China's HRM revisited: a step-wise path to convergence?

Abstract

This contribution discusses the degree to which changes in human resource management (HRM) have taken place in the China since the Special Issue on HRM in the Asia Pacific Region came out in 1997. At that time, we spoke of ‘relative convergence’ as being the main feature of Chinese HRM; this remains largely the case. As the non-state owned sectors in the Chinese economy expand and state-owned enterprises shrink correspondingly, the impact of World Trade Organization entry will lead to more competition and a greater role for market forces. The greater the impact of these changes on Chinese firms, the more Personnel Management will be replaced by HRM year by year. How rapidly this pragmatic, step-wise path proceeds will depend on how far the new norms become institutionalized and how far managers' as well as workers' mind-sets absorb and integrate them.