This study is an attempt to outline an overall
curriculum plan for the management education programs of the
People’s Republic of China (PRC), which would be adapted to
the needs of the country while drawing on knowledge and
resources from the West. This study also searches for an
analytical tool to facilitate cross-national comparisons in
areas of management.
A need-based curriculum planning process is followed,
which focuses on the discrepancies between the actual and
required managerial capabilities in the PRC. A framework
conceptualizing the nature of management is proposed to
provide an overall structure for examining the needs for
management training.
It is suggested in this framework that national
characteristics affect organizational environments, which in
turn influence the nature of organizational management. It
is further suggested that organizational environments in
various national contexts be examined from two perspectives:
(a) internal vs. external, and (b) technical vs.
institutional. Effective management involves forming and
implementing strategies and tactics which would balance all
aspects of organizational environments within a particular
context.
Based on the framework, the management of PRC’s
enterprises involves reconciling economic with ideological
and social criteria, as well as reconciling the interests of
the state and the community, and of the organizational
members. This perspective on management in the PRC is
partially tested through a questionnaire survey administered
to a sample of PRC managers from the Ministry of Foreign
Economic Relations and Trade (MOFERT). The survey results
support the notion that, to succeed in the PRC, it is
important not only to manage the technical but also the
institutional aspects of organizational environments.
The questionnaire also surveyed MOFERT managers’ self-
reported managerial capabilities to uncover the overall and
the differentiated needs for training among managers from
various backgrounds. As predicted, MOFERT managers recognize
their skill deficiency in all aspects of management
identified. This echoes the widespread recognition of the
urgent need for upgrading managerial skills in the PRC.
The survey results indicate the extent to which
managers’ different backgrounds contribute to their
capabilities of dealing with various aspects of management.
MOFERT managers having tertiary education, contrary to the
prediction, do not report more confidence in fulfilling
managerial tasks which are supposedly highly related to
their specific disciplines of technical and professional
training. On the other hand, managers’ work experience,
connections with government agencies, and/or sympathy with
the official ideology are shown to contribute, in general,
to better capabilities in aspects of management requiring
more behavioral and political as opposed to technical
skills. However, those same managers report no more
confidence than other managers in dealing with aspects of
management which, though still calling for political skills,
are dramatically affected by the current economic reforms in
the PRC.
Based on conceptual and empirical analyses, curriculum
plans are recommended for the various levels of business
administration programs of the PRC. The extent of
transferability of existing Western teaching materials in
various subject areas are also discussed.
While this study focuses primarily on the content issue
of management education in the PRC, the proposed framework
has much broader implications in both topical and
geographical terms. It synthesizes various contemporary
advancements in organizational research, enabling a holistic
view of organizational management. It is also geocentric in
orientation, enabling genuine cross-cultural comparisons and
contrasts. Hopefully, the framework provides a general model
for systematic analyses of cross-national similarities and
differences in organizational management.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/2915 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Bu, Nailin |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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