和而不同 “Harmony, not uniformity” HRM in China: global models adapted to cultural diversity

Abstract

The purpose of my thesis is to understand how the cultural values and socio-economic factors impact the management of the personnel of companies in China, what are the strategies of Human Resources Management (HRM) able to make the companies competitive and winning on an international scale.

In the first chapter I analyze the most meaningful events since Mao Zedong’s era to Deng Xiaoping’s era that may have influenced people and ideas and the first methods of HRM used in China, tracing the origins of modernity, taking into account the long-going relationship between tradition and innovation on which China feeds.

In the second chapter I talk about the economic boom and I give an overview of the labor market in China today, both in its structure and in the management field.

In the third chapter I explain the basics of cultural management as a tool for optimizing and synchronizing business operations. There is an analysis of the cultural factors that still influence everyday life and the various dynamics that affect the labor market and, consequently, the management of human resources.

In the last chapter I analyze the personnel management in China, taking into account models considered global, but adapted at the same time to the different environmental and cultural context. I also speak about international careers, advantages and disadvantages of internal and cross-border recruitment, management of foreign assignments and techniques of training and learning that the group develops to support the expatriate staff and Chinese personnel, talking about different managers’ experiences.