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A Relational View of Organizational Restructuring: The Case of Transitional China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Dali Ma
Dali Ma*
Affiliation:
Drexel University, USA
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Abstract

This article addresses three questions concerning authority relations (personal relations with superiors) in transitional China. First, can superiors retain an organizational unit in order to save a protege's job? Second, has instrumental usage of particularistic relations, or guanxi, lost its importance? Third, has ‘principled particularism’, an integration of political loyalty and authority relations, continued to impact careers? Based on first-hand survey data, I find that state-owned enterprises in which managers had closer authority relations were less likely to be sold or discontinued, and close authority relations also reduced the likelihood of career blockage (demotion/lay off). The significant interactive effect of party membership and authority relations revealed the continuation of ‘principled particularism’. The study underlines institutional continuity during rapid social change, renders insights into the processes of organizational restructuring, and depicts the relational base of formal organizations.

Keywords

authority relationscareersChinaguanxirestructuringsocial networks下属与领导的私人关系职业发展中国关系重构社会网络
Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 8 , Issue 1: Special Issue Indigenous Management Research in China , March 2012 , pp. 51 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2012

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