阿里合伙人委员会内网发帖：钉钉管理“不是阿里文化该有的样子"

At the core of this incident is a public statement Alibaba’s Partner Committee published internally on the company’s intranet, addressing management controversy sparked by a long post from DingTalk’s former product manager after leaving the company. In the post, the committee laid out Alibaba’s core requirements for corporate culture and team management. Key takeaways are as follows:

1. Core conclusion of the incident: The previous management practices of the DingTalk team have sparked internal and external discussions multiple times. After collective discussion, the Partner Committee unanimously and explicitly rejected these practices, noting they violate the basic requirements of Alibaba’s culture and do not reflect the culture the company should uphold.

2. Core foundation of Alibaba’s culture: The committee explicitly confirmed that Alibaba’s culture is fundamentally rooted in mutual respect, recognizing employees as full human beings, and compassion. This foundation will remain absolutely unchanged regardless of shifts in the times or technological development.

3. Core direction of management in the AI era: The statement notes that innovation in the AI era relies on employees’ passion and creativity, rather than high pressure and mechanical execution. Managers’ core responsibility is to develop and inspire employees, and companies must build an open, inclusive and diverse work culture.

This internal management and culture incident at Alibaba offers important insights for corporate culture building and organizational management for all brand companies. Key takeaways are as follows:

1. Underlying logic of brand culture building: Corporate culture is the core support of a brand. No matter how fast the business grows or how dramatic technological change is, a brand must never abandon its established cultural foundation. For leading companies, proactively correcting missteps also helps maintain public trust in the brand and avoids negative events causing expanded damage to the brand.

2. Source of brand competitiveness in the AI era: A brand’s long-term competitiveness depends on innovation. In the AI era, innovation cannot be achieved through high-pressure mechanical management. Only by fully respecting the individual value of employees can companies unlock their creativity, ultimately create value that meets customer needs, and support long-term brand growth.

3. Accountability mechanism for embedding brand culture: Managers at all levels are the primary responsible parties for implementing brand culture. Brands must clarify that managers’ core responsibility is to develop and inspire employees, rather than only pursuing short-term business results while neglecting culture building.

This internal management and culture incident at Alibaba provides important references for team management and long-term business development for the vast majority of sellers. Key takeaways are as follows:

1. Red line for team management: No matter how great the pressure for business growth or how urgent project tasks are, sellers should never adopt high-pressure mechanical management that violates humanistic care. This management style not only fails to support long-term innovation, but also easily triggers team conflict and talent turnover, and may even trigger negative public sentiment for the seller’s store or business.

2. Logic for capturing growth opportunities in the AI era: For sellers looking to capitalize on business growth opportunities brought by AI, the core relies on their team’s creativity. Only by building a team culture of respect for individuals and compassion that motivates employees’ passion and initiative can sellers deliver innovative business and capture new consumer demand.

3. Positioning adjustment for seller managers: Managers at small and medium-sized seller businesses often fall into the trap of only pushing for progress and pressing for task delivery. They need to clarify that their core responsibility is to build long-term vision, unify and motivate the team, and develop core talent to lay a foundation for long-term growth.

Alibaba’s public statement on its management and culture offers multiple insights for manufacturing factories that are advancing digital transformation and building out e-commerce operations. Key takeaways are as follows:

1. Cultural bottom line during transformation: Amid the broad trend of AI and digital upgrades, many factories face urgent transformation targets and are prone to adopting high-pressure management to speed up progress. This incident reminds all factories that no matter how great transformation pressure is, they must uphold a management foundation of respect for employees and compassion, to avoid talent outflow triggered by high-pressure management.

2. Core logic of factory innovation in the AI era: Product upgrades and production process optimization for factories also depend on employees’ creativity; transformation cannot be achieved through mechanical execution alone. Only by respecting the individual value of frontline workers and motivating their initiative can factories optimize product design, better align with market demand, and hit transformation targets.

3. Adjustment direction for factory management: Factory managers need to adjust their positioning, making developing and inspiring employees their core responsibility, and building an open and inclusive work culture. This is the only way to attract and retain the core talent needed for digital transformation, and capture the industrial upgrading opportunities brought by AI.

This incident reflects new trends and common pain points in corporate management in the AI era, and offers many valuable references for service providers including corporate management consultants, human resources service providers, and enterprise SaaS tool providers. Key takeaways are as follows:

1. New industry development trends: In the AI era, corporate core competitiveness has shifted to innovation, which relies on human creativity. Traditional high-pressure control-focused management models no longer meet the needs of the times. A large number of companies are searching for new organizational management models suited to the AI era, creating clear market demand for relevant services.

2. Common pain points for clients: Many companies, amid rapid growth and technological upgrading, tend to adopt high-pressure mechanical management to hit progress targets and pursue short-term performance, which deviates from their original cultural foundation and triggers internal conflict and external controversy. This has become a common pain point for many businesses.

3. Direction for service provider solutions: Service providers can develop corresponding management tools and consulting services centered on unlocking employee creativity and building open, inclusive organizational culture, to help companies balance business progress and culture building, and meet organizational management needs during AI transformation.

This internal management incident at Alibaba offers multiple insights for operational management and risk mitigation for operators of internet platforms and enterprise service platforms. Key takeaways are as follows:

1. Core direction for platform culture building: For innovation-driven platform companies, cultural foundation is the core root of long-term development. No matter how great the pressure of business expansion or how fast AI technology iterates, platforms must uphold the cultural foundation of mutual respect, recognizing employees as full human beings, and compassion, to retain core talent and support long-term innovation-driven growth.

2. Accountability mechanism for platform operation and management: Platforms must clarify that managers at all levels are the primary responsible parties for embedding corporate culture. Developing and inspiring employees must be included as core assessment requirements for managers, to prevent managers from adopting unreasonable high-pressure management to hit short-term KPI, which would trigger internal conflict.

3. Guidance for mitigating public opinion risk for platforms: When internal management controversy emerges, platforms should take a clear, public stance promptly, correct flawed management practices, align internal cultural consensus, reduce the negative impact of the incident on the platform’s brand image, and prevent the issue from escalating.

Alibaba Partner Committee’s public statement addressing the DingTalk management controversy reflects new trends and emerging issues in organizational management for the internet industry in the AI era, and carries high research value. Key points are as follows:

1. New trends in industrial organizational management: The AI technological revolution is driving a shift in organizational management culture across global businesses. Leading Chinese internet companies have now reached a consensus: innovation in the AI era relies on individual employees’ creativity, rather than high-pressure mechanical execution. Human value has been elevated to an unprecedented height, forcing companies to adjust their management culture as a whole.

2. New issues worthy of research: During periods of rapid growth and technological iteration, companies often see business pace erode cultural bottom lines. Even leading companies with a clear, established cultural foundation can see business line management deviate from group-wide cultural standards. This is an emerging research topic for organizational management in the digital age.

3. New direction for organizational culture research: Leading companies have clarified the development direction for organizational culture in the AI era: upholding the foundation of compassion and respect for the individual, moving toward an open, inclusive and diverse model, and shifting managers’ core responsibility from business control to developing and inspiring employees. This provides a typical case and clear direction for related research.