ABSTRACT
The rapid transition of China to a market-oriented economic system has impacted substantially on workers within the enterprise and, more broadly, within society. As we have seen, at the workplace these market forces have been reflected through ongoing changes in enterprise structure, organizational strategy and management systems in an attempt to improve the competitive position of the enterprise through improved efficiency, productivity and profitability. These changes were discussed in Chapter 3 and have placed substantial pressure on workers as they attempt to adjust to new managerial approaches and meet the challenges of market competition. In turn, these enterprise changes have affected the nature of workplace trade unionism, as discussed in Chapter 4.
