The Changing Face of Chinese Management

by Jie; Tang

• ISBN13: 9780415258470
• ISBN10: 0415258472
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2002-12-06
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Chinese management has experienced a dramatic change in recent years. However, established ideas about Chinese management are often oversimplified or outdated. This book provides a much-needed, realistic and up-to-date portrait of Chinese business today and of how it has changed over the last decade. It is a portrait that reveals an intriguing mixture of the old and the new, for while certain features can be traced deep into China's past, others have changed beyond recognition. New forms of enterprise and new ways of conducting business have emerged. Jie Tang and Anthony Ward capture this complexity and present it in an accessible and wholly user-friendly format. Alongside a discussion of the social and economic forces shaping management, Jie Tang and Anthony Ward provide a wide variety of interview material and case studies, much drawn from their own extensive interviews with managers and from observations within Chinese enterprises. The result is a fresh insight into the mind of the Chinese manager.With China representing a huge economy, and recently joining the World Trade Organisation, the country is now a topic of constant interest in the business world. This book will be of enormous practical help to practitioners and students alike.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	viii
Preface	xi
Introduction	1	(8)
Of different minds	9	(24)
Collectivism and individualism	10	(2)
Power and authority	12	(1)
Harmony and hierarchy	13	(2)
Against being blunt	15	(3)
Saving face	18	(2)
Trust and suspicion	20	(1)
Settling disputes	20	(2)
Negotiation	22	(1)
Decision making	23	(2)
Tradition and modernity	25	(1)
Diversity	26	(3)
Ideals and reality: a sociology of hypocrisy	29	(1)
Confucius or Marx?	30	(3)
Mandarins and managers	33	(35)
The state sector	36	(1)
The command economy	37	(1)
Reform	38	(3)
Nobody's business	41	(2)
Principals and agents	43	(1)
The institutional framework	43	(1)
The state banks	44	(2)
Asset-management companies	46	(3)
`Too many mothers-in-law'	49	(2)
`Do not falsify accounts'	51	(2)
Corporate governance	53	(3)
Blending business with politics	56	(2)
Bureaucratic entrepreneurs	58	(4)
Paths to growth	62	(3)
Transforming the bureau	65	(3)
Inside the enterprise	68	(38)
Managerial appointments	75	(8)
Management style	83	(5)
The workshop manager	88	(3)
Getting on track: formalisation	91	(1)
The decision-making process: strategic investment	92	(4)
Technology and the structure of the firm	96	(1)
Breaking the iron rice bowl	97	(4)
Trade unions and the Workers' Assembly	101	(5)
Taking the capitalist road	106	(26)
The return of the entrepreneur	107	(1)
Red hats and roundabout investment	108	(2)
Family business	110	(3)
Finance	113	(4)
Subsidiaries and diversification	117	(1)
Creditable conduct	118	(3)
Government relations	121	(5)
Business associations	126	(6)
A shift in complexion: the emergence of new organisational forms	132	(20)
Changing pockets	133	(4)
High-technology spin-offs	137	(3)
Learning and organisations	140	(4)
Privatising the professions	144	(5)
The changing balance	149	(3)
Managing a surprise: the township and village enterprises	152	(25)
Comparative organisational strengths	156	(4)
Enter the manager	160	(1)
Contracts and collectives	161	(11)
A helping hand	172	(5)
Where the twain meet	177	(30)
Establishing the venture	178	(4)
Interpreting the law	182	(4)
The return of the comprador	186	(2)
Learning and adjustment in the joint venture	188	(2)
Conflict and control in Chinese organisations	190	(5)
Us and them	195	(1)
Formalisation and responsibility	196	(2)
Human resources	198	(5)
The homecoming	203	(4)
Conclusions	207	(10)
The World Trade Organisation	209	(3)
Continuity and change: a case study	212	(5)
Notes	217	(1)
Bibliography	218	(8)
Author index	226	(3)
Subject index	229