Confucian HRM or unitarism with Chinese characteristics? A study of worker attitudes to work reform and management in three state-owned enterprises

This article addresses the changing nature of factory regimes in China. It analyses worker attitudes to management control and workplace change in three state-owned automotive enterprises. In the context of the diffusion of new management methods that, for some writers, are seen to contain the potential for blending western concepts of unitarism with traditional Chinese values centred on harmony and loyalty, the article provides case study evidence of tightly controlled and highly disciplined work environments which generate a countervailing pattern of interest dissonance between workers and their managers. This raises the possibility of a broader underlying dynamic of disharmony and conflict in the Chinese economy. © The Author(s) 2012