Xiaojun Zhang

Replying to management challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address several challenges faced by organizational management in the contemporary context, and how managers can better reply to management challenges by integrating oriental and occidental philosophy and wisdom.Design/methodology/approach – The paper first describes the characteristics of the contemporary management context and identifies challenges that managers are likely to encounter. The paper then investigates how oriental and occidental philosophy and wisdom reply to these management challenges, whilst also considering the relative advantages and disadvantages of both traditions. Based on the complementarity of these two traditions, the paper finally proposes a framework that integrates both oriental and occidental wisdom by HeXie Management Theory to better respond to management challenges.Findings – The contemporary organizational environment is characterized by four key salient components: complexity, change, ambiguity, and uncertainty (CCAU). Managers ar...

Ambidextrous organization in harmony

Purpose – This paper is a follow‐up to the authors first introductive article on the emerging He‐Xie management theory (HXMT), aiming to help readers better understand the concept of He‐Xie as well as the value of HXMT through several selected cases. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the value of HXMT in helping achieve the objectives of an ambidextrous organization in harmony.Design/methodology/approach – The potential value and explaining power of HXMT in helping achieve effective management in organizations is explored through three diversified cases in Chinese contexts. The research is implemented through analyzing the three core constructs of HXMT, i.e. HeXie theme (HT), He principle (HP) and Xie principle (XP) and HeXie coupling (HC), as well as the consistence and alignment of them in the three cases.Findings – In all cases, the authors found the existence of HC throughout various organizational development stages. In various organizational contexts, HT could be observed in guiding manage...

Co-evolution between institutional environments and organizational change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to interpret organizational change from a co-evolutionary perspective. It examines the co-evolution between institutional environments and organizational change with the mediating role of uncertainty as perceived by managers. Design/methodology/approach – The author employed an inductive case study to explore how institutional environments interact with organizational change in a novel context: a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Findings – The author developed a co-evolutionary model of organizational change that emphasizes the interaction between institutional-level factors and organizational-level change as bridged by top management perceptions of uncertainty. The model also illustrates the dynamics of organizational uncertainty and its effects on organizational change. Practical implications – The study implies that uncertainty may not be an inevitable negative influence on organizational development, and tell managers how to manages the dynamics of uncertainty thr...

Contorted leadership in Chinese hierarchically oriented context

Purpose – The aim of this research is to explore the behavioral model of Chinese organizational leaders acquiring resources for the development of their organizations under the influence of hierarchically oriented social governance. Design/methodology/approach – The paper compares the differences between Western and Chinese contexts and conducts a grounded multi-case study to explore leadership behavioral model in the Chinese context. Findings – First, the Chinese social governance structure is hierarchically oriented, whereas the Western social governance structure is market oriented. Second, this unique inconformity found in the Chinese organizational leaders as contorted leadership, which refers to the inconsistency between leaders’ cognition and their behavior when acquiring resources for the development of their organizations, is defined. Third, the conflict between leaders’ cognition and behaviors is caused by the social governance mechanism within which leaders are embedded. Research limitations/im...

Promoting Management Education in China Through Developing Practice-Based Management Theories: An Interview With Practitioner-Scholar Youmin Xi

For nearly 30 years, Youmin Xi, professor of management at Xi’an Jiaotong University, who serves concurrently as the executive president of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and pro-vice chancellor of the University of Liverpool, has been trying to find a way to best integrate management practices and management research in the East and West based on his multiple roles as a management researcher, educator, and practitioner. Being the first recipient of the PhD degree of management engineering in China, Xi has personally witnessed and lived through the development of China’s management education. In this interview, Xi believes management theories and practice can support one another and collaborate to improve management education in China. He also believes what he has been doing in developing HeXie Management Theory, a practice-based management theory, could offer educators and practitioners in the West some food for thought.

Mastering Chinese business model by conducting indigenous management research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the topic of the Chinese business model and provide a brief introduction to the papers in this special issue. Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores the importance of studying business model in the Chinese market and summarises the eight papers in this issue. Findings – The papers in this special issue address what the business model is in China, how it influences organizational outcomes, and how to build the business model in the Chinese market. These papers may be germane to both researchers and practitioners concerned with managing business model in China. For scholars, these papers broaden the understanding of business model and extend the theoretical boundaries of the business model from the Western to the Eastern context. For practitioners doing business in China, these papers give implications on how to build business models in China as well as what institutional and technological factors should be considered when designing their business models. Research limitations/implications – Further investigation is needed into the interaction among Chinese firms’ activities on business model design and operation and the institutional, technological, and market environment. Originality/value – Overall, these papers make remarkable contributions to our understanding of Chinese business model. The topics of these studies are various and the methods are also multiplex. Several interesting Chinese business models are addressed such as Bandit business model and “a company þ farmers”.