Towards a Chinese transformation of American management

Citation

Teck Foo, C. (2012), "Towards a Chinese transformation of American management", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 6 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/cms.2012.32306caa.001

Towards a Chinese transformation of American management

Article Type: Foreword From: Chinese Management Studies, Volume 6, Issue 3

I am very grateful to Professor Michèle Akoorie for her role as Guest Editor of this third issue Strategy, Organization and Economics of Volume 6 of Chinese Management Studies (CMS). Reading her foreword, I am amazed to discover that she as a Westerner too shared my own insights: what Western management does not work in China. For when that happens, the Chinese will adapt, improvise and innovate on the American models of management. It is strongly resonant of what I am now anticipating of the future papers for CMS. Perhaps, I may through a conference invite papers on the Chinese transformation of Western management.

As a keynote speaker at the third 2010 Guan Li Xue Zai Zhong Gua (Management in China) Conference in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China, I spoke (in Chinese) on Jiang Lai Zhong Guo Hua Mei Guo Guan Li (MBA) Hui You Xing Mo Shi Xing (The Future New Models of Chinese Transformed American MBA Management). It is a transformational change that will ensure CMS to have a central role for the years to come. For this reason, I on a lookout for papers exploring these issues. Especially, I want to be touch with scholars who are reflecting deeply upon these underlying changes. There is a role for Chinese management scholars in synthesizing ideas from the West and China.

This is what happened to Indian Buddhism that filtered into China as early as 221-206 BCE Qin Dynasty. The impact of Mahayana Buddhism on the Chinese mindset is so enormous and somewhere, somehow it has to be reflected in aspects of Chinese management. Zen and Japanese management is well documented in the literature but not as yet Han Buddhism. For this reason, I myself have taken upon myself a research interest to explore unique features of leadership from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective. In particular, after a recent forum[1,2] I am working to propose and develop a theory of continuous consciousness of leadership: the case of the lineage of the 17 Karmapas. Tibetan culture may be unique but it is part of the rich Chinese landscape of the cultures of her 55 minorities. The lineage of the Karmapas may hold some intriguing insights towards a better appreciation and understanding of the process of continuity – not succession – in leadership.

Later Buddhism died out in India but the theories, models, psychology, spiritual practices flowered in China. Arguably, as Indian Buddhism became rooted on the Chinese psyche, Buddhism was itself transformed. Han Buddhism is now enjoying a strong revival in China. There is now an emphasis on education for monks and new Buddhist colleges are being established, including one in Singapore. Could we not anticipate newly transformed, even better management models, tools, systems, processes to emerge out of this Chinese transformation of the best of Western managerial practices? Imagine models that synthesized timeless Chinese culture, philosophy and thinking as part of management.

Indeed in China, Guo Xue (often translated as China Studies) emphasizing Tao, Confucianism, Buddhism and different schools of Chinese thoughts are now being re-introduced into university curriculum. If so, scholars doing research must see CMS as the rightful place for their works. One of the most popular Chinese strategic thinkers in the US is Sun Tzu (Sun Zi)[3]. Yet few of the Art of War fans realize Sun Tzu to be himself an expert immersed in the philosophy of Tao. You get a far better grasp of his strategic thinking if you familiarize yourself with the teachings of the Chinese sage, Lao Tzu.

For me June has been an exciting period: I am fully engaged in a thorough review as Editor-in-Chief of more than 150 manuscripts. These papers are accumulated through central Scholar One system. This comes right after my review of abstracts that are submitted for the 2012 Second Chinese Management Studies Conference: the venue I intend to develop for scholars to explore new, exciting, even hidden ideas as related to Chinese management. Thus, in the selection for presentations, the emphasis is on just the abstract – seeds of ideas – rather than the manuscript per se. For this coming second Conferences we will have among the audience, senior managers. It is equally important that practitioners find papers in CMS to be relevant. We will need to hear them as well.

Seeing these submissions flowing into the Conference and CMS, I have realized the goals of my journey. Beginning from 2010, I was on the move to attract good papers from authors living and working in China. Now, submissions from Chinese professors far outnumber the others. It is time for us to re-work the balance. For the next third Conference with the very kind support of Emerald and Aventis School of Management (incidentally, the largest center in Singapore for US MBAs) we will market the event as an ideal avenue for professors from both East and West to meet for collaborative research: specifically, synthesis of ideas.

Since CMS was founded this is perhaps my most intensive period of work as a scholar. Through it all, I have gotten a bird’s eye view of research on Chinese management: a discipline in the making. I am glad to be able to share with potential authors of CMS, even though it is still tentative, on the forthcoming themes for CMS in 2013 and 2014. We already have substantial papers that are now being considered for within each of these themes:

• •

  Managing business model.

• •

  Managing corporate finance.

• •

  Corporate politics, philanthropy and governance.

• •

  Guan-Xi revisited.

• •

  Managing human resources.

• •

  Managing sustainability.

• •

  Innovation, technology and management.

• •

  Leadership, strategy and culture.

Soon I will be contacting the (long awaiting) authors about the outcome of their submissions. I must thank all the authors for their patience and for offering me the rare opportunity of reviewing their works. For those whose manuscripts are rejected, I will be writing to them individually. Still, I like to encourage these authors to always consider CMS for publishing their very best works.

Check Teck FooFounding Editor-in-Chief, Consulting Dean, Aventis School of Management, Singapore

Notes

1. Forum on “Living a Meaningful Life in Contemporary Society” with 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje at the Tooth Relic Temple, Singapore.

2. www.karmapa.org/news/tour_2012/03_singapore/singapore_02.htm

3. www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlzX2u6W_uw