Chinese values in work organization: an alternative approach to change and development

Abstract

This paper explores the salient features of Chinese social and workplace values in offering an alternative to the established Western approach to the notion and practice of organizational devel opment. The authors argue that the emphasis of the Chinese traditional values on trust, fidelity, altruism and unspecified obligations of reciprocity norms is an important source of strategic advantage which gives a Chinese firm its resilience and flexibility to cope with change. The paper thus goes on to examine the cultural disposition of the Chinese mentality as it applies in the context of such East Asian economies as Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong for the organization of the workplace and its 'reformation'. With the help of organizational data the authors trace out a corporate approach to 'national harmony' in the Confucian domain in the big Chinese enterprises. The paper also reflects on the organizational practices in the small Chinese firms and explores the 'nexus' of informality and personalized trust in these firms. Finally, the authors contend that the propensities of the Chinese communities to transfer the features of traditional governance within the family milieu to the domain of business organizations have instigated a Western academic consciousness to search for Oriental inspiration in order to overcome the sterility of their post-industrial syndrome.