Jackie Sheehan

Chinese workers : a new history

Jackie Sheehan traces the background and development of workers clashes with the Chinese Communist Party through mass campaigns such as the 1956-7 Hundred Flowers movement, the Cultural Revolution, the April Fifth Movement of 1976, Democracy Wall and the 1989 Democracy Movement. The author provides the most detailed and complete picture of workers protest in China to date and locates their position within the context of Chinese political history. Chinese Workers demonstrates that the image of Chinese workers as politically conformist and reliable supporters of the Communist Party does not match the realities of industrial life in China. Recent outbreaks of protest by workers are less of a departure from the past than is generally realized.

From Dependency to Defiance? Work-Unit Relationships in China's State Enterprise Reforms

This paper outlines the economic reform process being undertaken in China and the subsequent partial closure and radical down-sizing of the state-owned enterprise sector. Redundancies arising out the restructuring process have eroded the state-worker contract of the iron rice-bowl. This has resulted in growing and sometimes violent labour unrest. The planned workforce projections until the end of the year 2000 suggest that the numbers of redundancies has increased, adding to China’s ‘surplus labour’ problem. A critical issue is thus whether the Chinese government, together with state-enterprise management, can contain potential future labour and civil unrest using its present methods.

Enterprise Reform in Post-Deng China

In this article we seek to evaluate the achievements and limitations of successive phases in Chinas state-enterprise reforms, chiefly by way of a case study of Beijings Capital Iron and Steel Corporation (Shougang), although the experiences of other large state-owned steelmakers in China will also be considered where appropriate. The Shougang Corporation was the flagship of the Contract Responsibility System (CRS), the first major reform model for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China, which governed relations between the enterprise and the state from the early 1980s until 1994-95, and in late 1995, it was also added to the group of large SOEs already piloting the Modern Enterprise System/Group-Company System (MES/GCS) reform program that was initiated between 1992 and 1994. Shougang is an atypical enterprise in some important respects, such as its location in the Chinese capital and its longstanding and very close association with Chinas former paramount leader, the late Deng Xiaoping, but this does not invalidate it as a case study of the two main SOE reform programs undertaken by the Chinese government since 1978. Indeed, Shougang s special status adds an im-

Downsizing the danwei: Chinese state-enterprise reform and the surplus labour question

The Chinese economic reform process has engendered significant changes in the structure and management of work organizations. Central to the process has been the ‘corporatization’ of the danwei, or state-owned enterprises (SOEs). This paper examines the progress made in the current round of state-enterprise corporate reform – based on the Modern Enterprise and Group Company systems – and extends this to discuss the major social consequences of such large-scale enterprise restructuring. Drawing on interview data from eight large SOEs in the steel industry, we assess the extent to which the aims of reducing government interference in the running of SOEs, developing a sense of enterprise, and achieving cost reductions and productivity improvements through large-scale workforce reductions can be achieved in the present reform-induced climate of labour unrest and incipient political instability.

China's state‐owned enterprises: economic reform and organizational restructuring

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Chinese economic reform process has engendered significant changes in the structure and management of work organizations. Central to this process has been the “marketization” of state‐owned enterprises (SOEs). The paper reviews the attempts to reform SOEs as conducted, primarily, under the modern enterprise system (MES) and group company system (GCS) programmes.Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyses institutional issues relating to organizational restructuring, describes the evolution of the SOE “problem” in China, and discusses case evidence of enterprise reform in one of the largest SOE‐dominated industries, iron and steel. Qualitative field data, collected regularly (mostly yearly) since 1995, were derived from in‐depth interviews with executives of ten large SOEs that have restructured as part of MES and GCS programmes.Findings – It is suggested that the historic reluctance of SOEs to embrace reform stems from three main factors – the...

Redundancies in Chinese State Enterprises: A Research Report

This article examines how the problem of surplus labor isbeing dealt with in some of China?s state-owned enterprises. Primarily using interview data from the period 1995-1997, as well as published sources, the article looks at the main methods employed by large state-owned enterprises to reduce the level of surplus labor in their workforce. It also considers how smaller state-owned enterprises are coping in an era where mergers, closures, and bankruptcies are becoming much more common as a means of dealing with loss-making firms, resulting in widespread redundancies in the state-owned enterpriseworkforce. The article illustrates that the potential political repercussions of job losses, as well as direct intervention by local authorities, continue to hinder the freedom of enterprise management to adjust employment levels in the interests of efficiency and productivity. The article also notes the importance of how decisions about downsizing and redundancy are communicated and justified to employees if resistance and social instability are to be minimized. The employment treatment of production workers will be considered separately from that of cadres, since these two groups are subject to different employment regulations and political constraints.

The ‘third way’: the future of work and organization in a ‘corporatized’ Chinese economy

Chinas economy has undergone a rapid transformation since liberalization was first introduced in 1979. Not only has there been rapid economic growth, but ownership sources have changed fundamentally, with a relative decline of the state-owned sector (SOE), a large foreign-owned sector (FIE), private enterprise and hybrid public/private forms. Accompanying these profound changes, there has been a marked shift in people management processes from centrally planned personnel administration to new forms. This article reviews the extent of those changes through a review of eight studies of HRM in China by the authors and their project colleagues. It concludes that there are widespread variations in the pace of change, between ownership forms in particular, but also between localities. Specifically, SOEs have been slower to implement reform than FIEs, largely due to historical legacies, organizational inertia and continued government interference.

Privatization, Chinese-style: economic reform and the state-owned enterprises

This article reviews ‘corporatization’ and ‘marketization’, shorthands for privatization, in the Chinese economy. In particular it concentrates upon the most recent round of state-owned enterprise reforms, the Modern Enterprise System and Group Company System, aimed at transforming China’s largest state-owned enterprises into internationally competitive corporations. This represents a partial privatization, given that the state will retain majority ownership, while acquiring domestic and foreign capital via sharelistings and foreign and domestic joint ventures. Drawing upon interview material from a five-year study of state-owned enterprises, the authors will indicate that such part privatization has been pragmatic and relatively slow. It has been constrained and circumscribed by broader economic and social reform programmes and accompanied by political decentralization and reforms. Ultimately, the reform and pace of reform is shaped by the desire to avoid political and social unrest which could, potentially, threaten the harmony of the Chinese central state apparatus.

The Elusive Market: Privatization, Politics and State-Enterprise Reform in China

Although China’s largest state–owned enterprises (SOEs) are destined to remain state–owned for the immediate future, recent reforms have affected these SOEs’ property rights and ownership structures. Moreover, the government’s insistence that privatization is not implied by present reform programmes is increasingly contradicted by actual developments and managers’ attitudes at the enterprise level. This article explores some of the political and organizational tensions created by this present phase of SOE reform.

Globalization and Vulnerability of Chinese Migrant Workers in Italy: empirical evidence on working conditions and their consequences

Compared with other ethnic groups, Chinese immigrants have a low profile and their voices, contributions, sufferings and needs are not widely recognised. This paper argues that the vulnerability of Chinese migrant workers is related to the poor working conditions in ethnic workplaces and the social isolation they experience, and that these two problems are interwoven. The data were obtained from an empirical survey involving 28 Chinese- and Italian-owned manufacturers in the textile, garment and leather sectors in the Veneto region of northern Italy, selected to enable comparisons to be made between conditions in Chinese-owned and Italian-owned businesses.