Malcolm Warner

Human Resource Management ‘With Chinese Characteristics’?

Can we now speak of ‘Human Resource Management’ (HRM) in the Chinese context in any strict sense, given that the ‘Open Door’ and the ‘Four Modernizations’ policies have now been in place for a decade and a half? Has Chinese practice moved closer to that of the West — or Japan, for that matter — with the introduction of the economic reforms of the 1980s? Is the problem of ‘Managing Human Resources in China’ (see Warner, 1986; 1993) meaningful in terms of HRM, defined as seeing employees as valuable resources to be effectively developed?

Human resource management with ‘Asian’ characteristics: a hybrid people-management system in East Asia

The central theme of this article is to illustrate the similarity and difference of people-management system among the key economies in East Asia. The article not only identifies what elements do exist in East Asian people-management system, but also examines other new elements being adopted into the existing system with the influences from the US and Europe. The authors analyse the information on the changes of people-management system, factors causing the changes and time. The common phenomenon is that when there is a crisis, then that may provide some opportunities for drastic changes. The authors conclude the article by pointing out that HRM is in a reforming process towards hybrid people-management system in East Asia. However, this reforming process is not one-way only. A triangle-influence between East Asia, Europe and the US is the reality. In addition, multi-factors are shaping the outcome of reforming people-management system in East Asia, identified as foreign influence, the States influence, the stage of social and economic development, and national and organizational historical path. Other economies, no matter in East Asia or other parts of the world, may draw some lessons from this study.

Towards an organizational study of trade unions

This paper develops modes of analysis for three major issues in the study of trade unions as organizations. These are, first, their distinctiveness as a discrete type of organization; secondly, the nature of their membership attachment; and thirdly, their twin rationales of representation and administration. The integration of these analyses within a new framework is then pursued. This framework serves to suggest propositions requiring empirical investigation and reference is made to some results from a preliminary study.

‘Late Development’ Experience and the Evolution of Transnational Firms in the People's Republic of China

In the wake of China’s modernization and economic reforms since the early 1980s, a growing number of firms based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are now in the process of diversifying spatially overseas and as such becoming transnational. This process is, as yet, at an early stage, but it is proceeding at a fast pace (see Nolan, 2001). It is the purpose of this paper to document and examine these experiences at a number of these internationalizing Mainland firms in order to ascertain:

Human resource management in China revisited: introduction

This introduction attempts to provide an overview of the Special Issue of the IJHRM on ‘Human Resource Management in China Revisited’. It deals first with the economic background of the recent changes in the PRC from 1978 to the present day, exploring the change from a command economy to a more market-led one, as well as the demise of ‘iron rice bowl’ policy dominated by a model to Soviet-inspired personnel management in favour of one gradually being characterized by possibly Japanese-/Western-influenced human resource management (HRM), albeit with ‘Chinese characteristics’. It then introduces the main debates in the field before summing up, at some length, the empirical contributions based on ‘state of the art’ field research contained in the papers submitted. Last, it deals with the comparative setting of the contributions on China vis-à-vis the national HRM systems of Japan and South Korea.

Reassessing human resource management ‘with Chinese characteristics’: An overview

This introductory essay provides an overview, as well as a reassessment, of current theory, practice and ongoing research in human resource management ‘with Chinese characteristics’. As the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has become inexorably linked to the international economy and increasingly faces the challenges of globalization, its enterprises and people-management have had to adapt to this new, fast-changing environment. The contributions summarized and commented upon here attempt to explain how this has been achieved. They are all based on empirical on-site investigations by specialists in the field and deal with such HRM-related topics as: cross-national comparisons, devolution of HR practices, HRM regional modelling, human capital, globalization, organizational commitment, psychological capital, psychological contracts, supervisors and co-workers, work behaviour, work-family conflicts and the like. The contributors are drawn from a variety of backgrounds and university affiliations in Australia, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Japan, PRC, UK and the US.

Strategic human resource management in western multinationals in China

In the past two decades, the way enterprises in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) manage their human resources has changed dramatically. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) have entered into the “strategic investor” phase, where now the integration of PRC operations into the MNE network receives growing attention. For these companies HRM is often of high strategic importance. This article seeks to explore how differences in HRM practices in such businesses vary with their ownership forms. The study is based on in‐depth interviews with HRM managers – on the PRC country‐level – in 12 MNEs. The large majority of the participating companies clearly stated that today the HRM function is of high strategic importance for their operations in the PRC and is predominantly controlled by the MNE partner. Although equity ownership stake is an important variable influencing HRM policies and practices, it is shown that it needs to be seen in conjunction with other possibly non‐equity control‐mechanisms.

China's trade unions and management

List of Tables - List of Figures - List of Abbreviations - Preface - Acknowledgements - PART 1: EVOLVING - Setting-Out the Issues - The Chinese Labour Movement After 1949 - The ACFTUs Evolving Role - PART 2: REFORMING - Trade Unions and Management in China in their Legal Context - Trade Unions and Management in the State-Owned Enterprise Sector - Trade Unions and Management in the Joint Venture and Foreign-Funded Enterprise Sector - PART 3: COMPARING - Outside the Mainland: Trade Unions and Management in Three Overseas Chinese Societies - Conclusions: Summing-Up - Appendix - Notes - References - Index

Towards an Asian model of human resource management? A comparative analysis of China, Japan and South Korea

There has been much discussion regarding the possible decline and weakening of national systems of human resource management (HRM). Yet, culture and institutions are often cited as the major stumbling blocks to this outcome. Such constraints may dissipate in the analysis, particularly if ‘regional clusters’ are considered where geographic and cultural closeness and ‘openness’ to similar economic pressures exist. In such cases, it might be postulated that convergence in HRM will occur. We argue that China, Japan and South Korea represent such a cluster. This article examines these countries, to see if a degree of convergence is taking place and if it is towards an identifiable ‘Asian’ model of HRM. A model of change is presented that distinguishes between levels of occurrence and acceptance. Details of the development and practice of HRM in each country are then set out. The article ends with a discussion and implications section and a brief conclusion.

China's Labour-Management System Reforms: Breaking the ‘Three Old Irons’ (1978–1999)

This article systematically examines the fundamental changes that have taken place in Chinas labour-management system since China embarked on its economic reforms in 1978. The system was, from the 1950s onwards, characterized by what were called the ‘three old irons’, i.e. life-time employment (the ‘iron rice bowl’), centrally administered wages (the ‘iron wage’), and state-controlled appointment and promotion of managerial staff (the ‘iron chair’). This study reviews the degree to which the reform process is breaking these ‘three old irons’ and is arguably replacing them with a ‘hybrid’ human resource management model, albeit with ‘Chinese characteristics’, that reflects the influence of foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) that have invested in China.