyes of the Chinese, is a battle-
field, military strategies are held in high
esteem for guiding business operations.
Many of the principles enunciated in military
strategies are, in fact, already commonly
applied in Chinese societies, among which
are the 16 strategies found in Zhuge Liang’s
“Art of management”. Zhuge Liang was a
prominent statesman during the period of the
Three Kingdoms (AD220-280). Since Zhuge
Liang’s philosophy follows the Taoist concept
which portrays interrelatedness and relativ-
ity, according to which there is no absolute
good or bad thing in the world, this would
mean that his strategies are not limited only
to military affairs but are equally applicable
in many different fields, including project
management. Similarities which may be
drawn between project management and
military strategy include:
• organizations must be well organized and
managed;
• organizations and wars require strategies
and tactics;
• the leadership of an army and an enterprise
has an important influence in shaping
success;
• they both need high quality and committed
people;
• they both thrive on information.
Zhuge Liang’s “Art of management” contains
specific strategies for governing a country.
This can be used to overcome the obstacles
one would encounter when ruling a country
just as a project manager would face obsta-
cles in managing a project. Lau (1996), in
examining the management styles of indige-
nous bumiputra contractors in Malaysia, has
suggested the adoption of Zhuge Liang’s 16
strategies by these contractors in overcoming
their weaknesses.
It is the contention of this paper that much
more could be gained if Western management
wisdom could be cross-fertilized with Orien-
tal thinkings and philosophies. Without this
integration, Western management principles
may be handicapped by their lack of rele-
vance when applied in the Eastern context.
The aim of this paper is to provide an insight
into how effective project management can be
achieved by integrating Zhuge Liang’s “Art of
management” with the “Managerial grid”
propounded by two management theorists
from the West, namely Blake and Mouton
(1964). It seeks to examine the basic princi-
ples of the ancient “Art of management” and
the “Managerial grid” for integration and
establish their relevance for project manage-
ment. In the process, it will apply these two
works to problems commonly encountered in
project management.
History of Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang, an outstanding statesman and
military scientist, also called Zhuge Kong-
min, was a native of Lang Yia but lived at Nan
Yang during the last years of the Eastern Han
Dynasty (AD25-200) and the period of the
Three Kingdoms (AD220-280). He studied in
detail the Chinese classics during his stay in
Nan Yang and became talented and knowl-
edgeable, rich in his thoughts and subtle in
analysing critical political situations.
When Dong Zhuo rebelled, followed by
many other military leaders, Zhuge Kong-
min worked as a farmer and sought neither
promotion nor reputation, and was known to
the people as “Sir Wo Lung”, meaning sleep-
ing dragon. His name eventually became
known to Liu Bei, an imperial descendant of
the Han Dynasty, with whom he agreed to
work on the strategy to revive the Han
Dynasty. At that juncture, Cao Cao was in
command of the rebels in central China.
Zhuge Liang acted as Liu Bei’s counsellor and
allied with Sun Quan to inflict a heavy loss on
Cao Cao at the Red Wall on Chang Jiang.
Thereafter, he helped Liu Bei capture the two
states of Jing and Yi.
Having at length seated Liu Bei on the
throne, Zhuge Liang served as the Prime
Minister and was bestowed the title of Mar-
quis. He was a genius and showed creativity
in his administration, affection to his people,
was genial in his dealings with public offi-
cials and frugal in his own life. For more than
Low Sui Pheng and
Ben S.K. Lee
“Managerial grid” and Zhuge
Liang’s “Art of management”:
integration for effective
project management
Management Decision
35/5 [1997] 382–391
20 years, he devoted himself ardently to inter-
nal reforms with an attitude of sincerity,
strict in manner but merciful in action. With
an emphasis on the penal code and economic
development, the nation under the gover-
nance of Zhuge Liang grew rapidly.
To seek unity, he first pacified the distur-
bance in the south and then undertook sev-
eral expeditions to restore central China.
Although he did not succeed in reviving the
Han Dynasty, he achieved considerable dis-
tinction as an outstanding statesman and
military scientist. He also invented a distin-
guished attacking and defending formation
known as “Ba Zhen Tu”. Apart from his royal
virtues, Zhuge Liang exercised tremendous
influence in the political, military and liter-
ary history of China.
In his life time, Zhuge Liang wrote many
articles, among which “Jiang Wan Wu Shi
Pian” (Fifty traits of a general) and “The art
of management – sixteen strategies” were two
well-known military and political treatises
(Wang, 1995).
Zhuge Liang’s “Art of management”
The 16 strategies propounded by Zhuge Liang
in the “Art of management” are outlined
below (Wang, 1995):
Strategy 1 – governing a country
Governing a country is similar to that of
running a household. The most important
element in a household is to get the funda-
mentals right and the rest of the related mat-
ters would then follow suit. Hence, the foun-
dation of a household would depend on the
head. In Zhuge Liang’s writings, the north
star is representative of the ruler. It is sup-
ported by six other stars which are likened to
senior ministers and people are like the myr-
iad other stars in the night. The position of
the north star remains constant as a constant
term of reference.
Strategy 2 – relationship between the ruler
and subjects
A ruler must treat his subjects benevolently
and, in return, the subjects must serve their
ruler with loyalty. Those who are not loyal
would not be able efficiently to serve the
ruler. To achieve this, the ruler should take
care of the interests of his subjects, exercising
benevolent rule and treating them as his own
family members. In essence, respect for each
other is much more critical than just obeying
and giving orders.
Strategy 3 – to view and listen
The basic principles of viewing and listening
is to be able to see minute matters and hear
soft sounds that are produced. This is because
small matters are often missed and soft
sounds ignored. A wise ruler must, therefore,
be able to pick out details from very small
matters and be able to identify grievances
behind a simple complaint. The idea is to use
the stability of the internal to achieve the
peace for the external and vice versa. An
ability to see the brightness of daylight but
not the suffering of subjects is not seeing. The
same goes to being able to hear the thunder
and not the crying of subjects is not hearing.
Hence, the art of running a country is to be
able to listen to the views and opinions of
subordinates and ponder over them before
committing to any actions. There is a saying
that a wise man would not have any fixed
thinking, but adopt the views of others as his
own. This does not mean that a ruler should
be fickle-minded but rather he needs to have
his own priorities and standards.
Strategy 4 – acceptance of advice
The principle of acceptance is to be able to
listen to advice and to adopt the strategy as
appropriately suggested by subordinates. A
ruler would, therefore, need to have subjects
who dare to criticize so that when his actions
are not appropriate, the criticism can prevent
the ruler from adopting a bad policy. Thus, if
a ruler is unable to accept frank and honest
comments from his upright subjects, he
would then be surrounded by evil and fawn-
ing villains which will bring misfortune to
the country. The ruler would consequently
not be able to listen to the true views of his
subjects who refrain from reporting the true
picture to him. Even Confucius thinks that it
is not shameful to learn from those who are
less intelligent. Good medicine often tastes
bitter and good advice is often unpalatable.
Strategy 5 – being perceptive
Being perceptive means to be able to tell dif-
ferent colours apart and also to differentiate
noise from melodies. Confucius once said that
“A wise ruler is not worried that others are
unable to comprehend him, but he should be
concerned as to whether he is able to under-
stand others”. To be able to understand oth-
ers, the ruler should be perceptive. However,
to be perceptive, one should pay attention to
the motive of each of his immediate subordi-
nates. A ruler needs to be extremely careful
in deciding what is right and what is wrong.
Strategy 6 – managing people
To manage people, a ruler must educate them
and highlight what is expected of them. He
must let his subjects understand his inten-
tions and plans so that they can appreciate
government policies. In order for his subjects
to understand his intentions, there must be a
set of comprehensive laws for them to follow.
When his subjects are united and won over,
the country would prosper.
[ 383 ]
Low Sui Pheng and
Ben S.K. Lee
“Managerial grid” and Zhuge
Liang’s “Art of management”:
integration for effective
project management
Management Decision
35/5 [1997] 382–391
[ 384 ]
Strategy 7 – selection of people
The principle of selection of people is to place
forthright, capable people into key positions
to control crafty sycophants and rapacious
villains. A country with capable leaders is
just like a house that is supported by strong
pillars. If the pillars are too small, then the
house would collapse just as would a country
if it is governed by incapable people. It is
therefore important for the ruler to seek out
capable people to assist in the running of the
country.
Strategy 8 – performance evaluation
For a country to remain strong, prosperous
and free from corruption, it is important to
evaluate the performance of government
officials. Good officials with outstanding
performance need to be promoted, whereas
those who performed poorly should be dis-
missed. The criteria for evaluation of officials
should be based on the general feelings of the
people. A ruler who only sees the petty gains
is short-sighted and is likely to be one who
will use his likes and dislikes as criteria for
evaluating officials. This will inevitably lead
to a corrupt administration dominated by
treacherous officials. Hence, when evaluating
performance, the criterion should be based
on whether they can contribute to the success
of the administrative service. It is dangerous
for a ruler to be swayed by personal feelings
and preferences.
Strategy 9 – military administration
A country needs to have a strong army in
order successfully to defend itself. A strong
army would be able to defend not only the
people but also help prevent internal strifes.
Mobilizing the army and defending the coun-
try are extremely important matters where
decisions should not be made rashly. A mili-
tary move must be planned carefully in
advance. This enunciates one important
aspect of Zhuge Liang’s principles, namely
prudence and the need for good planning. The
army must have the support of the people, the
troops must be well trained and the soldiers
understand the rewards and punishments
that would be given. The ruler, on the other
hand, must be aware of the enemy’s strategy
and also be familiar with the situation of the
battlefield. Thus, a small army with good
preparation and meticulous planning should
be able to defeat a larger but badly trained
enemy.
Strategy 10 – rewards and punishments
A ruler who wants to have a clean and effi-
cient administration must be able to reward
the good and punish the wrongdoer. Rewards
and punishments must be seen to be fair and
equitable. The subordinates must know when
they would be rewarded so that they will be
committed in their endeavours. Likewise,
when punishing a subordinate, he should also
understand why he is being punished. In this
way, people would be loyal to the ruler and
adhere to his instructions.
Strategy 11 – on emotions
A ruler should be dignified and not irascible.
He should constantly be conscious of his own
bearing and be in full control of himself. This
means that he may still show his indignation
but not lose his head. The essence of this
strategy is such that the ruler must control
himself both in times of happiness and anger.
He may therefore be joyous but not frivolous.
He should not jeopardize the country’s inter-
est just for the sake of venting his personal
grievances. Neither should he be preoccupied
with his personal affairs so much so that he
forgets about state administration.
Strategy 12 – controlling chaos
In order to control chaos, a person must first
settle the immediate problems before solving
those that are further away. He should also
correct himself first before controlling others.
In so doing, he can then gain respect from
others. Reforms, if any, should not be carried
out abruptly as these may cause further
chaos. Reforms should be carried out care-
fully according to prevailing conditions of the
state. Moreover, a violent course of action is
not the right way to deal with a chaotic situa-
tion.
Strategy 13 – education and orders
A ruler who is lax with himself but strict with
his subordinates is practising a bad policy.
Whereas if he is strict with himself before
issuing orders, he is practising a good policy.
A ruler who does not practise what he
preaches would find it very difficult to
enforce his orders. If this happens, then the
country would be in chaos. Hence the essence
of this strategy is to watch oneself before
ordering others.
Strategy 14 – dealing with difficulties
A state must establish laws and regulations.
Such laws must be obeyed once established
and anyone who disobeys them should be
punished accordingly. Such actions should be
carried out swiftly and decisively so as to
prevent disobedience from causing greater
and further damage.
Strategy 15 – looking ahead
A ruler who is not far-sighted or does not plan
carefully is bound to have worries. However,
one should not consider problems that are not
directly related to him or his position. For a
plan to succeed, one should take into consid-
eration the likely reasons that would cause
the plan to fail. By being able to foresee what
Low Sui Pheng and
Ben S.K. Lee
“Managerial grid” and Zhuge
Liang’s “Art of management”:
integration for effective
project management
Management Decision
35/5 [1997] 382–391
likely factors would affect the plan, one would
be able to take the necessary precautions to
prevent these factors from happening again.
This is especially true of the ruler as all hopes
of his subjects are on him. If he does not
strive for advancement or plan ahead, the rest
of the country will have to suffer under his
poor leadership.
Strategy 16 – observation
The essence of this strategy is that one should
be observant in order to be able to compare
and understand the characteristics of differ-
ent people or environment so as to make the
best out of them. For example, one need not
go to a river to bathe as long as one can wash
the dirt from one’s body or to have a sage as a
minister or a general as long as he is intelli-
gent and capable. This means that a ruler
should be able to put the talents of various
people to good use so that they can contribute
their best to the country. This is because dif-
ferent people have different experiences and
capabilities. A clever leader should make use
of the talents of various people to overcome
difficulties.
“The managerial grid”
“The managerial grid”, developed by Robert
Blake and Jane Mouton (1964), is among one
of the most well known behavioural
approaches to management. The two most
useful dimensions proposed by Blake and
Mouton (1964) are concern for production and
concern for people (Malain et al., 1989). These
two dimensions represent the dilemma that a
project manager faces. He has to achieve the
objective of the project (production) and at
the same time, manage his subordinates
(people). Thus the dimension, concern for
production, would include results, bottom
line or profits. It covers both the qualitative
and quantitative aspects of a project. Hence,
in a building project, it may take the form of
efficiency in design, the time required to
complete a section of the work planned,
ensuring that there is no cost overrun, or the
attainment of a specified level of quality. Con-
cern for people may be revealed in many
ways. Some project managers’ concerns are
shown in their effort to ensure that project
team members get their job done. Getting
results based on trust, respect, obedience,
understanding or support is a manifestation
of concern for people. Depending on the char-
acter of concern, project team members may
respond with enthusiasm or resentment,
involvement or apathy. The grid is a set of
theories about how people use their intelli-
gence and skills in working with and through
other people for results. It forms a matrix of
possible management styles as shown in
Figure 1. From the total of 81 grid positions,
five are being distinguished as being of key
importance. These are:
• 1,1 Impoverished management. Managers in
this position have little concern for people
or productivity, avoid taking sides and stay
out of conflicts. They do just enough to get
by.
• 1,9 Country club management. Managers in
this position have great concern for people
and little for production. They avoid con-
flicts and concentrate on being well liked.
Their goal is to keep people happy.
• 9,1 Authority-compliance. Managers have
great concern for production and little for
people. They desire tight control in order to
get tasks done efficiently. They consider
creativity and human relations unneces-
sary.
• 5,5 Middle-of-the-road management. Also
known as organization man management.
Managers in this position have medium
concern for people and production. They
attempt to balance concern for both but are
not committed to either.
• 9,9 Team management. This leadership
style is considered ideal. Such managers
have great concern for people and produc-
tion and work to motivate employees to
reach the highest levels of accomplishment.
They are flexible and responsive to change,
and understand the need to change.
Blake and Mouton (1964) concluded that the
leadership style at grid position 9,9 (team
management) is the most effective for organi-
zations. The following sections examine the
behavioural elements and principles of the 9,9
grid position and how these may be applied to
project management.
Behavioural elements of the 9,9
managerial grid
The behavioural elements of the 9,9 manager-
ial grid are explained below:
• Initiative. In the 9,9 orientation, initiative is
exercised in a strong, pro-organizational
manner. The leader is likely to be eager,
vigorous and able to sustain a significant
capacity for work. Initiative may arise
externally to the team or from any of its
members, thus not relying solely on the
team leader. Nevertheless, the major cause
for a lack of initiative, if any, is because
each project team member is
predominantly concerned with his own
part and is unlikely to generate the use of
techniques that have implication for the
project as a whole. There is no need to wait
for instructions from the project manager.
• Inquiry. Inquiry is comprehensive and in
depth, ensuring that all bases are evaluated
in an analytical manner that increases the
likelihood of understanding the problem.
The approach to understanding tends to be
carried out on a team basis. This means
[ 385 ]
Low Sui Pheng and
Ben S.K. Lee
“Managerial grid” and Zhuge
Liang’s “Art of management”:
integration for effective
project management
Management Decision
35/5 [1997] 382–391
Figure 1
Managerial grid styles
Concern for
people
9 Team management (9,9)
Country club management (1,9)
Production is from
Production is incidental to lack of
integration of task and
8 conflict and ‘good fellowship’
human requirements

7
Dampened pendulum (5,5)
(middle of the road.) Push
6 for production but don’t go
‘all out’. Give some but not
5 all; ‘be fair but firm’

Impoverished management (1,1)

3 Effective production is unobtainable
because people are lazy, apathetic
and indifferent. Sound and mature
2 relationships are difficult to achieve
because (human nature being what
it is) conflict is inevitable
1
1 2 3 4
Concern for production
Task management (9,1)
Men are a commodity just
like machines. A manager’s
responsibility is to plan,
direct and control the work
of those subordinated to
him
5 6 7 8 9

that the various project team members are
able to question regarding areas beyond
their expertise. This would enable the pro-
ject team members to view the problem
from different perspectives and to solve it
efficiently.
• Advocacy. Convictions are developed and
expressed, and reservations are discussed
in a logical and convincing manner. Strong
advocacy increases the likelihood that
every viewpoint receives the attention it
merits. In this case, ideas and information
would be presented quickly. This approach
would enable the project manager to gain
wide respect for his convictions, opinions
and values which are being held unless
there is contradictory evidence. Neverthe-
less, the project manager should also be
open to alternative points of view so that he
would not be viewed as being arrogant or
rigid.
• Decisions. Decisions may be reached and
made known in a way that appears almost
off-hand, the reason being that by thorough
inquiry and advocacy, a decision is self-
evident rather than the leader’s sole posses-
sion. When the decision affects various
people, a 9,9 decision seeks understanding
and agreement from the relevant people.
• Critique. A 9,9 orientation includes the idea
of feedback but goes beyond it to incorpo-
rate the larger concept of critique. Critique
refers to the continuous examination and
re-examination not only of decisions but
also the how and why. Continuous examina-
tion ensures that the process is effective at
all points. In the 9,9 orientation, critique is
not restricted to the leader telling others
what is being done well.
Principles of the 9,9 managerial grid
Principles of the 9,9 managerial grid are dis-
cussed under the following headings:
• Open communication is essential for the
exercise of self- and shared responsibility.
One of the most elusive organizational
variables is the process of communication
by which one individual affects the percep-
tions of another through materials or agen-
cies in symbolic ways (Andersen, 1972). But
poor communication has long been a prob-
lem in commerce and part of it is due to the
way the business world is organized. The
project team may be made up of people from
different firms with varying contributions
and much information has to pass among
them. Only when communication is free
and open can project team members have

[ 386 ]
Low Sui Pheng and
Ben S.K. Lee
“Managerial grid” and Zhuge
Liang’s “Art of management”:
integration for effective
project management
Management Decision
35/5 [1997] 382–391
• Conflicts are solved by confrontation, with
• Being responsible for one’s own action repre-
• Shared participation in problem solving and
access to the information that is pertinent
to their interests and responsibilities. They
can make maximum contribution only
when the information required for sound
thinking is made available to them. Com-
plete, accurate and timely information is
also necessary to co-ordinate the numerous
operations in a project. The project man-
ager would need to rely heavily on feedback
from his project team members and thus if
there is no liberal communication flow, the
project manager would not be aware of
what is going on. If information flows for a
project can be streamlined, it also helps in
the accumulation of detailed records to
provide facts in case a dispute develops at a
later stage.
understanding and agreement as the basis of
co-operative effort. It is inevitable that dif-
ferences will arise when people get together
to share ideas openly. Choices must be nar-
rowed and one selected from several. When
conflict becomes intense, mutual trust and
respect can be severely eroded, communica-
tion distorted, and feelings of personal
responsibility substantially reduced. Con-
frontation means taking a problem-solving
approach to differences and identifying the
underlying facts, logic or emotions that
account for them. Conflicts within a project
team can best be avoided by careful plan-
ning. For example, the project manager
must inform the project team where the
project is heading, keeping the project team
members updated on key decisions such as
changes in objectives, changes in schedules
or budget limits. With proper planning, the
project manager can side-step the problem
before it develops.
sents the highest level of maturity and is only
possible through widespread delegation of
power and authority. The ability to make
maximum contribution depends on one
voluntarily and spontaneously exercising
initiative. This is possible when the capac-
ity for responsible action permeates
through every level. Then opportunities to
be more productive and creative can be
acted on by those who see them.
decision making stimulates active involve-
ment in productivity and creative thinking.
This involves open, full involvement and
commitment of one’s resources. Partici-
pants feel that they have a stake in the out-
come of a decision or an action, leading to
the notion that people support what they
help create. When team-wide understand-
ing and agreement have been reached, a
consensus is present, which is supported
without reservations. Such shared partici-
pation stimulates the kind of creative
thinking that produces optimal solutions.
Whitemore and Ibbetson (1972) indicated
that the project manager should keep in
mind that shared objectives and participa-
tion in decision making is the strongest
motivation after money. The project man-
ager should initiate a policy that enables all
his project team members to know the plan-
ning of work schedules and the technique of
working. Thus the project manager is to
enable the rest of the project team members
to go beyond the project specification to the
underlying reasons as to why the project is
essential.
• Management by objectives (MBO). Manage-
ment by objectives is the operational way of
bringing a goals orientation into wide-
spread use. This means that managers
identify and agree on the goals that are to
be pursued and set in motion concrete
activities for achieving them. When com-
mitment is attached to the goal, then one is
drawn to it, seeks to achieve it, and makes
the necessary effort to reach it. When MBO
through goal setting is done in a sound
manner, the goals of individuals and the
goals of organization become more inte-
grated and harmonious. Thus, in project
management, the project manager should
endeavour to formulate a common goal to
be shared by all the project team members,
so that all can view themselves as members
of the same boat crossing a river. They
would then be more likely to consider the
difficulties faced as their own and be more
willing to make personal sacrifices when
needed.
• Learning from work experience through
critique. Critique is a process of stepping
away from or interrupting an activity to
study it in order to learn what is happen-
ing, or to see alternative solutions for
improving performance and also, to antici-
pate and avoid activities that have adverse
consequences. Critique is a natural way of
reflecting on what is happening or what has
happened. When project team members
have widespread understanding of and
skills in utilizing critique, it becomes possi-
ble to accelerate the rate at which they
learn and to progress. However, this may
not be used if there is a crisis and the time
needed for deliberation is unavailable.
Integrating “Art of management”
and “Managerial grid”
In the West, there is already a proliferation of
English language literature pertaining to
leadership styles. The same cannot be said of
literature emanating from the Orient (Low,
1995). It is difficult at this stage to show that
the strategies from the “Art of management”
have indeed benefited project managers in
[ 387 ]
Low Sui Pheng and
Ben S.K. Lee
“Managerial grid” and Zhuge
Liang’s “Art of management”:
integration for effective
project management
Management Decision
35/5 [1997] 382–391
[ 388 ]
the East. Unlike the East, many authors in
the West have examined the various traits
and leadership styles of effective leaders. It
may therefore be more practicable to link the
strategies from the “Art of management” with
the principles from the “Managerial grid”.
Both the strategies and principles are then
applied to resolve some of the problems that
are commonly faced in, for example, a build-
ing project, and as identified by Bennett
(1985). Figure 2 shows some of the major prob-
lems in project management identified by
Bennett (1985). It also highlights the attempt
at integrating the “Art of management” and
the “Managerial grid” in resolving these
problems
Conflict of aims and objectives
Different professionals in industry have to
carry out highly specialized tasks which
require specialized methods. The growing
complexity of projects has created additional
pressure on the professions to develop stan-
dardized procedures in an effort to maintain
standards in their own area of operation. Due
to this, the objectives and methods of various
professionals are not in harmony with each
other. In addition, different professional roles
tend to be interdependent, that is, one role
may not be performed without the other. Thus,
problems can arise when there is a conflict of
interest between what they should do and
what others think they should do. Profession-
als are pulled in different directions as their
allegiance to their clients and to their own
professions compete with their loyalty to the
project team. Conflicts often arise due to dif-
ferences in aims and objectives of the profes-
sionals. According to the principles of the 9,9
managerial grid style, a project manager
would be able to overcome this difficulty by
adopting MBO. The project manager would
need to identify common goals and objectives
for the project team so that the professionals
can work towards them. Once these goals are
understood and agreed on, the professionals
would no longer be in a dilemma. Similarly, it
was mentioned in Zhuge Liang’s strategy 1 –
governing a country that a ruler must get the
fundamentals right and the rest of the related
matters would follow suit. As the leader of the
project team, the project manager would need
to set the fundamentals by laying down objec-
tives that are common to the project team.
Apart from identifying goals, he must also
provide a firm leadership to enable the project
team to work together. Strategy 14 – dealing
with difficulties complements strategy 1. It
further defines the means of achieving the
objectives laid down by establishing rules and
regulations to guide the project team.
Differing perceptions
Perception is more than seeing. It involves
“seeing as”. In other words, people interpret
what they see in order to make sense out of it.
As past experiences contain a vast amount of
information, people tend to simplify and
categorize what they can remember. From
this, people tend to have a stereotyped view of
a person based on past experiences with
other people in that category. This has seri-
ous implications for professional relation-
ships. Stereotyping of individuals based on
professional labels would add to the difficul-
ties that are hindering communication
within the project team. Often, professionals
fence around one another, trying to reach
compromises, without openly discussing
their views and concerns, and this often
results in a failure to appreciate one
another’s position. This can be seen, for
example, in a meeting between an architect
and a quantity surveyor to discuss the cost
plan. The architect may perceive the cost plan
by the quantity surveyor as an imposition on
his design. He may feel that it is wrong for the
quantity surveyor – the only non-designing
professional in the team to set the cost limits.
However, the quantity surveyor may perceive
that his cost plan will help the architect
achieve a building that delivers value for
money and with his all-round knowledge of
construction, he should be able to make an
impartial judgement on costs.
Strategy 5 – being perceptive indicates
clearly that a ruler must be perceptive so that
he may differentiate noise from melodies. It
can be seen that different perceptions about
the professionals may hinder the effectiveness
of the project team. As mentioned in strategy
13 – education and orders, the project man-
ager should set good examples for the rest of
the professionals to follow. Thus the project
manager must be aware of what is happening
in the project. Instead of just looking at the
surface of conflicts, he should ponder more
deeply to seek out the actual reasons for the
conflicts. One of the ways is to listen atten-
tively to the views of each professional and
find out the actual motive behind each move.
Inquiry is also one of the ways of overcoming
differences in perceptions. Moreover, inquiry
under the 9,9 managerial grid style is often
comprehensive and in depth. The problems
faced would be analysed and this increases
the chances of understanding the problem.
This grid style would also enrich the quality
of inquiry as it allows professionals to view
the issue from each other’s perspective.
Lack of understanding between project
team members
Project team members tend to have their own
views on a particular project or problem and
are unclear about the impact of their role on
Low Sui Pheng and Figure 2
Ben S.K. Lee Applying “Managerial grid” and “Art of management” for project management
“Managerial grid” and Zhuge
Liang’s “Art of management”:
integration for effective
project management
Management Decision Conflicts of aims and objectives
35/5 [1997] 382–391

Art of management
9.9 Managerial grid style
Strategy one – governing a country
Management by objectives
Strategy 14 – dealing with difficulties

Differing perceptions

Art of management
9.9 Managerial grid style
Strategy 5 – being perceptive
Inquiry
Strategy 13 – education and orders

Lack of understanding

9.9 Managerial grid style Art of management

Shared participation Strategy 6 – managing people
Critique

Inadequate co-ordination

Art of management
9.9 Managerial grid style
Strategy 15 – looking ahead
Strategy 9 – military administration

Poor communication

Art of management
9.9 Managerial grid style
Strategy 4 – acceptance of advice
Open communication
Strategy 8 – performance evaluation

the whole project. Different viewpoints from
the professionals would prevent the project
team from effectively working together.
Thus, for example, architects are often criti-
cized for being too concerned with aesthetics
rather than buildability. The quantity sur-
veyor, on the other hand, is being criticized
for taking a narrow financial view of project
management. There are also considerable
conflicts and ambiguities in the professional
roles. On the one hand, these roles may be
rather rigid but they may also appear to be
uncertain and subject to conflicting pres-
sures. There have been forces encouraging
rigidity in professional roles such as the
professional institutes, procurement methods
[ 389 ]
Low Sui Pheng and
Ben S.K. Lee
“Managerial grid” and Zhuge
Liang’s “Art of management”:
integration for effective
project management
Management Decision
35/5 [1997] 382–391
[ 390 ]
and standard forms of contract. For instance,
the standard form of contract lay down the
roles precisely as to who is responsible to
whom and for what. Thus, as a project man-
ager, he would need to resolve this problem of
lack of understanding among the profession-
als as it may lead to a series of technical prob-
lems that can be expensive and can delay the
progress of the project.
Strategy 6 – managing people suggests that
the project manager should educate the profes-
sionals on their roles and highlight what is
expected from each professional. By educating
and highlighting, it allows the professionals to
appreciate each other’s role and respect it
accordingly. Similarly, the principle of shared
participation from the 9,9 grid style, may help
to overcome the misunderstanding of the
consultants role. Through shared participa-
tion, it can be ensured that the roles played by
each profession are easily understood.
Another way is through critique, where the
project team members are able to move away
from the happenings to view the project as a
whole. This stepping away from an activity
would enable the professionals to have a better
understanding of the roles played by other
professionals.
Inadequate co-ordination
Projects frequently bring together many
different kinds of work involving different
technologies. It is not practical for any one
organization to have detailed knowledge and
practical skills in all areas of works. As a
result, the industry tends to be fragmented
into small specialized firms (Bennett, 1985). It
is the task of the project team to ensure that
the work of the specialized teams are well co-
ordinated so that there would not be wastage
and delay to the project. As an example, this
is especially true when nominated sub-con-
tractors are being used on building projects.
Most of the nominated sub-contractors do
their own design work and their drawings are
often finalized much later. It is common to
find chases, holes and upstands in the nomi-
nated sub-contractors’ drawings but not on
those used by the main contractor. This
would lead to time wastage and costly cutting
out. It may create conflicts and frustration
between the parties involved. Thus, there is a
need for proper co-ordination by the project
team members to make sure that such irregu-
larities are minimized.
According to Strategy 15 – looking ahead,
Zhuge Liang stated that a ruler should be far
sighted and should plan carefully so that he
would not have any short-term worries. Thus,
one of the ways of ensuring proper co-ordina-
tion is to be able to look ahead and foresee
which are the areas of work that require co-
ordination. To be able to achieve this, the
project manager must be well versed with
work sequences so that he would be able to
foresee areas that need to be co-ordinated in
order to prevent bottlenecks.
Strategy 9 – military administration states
that any military move must be carefully
planned and have the support of the people. It
also implies that the project manager must
have the support and understanding of his
project team members before implementing
any measures to enhance the co-ordination of
works.
In so far as the managerial grid style is
concerned, the principles of shared participa-
tion and critique as applied above in “lack of
understanding” are equally applicable here.
Poor communication
Professionals are frequently inundated with
information. It comes in quickly, often poorly
presented and requires a lot of time and effort
to interpret it. In turn, the professionals are
responsible for passing on the information
such that it can be easily understood, accepted
and acted on by the next person. Communica-
tion problems are compounded by differences
in the knowledge, technical skills and vocabu-
lary of the professionals. For example, the
professional training of architects tend to
emphasize design and its visual communica-
tion, whereas that of the building services
engineers and quantity surveyors stresses
quantitative techniques. Thus, from the outset
of their careers, these professionals are learn-
ing different “languages” and communication
barriers inevitably set in.
Most of the responsibilities for building and
maintaining real communication links lie
with the project manager. There are a few
ways in which the project manager can
enhance project communication. One of the
ways is that the project manager should be a
good communicator, that is, he must recog-
nize the importance of the interpersonal com-
munication network within the project team.
Adopting the principles of the 9,9 manage-
ment grid style, he should ensure that there is
open communication within the project team.
To facilitate open communication, the project
manager must recognize that communication
is a two-way process. The project manager
does not just give orders but rather, the pro-
ject team must be able to understand and
participate. Feedback is also necessary for
continuing team effort.
Applying the fourth strategy of Zhuge
Liang – “acceptance of advice”, the project
manager must be able to listen and accept the
comments from other members of the project
team in order to ensure that there is effective
communication. As stated in the strategy, if
the project manager is not able to accept
frank comments, then the other members
would not give feedback to him.
Low Sui Pheng and
Ben S.K. Lee
“Managerial grid” and Zhuge
Liang’s “Art of management”:
integration for effective
project management
Management Decision
35/5 [1997] 382–391
Figure 3
Similarities between “Managerial grid” and “Art of management”
Managerial grid
Principles
Open communication
Resolving conflicts
Learning from work experience
Being responsible
Shared participation
Management by objectives
Behavioural elements
Advocacy
Critique
Another strategy that is applicable is strat-
egy 8 – performance evaluation. Instead of
evaluating the performance of the consul-
tants, the project manager should evaluate
whether there is effective communication
within the team. Some of the variables that
can be evaluated to determine if there is good
communication include:
• Feedback – this would determine whether
the project team members have sufficient
feedback from the ongoing project in order
to be aware of what is happening. Feedback
would also include those between the pro-
ject team members themselves.
• Accuracy of information – the information
obtained from the communication channels
should be sufficient to facilitate decision
making. It should neither be too much or
too little and it should be easily available to
the person who needs it.
Conclusion
This paper highlights the strategic principles
from Zhuge Liang’s “Art of management” and
Blake and Mouton (1964) “Managerial grid”
for application in project management.
According to Blake and Mouton (1964), there
are a total of five grid styles which the project
manager may adopt as his leadership style.
Only the most optimum style, the 9,9 manage-
rial grid style, was adopted in this paper even
Art of management
Strategies
Strategy 4 – acceptance of advice
Strategy 3 – view and listen
Strategy 16 – observation
Strategy 13 – education and orders
Strategy 6 – managing people
Strategy 1 – governing a country
Strategy 14 – dealing with difficulties
Strategy 5 – being perceptive
Strategy 12 – controlling chaos
Application questions
1 Does military/philosophical/spiritual
literature have a part to play in business
thought and practice?
though a project manager may display more
than one leadership style. The 9,9 managerial
grid style was chosen because it is the most
ideal style and it involves team management
which is similar to that of project manage-
ment. The 9,9 managerial grid style was
analysed in two components: the behavioural
elements of a manager who adopts the 9,9 grid
style and the principles governing this style.
Sixteen strategies from Zhuge Liang’s “Art of
management” were similarly highlighted for
possible application in project management.
The study shows that many principles of
the “Managerial grid” and strategies from
the “Art of management” are actually quite
similar. As shown in Figure 3, most of the
principles complement each other and may
offer to the project manager a greater per-
spective when applying the strategies in the
project. The principles are then applied to
some of the problems that are commonly
faced in project management in the hope of
resolving conflicts that occur quite
frequently. The extent to which Blake and
Mouton (1964) and Zhuge Liang’s teachings
can be applied to enhance the effectiveness
and leadership qualities of the project man-
ager will, however, depend very much on a
good understanding of both the “Managerial
grid” and “Art of management”.
References
Anderson, K.E. (1972), Introduction to Communi-
cation Theory and Practice, Cummings Pub-
lishing Co., CA.
Bennett, J. (1985), Construction Project Manage-
ment, Butterworths, London.
Blake, R.R. and Mouton, J.S. (1964), The Manager-
ial Grid, Gulf Publishing Co., Houston, TX.
Lau, M.C. (1996), “View and perception of non-
bumiputra contractors over the weakness and
success of bumiputra contractors”, Master
Builders Journal, Master Builders Associa-
tion of Malaysia, second quarter 1996, pp. 32-6.
Low, S.P. (1995), “Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching and its
relevance for project leadership in construc-
tion”, International Journal of Project Man-
agement, Vol. 13 No. 5, pp. 295-302.
Malain, P.J., Cooper, C. and Cox, C.J. (1989), Man-
aging People at Work, The British Psychologi-
cal Society and Routledge Ltd, London.
Wang, X.M. (1995), The Art of Management: Six-
teen Strategies of Zhuge Liang, Asiapac Books,
Singapore.
Whitemore, D.A. and Ibbetson, J. (1972), The Man-
agement of Motivation and Remuneration,
Business Books, London.
2 For western businesses, is work such as
that of Zhuge Liang helpful in dealing with
Asian markets?
[ 391 ]