Understanding Management in China-Past Present and Future

With over three decades of economic reform in China, the management of Chinese organizations has experienced dramatic changes at all levels. In the book, Understanding Management in China: Past Present and Future, Malcom Warner captured an impressive picture of evolving management practices in China. The amount of extensive details that the author divulged in each chapter could easily be expanded to develop into a separate book. Warner offers the readers what can be considered a time traveler’s guide through the world of Chinese Management, from the fall of the imperial regime in 1911, the economic recovery in the 1950’s and Deng’s Economic Reforms in the 1970’s, to the changes in types of ownership from privately owned to state-owned in early years to the contemporary mixed economy which lead to the changed management styles that are known today.

Chapter 1 starts the book with a practical note by providing an introduction and a roadmap of the book. The introduction gives us a brief background of people’s views and impressions of China, and the philosophers that have emerged from Chinese history over time. This chapter followed China through its search for modernity through economics, political and social development, focusing on the development of economy and education. It also points out that the book will concentrate on urban parts of China as opposed to the rural counterparts.

Chapter 2 begins the “past” portion with an overview of China’s history. Warner uses this chapter to highlight the different leaders (or managers as he refers to them) and their individual achievements. Warner also goes into the history of management practices in this chapter, and extends further to show how closely related their past practices are to those that we see today worldwide. The look into the past continues in Chapter three by an overview of Chinese culture. Instead of focusing on what Chinese cultural entails, Warner focuses more on how the cultural came to be through the different philosophers and schools of thought. Much of this chapter is focused on the writings of classical Chinese thinkers such as Confucius, Sunzi and Laozi.

Chapter four leads the reader into the present and summarizes the complexity of the Chinese economy. Warner frankly states:

As a response to this, he goes through the Chinese economy’s modernization, industrialization, decline and its revival while keeping in mind the role that the government has in the economic happenings. In keeping with true form to the book, Chapter 5 gives a detailed examination into the “industrial context of management over the past one hundred years or so” (p. 89). Warner uses this chapter to describe the development of management styles that accompanied Chinese industries on its journey to modernization and industrialization. Chapter 5 also looks at the different types of businesses and ownerships, such as multinational companies, that brought different types of management to China, and the rebirth, implementation and success of Taylorism and the influence of western thinking.

In the subsequent chapter, the attention is turned from China as a whole to the individual manager. Warner presents a thought provoking question of “How do we define management in China” (p. 108)? Warner answers this question through different lenses, by how managers view themselves, by what managers actually do, by what has been written in the past, and by what research has already been done on the topic. The remainder of the chapter addresses topics such as the education of managers, women in management and the training and development of managers.

Labor relations is the topic of Chapter 7. Warner takes us through the slow evolution of labor unions in China, from what started as common interest groups to their present state. This chapter also covers the founding and following actions of the All-China Federation of Trade Union, which is said to be the world’s largest union entity. Changes in the legal framework in regards to unions and how their rules are enforced are also key topics of this chapter.

Chapter 8, the last chapter in the “present” section of the book, covers the topic of Human Resource Management, which is translated literally as “labour force resources management” in Chinese. Warner covers what he says are the three stages of human resource management in China-the Nascent, Interim and Mature phases. Chapter eight also discusses the Chinese Communist Party’s involvement of human resource practices. Warner also uses chapter eight to discuss gaps in the literature where human resource practices in China is concerned. Chapter nine begins the “future” portion of the book by speculating how management practices will transform in the years to come, which as Warner states “is problematic given how much and how fast China has been transformed in the last few decades”. Warner then proceeds to give four possible managerial scenarios that may come to pass in the future: “going backwards (“hard” pessimism), trimming (“soft” pessimism), going forward slowly (“soft” optimism) and full-steam ahead (“hard” optimism) (p. 175).

Chapter 10, the final chapter in the book, gives us an overall conclusion to the book by providing a brief overview of the previous nine chapters. Warner introduces what he sees seven paradoxes concerning Chinese management practices. One example would be how management in China is Western and Eastern, seeing as how the original western idea of management has been altered to fit the Chinese context. Warner also poses the question of whether or not Chinese theory of management is needed as opposed to a theory of Chinese management, and answers it with four logical possibilities.

Warner himself adds to the validity of this book. With 30 years of research devoted to Chinese human resource management (HRM) research and practices, this book is one of his many publications in which he lends his expertise. Throughout this book, Warner can often be quoted as giving first hand experiences that add a sense of authority to the material itself. Throughout the book, Warner does a commendable job of presenting information as facts when needed, but also warning readers of when they should be skeptical, such as when government statistics are presented. Warner also keeps an eye on the future by pointing out future research potential as it arises.

While one of the book’s strengths is that it is so informative, it would be best suited for someone who possesses a basis of knowledge concerning Chinese history and management practices. Because the book covers such a wide array of topics that span over 100 years, readers who are not familiar with certain aspects of Chinese history, such as Chinese philosophers, may need to supplement the book with additional materials for a better understanding. Although, the graphics used by the author provides a visual aspect that helps clarify the materials.

As the name “Understanding Management in China” suggests, Warner’s book differs from others in the sense that instead of concentrating on certain aspects of Chinese management, such as state-owned enterprises (Tang and Ward, 2003) or Chinese conflict management (Chen and Ma, 2002) or the more recent works of Yuan (2013) and Cooke (2012) on Chinese HRM, Warner is more concerned with understanding the history or the “why” behind how the management practices came to be. While the above mentioned books do address topics such as culture and Chinese philosophy, Warner uses this information to chain together a picture of not only what Chinese management is today, but also how it came to be through the different influences that are addressed in each chapter. Warner’s book, building on the notion that if we can understand the past, we can better predict the future, takes the information that he has gather furthered by applying it to the future of Chinese management.

Another atheistically pleasing aspect of the book is its organization. As the title suggests, the book’s ten chapters are broken down into three distinct time frames: the past, present and future. As the author states early on in the book, “They (the chapters) are closely linked to each other in a meaningful narrative, rather than an unambiguously casual model as such” (p. 5). The author certainly lives up to this statement. Each chapter is further broken down into subsections, with each chapter and section building on the last. What we are left with is an easy to read timeline of the management practices in China.

Overall, this book is a well-organized and profound account of Chinese management practices. Through the use of calculated figures and charts, the author is able to add substantial amounts of information without adding unnecessary length. The end result is a well-written scholarly book that significantly adds to the current literature concerning Chinese management issues. This book should be considered a valuable resource for anyone who wants to extend not only their knowledge of Chinese management practices, but also their understanding of the culture and history of China as a whole as it touches on not only management practices, but the history and philosophical background behind them. The breadth of information covered in Warner’s book lends itself to be valuable resource for both independent studies or for classroom instructions. Because the book captures both historical and managerial view points, it could easily be incorporated into a history, culture or international business course. Whether one’s research or personal interests are related directly to China or different international managerial practices, this book should be included in his or her library.