This symposium explores Chinese people-management as an academic subject, looking at where it is currently going and the likely direction of its progress. After the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping in 1978, China saw the introduction of Human Resource Management (HRM). This book discusses the specific issues which are relevant to its evolution in China, in particular whether there is a dominant ‘paradigm’ in the field and whether there might be a new one in the making. It looks at the possibility of a ‘theory of Chinese management’ or ‘Chinese theory of management’.

This comprehensive volume covers a wide range of topics, including charismatic leadership, employee commitment, creativity, ‘guanxi’, job security, knowledge-generation, mentorship, national identity and organizational innovation, all in the context of Chinese HRM. The contributors are experts in their respective fields of management, organizational behaviour, psychology, sociology and related disciplines, and cover a wide range of themes, models and specialisms.

This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Human Resource Management.