So after a week off uni (not much of a week off with all the assignments due soon) it's back into blogging again this week, and this week we are going to China!
So to start it off, similar to that of our last topic where we looked at Korea vs Japan, China is another country that is considered quite different in regards to their employment relations. There are many aspects to compare and contrast but I'm going to focus on human resource management in particular this week.
"Human resource management and labour-management relations in China are different from those in other countries because of different political and economic systems and social and cultural backgrounds."
Firstly, it is crucial to recognise the importance of Confucianism in China as this has an effect on all aspects of their lives, including their employment relations and the way they do business. The general theme of this system of values focuses on the 'importance of proper human relationships'. This is relevant as human resource management is primarily concerned with how people in organisations are managed. Of these values, harmony is one of the more instrumental in shaping Chinese HRM.
That is, for the Chinese it is essential that employees and management have a harmonious relationship where aspects such as criticism must be handled very gently, in order to not upset this harmony between the two. This has a huge impact on human resource management as it encourages a greater relationship between the two and means that activities such as performance appraisals or dismissals would be carried out very differently in comparison to Western countries such as Australia.
The 1978 economic reforms that took place in China have resulted in lots of changes for their human resource management. These include:
~The changing nature of education has placed a focus on higher education, meaning the workforce is becoming more skilled and jobs are becoming more competitive
~Chinese workers are now encouraged to be more active in participating in decision-making and in taking initiative within their work
~The Chinese urban and rural township small businesses are now booming and are allowed to recruit employees according to their needs
~Human resource managers have been granted more flexibility in hiring employees, rewarding workers and managers, as well as various other decisions
~Chinese trade unions now play increasing role in labour-management relations, especially in joint ventures
The article this information was taken from was published in 1994 so 20 years ago now. Although outdated, it considers the history of China and their human resources, whilst making predictions for their future. They identified that managing human resources well and paying close attention to harmony are key aspects in achieving successful human resource management.
Their predictions included:
- Trade unions in enterprises will play an increasingly active role in employment relations
- Chinese enterprises will soon be competing against each other to employ highly qualified workers and motivating them and retaining them with better salaries, fringe benefits and greater opportunities for career development will be essential
Considering what you have read in this weeks readings - do you believe these predictions were accurate?
Hope everyone enjoyed their 'study' break!
Sian :)
Reference: Zhao, S (1994) 'Human Resource Management in China', Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 3-12.
Hey Sian, i actually much prefer reading about the cultural influences that impact employment relations in different countries and so I really enjoyed reading your blog this week on the Chinese cultural influences on employment relations.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the human resource management side of things and what you seemed to have found in that article, I'd say the complete opposite has really occurred since 1994 as the writer tries to predict.
In China, being run by the Communist Party seems to only produce harmony so long as everything is governed by the state themselves. For instance, employer's associations and trade unions must be recognised by the Communist Party before they are able to represent people in China. It's then that only one employer's association - the China Enterprise Confederation (CEC) and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) are the only organisations that are able to represent either parties of the employment relationship. It seems their idea of "harmony" occurs not by freedom to make decisions are be represented for their own rights, but in whatever way is "harmonious" according to the government's legislations and systems.
And when you say that disputes are handled "very gently" it would seem it's only gently handled because many union officials are under resourced, unskilled and uneducated enough to represent and defend worker's rights that they ultimately end up siding with management. It would seem that the article failed to realise the expanse of applying such reformation into a society already so corrupted and heavily weighted towards the employer's as that in China. I'm sure you'd agree as well?
Good job!
Louisa
Hey Louisa!
DeleteI definitely agree - it is easy for it appear as 'harmonious' however in reality, it is more so that groups such as unions or employer's associations are controlled by the government unfortunately.
I guess you could question whether globalisation has anything to do with this in regards to the power the government has - as this article was written in 1994, this was not really a concept that was discussed at that time.
Thanks for the comment :)