The Mainland Chinese Managerial Behaviors and Assumptions since the Economic Reform: The Literature Review and Research Proposition

Abstract

China is a country that does not stand still. The nation has been on the move since the launch of her reform and opening-up policy in Chinasome 30 years ago. From the infrastructural projects to the look of her people, there is no doubt that great change is taking place. Many entertain the hope that the change this time is for real: China will come out in this process a different country. Some even venture to propose that “China Model” has appeared as a challenge to “Washington Consensus”. What about the world of Chinese managers? What changes of Chinese managerial styles did we find in these years? This study will attempt to answer these questions as it tries to ascertain the key driver of this managerial style—the managerial assumptions of the Chinese managers. This analysis will attempt to sketch a Chinese managerial style and propose a set of assumptions that could be shaping this style. The different sources of influence that have come to shape the Chinese managerial assumptions since China launched her economic reform in 1978 would be of particular interest in this adventure. Accordingly, several propositions of Chinese managerial assumptions will be suggested for future research.

Share and Cite:

Wong, J. and Kong, S. (2014) The Mainland Chinese Managerial Behaviors and Assumptions since the Economic Reform: The Literature Review and Research Proposition. Open Journal of Business and Management, 2, 24-32. doi: 10.4236/ojbm.2014.21005.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] J. P. Muczyk and R. P. Steel, “Leadership Style and the Turnaround Executive,” Business Horizons, Vol. 41, No. 2, 1998, pp. 39-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0007-6813(98)90033-7
[2] G. Hofstede, “Asian Management in the 21st Century: APJM,” Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2007, pp. 411-420. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10490-007-9049-0
[3] B. Bjerke, “Business Leadership and Culture: National Management Styles in the Global Economy,” Edward Elgar Publishing, England, 1999. http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781840647600
[4] E. H. Schein, “Three Cultures of Management: The Key to Organizational Learning,” MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 38, No. 1, 1996, pp. 9-20.
[5] E. H. Schein, “Organizational Culture and Leadership,” Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2004.
[6] C. Argyris, “Integrating the Individuals and the Organization,” Wiley, New York, 1974.
[7] M. Douglas, “How Institutions Think,” Syracuse University Press, New York, 1986.
[8] D. M. McGregor, “The Human Side of Enterprise,” McGraw-Hill, New York, 1960.
[9] P. M. Senge, “The Fifth Discipline,” Double-Day, New York, 1990.
[10] E. H. Schein, “Culture as an Environmental Context for Careers,” Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1984, pp. 71-81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/job.4030050107
[11] Y. Fan, “The Transfer of Western Management to China: Context, Content and Constraints,” Management Learning, Vol. 29, No. 2, 1998, pp. 201-221. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1350507698292005
[12] B. Gerry and P. Chad, “Influence of Culture on Relationship Development Processes in Overseas Chinese/Australian Networks,” European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 37, No. 11, 2003, pp. 1548-1574.
[13] J. Li and J. Madsen, “Examining Chinese Managers’ Work- Related Values and Attitudes,” Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2010, pp. 57-76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506141011033007
[14] S. H. Kong, “The Significance of Organization’s Fundamental Assumptions in Change Management—The Case of Mainland Chinese Organizations,” Problems and Perspectives in Management, 2006, pp. 98-110.
[15] X. Dong, “The Impact of China’s Millennium Labour Restructuring Program on Firm Performance and Employee Earnings,” The Economics of Transition, Vol. 16, No. 2, 2008, pp. 223-245. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0351.2008.00322.x
[16] X. Chen, Z. Hu, X. Sun and P. Zhao, “Typology of the Chinese Exporter,” Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, 2011, pp. 235-255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506141111163345
[17] A. M. M. Liu, S. B. Zhang and M. Y. Leung, “A Frame- work for Assessing Organisational Culture of Chinese Construction Enterprises,” Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 13, No. 4, 2006, pp. 327- 342. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09699980610680153
[18] A. M. J. Ma and B. Osula, “The Tao of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS),” Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2011, pp. 94-110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506141111118480
[19] D. Tan and R. S. Snell, “The Third Eye: Exploring Guan- xi and Relational Morality in the Workplace,” Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 41, No. 4, 2002, pp. 361-384. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1021217027814
[20] S. R. Chatterjee, C. A. L. Pearson and K. Nie, “Interfacing Business Relations with Southern China: An Empirical Study of the Relevance of Guanxi,” South Asian Journal of Management, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2006, pp. 59-75.
[21] J. Hong and Y. Engestrom, “Changing Principles of Communication between Chinese Managers and Workers: Confucian Authority Chains and Guanxi as Social Networking,” Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 4, 2004, pp. 552-585. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0893318903262266
[22] W. R. Vanhonacker, “Guanxi Networks in China,” The China Business Review, Vol. 31, No. 3, 2004 pp. 48-53.
[23] G. Redding, “The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism,” de Gruyter, Berlin, 1990.
[24] J. Tang and A. Ward, “The Changing Face of Chinese Management,” Routledge, London, 2003.
[25] W. Yuan, “Conflict Management among American and Chinese Employees in Multinational Organizations in China,” Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2010, pp. 299-311. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13527601011068388
[26] J. Yan and R. L. Sorenson, “The Influence of Confucian Ideology on Conflict in Chinese Family Business,” International Journal of Cross Cultural Management: CCM, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2004, pp. 5-17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1470595804041521
[27] G. Wang, R. Jing and A. Klossek, “Antecedents and Management of Conflict: Resolution Styles of Chinese Top Managers in Multiple Rounds of Cognitive and Affective Conflict,” International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2007, pp. 74-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10444060710759327
[28] C. H. Tinsley and E. Weldon, “Responses to a Normative Conflict among African American and Chinese Managers,” International Journal of Cross Cultural Management: CCM, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2003, pp. 183-194.
[29] G. Wang, R. A. Friedman, T. Kim and R. Jing, “Conflict Resolution Strategies of Chinese Private Entrepreneurs: The Role of Political Participation,” SSRN Working Paper Series, 2009.
[30] R. Friedman, C. Shu-Cheng and L. A. Liu, “An Expectancy Model of Chinese-American Differences in Conflict-Avoiding,” Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 37, No. 1, 2006, pp. 76-91.
[31] D. Z. Ding, “Exploring Chinese Conflict Management Styles in Joint Ventures in the People’s Republic of China,” Management Research News, Vol. 19, No. 9, 1996, p. 43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/eb028491
[32] L. Jacobs, G. Guopei and P. Herbig, “Confucian Roots in China: A Force for Today’s Business,” Management Decision, Vol. 33, No. 10, 1995, pp. 29-34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00251749510100221
[33] J. C. Strauss, “Paternalist Terror: The Campaign to Sup- press Counterrevolutionaries and Regime Consolidation in the People’s Republic of China, 1950-1953,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 44, No. 1, 2002, pp. 80-105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S001041750200004X
[34] P. J. Buckley, J. Clegg and H. Tan, “Reform and Restructuring in a Chinese State-Owned Enterprise: Sinotrans in the 1990s,” Management International Review, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2005, pp. 147-172.
[35] J. W. Cox, “Remembrance of Things Past? Change, Development and Paternalism,” Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2001, pp. 168-189. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09534810110388072
[36] J. Gray and P. Cavendish, “Chinese Communism in Crisis: Maoism and the Cultural Revolution,” Praeger, New York, 1968.
[37] A. Nathan, “China’s Transition,” Columbia University Press, New York, 1997.
[38] R. H. Myer, “Chinese Debate on Economic Reform: Can China Create a Socialist Market Economy?” Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1995, pp. 55-68.
[39] T. H. Yu, et al., “A Research into the Management Thoughts of Deng Xiaoping,” Shanxi People Publishing House, Taiyuan, 1994.
[40] R. Ash and Y. Y. Kueh, “The Chinese Economy under Deng Xiaoping,” Oxford University, England, 1996.
[41] B. Lloyd, “Liberty Philosophy: Nationalism and the Making of American Pragmatism,” Science & Society, Vol. 73, No. 4, 2009, pp. 498-531. http://dx.doi.org/10.1521/siso.2009.73.4.498
[42] F. Liu, S. Huang and G. F. McLean, “Philosophy and Modernization in China,” Council for Research in Values & Philosophy, People’s Republic of China, 1997.
[43] J. L. Webb, “Dewey: Back to the Future,” Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2002, pp. 981-1004.
[44] L. Chan, “Chinese Communism Versus Pragmatism: The Criticism of Hu Shih’s Philosophy, 1950-1958,” The Journal of Asian Studies (Pre-1986), Vol. 27, No. 3, 1968, pp. 551-570.
[45] S. L. Wong, “Chinese Entrepreneurship and Economic Development,” In: B. McCormick and J. Unger, Eds., China after Socialism in the Footsteps of Eastern Europe or East Asia, Sharpe, New York, 1996.
[46] M. Hsu and K. Chiu, “A Comparison between I-Ching’s Early Management Decision-Making Model and Western Management Decision-Making Models,” Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2008, pp. 52-75.
[47] J. Li, “Family-Oriented Collectivism and Its Effect on Firm Performance: A Comparison between Overseas Chinese and Foreign Firms in China,” International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 8, No. 4, 2000, pp. 364-379. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/eb028923
[48] X. Deng, “Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping (Volume I),” People’s Publishing House, 1993.
[49] R. Alas and W. Sun, “Organizational Changes in Chinese Companies: A Resource-Based View,” Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 1, No. 4, 2007, pp. 225-242. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506140710828514
[50] G. M. Chen and R. Ma, “Chinese Conflict Management and Resolution US,” Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002.
[51] Y. Fan, “A Classification of Chinese Culture,” Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2000, pp. 3-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13527600010797057
[52] B. Murphy and R. M. Wang, “An Evaluation of Stake-holder Relationship Marketing in China,” Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2006, pp. 7-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13555850610641055
[53] C. Li, “The Confucian Ideal of Harmony,” Philosophy East & West, Vol. 56, No. 4, 2006, pp. 583-603. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pew.2006.0055
[54] L. Wang and H. Juslin, “The Impact of Chinese Culture on Corporate Social Responsibility: The Harmony Approach,” Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 88, No. 3, 2009, pp. 433-451. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0306-7
[55] C. K. Pang, D. Roberts and J. Sutton, “Doing Business in China—The Art of War?” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 10, No. 7, 1998, pp. 272-282. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09596119810240889
[56] S. H. Kong, “A Portrait of Chinese Enterprise through the Lens of Organizational Culture,” Asian Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2003, pp. 83-102.
[57] H. Q. Lei, “Modern Management and Confucian Wisdom,” Cosmos Books (In Chinese), Hong Kong, 1992.
[58] D. Y. F. Ho, “The Conception of Human Nature in Mao Tse-Tung Thoughts,” In: A. Paranjpe, Ed., Asian Contribution to Psychology, Praeger Publisher, New York, 1988, pp. 53-78.
[59] X. Deng, “Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping (Volume II),” People’s Publishing House, 1994.
[60] J. Chen and B. M. Fleisher, “Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growthin China,” Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 22, No. 2, 1996, pp. 141-164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jcec.1996.0015
[61] D. J. Munro, “The Conception of Man in Early China,” Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1969.
[62] S. L. Wong, “Emigrant Entrepreneurs: Shanghai Industrialists in Hongkong,” Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1988.
[63] D. Bachman, “Succession Politics and China’s Future,” Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 49, No. 2, 1996, pp. 370-390.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.