Chapter 12 Paid Services (2)

  As Gong Zhong's back disappeared from view as he left the office and closed the door behind him, both Deputy Director Dong Xin and Deputy General Manager Ma Zhibing shook their heads slightly, a bitter smile spreading across their faces. Deputy Director Dong Xin didn't wait for Deputy General Manager Ma to speak, instead voicing his own inner thoughts: "This Gong Zhong, everything about him is great, it's just that he's too rigid."

  "Yes! He opens his mouth and it's all about institutional regulations, closes his mouth and it's all about financial procedures. Isn't this obviously not putting people at ease? It seems like only he is enforcing the institutional regulations in the center, while everyone else is violating them. This is obviously an abnormal mentality, if everyone were like him, we wouldn't be able to get anything done, might as well tie ourselves up at home and die. Obviously feeling supported by Deputy Director Dong Xuan, Deputy General Manager Ma Zhibing vented his dissatisfaction and took the opportunity to suppress Gong Zhongdao."

  For Gong Zhong, Deputy General Manager Ma Zhibing has a very deep understanding. The Logistics Support Center is a money-spending department, with tight financial control and strict auditing, so it can only follow the rules and cannot make any small moves. The only thing that can be made active is the property company, especially in undertaking small external projects. How deep the water is inside, Ma Zhibing is very clear about it. If operated well, not only can he get some pocket money for himself, but also use this money to win over some key leaders and handle his relationship with these leaders well.

  But after Gong Zhong came, in order to standardize financial management and break the interests of small groups, he proposed a reform plan to the bureau party group. This "balance" that had been covered up by many people for many years was thus broken by Gong Zhong, and the Jiangnan Bureau Party Group had no choice but to formally put this issue on the table for handling. In the end, due to the involvement of various interests, the Jiangnan Bureau Party Group, led by Director Zhao, had no choice but to temporarily suspend this business with a heavy heart, citing the need to focus on internal services.

  This has not only cut off the financial road they have been taking for over a decade, but also tightened their purse strings, and even the small change from playing cards is gone. The petty cash in their pockets is not enough either. What's more, some people have lost the cost of flattering others, and everything is Gong Zhong's fault. Not only do Ma Zhibing and other specific handlers have opinions about Gong Zhong, but also many cadres and employees of the Center and Property Company, as well as some people from Jiangnan Bureau who have benefited from it, all have a view on Gong Zhong.

  Now that Deputy Director Dong Xin has arrived, they have finally restarted this business and seen hope in it again. But Gong Zhong is implementing strict management regulations, trying to hold them back from all sides. Ma Zhibing became more and more indignant as he spoke: "Director Dong, this was originally a good thing for everyone, but Director Gong not only didn't actively support it, but also set up obstacles everywhere. The leadership really can't be too indulgent towards him."

  Ma Zhibing is a clever person with his own way of thinking. After Deputy Director Dong Xin took over the center, he immediately followed his usual routine and quickly gained Dong's appreciation and reuse. In Ma Zhibing's eyes, there are no institutional rules, no unit benefits, everything is based on satisfying the leader's needs, and everything is for the ultimate purpose of getting the leader's favor. Among all the leaders of the agency's logistics support center, Ma Zhibing has always been the most relaxed, practical, and free person.

  Ma Zhibing's way of doing things has been appreciated by many people. The Logistics Support Center had several leaders recommend him to the bureau leadership, hoping to promote him as deputy director of the Logistics Support Center. He also passed five levels and entered the final stage of public announcement before taking office. However, the investigation team received several reports about some problems he had when undertaking external projects, and the evidence was conclusive. In the end, the Party Group of the Bureau had to suspend his promotion.

  Deputy Director Dong Xin came to the center to preside over the work, and soon after, he invited Gong Zhong to his office, specifically mentioning the issue of promoting cadres. He asked Gong Zhong: "Director Gong, what is Vice General Manager Ma Zhibing really like? You are a financial management personnel, and when you were in the finance department before, you also audited the center and property company many times, so you should be quite familiar with his character."

  Gong Zhong is a very down-to-earth person. Although he didn't understand the true intention of Deputy Director Dong Xian's inquiry at that time, he still reported according to his own understanding: "Deputy General Manager Ma Zhibing, as far as I know, has good work ability and gets along well with leaders, and is also serious about work, but he is too greedy. Especially in the process of external project management, everyone has some objections to his practices." Gong Zhong spoke very bluntly, but still reserved something, without mentioning that Ma Zhibing had gained a lot of benefits from external project management, although everyone knew this.

  The saying goes: birds of a feather flock together, and people are divided into groups. How a person behaves in the world, what kind of character they have, doesn't require truly understanding this person, just by understanding how their friends behave, you can get a general idea. Ma Zhibing's way of thinking coincided with Deputy Director Dong Xin's without prior discussion. They quickly became entangled together, and Ma Zhibbing became one of the leader's inner circle, just like previous leaders.

  "If Gong Zhong were as reasonable as Ma Zhi Bing, it would be great!" Deputy Director Dong Xin sighed in his heart after listening to Ma Zhi Bing's complaints. Finally, he comforted him by saying: "Director Ma, I understand the situations you mentioned. But Gong Zhong is not a bad person, just too stubborn and sometimes makes everyone unhappy. You should try to understand him more, and I will find an opportunity to guide him properly."

  No matter who it is, of course, everyone likes to get along with people close to themselves, especially those who unconditionally listen to their words. This is a common human nature and also a weakness of human nature. However, as a leader, especially the head of an organization, one cannot be like this. For the sake of work, leaders must overcome these weaknesses in human nature and interact with all kinds of people.

  Deputy Director Dong Xin, who had spent a lot of time and energy studying "Thick Black Theory", naturally understood this principle. Therefore, although he didn't like Gong Zhong psychologically, for the sake of work and his own political performance, he had to remind Ma Zhibing and verbally maintain Gong Zhong, saying some good things about him. Gong Zhong and Ma Zhibing were both crucial figures in the agency's logistics support center, with a significant impact on their work. If things went wrong, Ma Zhibing would resent Gong Zhong, which was not what this top leader wanted to see from any aspect.

  "Director Dong continued: "Ma, when carrying out small-scale project business activities externally, don't feel too much pressure due to Gong Zhong's strict management. Gong Zhong said that all income, expenses and profits must be accounted for, this is the requirement of the Bureau Party Group, we need to actively cooperate and understand more, do not have a resistant attitude. The most critical issue now is the problem of profit margin, if this is grasped well, other problems will not be a problem."

  Then, Deputy Director Dong Xin and Deputy General Manager Ma Zhibing conducted in-depth communication and consultation in the office to formulate a suitable profit margin. Ma Zhibing has very rich experience in this aspect, after all, he has been doing this work for more than ten years, specific operation methods, some key links, and internal hidden rules, all have a set of familiar and well-versed plans.

  Finally, Deputy Director Dong Xing said: "Director Ma, after you return, immediately draft an internal submission document based on the opinions we just discussed. I will personally take it to the finance department for signature and approval by the leadership before implementation." According to this plan, Dong Xing and his team would set aside 10% of the profit as the profit to be submitted to the company. In other words, after taking over the external engineering project, they would submit 10% of the engineering income as profit to the company, while controlling the remaining 90%. At that time, they would use various expense vouchers to offset the costs. The company's finance department was only responsible for auditing whether the signatures on these cost and expense vouchers were complete and whether the invoices were legal; other matters did not fall within the scope of financial audit.

  Very soon, the internal document drafted by Ma Zhibing was personally delivered to the head of the financial department by Deputy Director Dong Xian. After reading it, the head of the department raised his own questions: "Isn't 10% of the profit too low?" Dong Xian explained: "The party group agreed that the property company would restart its external business mainly to solve the welfare problems of the staff and workers in the logistics center. Of course, the money earned from starting this project will not be used entirely for the staff and workers in the center, but can also make up for some administrative expenses to a certain extent. This ratio was decided after repeated consideration and verbal consultation with the leaders."

  Dong Xin said that the head of the department had no suspicions. Now, when handling affairs in the organization, the procedure is from bottom to top according to regulations. However, in actual operation, it's from top to bottom. Once the higher-ups agree, then the formal procedures are handled from bottom to top. Especially for some sensitive issues, it's even more so. If you don't communicate with the leadership beforehand and directly submit the request, it will put the bureau leaders in an awkward position. Therefore, in the organization, all the requests seen are approved, none are disapproved, and this is the fundamental reason.

  For the hidden profits and articles in engineering projects, as a person who came from infrastructure work, ** is very clear. In Deputy Director Dong Xian's explanation, some special meanings were revealed, and he also understood them clearly. "In principle, I agree with this plan, but it needs to be approved by the bureau leaders before implementation. Also, the cost calculation of the project should be managed according to the full-cost method. For specific operations, you can consult Gong Zhong, he is an expert in this area."

  "After the director of the Financial Department signed off on it, he simply signed his opinion on the document: "Tentatively agree, please have the bureau leader approve." Deputy Director Dong Xin immediately took the signed document to Director Zhao's office. Director Zhao looked at it while listening to Deputy Director Dong's explanation: "Director Zhao, thank you for your care for the center's cadres and staff. This is a draft plan I came up with after communicating with Financial Department head Ma. Please approve it."

  Director Zhao asked about some specific situations and then signed "Agree with the Financial Department's opinion" on the document. Then he instructed Deputy Director Dong Xian: "The restart of this business is a decision made by the Party Group after repeated research. You must learn from past lessons, pay attention to overall balance, prevent small group interests from occurring; at the same time, you must strengthen management, ensure that all income and expenses are accounted for, and prevent any behavior that violates financial regulations from happening, don't turn a good thing into a bad one. For specific operational issues, consult with Gong Zhong more."

  It should be said that Director Zhao and **Director of the Department are both enlightened people who clearly see the potential problems. Therefore, they all verbally reminded Dong Xuan to strengthen management, pay attention to comprehensive balance, and prevent small group interests from occurring. However, they misjudged human greed or were moved by Dong Xuan's "refined" service, resulting in them turning a blind eye later on. The Party Group's proposal of "the unit gets the big head, the individual gets the small head", as well as the instructions to solve the welfare of central cadres and staff, were not effectively implemented.