Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T17:38:44.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Yin-Yang Model of Organizational Change: The Case of Chengdu Bus Group

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Runtian Jing  and
Andrew H. Van de Ven
Runtian Jing
Affiliation:
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Andrew H. Van de Ven
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Chinese cultural logics of change offer a rich understanding of organizational change. We address three key aspects of the Chinese yin-yang view of change: context, process, and actions. A case study of Chengdu Bus Group CBG enables us to develop a conceptual model that examines organizational change in a Chinese indigenous context. The model reflects the key functions of shi (situational momentum, 势), the action strategies of ying-shi (leveraging momentum, 应势)and zao-shi (building momentum, 造势), and the dialectics of nonaction (无为). Our findings will help researchers and practitioners better understand organizational change from a unique yin-yang perspective, and will also contribute general knowledge to process theories of organizational change.

中国文化里蕴含的变革逻辑可以为理解组织变革现象提供更加丰富的知识。 我们讨论了中国阴阳观念里与变革有关的三个重要问题: 变革情境、 变革过程和变革 行动。 通过对成都公交集团 (CBG) 的案例研究, 我们建立起在中国本土化情境下研究组织变革问题的概念模型, 该模型强调以下特征: ‘势’ 的重要作用; ‘应势’ 和 ‘造势’ 的行动策略; ‘无为’ 的辩证性。 以上发现可以帮助研究者和实践者更好地从阴阳视角理解组织变革, 并在组织变革的过程理论方面贡献出具有普遍性的知识。

Keywords

Chinese cultureorganizational changeshisituational momentumyin-yang view中国文化组织变革势阴阳视角
Type
Articles
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 29 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldrich, H. E., & Ruef, M. 2006. Organizations evolving (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aristotle, . 1999. The metaphysics. (trans, with an Introduction by Lawson-Tancred, Hugh). New York: Penguin Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, J. K. 1977. Organizations: A dialectical view. Administrative Science Quarterly, 22(1): 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, P. T. 1987. Understanding reality: A Taoist alchemical classic. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Chen, M.J. 2008. Reconceptualizing the competition–cooperation relationship: A transparadoxical perspective. Journal of Management Inquiry, 17(4): 288–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, X. P., Xie, X., & Chang, S. 2011. Cooperative and competitive orientation among Chinese people: Scale development and validation. Management and Organization Review, 7(2): 353–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Graebner, M. E. 2007. Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. Academy of Management Journal, 50(1): 25–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fang, T. 2012. Yin Yang: A new perspective on culture. Management and Organization Review, 8(1): 25–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hannan, M. T., & Freeman, J. 1977. The population ecology of organizations. American Journal of Sociology, 82(5): 929–964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. 1969. Hegel's science of logic. (trans. Miller, A. V.). London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. 1994. Management scientists are human. Management Science, 40(1): 4–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, G. P., & Glick, W. H. 1993. Organizational change and redesign. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Javary, C. 1997. Understanding the I Ching. Boston, MA and London: Shambhala.Google Scholar
Ji, L. J. 2008. The leopard cannot change his spots, or can he: Culture and the development of lay theories of change. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(5): 613–622.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jing, R., & McDermott, E. P. 2013. Transformation of state-owned enterprises in China: A strategic action model. Management and Organization Review, 9(1): 53–86.Google Scholar
Kotter, J. P. 1995. Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 73(2): 59–67.Google Scholar
Lee, Y. T., Han, A., Byron, T. K., & Fan, H. X. 2008. Daoist leadership: Theory and application. In Chen, C. C. & Lee, Y. T. (Eds.), Leadership and management in China: Philosophies, theories, and practices: 83–107. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leung, K. 2010. Beliefs in Chinese culture. In Bond, M. H. (Ed.), Oxford handbook of Chinese psychology: 221–240. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lewin, K. 1951. Field theory in social science: Selected theoretical papers. (Cartwright, D., Ed.). New York: Harper & Brothers.Google Scholar
Li, P. P. 2012. Toward an integrative framework of indigenous research: The geocentric implications of yin-yang balance. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 29(4): 849–872.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshak, R. J. 1993. Lewin meets Confucius: A review of the OD model of change. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 29(4): 393–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nan, H. C. 2005. Quotes of Laozi. Shanghai: Fudan University Press.Google Scholar
Nisbett, R. E., Peng, K., Choi, I., & Norenzayan, A. 2001. Culture and systems of thought: Holistic vs. analytic cognition. Psychological Review, 108(2): 291–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pan, Y., Rowney, J. A., & Peterson, M. F. 2012. The structure of Chinese cultural traditions: An empirical study of business employees in China. Management and Organization Review, 8(1): 77–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peng, K., & Nisbett, R. E. 1999. Culture, dialectics, and reasoning about contradiction. American Psychologist, 54(9): 741–754.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peng, K., Spencer-Rodgers, J., & Zhong, N. 2005. Naive dialecticism and the Tao of Chinese thought. In Kim, U., Yang, K. S. & Huang, G. (Eds.), Handbook of indigenous and cultural psychology: 247–262. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Qian, Y. Y. 2002. Understanding modern economics. Comparative Economics & Social Systems, 2: 1–12. (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Siggelkow, N. 2007. Persuasion with case studies. Academy of Management Journals 50(1): 20–24.Google Scholar
Silin, R. H. 1976. Leadership and value: The organization of large-scale Taiwan enterprises. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Staudenmayer, N., Tyre, M., & Perlow, L. 2002. Time to change: Temporal shifts as enablers of organizational change. Organization Science, 13(5): 583–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, H. F., Chen, C. C., & Zhang, S. H. 2008. Strategic leadership of Sunzi in the art of war. In Chen, C. C. & Lee, Y. T. (Eds.), Leadership and management in China: Philosophies, theories, and practices: 143–168. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van de Ven, A. H., & Jing, R. 2012. Indigenous management research in China from an engaged scholarship perspective. Management and Organization Review, 8(1): 123–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van de Ven, A. H., & Poole, M. S. 1995. Explaining development and change in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20(3): 510–540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weick, K. E., & Quinn, R. E. 1999. Organizational change and development. Annual Review of Psychology, 50: 361–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitehead, A. N. 1929. Process and reality: An essay in Cosmology. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Wilhelm, R., & Baynes, C. F. trans. 1967. I Ching or book of changes (3rd ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Yin, R. K. 2009. Case study research: Design and methods (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar