Changes in contextual variables in China's human resource management (HRM) :: implications for HRM convergence and divergence

Based on changes in contextual variables in China's human resource management (HRM), this paper has four major objectives. The first objective is to highlight discussions on variables in the context of Western market economies where HRM is conducted and their impact on HRM. The second objective is to review the traditional model of personnel and labour administration in China's industrial sector during Mao's regime, which illustrates how management of the Chinese workforce was influenced by various contextual variables and how these variables were different from those in the market economies. The third objective of this paper is to analyse the changes in the contextual variables in China's HRM since the post-Mao reform based on both literature review and some empirical evidence from a survey conducted in China, and examine the impact of these changes on human resource practices in Chinese industrial enterprises. Finally, the paper proposes a transitional HRM model for China's industrial enterprises to show some implications for convergence to or divergence from a Western style of HRM in China when it is moving towards a more market-oriented economy