China, an emerging market economy, stands in contrast to the Anglo-American countries. China, once based on a state socialist system, has undergone rapid reform, moving to a market-based system that has entailed dramatic changes to human resource management. For example, state-owned enterprises have declined, state-controlled unions have been diluted, and industrial conflict has increased.

Questions

1 Given the labour market reforms that have taken place in China and the opening up the economy, why might employee involvement and participation take different forms from the practices in Europe and Anglo-American countries?

2 How might forms of employee involvement in China, particularly in multinational or private enterprises, converge, or look similar to, employee involvement practices in the Western model?