ABSTRACT
China, the world's largest transitional economy, is faced with the problems posed by trying to bring into its historic and lingering culture of government control of the economy, culture, organization, a mindset necessary to function efficiently in the competitive world of market economics. In some respects, China has derived great benefits from its recent past: its diligent workers still accept comparatively low wages, and in many respects, strong government control has allowed for major efficiencies in infrastructure modernization projects. Thus, China has, over the last two decades, consistently maintained one of the highest rates of economic growth in the world, and its economy has now become one of the driving forces in the development of the global economy as a whole (Robert 2005). Chinese enterprises and Western firms both recognize that such growth, coupled with the fact that China holds 20% of the world's population, must surely make the country a prime target market; however, a number of human resource issues, such as the need to continually improve human resource quality and human resource management effectiveness, have now become increasingly important and problematic factors in sustaining the country's economic growth. In a market of such potential, failure simply cannot be allowed to become an option; therefore, business people, academicians, and all companies, Chinese and foreign, wishing to do business in China, must engage in thorough examinations of cultural and human dynamics to successfully conduct and manage business within the country.
