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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore a successful case of a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) as it applied western organization development (OD) approaches. Specifically, this study seeks to answer two questions: How has western organization development and change (OD/C) been applied in one Chinese SOE? and What lessons can be learned from this successful case? Design/methodology/approach - The paper employs a single case design to gain an in-depth understanding. The case study is the methodology when the focus is on a contemporary phenomenon within a real-life context. Findings - The findings reveal that the organization successfully uses a number of western OD techniques in creating a shared vision, establishing a performance-based human resource management system, and standardizing budgetary and cost control procedures. The success of the company's change effort is largely attributed to leadership, standardization of management systems, commitment to learning and training, and partnership with an OD expert. Research limitations/implications - Findings of this paper are limited by the single case study design. Future research is needed to study more cases of success where western OD techniques have been applied. Further research is also warranted to identify indigenous OD approaches used by Chinese organizations. Current research also needs to be expanded to study regions or countries that are undergoing similar economic transitions and have adopted western-based OD techniques. Originality/value - By focusing on an under-explored research territory - China - the paper expands the current knowledge of OD into the international domain and fills in the gap of OD/C research which is lacking in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the associations of societal trust and distrust with customer orientation. This paper also examines the impact of the above associations on organizational and HRM aspects of cautiousness, culture for change and job satisfaction in the banking industry. Design/methodology/approach - The data for this paper were collected from 812 bank employees in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the USA. Based on the suggestions in the literature this paper provides evidence to support the assertion that concepts of trust and distrust are not part of the same continuum. Findings - The results show a positive association between trust and customer orientation, and provide support for the conceptual distinction between societal trust and distrust. In addition, the study shows that the presence of a culture for change in banks moderates the relationship between societal trust and customer orientation. The results also suggest the overall importance of exercising cautiousness in the banking industry. Research limitations/implications- Limitations of this research include collection of data from single sources (bank employees) and the cross-sectional nature of the design. Implications of the results are: the distinction between trust and distrust and its implications for management of trust in organizations; the connection between trust, customer orientation and company performance; specific issues relating to banks - e.g. importance of culture of change, cautiousness and trust. Practical implications - Impact of developing trust in banks is not just for the quality of the relationships among bank employees. It is also perceived by the bank's customers and will have positive implications for the performance of the bank. Also, minimizing or removing "distrust" before expecting a working environment characterized by trust can be achievable. Also, importance of creating a culture that is conducive to change is a key component of a developing and maintaining trust in organizations. Originality/value - The evidence that shows the conceptual distinction between trust and distrust is a key finding. Also, cross national data on banks in which trust is shown to be connected to customer orientation and by implication to bank's performance in a unique finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last dozen years have seen a considerable investment of resources into the research and development of group support systems (GSS) technology. This paper describes how GSS was used to support a process improvement project in a Hong Kong accounting firm. Although the project encountered many difficulties, the application of action research facilitated the adaptation of the GSS to the shifting circumstances, and the project was successfully completed. A variety of lessons concerning the use of GSS are presented, while increased use of action research in complex organizational contexts is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces events and information in the field of finance for 1991. The Academy of Financial Services will be holding its Annual Meeting on October 9, 1991 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. A new journal, "International Review of Economics and Finance" will be published in 1991. The International Conference on Asian-Pacific Financial Markets will be held at the City Polytechnic University in Hong Kong on September 12-14, 1991.

Supervisor-subordinate guanxi is an informal leader-member relationship that is of utmost importance in Chinese organizations. This paper explores Chinese employees' motives for building supervisor-subordinate guanxi through two studies. Study 1 develops an indigenous scale of motives for supervisor-subordinate guanxi. Four motive types (i.e., career advancement, team concern, personal life, and impression management) are identified, and the scale's convergent and discriminant validity is established. Study 2 examines the predictive power of these motive types. The results indicate that they, as a whole, account for unique variances in supervisor-subordinate guanxi. Furthermore, as single motive types, they have unequal impacts on this relationship and its dimensions. This research enhances understanding of what underlies supervisor-subordinate guanxi from a motivational perspective and has implications for Chinese indigenous research of guanxi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of an International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG) workshop on nursing homes. One of the paper presented in the workshop focused on the state of nursing homes within long-term care in Catalonia, Spain. The event also addressed the challenges posed by the increasing elderly population in China, as well as the occupancy rate in Chinese nursing homes. Another topic addressed in the workshop was chronic pain in long-term care facilities.

When an organization pursues the goals specific to its environment, networks are constructed to gain various resources from other collaborators. However, most individual studies on inter-organizational network have taken a simplified view of relationships among member organizations by focusing on a static and single level linkage. This paper proposes a multi-level approach to integrate resource, organization and network levels and explores the relationship between these levels. This enables us to identify a set of important micro, meso and macro linkages between resource, organization and network. Operational measures and results are illustrated via a case study from an incubator system of Xi'an High-tech Park of China. The case study demonstrates that one level triggers the changes of other levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A list of the officers of the Chinese Society of International Law is presented, including president L. I. Shishi, vice-president Rao Geping and secretary general L. U. Song.

This article focuses on the journal "Accounting Horizons." This journal is published quarterly by the American Accounting Association, this journal publishes applied research in tile field of accounting. The March 1996 issue contains four papers that focus on international accounting research in U.S. academic accounting journals from 1980 to 1993; spontaneous harmonization effects of culture and market forces on accounting disclosure practices; interdependencies in the global markets for capital and information; and analysis of the conceptual framework of China's new accounting system.

Presents a response to the criticism raised by the 'radical' school against an orthodox science in organizational sociology in the case of Chinese organizations. Attempts for delegitimizing macro-organizational analysis outside the Marxist framework; Contradiction on the political interest of radicals.

The article focuses on the role of initial conditions, such as geography, market size and institutions, on the outcome of economic reforms on the trade performance of China and India. It affirms the influence of initial conditions on the trade outcomes of the two countries, with China appearing somewhat more favorable than those in India. It also depicts the major role played by timing, content and sequencing of economic reforms in facilitating specialization and trade in the two countries.

The article focuses on a joint symposium of British Ecological Society and the Ecological Society of China on environmental problems of industrialized countries, which was held at Beijing, China, in September 1988. Industrial development is the main cause of the environmental pollution in both China and the Great Britain. Topics included in the symposium are, air and water pollution, its management, land restoration, rural and urban ecosystems and nature conservation. Environmental awareness among the people of the country lead to the formation of pollution control schemes.

The article elaborates on the release of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) collection of 31 major papers in Beijing, China. These papers were published in the publication and were translated into Chinese. The move is considered the first major project completed as part of its emerging engagement between the two organization. It was launched during the news conference on May 7, 2008 and was published by China Science Press. The achievement was applauded by leaders of the two organizations as a benefit to global science education and as an augur of future cooperative ventures between the Academy and AAAS.

The author reflects on scientists in the cultural revolution in China. The author comments that Chinese scientists in the past decade had undergone fluctuations concerning party control of scientific control and the academic freedom. The scientists had no choice but to pay homage to the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, however, most of the scientists were not reconciled to the Party's interference in their undertakings and were resentful forums, as required by the Party.

This article presents information about a conference on information services that will be held during August 16-17, 2006, in Shanghai, China. The hosts of the conference are the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions' Management and Marketing Section; and Shanghai Pudong New Area Government. And the organizers are Shanghai Library; Shanghai Pudong New Area Library; Shanghai Life Sciences Library, and Chinese Academy of Sciences. The theme of the conference will be "Library Management and Marketing in a Multicultural World." The working language of the conference is English. Registered participants will be allowed to attend the Opening Ceremony of the 3rd Shanghai International Library Forum on August 17, 2006 free of charge. Participants are invited to submit their papers by June 15, 2006. Topics of interest include: impact of globalization on library management and marketing; information technology and library management and marketing; changing libraries in a multicultural world; case studies of advanced library management and marketing; and how to promote library services.

Economic life in the PRC today is marked by rapid privatization, marketization, and urbanization. This triad of forces effects a profound restructuring of China's urban spaces and is giving rise to new forms of private, voluntary associations of citizens such as neighborhood campaigns of resistance to urban redevelopment. Civil society theory ascribes to such organizations outside of state control, the potential to constrain government officials by enabling citizens to express their collective interests more effectively, and to resist government encroachment more powerfully than they otherwise could. Because resort to China's courts has produced little protection for citizens' formal legal rights in the event of forced demolition, relocation, and compensation, urban homeowners have resorted to extra-legal modes of resistance including protests, petitions, and confrontations—some of them deadly. This article assesses the potential to construct an "accountable development" frame as a set of strategies to channel resentment and resistance into bargained-for development agreements—situated between the market and the state, neither anti-regimist nor stymied by the 'turn from law.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the rapid growth of the national economy in China, the electric utility is faced with an ever rising demand for electricity and the problem to solve large capacity power transmission. Under the support of the High Technology Research & Development Program of China, a 1.5 kA/10.5 kV 10-m long 3-phases HTS transmission power cable and a 75-m long, 3-phase, 10.5 kV/1.5 kA HTS power cable have been developed successfully by the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The 75-m long HTS power cable operates now at a local live distribution grid of 6.6 kV to supply electric power for Changtong's factory in Baiyin, Gansu Province. The cable operates stably and reliably over 7000 hours since December 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early states like China and India have been experiencing more rapid economic growth in recent decades. We show that more rapid growth by early starters has been the norm in economic history, and that the “reversal of fortune” associated with the European overseas expansion was both exceptional and temporary. Not only was the post-1500 reversal in the process of being reversed after 1960, but also the advantage conferred by early development in the latter period was considerably greater than the growth rate disadvantage that it conferred during 1500–1960, implying a rapid undoing of the first reversal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeks to contribute to the literature on social organizations in post-reform China by examining the case of a single rural non-governmental organization, the Sanchuan Development Association (SDA) of Guanting Township in Qinghai Province. Background on SDA; Organizational accountability of SDA; Relations between SDA and its international donors; Concerns about the future of SDA.

Explores the history and nuances of the human rights idiom. Examples of Western human rights organizations; Information on books about human rights debates in China; Analysis of human rights activism.

This study found that women-friendly policies are not prevalent in organizations in Hong Kong. To ascertain if organizations that are more women-friendly have more committed employees, working men and women in the territory were surveyed. Controlling for 'national origin of organization', the research results indicate that family- and work-related factors impact on both women's and men's organizational commitment. But women-friendly policies have a positive impact only on women--and only on their affective commitment, not on continuance commitment. The finding indicates that employees who are more likely to benefit directly from progressive policies that symbolize concern for them would become psychologically more attached to their organizations than those who perceive little value in the policies for their work lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to evaluate the achievements and limitations of successive phases in China's state-enterprise reforms, chiefly by way of a case study of Beijing, China's Capital Iron and Steel Corp. (Shougang), although the experiences of other large state-owned steelmakers in China have also been considered where appropriate. In broad terms, China's ongoing program of state owned enterprise (SOE) reform has aimed at giving SOEs progressively greater autonomy from the state, white also forcing them to take more responsibility for their own profits and losses and to be more responsive to market signals in their business operations. In other words, from being "social and economic conglomerates" responsible for social goods, such as cradle-to-grave welfare for employees and their dependents, as well as for production, and not subject to hard budget constraints, large SOEs are supposed to transform themselves into purely economic entities, relieved of their social-welfare burden, which can be expected to operate in a much more entrepreneurial way and to compete in international as well as domestic markets.

Examines the growth of globalization in Chinese voluntary associations. Identification of factors influencing the increase in Chinese transnationalism; Outline of the functions of Shetuan's globalization; Definition of globalization; Discussion on globalization as a cultural agency.

Focuses on the process by which leaders of China's New Culture Movement came together as a community in the mid-1910s. Details on the divisions within the revolutionary camp; Role of `The Tiger' in the formation of the New Culture Movement; Information on the founder and editor of `The Tiger,' Zhang Shizhao; Details on the origins of the periodical `Youth Magazine (Qingnian zazhi).'

This article focuses on the significance and managerial roles of trade unions in joint ventures with China. It examines the structural attributes and roles of the trade unions by focusing on their interlocking relationships with the enterprise, the state, the Chinese Communist Party and the mass organizations such as the Communist Youth League and Women's Federation. It also illustrates the empirical results of the relative importance of the various roles of trade unions, as perceived by the union cadres in the joint ventures of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

Focuses on the effort in eliminating bureaucracy in an organization throughout history in China. Possibility of an organization to escape issues associated with bureaucracy; Inevitability of bureaucratic rules and specialization; Advice in dealing with bureaucracy.

On the island of Taiwan there appear to be numerous mutual savings and loan clubs of a type that may be peculiar to this part of the world. Each club is organized to pool savings and make loans to its members over a definite period of a few months, after which the club automatically goes out of existence. There is no regulation or supervision and probably no one club affects more than a few people. In the aggregate, however, they are sufficiently important for them to be taken into account in sample census surveys of family income and expenditures. Some salient features of a Chinese mutual savings and loan club are as follows: the organizer usually obtains a loan interest free. In some cases he may offer to accept a discounted sum of money as an inducement to get prospective members to join the club, each member of the club makes a withdrawal of capital at one and only one monthly meeting, when a member submits a successful bid and makes a withdrawal of capital front the club's funds, his withdrawal is discounted by an amount equal to the product of the amount bid and the number of other members eligible to bid.

The article offers information on the International Association of Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) Council Meeting which was held on July 6, 2010. It states that the meeting was attended in by several IAPT officials including David Mabberley, Tod Stuessy and Warren Wagner. It also adds that 11 individuals were added to the list of new IAPT members during the congress in Beijing, China. Moreover, it provides details on the budget of the association for its projects.

According to conventional wisdom, associations that are closely linked with and penetrated by an authoritarian state are significant chiefly as symbols of state domination of society. Yet a review of empirical evidence suggests that the nature and significance of incorporated or co-opted associations varies much more widely than the conventional perspective suggests. Not only are close association-state linkages sometimes looked upon favorably by societal participants, but some independent societal associations actually seek to be co-opted by an authoritarian state. Moreover, incorporated associations often have more to do with strategies by state agencies and officials to accomplish parochial goals than with state efforts to control society. This article elucidates a new analytical perspective for understanding the dynamics and functioning of incorporated associations, citing a wide range of empirical cases to show how this perspective facilitates a better understanding of the kinds of state-society engagement that occur within and through incorporated associations. The article concludes with a brief analysis of associations in contemporary China that builds on the preceding discussion, illuminating the importance of local-level interactions in determining the character of incorporated associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]