ABSTRACT
In fact, western management researchers on China seem to be obsessed by a desire to explain the values and behavioural patterns of individuals and organisations with orthodox Confucian values. This approach puts China and its people in a strange light. During the cultural revolution youth were smitten by the personal cult of Mao. They responded spontaneously to Mao’s revolutionary appeal by forming Red Guard groups throughout the country. The Cultural Revolution also meant endless struggle meetings, study sessions and writing of self-criticism that interrupted the ordinary daily routines of individuals and families. Even language, words and single Chinese characters became the targets of violent political attacks. Based on comparative studies between the pre- and post-one-child era, the policy has produced significantly less trusting, less trustworthy, more risk-averse, less competitive, and more pessimistic and less conscientious individuals. China can be described as hosting a wide variety of sets of institutional values, policies and material conditions from various eras.
