Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change, Volume2, Number 1

JOURNAL OF

ORGANISATIONAL TRANSFORMATION & SOCIAL CHANGE

intellect

2.1 ISSN 1477-9633

Organisational Transformation and Social Change Volume 2 Number 1 Organisational Transformation and Social Change (OTASC) is an international English language, peer reviewed scholarly journal. It is dedicated to an academically sound approach to enquiry and exploration into change in organisations and social systems, and it seeks convergence of these and related disciplines so as to form a science of social communities. This journal takes the view that situations involving people are normally highly complex, and hence it sees all human/social conditions and processes in terms of the complexity paradigm. While OTASC particularly encourages systemic, operational research and cybernetic approaches, it should also be seen as a general vehicle to explore theory and practice about change deriving from the more traditional academic disciplines. OTASC encompasses the social sciences, including organizational and management science, management systems/operational research and cybernetics, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, psychohistory, as well as economics, law, mathematics and matters relating to the information or knowledge society. While preference will be given to papers that are well grounded in the scientific literature, OTASC will also consider more exploratory pieces of work that seek to provide an opening for alternative thought. All articles will be submitted to two referees, nominated by the Editorial Committee, for peer review.

Editorial Board Yochanan Altman Bela Banathy Soeren Brier Zhicheng Chen Keith Dowding Daniel Dubois Sebastian Green Stig Holmberg Hiroyuki Itami Mike Jackson Devi Jancowicz George Klir Alexander Laszlo Monica Lee Gerald Midgley Jan Owsinski Jose Perez Rios Mark Rouncefield Juan Salcedo Randall Schuler Markus Schwaninger Jie Shen

Human Resource Development, UK Systems - social evolution, USA Cybernetics and semiotics, Denmark Strategic Management - OR, China Politics, UK Complexity and living systems, Belgium Strategic Management, Ireland Systemic modelling, Sweden Knowledge, invisible assets, Japan Systems, UK Human Resource Development, UK General systems, USA Knowledge evolution, Mexico Human Resource Development, UK Systems - OR, UK Systems social change, Poland Systems thinking, Spain Ethnomethodology, UK Social migration, Spain Human Resource Strategy, USA Managerial Cybernetics, Switzerland University of South Australia

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Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change Volume 2 Number 1 © 2005 Intellect Ltd Introduction. English Language. doi: 10.1386/jots.2.1.3/2

Expanding the Frontier of Global Knowledge: Introduction Jie Shen University of South Australia A need for rigorous research Sociologists have long been interested in progressive social change (Dubois 2001; Feagin and Vera 2001). Organizations are agents of change, yet modern organizations face many problems, from increasing internal efficiency to more effectively interacting with their environment (Altman et al. 1985). Seeking efficiency and effectiveness usually leads to planned, organization-wide change, such as transforming ‘market empires’ into ‘relationship masters’. Organizational transformation is a mode of social change that involves a sharp and simultaneous shift in strategy, structure, process, and distribution of organizational power. The 20th century witnessed mounting attention to the understanding of organizational transformation and social change in the ever-changing business environment. Organizational Behaviour (OB), Management, and many other approaches were developed, fostered and cultivated to facilitate building models, concepts and frameworks to explain the dynamic nature of organizational phenomena. For instance, Greenwood and Hinglings (1996) used ‘archetype’ to operationalize the concept of organizational transformation. Ferlie et al. (1996) assessed organizational transformation by focusing on actions and related consequences as well as change in the underlying meanings of professional work. There was also a significant development in the research methodology for studying organizational transformation and social change. In our previous issue, Yu (2004) argued that multi-paradigms and multi-methods could provide ‘richness’ in social science, and participatory action research (PAR), which upholds the dialectical relations of correspondence between research and practice, has emerged as a critique of other forms of social research. While some researchers endeavour to develop theoretical models, others pay attention to more practical issues, e.g. the discussion of how electronic data interchange (EDI) could be used in conjunction with organizational transformation (Hock-Hai et al. 1997), and how social informatics could be applied to social changes (Kling 2000). Kling advocates research that examines the design, uses, and consequences of information and communication technologies in ways that take into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts. Together, the theory development and practical application have facilitated the understanding OTASC 2 (1) 3–8 © Intellect Ltd 2005

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of organizational phenomena and have prevented us from interpreting them by our intuition and common sense. Variations in understandings invariably evoke debate on the models, concepts and frameworks developed in the field of OB and management. The field of OB and management exists today in a constant state of evolution and change. Gurus are not necessarily right and it is hard to imagine a world where there are theories that everyone agrees upon. The fact is that, despite a well-developed literature, there are many questions that, although they look simple and familiar, remain unanswered. For example: • • • • • •

Is the strategy of ‘big bang’ change in large and complex organizations wise, or indeed achievable? When is it wise to use a radical organizational change approach? What factors generate deep and lasting organizational and social change? What personal and political issues must be addressed in order to succeed in creating and sustaining organizational viability? If on its present course the organization’s survival is in question, is it too late, or can we predict the need for change? How do we facilitate a process of organizational transformation for an organization with complex subcultures?

Why do some organization transformation efforts succeed and others fail? Company leaders may try many things to force the company to change, like new vision statements, re-engineering, new systems, replacing various managers. What really works? Changes are sometimes resisted. There are the ‘rules of the road’ that govern behaviour and to which new hires adapt quickly if they expect to survive. What should theorists do to change this? Organizational transformation is both an old and a new topic. Its maturity is indicated by numerous academic approaches and schools. Its newness is reflected in the many emerging agenda in the field. Let us focus on two: globalization and developing countries. The progress of globalization is exerting enormous influence on organizations by providing them with both opportunities and challenges. The multinational enterprise (MNE) is required to have a different structure and even a different culture from its domestic operation. The question has to be asked whether it is valid to apply organisational behaviour theories developed at home to the international operation. Putting aside knowledge migration, let’s talk about international human resource management (IHRM), as an example. There are a number of reasons why IHRM is likely to be different from domestic human resource management (DHRM). First, geographical spread requires MNEs to engage in a number of HRM activities that are not needed in domestic firms, such as providing relocation and orientation assistance to expatriates, administering international job rotation programmes, and dealing with international union activity (Acuff 1984; Enderwick 1985; Purcell et al. 1987; Dowling et al. 1999). 4

Jie Shen

Second, as Dowling et al. (1999) point out, IHRM is likely to be more complex and diverse than domestic HRM. For instance, complex salary and income taxation issues are likely to arise in MNEs because their pay policies and practices have to be administered to different subsidiaries and employees, located in different countries. Managing this diversity may generate a number of co-ordination and communication problems that do not arise in domestic firms. In recognition of these difficulties, most large international companies retain the services of a major accounting firm to ensure that there is no tax disincentive associated with a particular international assignment. Third, according to Dowling et al. (1994), there are more stakeholders that influence IHRM than those that influence domestic HRM. The major stakeholders in private organisations are the shareholders and the employees. But one could add unions, consumer organisations and other pressure groups. Although these pressure groups also exist in domestic firms, they often put more pressure on foreign than on local companies. This suggests that MNEs need to be more risk averse and concerned with the social and political environment than do domestic firms. These differences also apply to other aspects of organizational behaviour. The advent of newly industrialised countries followed by another generation of industrialisers has attracted greater attention from OB theorists and many of them have been trying to determine whether Western approaches are universally applicable to non-Westernized economies? Studies into developing countries have been prolific since the 1950s. Most recently, there has been a rapid increase of studies into management and organizations in China. Rapid organizational transformation and social change have followed China’s economic reform and ‘open door’ policies, yet its economic and organizational systems differ from those of other leading world economies. As McNulty and Ferlie (2004, p. 1390) have recently pointed out, organizational transformation is clearly implied in the idealized image of ‘process organization’ and the rhetoric of business process reengineering (BPR), which claims to effect dramatic change and improvement in organizational processes and performance. However, the literature about BPR is general and normative in tone and lacks a strong empirical base. Included among several weakness in the current literature on BPR are that: •

•

self-reports from sponsoring mangers and other participants are open to criticism that information presented is partial and unduly positive; managerial interest in change programmes such as BPR is often short lived, so that inadequate attention is accorded to assessing whether benefits promised at the start of the change process in the end materialized.

Expanding the Frontier of Global Knowledge: Introduction

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Therefore, ‘empirical research has a role to play in holding managerial decision makers to retrospective account and lengthening attention spans’ (McNulty and Ferlie, 2004, p. 1390). Empirical research that seeks to understand effectively organizational transformation and social change needs to be guided by more precise models and concepts of organizational transformation and social change. This phenomenon creates an opportunity, aspirations and a need for academics to manoeuvre towards reshaping theories. The robustness of empirical findings will be increased only through rigorous research. Quantitative results need be supplemented with qualitative ones to provide a richer, context-based interpretation. Scholars need to have a long and international vision, one that sets out tasks ahead for theorists who are interested in expanding the frontier of global knowledge.

Contributions in this issue Despite their diversity, questions of organizational transformation and social change underlie all the four articles selected for this issue. Ely A. Dorsey draws on the extant literature to develop a strategy for enabling autonomy in organisations. The strategy is to address the major obstacle to organisational autonomy: privilege. The ‘Biology of Love’ as a conversation is explored and Dorsey argues that in order to make the case that autonomy is realizable, privilege needs to be deconstructed. This is accomplished by addressing the equivalence of privilege, namely racism, as a vacuous object that is tenacious in its history and receives hidden protection through its self-reference under the guise of reform. Unless the hidden protection through self-reference is addressed, racism reappears in a different form, predicted by the construction of its hidden protection. Allegory is used to posit the addiction of privilege. Further research directions are also discussed. Martin F. Parnell examines the Chinese form of network, Chinese phenomena, guanxi both in general terms, regarding its precise nature, and specifically in regard to business practice in China, as exemplified by the two spheres of human resource management and relationship marketing. Guanxi is revealed not just as a central cultural artefact of historical dimensions, but as perhaps the key, distinctive social institution defining, directly or indirectly, virtually all social interaction in China: interpersonal; individual/group; group/group; organisation/organisation. The functioning of formal groups and organisations in China is materially shaped by this highly sophisticated and elaborate ‘system’ of networking and networks. However, guanxi is, by definition, an informal, ‘unofficial’ phenomenon, making empirical research in this field difficult. The challenge for organisation theory is primarily twofold: to incorporate the distinctively Chinese elements (‘emics’) into a theory by definition concerned with universal dimensions (‘etics’); and, given the enduring overlap of polity, society and economy in the PRC, how to effectively undertake explicit research, in the field, into a tacit, ‘submerged’ phenomenon. 6

Jie Shen

Jae Eon Yu addresses the question of how a Korean electronics company incorporates knowledge management as human resource development (HRD) strategy. It explores some consideration of cultural, ethical, and systemic governance using the role of knowledge management through voluntary, participatory and rhizomatic networks in a live experienced force of organisational transformation within the organisation. On the one hand, it identifies common assumptions of epistemological orientations towards the nature of knowledge that tends to transfer to others in order to improve organisational effectiveness in modern enterprises. On the other hand, it examines the extensive critique that a number of writers have argued at Post-Structuralist or Postmodern philosophy focusing in particular on alternative views about the nature of knowledge creation, learning and action. Its objective is to support the participatory approach that some writers have adopted in questioning a particular kind of existing perspective that has tended to focus on the model for generating an explicit form of knowledge and output-oriented culture. Monica Lee looks at the complex archetypal structures that underlie the human condition. The author argues that an archetype can be conceptualised through what it is not, but it has no existence in its own right, and its conceptualisation could be called into question if there existed an entity or system that uniquely demonstrated all the ‘qualia’ associated with it. Similarly, as is implicit in the typologies, archetypes can be seen as commensurate, in that entities and systems contain within them the potential for demonstrating the qualia of all quadrants of the typology but in differing strengths or preferences. These might change over time, but the underlying archetypal structure does not. Lee synthesises notions from several different fields of social science to argue that there are archetypal structures that underlie the human condition that can best be understood through the language of complexity. In so doing the author accommodates the disparity that exists between different branches of the social sciences through the provision of a holistic overview that accords with the idea of a coherent scientific body of knowledge. To do this she uses a Jungian typology to reinforce the parameters of four archetypes by which organisation and individuals have been interpreted, and locates this within some findings from evolutionary psychology, thereby building a meta-typology of the human condition. The article concludes by suggesting that there exist ‘great archetypal structures’ that underlie the human condition, and that these can be identified by their effect upon it, such that human society and thought clusters into four main archetypal world views. This can best be understood through the notions of relationship and (knowledge through the opposite) and by examining some of the implications this approach holds for the field. Works cited Acuff, F. (1984), International and Domestic Human Resource Functions: Innovations in International Compensation, New York: Organization Resources Counsellors.

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Altman, S., Valenzi, E. and Hodgetts, R.M. (1985), Organizational Behaviour: Theory and Practice, London: Academic Press. Dowling et al. (1993), Dowling, P.J., Schuler, R.S. and Welch, D. (1994) International Dimensions of Human Resources Management, New York: Wadsworth, 2nd ed. Dowling, P.J., Welch, D.E. and Schuler, R.S. (1999) International Human Resource Management: Managing People in a Multinational Context, Cincinnati, OH: SouthWestern College Publishing. Enderwick, P. (1985), Multinational Business and Labour, London: Croom Helm. Feagin, J.R. and Vera, H. (2001), Liberation Sociology, Boulder: Westview Press. Ferlie, E., Ashburner, L., Fitzgerald, L. and Pettigrew, A. (1996), The New Public Management in Action, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dubois, W. (2001), A Framework for Doing Applied Sociology. In Dubois, W. and Wright, R.D. (eds) Applying Sociology: Making a Better World, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, pp. 30–46. Greenwood, R. and Hinings, C.R. (1996), Understanding Radical Organizational Change: Bringing Together the Old and the New Institutionalism, Academy of Management Review, 21, 4, pp. 1022–54. Hock-Hai, T., Bernard, C.Y.T. and Kwok-kee, W. (1997), Organizational Transformation using Electronic Data Interchange: The case of TradeNet in Singapore, Journal of Management Information Systems, 13, 4, pp. 139–65. Kling, R. (2000), Learning about Information Technologies and Social Change: The Contribution and Social Informatics, The Information Society, 16, 3, pp. 217–32. McNulty, T. and Ferlie, E. (2004), Process Transformation: Limitations to Radical Organizational Change within Public Service Organizations. Organization Studies, 25, 8, pp. 1389–412. Purcell, J., Marginson, P., Edwards, P. and Sissons, K. (1987), The Industrial Relations Practices of Multi-Plant Foreign Owned Firms. Industrial Relations Journal, 18, 2, pp. 130–37. Yu, J.E. (2004), Reconsidering Participatory Action Research for Organizational Transformation and Social Change. International Journal of Organisational Transformation & Social Change, 1, 2/3, pp. 111–41.

Suggested citation Shen, J. (2005), ‘Expanding the Frontier of Global Knowledge: Introduction’, Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change 2: 1, pp. 3–8, doi: 10.1386/jots.2.1.3/2

Contributor details Jie Shen, Ph.D. is a lecturer in human resource management at the School of Management, University of South Australia. His main research interest is international human resource management (IHRM) and organizational behaviour. He has published in the International Journal of Human Resource Management, International Journal of Manpower, Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, Health Services Management Research, Asia Pacific Business Review, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Industrial Relations, and the Compensation and Benefits Review. Contact: University of South Australia, School of International Business, City West Campus, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia. Tel. +61 8 8302 0477. E-mail: [email protected]

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Jie Shen

Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change Volume 2 Number 1 © 2005 Intellect Ltd Article. English Language. doi: 10.1386/jots.2.1.9/1

The lie of race: the politics of evil Ely A. Dorsey Technology Studies for Peace and Justice Institute

Abstract

Keywords

This is a paper about a world without racism; it addresses the tenacity of racism as equivalence to privilege. The biology of love as a conversation is explored. Organization theory is juxtaposed as a system of Others. Some language of quantum theory is used to present a hypothesis about why systems of privilege are created and conserved through self-reference. The God metaphor is posed as the penultimate organization enabling privilege. This is offset by seeing that love is not a choice, thus freeing both gods and humans to the universe of possibilities. Threads for further research in organization theory are suggested.

racism biology of love privilege organizational transformation

1. Prologue In 1999, The American Society for Cybernetics asked in a syntegration: ‘What does cybernetics have to contribute to the twenty-first century?’ A syntegration is an organizing exercise based on the ideas of Stafford Beer’s Viable System Model. One of the statements of importance discussed was: ‘Cybernetics provides a language theatre for non-violent, non-oppressive engagement with world racism.’ Over the years since, there have been a number of events and experiences that continued and extended the discussion in an effort to follow through on this specific outcome of what cybernetics has to contribute to the twenty-first century. A dialogue on ‘Evil and Ethics’ took place and can be accessed on the website of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC). There was an experiment among three cyberneticians, Ely Dorsey, Kathleen Forsythe, and Laurence Richards to develop a new language world where the constraints of living by judgement are seen and where living by love evolves to rescue this judgemental world. This is also available on the ASC website (See Endnote 5) under ‘The Story’. What occurs is a discovery of a people. When these people speak, they cannot use negation in their logics, i.e. (P (not P) for any statement P does not exist. ‘The Story’ becomes a dance grasping at the notion of love and its openness. It is a creation story in the traditions of the world. What happens is a mingling of ideas about organizing without privilege versus imposing privilege on beings that have no idea of privilege. This idea pointed to a thesis for organizational transformation that was linked to the necessity of organizing without the entropy of privilege. OTASC 2 (1) 9–28 © Intellect Ltd 2005

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This is a continuation of the work, About Risk, Synergy and Complexity, presented at the 43rd Meeting of the International Society for Systems Sciences in Toronto, Ontario Canada, and the 4th Annual Conference on Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management in New York City. I reported on the futility of traditional risk assessment programs in light of the computational impossibility of such assessments in meaningful real time. For example, for just four chemicals, it would take about 65 x 1018 years to conduct all the necessary experiments to assess the associated synergistic risk (Dorsey 1998: 776). Thus, I posited that uncertainty was inherent in living with environmental exposures to air, land and water incidents and given the cause and effect legal construct of liability, environmental racism was protected by this uncertainty. In physics, the uncertainty principle questions what is measurable; hence, what is knowable in the western sense. It rests on the discovery that the momentum and position of a subatomic particle can be simultaneously measured only with probabilistic precision. For something to be measurable it requires an injection of energy into its system so that it can be phenomenological. In a similar sense, the Other is rendered invisible by racism in that a

From the dialogue and the experiments, it became clear that racism has a very long history and that it is tenacious. Furthermore, we realized that language both obscures and enables racism particularly in how we view organizations and for that matter, social autopoiesis (Morgan 1986: 235–41). Social autopoiesis is an analogue of the biological idea of autopoiesis of organisms. That is, the self-organizing within the biology of organisms is a model for the approximation of the organizing of human systems. It is a way to speak of these matters and is not necessarily homeomorphic to biology. We also realized that in order to speak of racism, we needed to find a non-inflammatory conversation that enabled change without camouflage. Using the terms ‘evil’, ‘God’, ‘racism’, ‘truth’, ‘privilege’, and the like, clearly emotionally laden with bias, we walked into the ‘eye of the storm’ and found that a meaningful dialogue was possible. Appendix A of this article presents a conversation experiment that tested some of these ideas of organizing within controversy and contradiction. This article represents my outgrowth of that experience. It is a conversational report on a conversation within the ‘eye’.

2. Introduction This article presents a strategy for enabling autonomy in organizations by addressing the major obstacle to organizational autonomy: privilege. In order to make the case that autonomy is realizable, privilege needs to be deconstructed. This is accomplished by addressing the equivalence of privilege, namely racism as a vacuous object, which is tenacious in its history and receives hidden protection through its self-reference under the guise of reform. It is argued that unless the hidden protection through self-reference is addressed racism reappears in a different form already predicted by the construction of its hidden protection. Allegory is used to posit the addiction of privilege. Thus it is this addiction that is the novel way to explain why organizations resist transformation and why social change is an illusion in many instances. Organization theory concerns itself with human systems. If we view second-order cybernetics as a study of an Heisenberg-type uncertainty principle of human systems,1 and, using poetic licence - borrowing and linking position to relational state among the participants in a human system, and momentum to the change or transformation of the relational state - then we can posit that it is not possible to know the simultaneous position and momentum of a human system, that is, the relational state and the transformation of that state. What does this gain us? If it is not possible to know a human system in the sense that we cannot describe simultaneously its state and its changing, with our own changing to ourselves with any precision, then what is knowable about a human system is either after the fact or describable as we are part of what we are describing while becoming our description! As humans, we are always seeking to be with this simultaneity because we are alive. This act of seeking is languag10

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ing or the conversation within life of life (Maturana and Varela 1988: 234–35). We seek to be with simultaneity, we call forth a grasping of life: we try to be with something that by trying to be with it causes its evasion which discomforts us. Yet as moths to a flame, we race to it, as is our compulsion. It is how we engage the discomfort that enables organization theory. As humans, we organize to address this discomfort. It is why we have organizations. Organizations are based on privilege, that is, the construction of difference among humans. It is our first attempt in an evolving sense to cope with being aware of all that is, with coping with the idea of everything is everything. We organize to take hold of life and we do this by creating difference, that is, privilege. Difference is the objectification of the Other, the separation from the Other and thus from the Self. Privilege camouflages discomfort. It anaesthetizes us. Racism is the proxy for privilege. It is also the application of race. Organizations are structured as ‘us and them’. Privilege is the assigning to the Other attributes that enable the Other to be different from the Other by objectifying the Other so that attributes may be assigned to the Other. The result, whether master or slave, manager or worker, is the organized system of Others. The system of privilege is self-referencing because it forgives itself through reform. It is a rare thread of organization theory that precludes the granting of privilege to decision-makers in leadership or management roles even though the decision, once made, no longer needs the decision-maker for its implementation or monitoring. The decision-maker continues to be sustained by an artificial construction of hierarchy. For an organization to conserve itself and evolve it is not necessary to have, say a vice president; it is only necessary for a person to act as a vice president when such a role is needed. Of course, what is meant by the term ‘vice president’ is itself problematic since its historical essence is embedded in privilege. The implementation and monitoring of a decision is easily carried out by the autopoiesis relations of the humans in the organization. Fixed managers in organizations are not only unnecessary, but wasteful; to justify this waste, management rights or a form of ‘divine right of kings’ is created. It is possible for a human to be acting as a vice president for a period of time. What is of concern is the artificial privilege granted to that person. This is what is meant by artificial hierarchy or fixed-boss hierarchy. This type of arrangement rests on difference. Difference here means separation from the human by being a thing. It is not the same thing as a human being distinguished by inherent characteristics which enhance integrations of humans with each other. Difference here is a ripping of the person from the fabric of being human. The thesis of this article is if we organize without privilege we dissolve racism because privilege is the affirmation of race. Privilege and racism are the same word. We will see that acts to react to racism are disguises to The lie of race: the politics of evil

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human’s essence or being is not observable, but stereotyped. This stereotyping is set so that energy is injected into the ‘pure-impure race system’ so that the victim is not seen being described away from the victimizer. In truth, both are invisible. The energy comes from within the system and it draws its strength from its own entropy. We will see that love militates against this entropy, enabling the system to transform. We are using the language of physics to experiment with a dialogic away from fear.

maintain race. The tenacity of racism lies in the self-referencing protection of privilege. Race is an axiomatic construct that is thousands of years old. Racism ergo privilege is a reactive act to the construction of race. Reforms enabled to address racism or privilege are layered to conserve race. The words ‘race’, ‘racism’, ‘privilege’, and ‘difference’ are evolutionary outgrowths of the human species managing its awareness of uncertainty. Viewed this way, we can proceed to examine how we organize to preserve difference. In the United States, skin colour is a disguise for racism. In Northern Ireland, Israel or Rwanda, racism is buried within other ‘isms’. In pursuit of organization theory to enable a democratization of work, racism is hidden with convoluted approaches to diversity and inclusiveness: we create opportunities for the Other to have privilege. Racism exists because it was invented for its convenience: the Platonic noble lie. Racism persists because we teach privilege. Privilege persists because we invent constructions to protect it; the only difference between winning and losing is how we reward. We teach God, as if God was a religious idea enabling God as a system of privilege. Thus to argue against privilege is to argue against God. We teach organization theory as if it is possible to teach it without questioning the God metaphor as a system of privilege: do we ask if God supports democracy? The importance of the God metaphor whether in organized religions where God is announced or in other faith systems is that we are being taught privilege as a state of being, and this has been ongoing for thousands of years. Racism did not begin in the nineteenth century. Seeking to embrace simultaneity, I report this conversation as if I could be an unaccelerated observer in this conversational frame. I am not referring to objectivity, but to a divorce from how what I am reporting is changing you and me as I am reporting it. The first part is a quick invitation to the conversation (Sections 3–4). Next, evil is introduced as a paradigm (Section 5). Then the politics of evil follow (Section 6). The seduction of evil: the need for the anaesthesia spoken of above is then unfolded (Sections 7–8). Some thoughts on further research are presented (Section 9). Finally, a reference is detailed to an experiment contained in Appendix A.

3. Some definitions and explanations “Requisite variety” is taken to mean that to manage a system’s complexity, a complexity, as complex is needed (Ashby 1984: 206–07). For example, to manage a response to an American football team of eleven players, one needs another team of eleven players. Similarly, a chess match requires equal numbers and types of pieces for both players. In both examples, the respective complexities are matched with complexities as complex. Complexity has a variety of definitions resting on interpretations of the linearity of relations. What is useful in this pursuit is the idea of emergence. A complex system is always emerging. Something is 12

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complex in that it is not describable with terms that are easily localized, and it retains the element of uncertainty. A complicated system is one where a finite number of terms can completely describe the system. Complicated systems are not complex. (Logics” is used instead of logic because of the languaging (See endnote 3 on emotioning) nature of precision, that is, to be precise is to be becoming precise, hence at various junctures of reasoning preciseness arises from a new beginning which is not truly new but described as new since it is convenient to do so. We go from one premise to another, but we do so because of our need to embrace simultaneity. It is not the syntax or the rules of ‘logic’ that lead us from one proposition to another; it is the above-delineated compulsion. This means that there is no logic per se but logicing instead. ‘Logics’ brings forth the cascading that is taking place. The biology of love (Maturana and Verden-Zoller 1998: 2) is understood as love in the African authenticity sense2 inherent in our biology. That is, we are in love from birth. Nothing changes that. It is why life continues and will continue. A TV reporter interviewing an elder in Rwanda after the holocaust there noted that the country was experiencing the highest incidence of marriages in its history. The reporter asked what was taking place. The elder replied, ‘We are going forth with new life.’ Hence, a conversation is the ongoing engagement in living. We are speaking in relation to languaging of the simultaneity. The only rule, if there are such things as rules, is awareness of the Other with the Self with the Other: everything is everything. In this article, ethics is defined in a universal sense. Given that morality is culturally specific and traditionally, ethics enable morality operationally, I chose to move away from that idea by positing that ethics is the collection of operational rules and their interpretations that joins humans to each other in the sense of love. I call an unethical act, an act that affirms difference, that is, a ripping of the human from humanity by objectification of the human. Of course, these ideas are in the domain of the observer, thus degrees of interpretation are always present. This article is a conversation along these lines.

4. Beginning the conversation The conversation on the lie of race is couched in race-colour talk, thus camouflaging the contradictions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. Good and evil were the first discriminators: the first racists. We speak of equality, of ending hunger, of diversity, of gender. We do not speak of good and evil being two sides of the same coin. We disassociate them just as we disassociate racism from ethics. We separate the lie of race from evil, from the Platonic noble lie. We isolate racism and speak to it as if it were independent of the discussants. It is a thing, visited by racists and victims; hence expose the thing and all will be resolved. Chide and forgive the racist, repair the victim, and all will live in peace. This is nonsense, for it is not the racists and the victims that need reaction in isolation, it is the conversation that is begging for revolution! The lie of race: the politics of evil

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2

In African Intellectual Heritage (Asante and Abarry 1996: 59–60) the notion of total connectedness to community is an affirmation of the Other. In African American culture, the expression ‘everything is everything’ comes from this ancient sense of the unification of human cosmology. It means that all things are in relation to each other and the transcendence of the Self to the Other is to the Self. A western rendition of this African idea is written by Kierkegaard in Works of Love (Hong and Hong 1962: 66). Here Kierkegaard examines the meaning of love of neighbor in juxtaposition to love of self.

3

Emotioning is an idea from the Biology of Cognition. It speaks to the notion that we are alive in language and through languaging, we emote our consciousness. We are always emotioning. Languaging is the coordination of coordinations of our consensual behaviors. Meaning arises in the flow of conversation. It does not reside in words themselves, nor can it be transferred from person to person. Thus, it is dialogue seen as an act of love and love itself that enables liberation. This is a cardinal principle in autopoiesis.

5. On the nature of evil Sometimes when you view small children playing and you see them becoming agitated and quarrelsome with one another, you wonder how this could be. How is it possible for children to express rage and other forms of great anger with one another? Shallow explanations begin with ontological arguments of competition and the sociobiology of mammals in their emergence within natural selection. These tend to be reduced to either a denial of a natural order by the cybernetic argument of emergence, that is, the history of creating the present, accompanying the capacity of the mammal to be in the present; thus seeking other reasons for the behaviour of the children: induced adult-influenced behaviour, for example. Alternatively, they tend to deny the cybernetic imposition of an order predicated on the construction: the biology of love. The biology of love revolves about the notions of organisms learning, knowing, and participating in their phylogenic and ontogenic histories as an explanation of their present (Maturana and Verden-Zoller 1998: 1). This is supported by neurophysiological evidence: ‘When evolution brought mammals into being, it created an organism with a novel kind of neural responsiveness one that permitted the intimate mental embrace of love’ (Lewis et al. 2001: 30). There is a shortcoming to the biology of love which is central to our thesis: the denial of love cannot be explained to a mammal. From the perspective of cybernetics, the syllogism is not quite circular: if you are a mammal, you are born in love. Love here is similar to the African notion of authenticity. The syllogism continues. If you act in ways that deny love, then the biology of love explains your actions by explaining your actions (Maturana and de Rezepka 1996: 5). Explaining your actions deny your actions as having any value since the explaining accounts for them. This is the challenge of living in language. Moreover, as a mammal, denying love is explained in the biology of love. Thus, the biology of love explains both love and the denial of love within the biology of love. Hence, explaining enables avoidance. What is taking place is a subtle form of begging the question. Why would a mammal engage in actions other than those of love? We need to find a more effective investigative approach than that of explaining. Love is the a priori acceptance and invitation of the authenticity and legitimacy of one human by another. It is misleading to say that love is a state of being. Love is being and we arise in love moment by moment. We are always in love. Explaining means that it is possible to make an idea clearer. This is accomplished in part by identifying the generative mechanism that gives rise to the construction. How can the denial of love be made clearer? The point is that the denial of love defies explanation to a mammal because according to the biology of love, a mammal is made in love and is in fact love itself, in the emotioning3 sense. You cannot explain to an entity that has been constructed as love that it is not love. However, you can use 14

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explanations to convince the entity that there is a reality in which love is separate thus opening a way to generate privilege and dominance: the Platonic noble lie. We are still searching for the collection of theories, forms, systems or biologisms that can explain how a mammal born in love and of love, is out of love and without love. The biology of love, however, describes a morphology of relations that is very useful in the realm of emotioning. Furthermore, ‘Emotionality’s code arises from a uniform neural architecture. The task of emotion science is to excavate this archaic structure, and as it has done so, it has unearthed the very roots of love’ (Lewis et al. 2001: 43). Particularly, the biology of love validates the integration of the human with emotions in the sense that they are not distinguishable from the physical, spiritual, mental or other parameters of human existence. One avoids saying, ‘the human is an emotional being’. Instead one says, ‘being is emotional, and emotioning is all existence’. It is a way to speak of these matters without affirming a control or hierarchy of existence. It dispels cause-and-effect strategies of understanding. Understanding is in the emerging, which is in the languaging (See endnote 3), which is the way a human sustains validity: ‘A [human] who has a language consequently possesses the world expressed and implied by that language’ (Fanon 1963: 18). Human existence cannot be silent, nor can it be nourished by false words, but only by true words, with which [humans] transform the world. To exist humanely, is to name the world, to change it. Once named, the world in its turn reappears to the namers as a problem and requires of them a new naming. [Humans] are not built in silence, but in word, in work, in actionreflection. But while to say the true word - which is work, which is praxis - is to transform the world, saying that word is not the privilege of some few [humans], but the right of every [human]. Consequently, no one can say a true word alone - nor can [s/he] say it for another, in a prescriptive act which robs others of their words. (Freire 1985: 76–77).

Hence, the biology of love seeks to describe human existence lovingly (Maturana and de Rezepka 1996: 7). It cannot describe unloving human existence: it can only explain the unloved as an aberration of the natural order of things by accounting for it, and this is not an explanation but a rationalization, an inadvertent camouflage. Thus, we strengthen the theory of the biology of love by requiring that it does not attempt to explain the denial of love. Love is not a choice. The nature of evil is that it hides within the imposition of truth: truth being an arrest of the consciousness that demands adoration and worship. We say, ‘This is true.’ As if the act of saying this and its logics somehow makes a thing true. And we become accustomed to this way of speaking and insisting that others speak the same way to be understood, that is, The lie of race: the politics of evil

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linked to an act of articulation about what we all agree is what we want to be true, whatever ‘true’ may mean. True has meaning in its exclusionary power. It enables discrimination among things, ideas and their links. Thus, the purpose of logics is to enable discrimination. We can create difference with logics. Logics being defined as methodologies of language, including syntax, vocabulary, notation, tokens, and other things that self-justify by enabling the articulation of ‘true’ things. This self-justifying of the logics is justified because these logics make ‘true’ things such as mathematical theorems, chemical laws, engineering algorithms, which in turn make useful things such as software operating systems, bridges or cures for disease. Moreover, it is not in the realm of applicability that the misuse of logics lies, but in the nature of truth itself that the deception lives. Truth is an arrest of the consciousness. It is an arrest, not a revelation. It tears at the fabric of being and demands a separation. It says, ‘Look at me! I am different from you.’ You, being all of existence. Hence, it is not that we misuse the logics in sociology or physics that is to be criticized, but that we insist that the logics yield anything that can be separated from the all that is as it emerges in its complexity. We deny this ripping of our humanity. The ripping is seen in competition, rivalry, profit- making, just wars, and the like. All of these exist in the name of truth and its logics that enable it. Evil is clever in that it produces words that enable it to hide: words such as bad, horrible, cruel, dark, good, inhuman, evil, sinister, and the like. This is how evil hides through the words used to explain it. In addition, it is protected by truth. One can be heard saying, ‘It is true that such and such a thing or person is bad or good.’ The arrest comes from truth that enables evil to be disguised as a judgement of bad or good, for example. We claim, ‘Evil is that collection of acts and constructs that affirms and validates within its constructs real or imaginary differences among humans’ (ASC 2000: 3). Thus, evil is about making one human different from another. Truth is about making one thing/idea different from another. Now racism has a theatre. ‘Racism is the generalized and final assigning of values to real or imaginary differences, to the accuser’s benefit and at his victim’s expense, in order to justify the former’s own privileges or aggression’ (Memmi 2000: 169–70). Having established the ground of the conversation, we are now able to speak of the lie of race: the politics of evil and how organizational development is complicit in maintaining the lie.

6. The lie of race: the politics of evil Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Spencer Brown have some things in common: they all use truth as an arrest of the consciousness. They all use logics to affirm that truth creates differences. While Brown does not, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas through their application of the fiction of ‘natural law’ use truth to justify dominance of one human over another. Brown uses logics to establish axioms of a lan16

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guage of dominance. Let us examine how these logics may have contributed to the embedding of the lie within the very idea of organization. Plato in The Republic, III (Jowett 1964: 266–68) created the noble lie wherein he posits that God is the Father of us all and when He made humankind He made some [humans] of gold, some of silver, and some of brass and iron. And it was the natural order of things that [humans] of gold should rule through [humans] of silver over [humans] of brass and iron. He goes on to say, ‘And the species will generally be preserved in children, and God proclaims as a first principle to the rulers, and above all else, that they are to be such good guardians, as of the mixture of elements in the soul. [Mixture of the castes]. The noble lie goes on: ‘Is there any possibility of making our citizens believe in it [the lie]? Not in the first generation, but their sons may be made to believe in the tale, and their son’s sons, and posterity after them.’ Furthermore, in Laws, III and IV, Plato rationalizes slavery as part of natural law. What is special about the noble lie is that within its construction, Plato directly creates a class of ‘untouchables’: the humans of brass and iron. He requires that such humans are not to be pitied and that intermarriage or other mixing with them must not take place. What is important here is that he creates an avenue of hatred of humans camouflaged by natural law to continue without rationalization. Not only are these humans to be hated but the lie about why they are to be hated is also hidden: it is the natural order of things and the idea of hating a human is not to be considered a question of value for consideration about humans of brass and iron. Aristotle in his Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, and Eudemian Ethics (Barnes 1984: 1835) speaks of slavery being justified as part of natural law and not contradicted by the innocence of birth. Augustine in his City of God (De Civitate Dei), XIX, 15 writes: The prime cause, then, of slavery is sin, which brings man under the dominion of his fellow - that which does not happen save by the judgment of God, with whom is no unrighteousness, and who knows how to award fit punishments to every variety of offence. Moreover, when men are subjected to one another in a peaceful order, the lowly position does as much good to the servant as the proud position does harm to the master. But by nature, as God first created us, no one is the slave either of man or of sin. This servitude is, however, penal, and is appointed by that law which enjoins the preservation of the natural order and forbids its disturbance; for if nothing had been done in violation of that law, there would have been nothing to restrain by penal servitude. (Clark 1984: 460–61)

Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica, I, II: 57: 3, 4; 52: 1 (Sullivan 1952) rationalizes slavery as a matter of natural law whereby the State can enslave a human as a right of wisdom. Further, in the Summa, he calls slavery a punishment for sin and takes issue with Pope Gregory saying that while all men were created equal, natural law did not preclude slavery.4 The lie of race: the politics of evil

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4

When examining the caste system of the central provinces of India, (Russell and Lal 1969: 13), we see that the Sudras or ‘untouchables’ were as the humans of brass and iron of Plato: humans to be despised and hated by all other castes.

Spencer Brown (Brown 1972: 15) in Laws of Form, writes: 1. Call a state indicated by an expression, the value of the expression. 2. If an expression e in a space s shows a dominant value in s then the value of e is the marked state. Otherwise, it is the unmarked state. I have included this last example because of the irony of its history. Laws of Form was written to resolve the self-referential paradoxes made famous by Bertrand Russell. For example, ‘The following statement is true, “This statement is false”.’ The book uses a language of dominance to free the world of logic from ever-spiralling contradictory tautologies. As we have seen and will see further, that is how reformist language enables privilege, thus racism to continue unabated. So if we define politics as that assemblage of techniques that is focused on the justification of the attainment of power, dominance and privilege of one human over another, then the philosophers referred to above can certainly be conscripted as authors of a politics of evil. We include Spencer Brown to show how easy it is to use a language of dominance in seemingly innocent ways. With Brown’s rendition of identity, the marked state, value is had only if dominance exists. What is behind this discourse so far? We are aware of the tenacity of the application of the lie of race: racism. We are aware that this has been with humankind for thousands of years and event-places such as Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland, Rwanda, East Los Angeles, Bosnia, Turkey, Burma, Vieques [a small island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico], Guatemala, etc. are with us today. I claim these are continuing products of the lie of race. We can look at organizations and their development and failure and see that politics as defined above has become the way of modern global corporatism and with it, the lie is perpetuated worldwide: globalization means selling by selling privilege. We are asking ourselves with this essay, ‘Why?’ We are trying to ask this question from what we know from cybernetics and from a caution: we do not want to give the lie of race any more power. We believe that it is the fundamental evil in the world, but that it can be exposed and its fragility seen. However, just exposing the lie is similar to explaining the lie, and this will not work as we argued before when viewing the uses of the cybernetic notion of the biology of love. We need something else. This is the aim of this article. The lie of race, Plato’s noble lie, Brown’s axioms, the Augustine doctrine, the Aristotle/Aquinas argument all require sustainability to continue. One has to pass the lie from one generation to the next and with the lie comes the logics to enable the articulation of the lie. You cannot hope to eviscerate the lie by looking at it in this generation or by setting in place another counter-force to be sustained in generations to come. Why? If we look at the lie in this generation as if it were a present thing and not a cybernetic thing in the sense that it has a lineage, a history, and the capacity to recreate itself structurally in a coordinated way in the present, then 18

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we will patch some of the damage of the lie but not touch its life force: truth. Hence, we will actually strengthen the lie since we will create more camouflage through the reform that we introduce. We cannot kill the lie. If we put in place a collection of practices aimed at combating the lie for the succeeding generations, then we carry the lie forth under the protection of those practices to combat it. What should we do? Let us look at the seven essential components of the application of the lie of race: racism. Memmi is the author of the first five (Memmi 2000: 170). 1. A collection of Logics enables the axioms of racism and the six components referred to below: a. Pure races exist. b. Impure races exist and are inferior to pure races. c. Axiom (a) and (b) justify any form of aggression aimed at the dominance of one human over another. 2. An emphasis is placed on the real or imaginary differences between the racist and their victims. 3. An assignment of value is given to those differences to the advantage of the racists and the detriment of their victims. 4. There is a strategy of making the differences absolute by generalizing them and by claiming that they are final. 5. A justification is given for any present or possible aggression or privilege. 6. A strategy of camouflage is used including a strategy of reform to hide the lie of race. 7. A reward system is created that yields pleasure to the racists and their victims and which includes not only political, psychological or economic rewards, but also an addictive pleasure in evil itself. We believe that the seventh component is the most powerful because it hides evil itself. How can a mammal, a creature constructed in love, of love and for love, sustain so monstrous a lie? Would not a mammal let this go? One would expect a mammal to say, ‘This is absurd. I do not want any of this!’ How do you make a soldier? How do you create an army? Obviously, the key is to take away love and put something else in its place. However, who can take away love? We are mammals. We are love. We are born in love, of love, for love. Can we take love away? Why did Plato instruct in his noble lie that it be embedded in generation after generation until it took hold and developed a life of its own? Clearly, he understood that humans would initially resist the lie since it was absurd; but one had to work at it generation after generation to enable it to take hold. To enable the lie you had to substitute the ultimate aphrodisiac: a licence to sin with impunity: a power to kill, to torture, to rule over, to kill another. This was the seduction of all seductions. You could have slaves: humans that were yours to do with as you wished.5 Do we need to know who took away love, or how it was taken away? Some argue that God did this or the Devil or that we were not born in love as the biology of love purports. In the Christian Bible (Heisbergh 1995), The lie of race: the politics of evil

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A revealing critique of Platonic doctrine is contained in Yurugu. Of particular interest is the contrast between the Eurocentric and African senses of love (Ani 1994: 393–400).

the Story of Job posits God and the Devil as two combatants using humans for their sport. Yet, the story is deeper. It shows Job’s defiance of the two divinities, putting forth his commitment to love, including loving God. Job is triumphant in his journey: he never deviates from his capacity to love; even if it is God he articulates it to. Job never gives in to hurt his neighbour or himself. He looks both God and the Devil in the eye and continues to chant that he is human and will remain so no matter what befalls him. Job is the only winner over Heaven and Hell. When one reads the story in either the Greek or English version, it can be seen that the authors of the Job story rewrote the ending many times to reconcile the politics behind the story. It is clear that the poetic beauty and strength of the story changes dramatically at the end, being reduced to a shallow and somewhat mediocre finish of God rewarding Job for his faithfulness. However, there is more to this story, as we shall revisit below. Some argue that through some random collection of random collections, Life began in the universe and that there are no rules that govern human behaviour except those that we create for ourselves. Others argue that God is independent of good and evil, i.e. good and evil are social constructions of humans only. God has no interest in good or evil. God can be what you wish God to be: an invention of convenience or logics. God is whatever you need God to be, but good and evil are inventions of humans. These arguments aside, as humans, we have a desire to live. We believe that it is a fair doctrine that describes what we want as a life free of injustice and domination and oppression. We do not want the lie of race to continue to reign imperially over the planet. We do not want humans to be ripped from humanity by the abuse of logics and the arrest of truth. Do we want the lie of race to continue?

7. Facing the seduction of the lie of race How does one give up the seduction of being able to sin with impunity? Think of it! You can attribute to a person or a group any set of real or imaginary values that you wish so that you can dominate them for whatever your heart desires. They can be your slaves. You can kill them and not be punished. You can curse them and feel no remorse. You can be charitable towards them and feel generous. You can hate them and pity yourself for your weaknesses. You can take away their markets and consider it successful business. Think of it! Anything you wish will be yours. Anything! You can even become enlightened, despise slavery, and militate against it for the good of humankind. All these things are yours for the asking. There is no price to pay. You will be forgiven. All this for the asking. Surely, you cannot reject such a gift. You have doubts? Allay them! Truth is on your side. You can see that. Look at the logic. God has given you an opportunity to confront the sins of others. Slavery is their punishment for being of the other. This is how it has been written and it has always been so. There is no contradiction. Listen to how nice it feels when you beat the slave. Remember that man in the hallway of 20

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that Bronx apartment? You had to shoot him 41 times, it was your duty as an officer of the law. Did it not feel wonderful, pulling the trigger, seeing him fall, seeing your other comrades shooting? Do you see the gift we are giving you? Were you punished? Of course not. Is it not right that you, who have been burdened with wisdom, find an outlet for your frustrations at the folly of the other? This ingrate! You have brought him shelter, knowledge, and a means to clothe him in his delusion of mind. You have even brought the clothes. You have allowed him to petition you, to ask you to stop hurting him, to prick your conscience of the misdeeds attributed to your enlightenment. Are you not gracious? Have you no personal compassion? See how you suffer from your own inner constructions of justice. There is no need for self-mortification. All is forgiven. Go and live among the humans. After all, did you not bring humanity to humans? Are you not wise and of noble birth? Paint yourself superior. This is given to you as the gift of life. Paint! Paint! Paint! Do not stop! Keep painting! If the biology of love is correct in that, ‘To live in love, the biology of love has been the fundament for the evolutionary trend of conservation of the continuous expansion of intelligence in our lineage’ (Maturana and Verden-Zoller 1998: 7), then what accounts for the existence of evil? Is evil to be coupled with the biology of love in perpetuity? Is the lie of race to be with us forever? Let us reconsider the story of Job. To be human is to be in love. To be in love is to be in dialogue with all that is without fear or anxiety. Dialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and for [humans]. The naming of the world, which is an act of creation and re-creation, is not possible if it is not infused with love. Love is at the same time the foundation of dialogue and dialogue is love itself. (Freire 1985: 77–78)

What happens with Job? God gives Job over to the Devil to see if good triumphs over evil. The Devil goes about this ugly business and makes life terrible for Job and his family. The traditional interpretation is that Job remains faithful to God and is likewise rewarded at the end. What is more important is that Job is in constant dialogue with God and His surrogates. In all that happens, Job never falters. He continues to affirm his capacity to love. He continues to affirm that he is human. So powerful is his commitment to being human that he triumphs over the god of good and the god of evil. He pushes them both back and asserts his humanity in the face of their demand for worship. While the traditional interpretation is that Job is doing all this because the god of good is so good and Job is faithful, what is really taking place is that Job is preparing the way for the emergence of humankind to be free of hierarchy and oppression. Job is the first Messiah. He frees humankind from good and evil. He establishes that love is the parameter of human existence and that there is no need for either good or evil when we live in love. This is because in love there is no place for judgement. The God concept becomes one of love, of justice without judgement. The lie of race: the politics of evil

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It is a freeing of all existence to be in love. Worship is no longer necessary. The noble lie is valueless. However, in reaction to the freeing of humankind and the emergence of a god of love, the gods of good and evil fight back. Moreover, we have the seduction of the lie of race hidden in good but being acclaimed as evil. These are the same two gods looking for ways to remain relevant to humankind. The biology of love gives us a way to remember the triumph of Job and be done with these two gods for the last time. Job has freed God to be a god of love. This idea is developed further by Jesus in Matthew 22: 34–40 (Heisbergh 1995): You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

Before Job, when one spoke of a love of God, one meant a worship of God, for to love a god was meaningless. Job changes this. He listens to God as an authentic and legitimate other. He does not judge God. Through Job, we see that a dialogue with God is possible. Jesus then, in a manner of progressive revelation, affirms that God is free from good and evil. He states both commandments so that the misery and strife that exists because of the denial of love, the lie of race, can be addressed. Why is it not a common practice to pray for the Devil and God to reconcile so that misery may end? Why is there prayer to do good and combat evil? Are we not affirming the lie of race when we pray this way? After all, someone has to be good and someone has to be evil, and what better way to ensure this, than to have races, pure and impure! Thus, the lie of race is intrinsic to the gods of good and evil. Only a god of love as Job has enabled and Jesus has affirmed, can be sustained through our being human. Jesus continues in this vain. To love God is to keep God free from judgement. That is why the last point, about love being the basis of all law and the prophets is given. From the law comes justice, i.e. the ethical organization of requisite variety among humans as they live among each other. Order here would mean socio-technical structures to enable the authenticity and legitimacy of the humans in society. Prophets, in this sense, are not leaders, but doers of things needed. Thus, all humans are prophets. Augustine and Aquinas seem to understand justice except in their writings on sin and hierarchy. Here they reintroduce the gods of good and evil, obfuscating the messages of Job and Jesus and bringing back the lie of race: good and evil. The biology of love rescues us from this dilemma. It reaffirms the messages of Job and Jesus. It states clearly that we are human, and because we are human, we are free of good and evil. Nevertheless, we anticipate an accusation from confusion. Openness is just a word hinting at an experience. Freedom is another word fraught with layered interpretations. We argue that it is dialogue, and only dialogue that enables both concepts. The operant nature of good and 22

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evil is to limit discourse by imposing judgement, but it was discourse that freed God. Therefore, we have come full circle in our conversation; we have seen that complexity and emergence suggest that organizational development is something that happens in the present. Yet, it has a history that is founded on the lie of race as a means to conserve privilege, the notion of hierarchical and qualitative difference among humans. We have seen how embedded the lie has become since the mechanism of its conservation is built on the languaging of good and evil, truth and judgement. It is only in dialogue, in the conversation that we may find the means to expose the mechanism that traps us.

8. The conversation continues The purpose of a religion is to worship a god, a thing, or a purpose. It is not our aim in this article to reaffirm an existing religion nor do we seek to establish a new religion. We simply wish to point to the Greco-Roman Christian social constructions of racism since these underlie much of western thought and its influence on global society. These constructions form an excellent laboratory for the biology of love. We are mammals seeking creation and re-creation in the dialogue with the world. In the West, the God concept is intrinsic to identity. Whether one accepts God or not is somewhat immaterial, the weight of the concept is felt in every social structure. There are threads of the concept other than the ones discussed above, but the discussion on good and evil nevertheless prevails. To posit that God is now free of good and evil is to enable the biology of love to affirm the nature of the human. Without this, the biology of love is just another wish at the misery that besets the world. With God free, we are all free to be in love. We cannot have love in the presence of good and evil. Hence, we can now view the biology of love as revolutionary politics: ‘Let me say at the risk of appearing ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is guided by strong feelings of love. It is impossible to think of an authentic revolutionary without this quality’ (Guevara 1969: 398).

9. Conversation experiments - epilogue What would a conversation be like if it was conducted in awareness of the traps of truth and good and evil? I invite you to read and contemplate two dialogues, ‘A conversation within the biology of love’ below has been constructed to further explore the dialogic of this article.6 There is another experiment that appears on the American Society for Cybernetics website and is referenced in the endnotes below.

10. Thoughts on further research The business of business is the creation of wealth. Wealth is the collection of practices that enable the attribute of value to be given to a good or a service to the benefit of the population. Hence, the creation of wealth has to be an act of love. Further research looks promising in the areas of global The lie of race: the politics of evil

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6

See ‘The Story’ at http://www.asccybernetics.org. Also the ‘Evil and Ethics’ dialogue.

profit optimization of supply chains. In supply-chain management, there is a tension between local and global profit optimization. In order to have global optimization, local autonomy has to be sacrificed. Profit is a product of the actions of many in the pursuit of a meaning of being. Regardless of the political economic theory governing the specifications of profit, its purpose is to guide collective action in the praxis of living. It is more or less a placeholder and enables a conversation about resources and their uses. Integrating the conversation within the biology of love with political economic issues may prove effective in addressing inevitable challenges to the distribution of wealth. There is also work in organizing enterprise without competition. Resources are becoming scarcer and the clamouring for a better life is being uttered all over the planet. The issue of privilege ergo racism needs to be addressed. Love is not a choice.

Appendix A: A conversation within the biology of love Sceptic:

Response: Sceptic:

Response:

Sceptic: Response:

Sceptic:

Response:

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With this biology of love conversation, are you not simply substituting one conversation for another? Is this not just a parlour trick and nothing more? We are being human. Conversation is what freed God and what will free us. God? God! Why spend any more time on God? We cannot be free without God? We do not need God. Bah! You are like all the rest of the soothsayers and moneychangers in the temples of delusion. You seek power through the control of myths. Humans will reinvent God because they are curious about why they exist. This curiosity is part of love, part of the dialogue with the universe of possibility. It is better to name God as the God of love, than to let God re-emerge as the God of judgement, the God of good and evil, or the God of hierarchy. Is not love just another word? A word used to fill a void of explanation of human behaviour? A word is as empty or full as any other word. All words are full of their histories and their capacity to recreate their use upon their calling. This is the nature of language. We live in language or as we say, in languaging. Love is a calling to be open to the all that is. It is not a constraint on being. To use the word ‘love’ is to evoke the universe of possibility. Nevertheless, humans must make choices. They must decide among things that affect their lives. They must make judgements. Surely, this call for a God of love does not preclude the human instinct to decide. Moreover, this being so, then this God of love must also make judgements? If all we have known is a world where judgements drive actions, then to comprehend a world where actions are driven by love is impossible for our imaginations.

Ely A. Dorsey

Sceptic:

What nonsense! We pose to you a reasonable question and you respond that we, including yourself, cannot imagine the answer. What type of trickery is this? Response: We cannot imagine a world without judgement, but love allows us to suppose that such a world is possible. Just saying it enables the world without the judgement. In such manner as we constitute ourselves in the praxis of living, we bring forth this world, mistake after mistake, adventure after adventure, moment after moment. That is the possibility that love brings. Consider this fable. There once were two nations, very mistrustful of each other. Both had armies and weapons of stupidity, as is the case with armies and weapons. One day while marching through the desert, companies of both armies came upon each other. The leaders of both seeing the folly in combat, since both were well matched as in the law of requisite variety, came to each other and spoke of alternatives to combat. One leader suggested a truce where the soldiers could relax and sup with one another. The other leader agreed and suggested a sporting contest to integrate good feelings among the armies. Both leaders were content with their thoughts and went back to their troops to tell them of the development. The soldiers on both sides were glad to hear the news and looked forward to the exchange. After the troops had eaten, it was time for the contest. It was expected that both armies would cheer for their respective teams. Then one of the leaders struck upon an idea: suppose that instead of the teams being comprised of one army versus the other, the teams were integrated with members of both armies on both teams. The other leader immediately supported the idea, and the sporting event took place with only the play being cheered. This is what love can bring forth. Sceptic: Well then, in like manner, we can bring forth a world of judgement, a world of human frailty and rationalization, a world of mediocrity and war. You pose your world of love as a competition against any other world that is imagined. Oh ye hypocrite! Response: Is not life the act of life? Do we not seek to continue no matter what horrors beset us? If our natures were closed by the judgements of what is safest, easiest, or most expedient, do you think that we would still be in the universe? Are we not aware of ourselves, without explanation? Do we not know that everything is everything? Do we not seek to end separation? Do we not define madness as aloneness? Clearly, we are living within living. We are opening all the time, as Job during the enslavement of God. His message as well as that of Jesus and so many others after and before them is that we can be in love. That is the news of the biology of love. Sceptic: So there have been many messengers with this message of love. Looking at the world, it is clear that the message has not been heard or believed. So, what is different this time? What of this message is so compelling that the world will listen and believe? Response: The world does not need to be saved. Life is an act of life. Living has not stopped, nor will it stop. God is free; love has enabled that. The dia-

The lie of race: the politics of evil

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Sceptic: Response:

Sceptic: Response:

Sceptic:

Response:

Sceptic: Response:

Sceptic: Response:

Sceptic: Response: Sceptic: Response: Sceptic:

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logue will continue. We can end misery. We can give up good and evil. We can be human. How? How can this be? We are human and if we can free gods then we can free each other. During a recent presidential campaign in the United States, two senators emeriti, one conservative the other progressive liberal, came upon an idea to provide breakfast for every child in the world. These men saw the universe of possibility. They judged neither the world nor the children in it. They loved and that is how they saw. In love, there are no constraints to the intelligence. If we can imagine it, then it is real. If we can state it, then it will emerge. Utopia! You are just dreaming of Utopia. We are being in love. We are being human. We are naming the world in action and reflection. We are in dialogue with the world. We are engaged in acts of life coming from life. We are in love. But you relegate me to invisibility. I am absorbed by some ambiguous ‘whole’. My being, even my self-reflection is to be doubted because of some arbitrary standard of belonging. Are we not allowed to observe? Can we not think, conclude, experiment, and measure? What are you saying? Are we to be intellectual eunuchs without souls? We cannot judge what we conclude outside of the value it has to enhance the quality of life for us all. When it becomes ‘What I say is good or bad or useful,’ then we engage a system of judgement: a system of ‘them and us’. So all conclusions are to be made in groups? No, all conclusions come from groups seeking the enhancement of all groups. We are connected to each other always. This will not change. In this way, madness is a descriptor of the loss of connection to the human family. But I wish to be. To be my own person. How can I be in your proposed system of love? To say, ‘I am’, is to say, ‘I am, therefore I am becoming.’ My awareness of my becoming is possible through my awareness of my neighbour. Awareness is a surrogate for consciousness. It is through this link that I sense myself. I cannot think of myself as if the rest of the universe did not exist. It is because of the all that is, that is all of us that I am becoming. My individualism is part of the whole as the whole is part of my individualism. We are in love. But I am, regardless of your sonnet of becoming. I can say ‘I am!’ Nothing steals that from me. Is not madness a camouflage for loneliness? Is not your sense of yourself enabled through the being of the Other? Love is not a choice. Still, I am. Yes, as you love yourself, as the Other loves you, as you are the Other. Well then, are love and loneliness terrifying things?

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Works cited ASC (American Society for Cybernetics) (2000), Evil and Ethics (eds P. Bunnell and K. Forsythe), monograph, Urbana: Steve Sloan. Ani, M. (1994), Yurugu, an African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior, Trenton, NJ: African World Press. Asante, M.K. and Abarry, A.S. (eds) (1996), African Intellectual Heritage, Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Ashby, W. Ross (1984), An Introduction to Cybernetics, 7th reprint, New York: Methuen. Barnes, Jonathan (ed.) (1984), The Complete Works of Aristotle, 2 vols., Bollingen Series, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Brown, G. Spencer (1973), Laws of Form. New York: Bantam Books. Clark, M.T. (1984), Augustine of Hippo: Selected Writings, New York: Paulist Press. Daniel, J. (ed.) (1952 [1920]), The Summa Theologica and Supplement (trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province), 3 vols., Chicago: William Benton. Dorsey, E. (1998), About Risk, Synergy and Complexity, vol. 1, proceedings of the 4th Annual Conference on Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management, New York. Fanon, F. (1963). Wretched of the Earth, New York: Grove Press Freire, P. (1985), Pedagogy of the Oppressed, New York: Continuum. Guevara, E. Che (1969), Venceremos: The Speeches and Writings of Che Guevara, New York: New International Press. Heisbergh, Jean M. (ed.) (1995), New American Bible, London: Oxford University Press. Hong, H. and Hong, E. (eds) (1962), Søren Kierkegaard: Works of Love, Harper Torchbooks, New York: Harper and Row. Jowett, B. (1964 [1953]), The Dialogues of Plato, vols. 2 and 5, London: Oxford University Press. Lewis, T., Amini, F. and Lannon, R. (2001), A General Theory of Love, New York: Vintage Books. Maturana, H. and Varela, F.J. (1988), The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding, Boston: New Science Library. Maturana, H. and Verden-Zoller, Gerda (1998), ‘Biology of Love’, in Focus Heilpadadagogik (eds G. Opp and F. Feterander), Munich: Ernst Reinhardt. Maturana, H. and de Rezepka, Sima Nisis (1996), ‘Biology of Love: what to do?’, working paper, University of Chile. Santiago. Memmi, A. (2000), Racism, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Morgan, G. (1986), Images of Organization, London: Sage. Russell, R.V. and Lal, Rai Bahadur Hira (1969), The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, 4 vols. Oosterhout N.B., The Netherlands: Anthropological Publications.

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Suggested citation Dorsey, E. (2005), ‘The lie of race: the politics of evil’, Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change 2: 1, pp. 9–28, doi: 10.1386/jots.2.1.9/1

Contributor details Dr Ely Dorsey is a change management consultant and cybernetician with more than 25 years’ experience. He brings a full range of change management expertise to client projects including strategic planning, technology transfer and commercialization, risk assessment, quality management and engineering, ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 series certification, supply-chain management, activity-based costing, decision support systems, professional development, technical staffing and training, team building, diversity management, conflict resolution and mediation, and sustainable development. Contact: 6 Priscilla Street, New Bedford, Massachusetts 02740, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

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Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change Volume 2 Number 1 © 2005 Intellect Ltd Article. English Language. doi: 10.1386/jots.2.1.29/1

Chinese business guanxi: an organization or non-organization? Martin F. Parnell Liverpool John Moores University Abstract

Keywords

This article analyses the Chinese phenomenon of guanxi, both in general terms, regarding its precise nature, and specifically in regard to business practice in China, as exemplified by the two spheres of human resource management and relationship marketing. Guanxi is revealed not just as a central cultural artefact of historical dimensions, but as perhaps the key, distinctive social institution defining, directly or indirectly, virtually all social interaction in China: interpersonal; individual/group; group/group; organization/organization. The functioning of formal groups and organizations in China is materially shaped by this highly sophisticated and elaborate ‘system’ of networking and networks. However, guanxi is, by definition, an informal, ‘unofficial’ phenomenon, making empirical research in this field problematic (but by no means impossible, as the recent flurry of research in this area demonstrates). The challenge for organization theory is primarily twofold: to incorporate the distinctively Chinese elements (‘emics’) into a theory by definition concerned with universal dimensions (‘etics’); and, given the enduring overlap of polity, society and economy in the People’s Republic of China, how to effectively undertake explicit research, in the field, into a tacit, ‘submerged’ phenomenon.

China business guanxi networks HRM marketing

Introduction The present article explores, in the business context, the relationship between modern organization theory and the very complex Chinese social phenomenon known as guanxi. The argument proceeds initially by analysing the distinctive nature of guanxi itself, within a framework of indispensable historical precedents, not least the Confucian tradition which in turn is the primary source of continuity in sociocultural values in China (see below). Then an exemplification of the possible connections and interaction between Chinese business, guanxi and organization theory is undertaken in two key spheres of modern management: HRM and (relationship) marketing. These latter two areas have been selected partly because of their intrinsic importance, but mainly because of their apparently ‘obvious’ connections with, i.e. similarity to, guanxi. Guanxi is a highly personalized, i.e. ‘subjective’, form of social interaction (see also below), with an inevitable emphasis on individuals and HRM is pre-emiOTASC 2 (1) 29–47 © Intellect Ltd 2005

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They continue: ‘Members of organizations enter relationships because it is in their individual interests to do so. Their ties are abstract, legal ones, regulated by contract. The organization is a means to what its actors want for themselves. In so far as they co-operate, it is because they have particular interests at stake’ (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 63).

nently the ‘people function’ in management: an overlap between the two would appear to be self-evident. Similarly, marketing is the business function where cultural issues, especially cultural conflicts, manifest themselves most explicitly. An analysis of the similarities and differences between guanxi and, above all, relationship marketing will be seen to have exemplary value in clarifying the precise nature of guanxi, not only in the Chinese business context, but as a distinctive yet indispensable social institution also embracing non-economic activity, i.e. relevant for organizational perspectives transcending profit-oriented entities. Organizations are formally understood here, relying on the widely accepted anthropological dichotomy of individual- and group-based values (exemplified by the authors quoted here), in the following and very western sense: ‘In individualistic cultures organisations ... are essentially instruments. They have been assembled and contrived, in order to serve individual owners, employers and customers’ (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 63)1 whereas ‘in communitarian cultures the organisation is not the creation or instrument of its founders so much as a social context all members share and which gives them meaning and purpose’ (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 63). (They continue: ‘Organizations are often linked to a large family, community or clan which develops and nurtures its members and may live longer than they do’ (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 63)). However, it will be demonstrated that China’s guanxi ‘system’ fits into neither category because it reflects neither an individual- nor group-based society; it is anchored in a relationship society which has developed historically the guanxi mode of interpersonal, intergroup exchange or interaction. Guanxi will be seen to be a complex, multifaceted sociocultural phenomenon which is difficult to conceptualize scientifically and perhaps virtually impossible to instrumentalize (operationalize perhaps, but not necessarily in the sense that that is conventionally understood). The latter assertion is paradoxical, not least because if renqing, the mutual exchange of favours (see below), is the dynamic behind guanxi, then guanxi itself seems instrumental in nature, much like relationship marketing: it must therefore seem possible to manipulate renqing, and therefore guanxi, whether for a ‘scientific experiment’ or for simple commercial advantage in a business transaction. This may especially seem to be the case if the following assertion is relevant: ‘... cross-organizational connections are a fertile source of insights regarding organizations. As reliance on alliances and other forms of network organizations increases, cross-organizational connections also promise to assume increasing importance’ (Xin and Pearce 1996: 1655). However, there are at least two difficulties in attempting to pursue such an avenue of development for guanxi: Xin and Pearce imply formal or semi-formal networks, but guanxi networks are by definition informal; if they are made formal and explicit, i.e. public, then this unofficial ‘entity’ will immediately become dysfunctional. Moreover, guanxi transcends net30

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works: even just two individuals can have guanxi with each other, dyadic guanxi relationships are very common (and may be considered as the building blocks of guanxi networks themselves). So, just as guanxi would appear to include and entirely subsume networks/networking and, by definition, network capitalism (in the Chinesespeaking area), it will also include and transcend relationship marketing (see Conclusion).

Guanxi: preliminary considerations The Chinese phenomenon of guanxi would appear to be so very much more than just a cultural artefact, it is a major social institution within the People’s Republic of China; indeed, it is probably the major informal, unofficial ‘institution’ in the Chinese-speaking world as a whole. It apparently has its roots in the Chinese family system, something sanctified over a period of two millennia by the theory and practice of Confucianism (see below). Two major ‘attacks’ have occurred on that system since 1949: a very direct, full-frontal one during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution when loyalty to Chairman Mao became everyone’s foremost duty and obligation; and an indirect one with the enforcement over the last twenty years of the ‘one-child policy’, particularly in urban areas. It can plausibly be argued that the key familial values and qualities of favour, dependence and trust are, through guanxi, projected normatively into a ‘hostile’, external world, one which has been traditionally characterized in China by a weak institutional and legal framework (Nakamura 1964). The distinctive relationships and networks thus established contain mechanisms which replicate an equivalence of the care and nurture provided by the extended family. ‘What Chinese value ... are relations that mirror those inside the family, which are often warm, nurturing, and “very affectionate”’ (Marquand 2001: 3) and the clan, delivering a relative ‘security’ of the person and the capacity to ‘achieve results’ which would not otherwise be obtained. The stranger, the ‘outsider’, for example, a (foreign) potential business partner, has to undergo a gradual induction process, imbibing the ‘rules of the game’, to become a member of the inner circle or its equivalent, of family and close friends. This process may take a long time - it may be short-circuited by employing an intermediary with ‘face’ (see below): but success is not guaranteed, it can only be ensured by the participant’s behaviour fully adapting to that of the group or network the membership of which is sought (see also below). This network, guanxiwang, remains an informal, almost ‘invisible’ group - it can be very influential but remains unrecorded and undocumented; it may be short-lived or evince semi-permanent existence: the phenomenon of guanxi as a whole endures whereas specific instances emerge and disappear according to the life of the needs they express and fulfil (see also below). Particular guanxi networks may, exceptionally, be congruent with a formal organization, but generally not: the essence of guanxi lies in its unofficial informality, becoming explicit and formalized Chinese business guanxi: an organization or non-organization?

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Liang Shuming (1893–1988): Confucian, socialist and Buddhist; author of Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies - advocate of rural reconstruction and education reform. He argued, for the Chinese of his day: ‘First, reject the Indian attitude without any reservation. Second, accept entirely the Western culture but modify its foundation; that is, change its attitude. Third, critically salvage the original Chinese attitude.’

3

See typically Hofstede (1994: ch. 3, ‘I, We and They’, 49–78); and Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: ch. 5, ‘The Group and the Individual’, 50–68).

4

Indeed, it can be argued that events like the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 made guanxi more important than ever, as the only means of survival (cf. Tung and Worm 2001: 526).

would destroy the capacity to achieve objectives in an uncertain world, achievement being based on confidentiality and mutual benefit which is not be publicized. For example, being able to short-circuit formal procedures by entering through ‘the back door’ is a privilege: a privilege by definition relies on exclusivity: public knowledge would destroy that. So, a particular guanxi network is at most a quasi-organization which may or may not lend itself to the steering and manipulation of targeted change or adaptation. For example, if a key policy change emanated from the Chinese Communist Party’s politburo (as a precursor to formal government policy) regarding reform of the state-owned enterprises, personal contacts between top party functionaries, relevant ministry officials and leading managing directors of companies could enhance and reinforce policy implementation. However, where factions exist, informal personal contacts can be employed to weaken or even sabotage an ‘unwelcome’ policy. The viability of an intelligent organization is predicated in modern organization theory on a high degree of autonomy - however, in China, the autonomy of a business organization can be subverted or even controverted by dominant Party involvement on the one hand and, on the other, by network loyalties extending beyond any one company. As the private sector replaces the state sector in China (the collective sector largely having recently become ‘privatized’, see below), political interference will recede; perhaps so will guanxi-type ‘leakage’ become, in the long term, much less significant with market rationality increasingly dominating the economic exchange process. However, China possesses very much a transitional economy/society with many uncertainties, particularly of a legal nature, so, paradoxically, guanxi are becoming more vital in the short to medium term as a method of securing continuity and relative stability, a familiar orientation in an ‘unfamiliar’ environment. It will be established that the ‘network’/guanxiwang is the superordinate concept, ‘organization’ the subordinate one; in a sense, organization as the ‘superstructure’, guanxi (networks) the substructure. The terms ‘superstructure’ and ‘substructure’ are metaphors paralleling the Marxist dichotomy of economic forces (society’s substructure) ‘determining’ the nature and performance of society’s socio-political superstructure. After all, it was the influential Chinese intellectual Liang Shuming,2 writing nearly seventy years ago, who described China as a whole as possessing a network/relationship-based society (guanxi benwei), one which embraces yet far transcends the individual vs. group/collectivity dichotomy (geren benwei vs. shehui benwei) (see Nojonen 1999; see also Parnell 2002) of sociocultural values upon which some leading western anthropologists appear somewhat fixated.3 There is little evidence to support the argument that this particular social reality has been undermined since 1949.4 The phenomenon of guanxi is ‘an open secret’, it is ubiquitous, widely known and generally understood, but hidden in its workings. The analogy of a glove-puppet show may be appropriate: guanxi networks are the hand inside the ‘glove’ represented by the formal organization/institution. Its 32

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covert nature may seem to suggest something surreptitious and hence reprehensible and in specific instances it can cloak corruption, but the latter may be perceived as the exception rather than the norm. The guanxi system, as argued below, has emerged over time as a cultural artefact, reflecting the historical and social realities of managing individual and group interests in the Chinese context: it is the Chinese way of maximizing material benefit and personal safety (see also below). It is, in addition, a distinctively personalized and affective process. Numerous attempts have been made in recent years to capture in formal models, in the business context, the precise nature of the phenomenon in question, particularly in relation to decision-making. The most prominent among these are those of Y.H. Wong and colleagues at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (see the four papers referred to in this study) - the attempt to encapsulate the defining characteristics of guanxi reveal their cultural specificity (e.g. ‘familiarity’) in the very terminology employed: (fencer), fiancée, new friend and old friend - this is the language of an intimate circle.5 However, a further distinction is drawn in Wong et al.’s models which may offer a meaningful entry point for the rigours of modern organizational analysis: guanxi as the merging of the heart and mind of business partners. In the process of progressing from an outsider to an insider, ‘natural defences’ have to be broken down, something intuitive, clearly more a matter of the ‘heart’ than ‘the mind’. But the heart/mind distinction possesses a further dimension: ‘Exchange partners in guanxi have affective and personal involvement in the relationship, resulting in effective commitment [Heart] ... In contrast, relational exchange partners in the West tend to have economic and impersonal involvement which leads to calculative commitment’ [Mind] (Lee et al. 2001: 54). This dichotomy parallels the traditional Chinese duality of yin and yang. The western ‘mind’ approach to business can be characterized as very yang, the Chinese ‘heart’ approach as distinctively yin, but these are parameters yet to be absorbed by (western) organization theory. In other words, both economic exchange (‘transaction’) theory and contemporary organization theory are, by definition, ‘intellectualized’, in being based on certain assumptions of a particular scientific rationality, a rationality which could prove deficient in the Chinese context if the ‘subjective’ dimension of heart/mind and the psycho-philosophical dimension of yin/yang are ignored or underestimated as integral factors in the conscious planning of knowledge and change management.

Guanxi and society Just how old is the guanxi phenomenon? According to, among others, Wong and Tam. guanxi is a network of personal relationships emerging from the fundamentals of Chinese culture, traditions and social organization: ‘In the case of China, over 500 years of being a closed society ... allowed these personal networks and the mores which govern them to become a fixed element of culture and society’ (Wong and Tam 2000: 69). Chinese business guanxi: an organization or non-organization?

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5

An alternative model, developed at the Hong Kong Baptist University (see Li and Wright 2001: 375, diagram), applies mainly to foreign companies approaching the People’s Republic of China, but the less culturespecific vocabulary employed does not necessarily represent the manifestation of a broader, more inclusive model.

6

A similarity is sometimes identified between guanxi and the practice of extended kinship in Latin countries - but guanxi has/is both theory (Confucian philosophy) and practice; and the way the term guanxi is understood by native speakers of Mandarin is quite different from a ‘kinship’ parallel; indeed, given the widespread corruption in today’s China, the possibly negative connotations of guanxi have come very much to the fore.

Standifird and Marshall go further: The historical roots of guanxi extend some 2,000 years. Codified societal rules and values specified by Confucius during the sixth century BC provide the framework for guanxi-based practices. The fact that the same basic tenets specified by Confucius during the sixth century BC still dominate guanxibased exchange in the twentieth century AD affirms guanxi-cultural persistence. (Standifird and Marshall 2000: 7)

Such a view is supported by Leung and Wong: ‘The concept of guanxi is tacitly embedded within the Confucius philosophy and it subtly defines the Chinese moral code’ (Leung and Wong 2001: 55); and by Wong and Tam additionally: ‘The importance of a relationship network is rooted in Chinese history, characterized by apparently strong government controls, with strict Confucian codes of ethics, filial piety, shame inculcation and pragmatism’ (Wong and Tam 2000: 58). In this context, perhaps the overriding Confucian value is that of ‘harmony’ (see, for example, Buttery and Wong 1999). However, the deep historical roots of guanxi are in themselves not sufficient evidence of its current relevance, but Wong and Tam also claim that relationships still sit at the core of Chinese culture and business (Wong and Tam 2000: 58). Tung and Worm advance a similar view of guanxi, stressing its pervasiveness, encompassing all aspects of societal functioning: ‘in China, guanxi is not something that can be restricted to only certain groups of people ... these relationships are built into hierarchical social structures’ (Tung and Worm 2001: 522). Merrilees and Miller go still further: As Chinese live in a relationship society, they are connected by a web of social ties. There are direct ties bonding an individual with his peer groups and indirect ties connecting him with members from other groups which are embedded in the same network of his group. (Merrilees and Miller 1999: 3)

There appears to be a clear consensus among social scientists investigating this field. ‘An individual will fall into a natural guanxi-web in his/her socialization process after he/she is born’ (Tung and Worm 2001: 522); finally: ‘The Chinese culture provides a tightly-knit social framework in which individuals are protective of one another and organisations safeguard their members’ interests’ (Pearce and Robinson 2000: 6). So guanxi is by no means a new concept nor is it redundant in twenty-first-century China Liang Shuming’s idea of a guanxi-based society would perhaps appear, on this preliminary view, to be virtually as relevant today as at any time in China’s history. Individuals may have some choice as to the numbers of groups and/or networks to which they belong and to their degree of personal involvement, but an all-embracing networking ‘system’ appears to be inescapable and a very immediate social reality for all Chinese people.6 34

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The precise meaning of guanxi The Chinese word guanxi is not a term which can adequately be expressed by an English-language equivalent of one word, the concept is too culturespecific. ‘Chinese society is distinct because guanxi is ubiquitous and plays a central role in daily social and business life’ (Standifird and Marshall 2000: 3). The denotation and connotations of the term do include but also transcend the conventional translations as ‘personal connections’, ‘relationships’, and ‘networking’, so no single, generally acceptable definition of guanxi appears to exist in the English language. Guan in Chinese literally means ‘a door lock’ or a ‘gateway’ and xi means ‘linkage or a system of links’ - hence ‘guanxi refers to the connection between two parties through a system of links when one party can choose to “lock oneself up” or “open the link” to the other party’ (Law et al. 2000: 753). The party approached is the one with the power to facilitate access to information and/or resources which would, for the other party, not be accessible at all or only with difficulty. According to Lee et al., ‘Guanxi generally refers to relationships or social connections based on mutual interests and benefits ... Specifically, it refers to a special type of relationship that bonds the exchange parties through reciprocal exchange of favours and mutual obligations...’ (Lee et al. 2001: 52). A similar and somewhat more specific definition is: ‘Guanxi involves cultivating personal relationships through the exchange of favours and gifts for the purpose of obtaining goods and services, developing networks of mutual dependence and creating a sense of obligation and indebtedness’ (Standifird and Marshall 2000: 2). According to Gomez Arias, guanxi is a system of personal connections/relationships: on which an individual can draw to secure resources or advantage when doing business as well as in the course of social life ... and constitutes an important transaction mode in China ... Although it refers to the status and intensity of an ongoing relationship between two parties, it has become synonymous with the network of social and business connections necessary to do business in this part of the world. (Gomez Arias 1998: 146)

See also: The term guanxi refers to relationships among people. They are dyadic, personal relations between people who can make demands on each other. The stronger the guanxi the more demands can be imposed. The Chinese refer to this as the ‘hardness’ of a guanxi relationship. The Chinese, along with some non-Chinese, are involved in many dyadic relationships, which together form a guanxi network (guanxiwang). (Tung and Worm 2001: 521)

Yet, however comprehensive such definitions may appear to be, in reality they barely begin to ‘capture’ the manifold complexity of the Chinese guanxi phenomenon. Chinese business guanxi: an organization or non-organization?

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7

The term ‘guanxiology’ also exists, referring to a specific Chinese phenomenon: guanxiology of emperor and subject; guanxiology of government and people; and guanxiology of business and business (Leung and Wong 2001: 57), but this framework has not been empirically tested.

First and foremost, guanxi requires a foundation - the development of a guanxi web depends on whether particular individuals possess certain attributes in common, e.g. clanships, friendships, schoolmates, teachers and students: these are what constitute the guanxi base. Moreover: The extent of guanxi-cultivation among individuals depends upon their positioning within a frame that is based on some social unit classification. The social units may be family, work units and social networks. The more attributes a person has, the more capable he/she is of establishing guanxi within the social units he/she belongs to, provided that he/she has the time, money and effort to navigate through this guanxi-web. (Leung and Wong 2001: 56)

Gift-giving and wining-and-dining are some of the common means of establishing and maintaining guanxi. Also significant is the social status of the ‘intermediary’, apparently considerably more important than in the case of western networks: In developing guanxi, the higher the social status of the intermediary, the greater the commitment of the parties involved. Higher social status creates greater ‘face’ for the intermediary, which in turn leads to greater social obligations for the parties to develop and maintain their guanxi. (Li and Wright 2000: 374)

(The concept of ‘face’ is developed further below). Guanxi connections are a highly personalized form of social interaction, evidencing appropriate hierarchies, and are dependent for their effective functioning on the exercise of certain key shared values, in the context of a common culture. It is, however, pertinent, before examining these values in detail, to obtain clarity on the three basic kinds of guanxi relationship: those conveying an expressive tie, a ‘mixed’ tie, and an instrumental tie (Lee et al. 2001). (For an alternative structural depiction, see Gomez Arias 1998: 147.) Expressive ties are permanent and stable relationships based on egalitarian norms (i.e. need-based). Such ties are very personalized and affective, being fixed and limited in scope, primarily involving family and relatives. In contrast, instrumental ties are unstable and temporary, being based on the norm of equity (resource allocation based on contribution) and are impersonal and utilitarian. Mixed ties are in-between and are relatively stable (e.g. friends, same home town, same area, same school). They are personal and affective relationships between exchange partners. These three different degrees of affective tie entail differing levels of personal commitment, although the boundaries between the three are open and fluid; commitment both entails and reflects obligation.7 The Chinese social values which would appear to characterize, structure and determine the effectiveness of guanxi are: mianzi (face) (referred to above); renqing (favour): the performing of favours and giving of gifts; and ganqing (friendship). Giving and accepting ‘face’ (mianzi) is giving one’s 36

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respect and recognizing the status and moral reputation of one’s ‘friend’ (Buttery and Wong 1999). ‘Face’ is something which can be self-consciously manipulated (Wong and Tam 2000). Moreover: ‘Once embroiled in a network, one maintains face or mianzi by reciprocating favour for favour. Face is a key element in development and maintenance of guanxi ... How much face an individual has depends partly on their guanxi-network’ (Standifird and Marshall 2000: 3). Here, face is seen as the Siamese-twin of ‘favour’: renqing, ‘The word renqing, indicating individual emotional responses of daily life, means a resource allocated to another person as a gift and also ... a set of social norms to guide an individual to get along well with other people’ (Wong and Tam 2000: 58). Alternatively, it ‘includes the notion of continuing reciprocal obligation over an indefinite period of time, involving the fulfilment of specification of the agreement and also personal favours and sustaining each other’s reputation and social status’ (Gomez Arias 1998: 146).8 Hence, one can agree with Leung and Wong that ‘reciprocity’, based on renqing, is the real dynamic behind the practice of guanxi. Renqing/reciprocity is a complex amalgam of emotional involvement, favour, mutual obligation (along with ‘face’: reputation and social status), and mutual support and protection, all of which together are characterized by balance and harmony. The accepted members of a network demonstrate, in effect, ganqing/friendship: ‘One of the major purposes is to generate ganqing and become an insider of a group’ (Leung and Wong 2001: 56). One has become part of the ‘we’ group, one has progressed from outsider to insider status, one is now a ‘friend’, trusted like a family member or close friend. ‘In old-friend situations, all deals become easy’ (Leung and Wong 2001: 62). Standifird and Marshall argue that guanxi is first and foremost about the cultivation of long-term personal relationships, but that will not succeed unless trust is established: trust is a precondition for the establishment of successful and enduring guanxi (Tung and Worm 2001). More formally: ‘Trust is an important variable which greatly influences interpersonal and intergroup behaviour. Trust affects relational expectations regarding the solution of conflicts of interests and the enhancement or diminution of the solidarity’ (Wong 1998: 219). It is creating and consolidating the triangularity of mianzi, renqing and ganqing, which generates the trust which makes the informal, unofficial phenomenon of guanxi tangible and lasting. In Chinese culture, where the ‘heart/mind’ distinction is so important, with the heart generally taking precedence over mind,9 trust signals personal, human acceptance, one has been ‘taken to heart’ where the pursuit of individual/group gain is perceived as wider and more important than immediate, short-term (personal) profit.10

Guanxi and business The case for causal connections between guanxi and the actual practice of business cannot be taken for granted: positive arguments have to be advanced as it is possible to claim that there is no such thing as ‘business Chinese business guanxi: an organization or non-organization?

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8

Equally: ‘Guanxi is based on reciprocal exchange of personalized care and favours. Exchange partners in guanxi have affective and personal involvement in the relationship, resulting in effective commitment ... Partners in guanxi tend to have implicit role expectations ... to include reciprocal exchange of personal favours, mutual protection, and enhancement of social status’ (Lee et al. 2001: 52). Finally: ‘... reciprocity ... occurs for the purpose of pursuing common or mutually beneficial goals or ‘interests’ and which process of linkage formation typically will be characterized by balance, harmony, equity and mutual support ...’ (Tung and Worm 2001: 521).

9

Except perhaps sometimes in politics - an extreme example of where guanxi-relationships could break down under unusual, external pressure occurred during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 1966–76.

10 ‘Parties who create guanxi usually do not have any immediate need for return. Often they are not even certain of the purpose of their guanxi, when guanxi is being built’ (Li and Wright 2000: 373). However Chinese often ‘invest’ in guanxi-relationships whereby ‘Members of a guanxiwang keep a mental balance sheet of favours rendered and favours owed’ (Tung and Worm 2001: 523).

11 These considerations are quite apart from the actual fact that research continues to be carried out relating guanxi to various aspects of business theory and practice in China, as at the very least the ‘Works cited’ section confirms. (See also section on relationship marketing which refers to the emergence of guanxihu, demonstrating the continuing relevance and viability of guanxi in China’s transitional economy.)

guanxi’, only guanxi which is an all-embracing relationship based on trust and bonding (Buttery and Wong 1999). However, at least three practical considerations present an overwhelming case for the indispensable relevance of guanxi for business performance in the People’s Republic of China: 1. What has been implicit in the preceding account can be made explicitly applicable in the business context (see below). 2. The continuing bureaucratic reality of the Chinese business environment makes effective relations with key public officials absolutely essential. 3. The relatively recent emergence of agency-type intermediaries whose sole raison d’être is to promote ‘profitable’ contacts and connections, i.e. guanxi with the ‘right people’.11 It has been argued above that reciprocity and mutual obligation are defining characteristics of guanxi; this applies equally in business: ‘People who share a guanxi-relationship in business are committed to each other by social norms of reciprocity and social obligations’ (Lee et al. 2001: 54). Even Buttery and Wong are very specific on this point: In China and Chinese-based economies, relationships are paramount in business, to the extent that the Chinese have developed the word guanxi to describe the special relationships that are built into networks, and which underpin the way that the Chinese prefer to do business. (Buttery and Wong 1999: 147)

And, as one might also infer from arguments presented above, establishing and nurturing connections, an essential component of the building of effective networks, have long been pivotal to business success in Confucian societies (Tung and Worm 2001). The latter authors argue that ‘in order to succeed in doing business in Confucian societies, guanxi, or proper connections are often more important than the price and quality of the product/service which the investor has to offer’ (Tung and Worm 2001: 518). This could suggest or imply that ‘irrational’, subjective factors are at work making an economic transaction sub-optimal, but it can be counter-argued that there is also evidence for the positive effect of guanxi on overall business performance - guanxi can be seen to enhance the perception of relationship quality which in turn will increase future business potential, marketing efficiencies and marketing effectiveness (Lee et al. 2001). Buttery and Wong also draw attention to Chinese entrepreneurship, not only evident with the Overseas Chinese (huaqiao), but also in today’s People’s Republic of China: ‘Under the ever-changing environment, the Chinese have learned to look after their own personal interests and to escape reliance on political systems and make their own way as entrepreneurs and so they display a high level of entrepreneurship’ (Buttery and Wong 1999: 150). 38

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With the irreversible move to a market economy in China (‘capitalism with Chinese characteristics’), entrepreneurs in the People’s Republic of China are gradually yet inexorably acquiring more scope to exercise their skills and ambitions in a very similar way. Nevertheless, the conduct of business in today’s People’s Republic of China is still beset by countless bureaucratic hurdles which make the creation and development of effective guanxi imperative for mere business survival let alone sustained, profitable growth. Tung and Worm are very succinct in their depiction of business reality in the People’s Republic of China: ‘In the case of China, given the stifling bureaucratic layers at all levels of government, relationships with the appropriate authorities are often necessary to expedite matters; otherwise there can be long delays’ (Tung and Worm 2001: 522). More specifically: since government approvals are still necessary and different levels of government control access to certain critical input and output resources ... it is very difficult for a company to neglect nurturing those relationships crucial to the efficient function of the organisation ... in light of the fact that many day-today operational activities still require government approval and in the absence of well-established law, relationships are almost a necessity in many instances ... (Tung and Worm 2001: 521)

Although not applicable to an equal extent (see, for example, neibu, to which foreigners do not have access),12 for both domestic and foreign companies guanxi is an integral component of doing business in China and is required at all stages in companies’ operations (Tung and Worm 2001). A third and final factor confirming the necessity for effective business guanxi in relation to the People’s Republic of China’s public bureaucracy is the emergence in recent years of small ‘consultancies’ (usually staffed by the offspring, relatives and confidants of senior politicians and public officials) which offer their services for a fee, i.e. making ‘back-door’ connections with important public decision-makers/-takers whose decisions could crucially affect the functioning of one’s company (Studwell 2002). ‘Independent support’ for the possibility of guanxi representing an effective tool to enhance economic/business efficiency also comes from an entirely different quarter: transaction cost analysis. A recent study by Standifird and Marshall (see the Works cited section) seems to have established that: 1. The guanxi-based transactional arrangement appears to have significant latent strength by allowing for the reconstruction of transactions to meet new opportunities and changing circumstances. 2. The transaction cost advantages of guanxi-based exchange specifically lies in the way guanxi deals with governance problems associated with bounded rationality and opportunism. 3. Guanxi possesses the capacity to reduce transaction costs associated Chinese business guanxi: an organization or non-organization?

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12 Definition: ‘neibu (internal) documents which are off-limits to foreign nationals but which often contain important government edicts and policies’ (Tung and Worm 2001: 522). This phenomenon is a manifestation of the People’s Republic of China’s politicoeconomic culture which is currently under pressure to change: ‘... China’s continuing preference for issuing internal guidance directives on business issues, rather than adhering to the WTO’s standard of full transparency and publication of all relevant laws and regulations’ (Burstein and Keijzer 1998: 364–65).

13 They continue: ‘Markets and hierarchies still emerge as superior at the extremes of asset specificity. However, the well-developed guanxi-network serves as a functional substitute for the hybrid form at moderate levels of asset specificity’ (Standifird and Marshall 2000: 13).

with environmental uncertainties, such as communicating, negotiating and coordinating transactions, as well as maladaptation and/or failure to adapt. 4. Guanxi-based exchange is a viable structural alternative with distinct advantages over markets, hierarchies, and the hybrid form.13 5. Guanxi has significant potential to facilitate the building of interfirm and firm-government relationships in China’s increasingly market-oriented environment. 6. In general, the development of a guanxi network reduces costs associated with searching for partners and negotiating contracts. The time horizon is crucial: ‘Each business interaction must be treated not as an independent event but as a building block for future exchange ... Managers should maintain a long-term horizon with the short-term objectives focused on nurturing the development of a network’ (Standifird and Marshall 2000: 14–15). They conclude that where the guanxi network or guanxiwang is well developed, the transaction-cost advantages of reduced environmental and behavioural uncertainties and opportunistic behaviour are enough to warrant the integration of guanxi- and market-based exchange. It would thus appear, on the basis of the evidence supplied by Standifird and Marshall, that the highly culture-specific phenomenon of guanxi is compatible with the standard western (by definition ‘universalistic’) theory of transaction-cost analysis. This particular compatibility is symbolic of the broader synthesis obtaining in China’s transition to a market economy and market-based society: the marriage of a traditional social institution, in this case guanxi, with the ‘rationalistic’ theory and practice of marketbased economies/societies pioneered in the West.

Guanxi and human resource management Human resource management (HRM) is vitally linked to guanxi in the Chinese context for at least three reasons: 1. Connections can be pivotal to a firm’s success in gaining competitive advantage (and connections, as has been demonstrated, take the form of guanxi in Confucian societies): ‘Guanxi are built between and among people. Hence the effective deployment of HR is critical to the success of building such relationships’ (Tung and Worm 2001: 517). 2. Because HR resources are pivotal to the establishment of the networks which are critical to success in Confucian societies, the HR function is better equipped to address the key issue of the transition from ‘outsider’ to ‘insider’ status. This is of crucial importance not least because of ‘centrality’: ‘that all social interaction is moderated through networks encourages the Chinese to see foreigners as outsiders and not to be trusted’ (Wong and Tam 2000: 69). For Wong and Tam: ‘“Centrality”, one of the unique Chinese features in dealing with foreigners, may 40

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tend to encourage Chinese to treat foreigners as outsiders. On account of the lack of institutional trust Chinese people tend to over-emphasize self-protection and pragmatism in deals with Western partners, as the Chinese may be conditioned to believe that their nation’s economy influences its survival and well-being. One of the best ways to handle this cultural conflict is to have empathy with Chinese people’ (Wong and Tam 2000: 62), i.e. Chinese consumers and businesses mistrust foreign firms; but once ganqing has been generated, one has become an insider. 3. The HR function is best placed among all the business functions to bridge the cultural gap of managing relations among people: in the West, these relationships are organization-specific; in the case of China, these relationships are person-specific. This difference is absolutely crucial for one simple reason: the need to reconcile interpersonal and interfirm guanxi - ‘guanxi follows the person. If there is personnel turnover in a company, it has to start building guanxi all over again’ (Tung and Worm 2000: 529). See also Gomez Arias: ‘The network of relationships is built among individuals, not among organizations. If an individual moves to a different organization or department, the connections move with him or her’ (Gomez Arias 1998: 146). How can guanxi be created at institutional level given that ‘personal guanxi will be effective, only so long as two individuals remain in their respective positions’ (Li and Wright 2000: 375)? Western companies focus on the loyalty of employees to their organizations, but networks, by definition, may span different groups, companies, organizations and institutions is there a question of divided loyalties?14 Three general approaches, which are tentative in nature, emerge from recent literature to assist foreign (western) companies in beginning to address successfully the contradictions and conflicts just outlined; however, much research remains to be conducted in this relatively unexplored area. The first and foremost approach is to be perceived as a friend of China: ‘the Western corporation must be prepared from the start, to be a “friend” of China, i.e. to show that profit is not the sole motive ... e.g. that Chinese “national feelings” are an important aspect of conducting business in China’ (Li and Wright 2000: 375; see also Wong and Tam 2000: 69). The second approach is to create firm-to-firm guanxi as part of a long-term career development strategy, with individuals being measured on how well this function is performed. ‘Senior managers must recognise institutional guanxi-building skills and develop rewards for those who practise this craft successfully, so that building firm-to-firm guanxi becomes a practical dimension of the career enhancement process’ (Li and Wright 2000: 369). The objective is to create firm-to-firm guanxi which can be utilized long after an expatriate has left Asia. Despite, however, the theoretical desirability of such a development creating firm-to-firm guanxi at the organizational level - the very real pracChinese business guanxi: an organization or non-organization?

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14 It may be possible to construe a parallel between guanxi organization and the western concept of the learning organization - however, guanxi is less concerned with sharing knowledge than with acquiring access to power, influence, and/or resources; whatever ‘explicit’ knowledge may be possessed by individual network members, that knowledge, in the nature of the operation, has to remain ‘tacit’ for the network as a whole.

15 The ubiquity of ‘guanxi’ also even extends into typical HR areas like supervisor-subordinate relations, see Law et al. (2000).

tical problem exists of expatriates generally not staying long enough to develop the necessary long-term relationships. And the problem is not merely one of length of stay, it is also one of finding committed applicants in the first place: ‘it is difficult to find expatriates, including Chinese returnees or ethnic Chinese from SE Asia, who are willing to stay for a long period in China’ (Law et al. 2000: 753). It is such reality that makes the third ‘general approach’ all the more worthy of consideration, namely, greater use of appropriate intermediaries and agencies to develop interorganizational guanxi. The dividing line between a so-called agency and an intermediary is not a hard-and-fast one: the term may be interchangeable as this role may be performed by an influential individual, a small ‘consultancy’ (see above), or even another company already well established in China. The main issue is establishing the first contacts and learning quickly how to cultivate them optimally. For example, one approach may take the form of executives paying commissions to intermediaries who use their personal relationships to help foreign investors link with critical guanxi networks. ‘The intermediaries may or may not be directly involved in the business deal but they can facilitate the essential introductions that bring potential partners together’ (Pearce and Robinson 2000: 4). However, the practicalities of making this work raise an issue of principle that transcends HR considerations and goes to the heart of business-to-business guanxi: the western approach tends to be highly ‘rational’ and legally oriented, but that approach seems quite ‘formalistic’ from a Chinese perspective - ‘very often, guanxi is neither known to the public, nor specified in contracts or other documents’ (Li and Wright 2000: 373). Compromises have to be made between a fundamentally formal and a fundamentally informal and unofficial approach to business deals - the western company is the one called upon to make the greater compromises if it wishes to be successful in the Chinese market.15

Guanxi and relationship marketing It is perhaps inevitable that the relatively new phenomenon of relationship marketing should be compared to Chinese guanxi by many researchers, not least because the common translation of guanxi as relationships/relations (and networks/networking) make them cognate terms; the apparently vast potential of the mainland-Chinese market also makes such comparative analysis appear doubly pertinent. Regarding relationship marketing itself, Gomez Arias argues, for example, that a paradigm shift in marketing has taken place, from a transaction approach based on the concept of exchange to relationship marketing where the focus is to establish, maintain and enhance relationships with customers and other parties, at a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is achieved by mutual exchange and fulfilment of promises (Gomez Arias 1998). However, certain conditions need to be met for such intentions to be realized. 42

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A primary condition for their fulfilment is the creation of trust: ‘a willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom one has confidence’ - trust ‘requires personal relationships that transcend the individual contact and is reinforced by face-to-face relationships’ (Gomez Arias 1998: 150).16 It is precisely this ‘trust’ which has already been established in the current study as a necessary condition for the long-term functioning of guanxi. That trust is fundamental is further confirmed by Wong: ‘Trust is an important variable which greatly influences interpersonal expectations regarding the solution of conflicts of interests and the enhancement or diminution of ... solidarity’ (Wong 1998: 219). However, although the denotation of the term ‘trust’ would appear to be identical in both western and eastern cultures, its connotations may vary considerably. In the West, trust is normally perceived as a discrete item or quality; in Confucian-based societies it is generally embedded within a complex form of social interaction which guanxi exemplifies. As with guanxi, relationship marketing stresses the building and management of relationships in a social context. The latter entails a change of focus from products and firms, as units of analysis, to people and organizations (inherently ‘up-grading’ the HR function). However, the fundamental object is the business interaction among the actors, while the social processes appear as a consequence of ongoing business relationships. Here lies an essential difference with guanxi, which is a network of social relationships, often related to a common background (Gomez Arias 1998: 160): ‘Hence we have two different directions of causality. Ongoing business relationships are the cause of the social process from a relationship marketing perspective. In guanxi-networks, the social relationship is a prerequisite to get involved in a business relationship’ (Gomez Arias 1998: 160). Such a reverse direction of causality can only be adequately explained by fundamental differences in the respective cultural contexts which affect the very functioning of superficially identical processes. Gomez Arias concludes that although both guanxi and relationship marketing have to do with managing relationships, networks and interactions, guanxi is essentially a cultural construct, especially related to China’s unique circumstances. Such a conclusion is endorsed by an Australian study on direct selling and (guanxi) relationships (see the Works cited section for full details of the Merrilees and Miller study). The main difference between China and Australia is that in China the elements of relationship marketing are more coherent and form a specific, cultural configuration, namely guanxi. Merrilees and Miller argue that the Chinese relationshipmarketing concept is firmly rooted in the guanxi concept in a holistic way, whereas in Australia the basis has not been fully established but appears to include the separate (and not integrated) dimensions of friendship, trust and reciprocity. They conclude that in each country both product elements and relationship elements affect direct-selling effectiveness, but in relative terms, relationship elements are more important in China. ‘In China, the elements of relationship marketing are more coherent and form a holistic configuration known as guanxi’ (Merrilees and Miller 1999: abstract, 1). And there can be little doubt that relationship marketing has ‘taken off ’ in China for a Chinese business guanxi: an organization or non-organization?

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16 More specifically: ‘Both in the concept of relationship marketing and in the traditional Chinese business and networks, we find that the exchange and fulfilment of promises, and the development of trust are of central importance. However, the content of those promises, and the timeframe over which they must be fulfilled, and the importance of trust development differ significantly’ (Gomez Arias 1998: 150).

17 That is, ‘seen from the inside’ regarding organization theorists trying to view guanxi through a western lense; working ‘from the outside’: ‘A [western] learning organization that is fluid, decentralised, and team oriented seems best suited to China’s business environment’ (Pearce and Robinson 2000: 5). 18 See also note 9, the implications of which make ‘loyalty’ or ‘allegiance’ to that particular organization very problematic.

new term has arisen in the People’s Republic of China: guanxihu, a term applied to specifically connected firms. It refers to the bond between guanxi members that leads them to give highly preferential treatment to the members of their network (Pearce and Robinson 2000: 3) - after all, relationship marketing is predicated on this requirement. In short, comparing relationship marketing with guanxi, despite many, and apparently deep, common elements, is not in fact comparing ‘like with like’: relationship marketing is a subset of marketing, which is a subset of business activity which is a subset of economic activity which is a subset of wider societal functioning. By contrast, it can be argued, guanxi is the primary mode of social interaction in China, making guanxi both a superordinate and much more comprehensive phenomenon than relationship marketing, both quantitively and qualitatively different.

Conclusion The connections and overlap between guanxi on the one hand and, on the other, organization theory in general and relationship marketing in particular are superficial rather than real, more a matter of linguistic similarity than a marriage of substance. The notion of a learning organization is simply not applicable to a guanxi network which is at best a quasi-organization.17 Organization theory is an intellectual discipline which by definition is systematically attempting to make particular ideas and practices as explicit as possible. Relationship marketing is a relatively new approach to marketing which is entirely instrumental: maximizing long-term sales in a more effective manner than hitherto - it is a business method. The epistemological assumptions of organization theory and relationship marketing are both formal and rational, to a Chinese mindset formalistic and rationalistic, for guanxi is entirely different: it is a sociocultural artefact which in both reasoning and interpersonal exchange relies much more on intuitive thought and action, where knowledge is tacit and coherence and consistency implicit, heart over mind, non-rational rather than irrational. So it would seem to be a mistake to equate networks/networking and/or relationship marketing with guanxi, the latter is a far more comprehensive and inclusive phenomenon, in short, a major social institution. To try to force its ‘emic’ quality into an ‘etic’ formula or mould entails inherently mischaracterizing the phenomenon. It may hence seem that western theory and practice of organization(s) and Chinese guanxi are incompatible and hence irreconcilable. However, China is modernizing, indeed being transformed, with and by many new institutions and organizations. Indeed, the country clearly possesses many large, formal organizations, but the primary loyalty of an individual Chinese is to a particular network or plurality thereof (with the possible exception in the People’s Republic of China of allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party).18 Neither guanxi in general nor guanxi networks in particular are likely to be replaced; it is a matter of a new synthesis, a new cultural symbiosis, consistent with China’s historical traditions and current socio-political realities, a new variation on the enduring theme of yin and yang. 44

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So, applying modern organization theory to particular Chinese organizations requires taking these Chinese cultural realities fully into account. In China, an organization is not generally so much a discrete, ‘autonomous’ entity as a functional mechanism subserving various ends, some of which may not be explicitly expressed in any official form. Organization members may possess temporary and/or semi-permanent loyalty to networks and other ‘organizations’ which may transcend obligations to the immediate (business) employer, such divided loyalties affecting performance in the nominally employing organization in various ways. The main challenge for research in this area is to map effectively actual, potential and possible commitments of organization members which include obligations to the organization itself, to sections within it, and to external individuals/groups/ organizations. Such a perspective entails viewing the interaction in question as a manifestation of ‘organic’ linkage akin to a living organism, rather than taking a mechanistic view of organizations as a kind of machine that can be constructed and deconstructed at will. One area in which to test the relevance and viability of current organization theory in China would be the new companies of the country’s burgeoning private sector. These companies are by definition organizations, but they operate within a distinctively Chinese environment/culture; one, for example, where property relations often remain unclear. Such largely new companies represent a dynamic interface between the old and the new China, a test-bed for gauging the nature and limitations of systematic change management in a transitional society, with perhaps considerable feedback for existing theory. Works cited Anon. (1999), ‘Guanxi: Grease For the Wheels Of China: Chinese Have Raised “Connections” To An Art’, The China Business Review, 1 Sep. Buttery, Alan E. and Wong, Y.H. (1999), ‘The development of a Guanxi framework’, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 17: 3, pp. 147–54. Burstein, B. and Keijzer, A. (1996), Big Dragon, New York: Simon and Schuster. Gomez Arias, J.T. (1998), ‘A relationship marketing approach to guanxi’, European Journal of Marketing, 32: 1/2, pp. 145–56. Hofstede, G. (1994), Cultures and Organizations, London: Harper Collins. Hsieh, D. (2000), ‘B2B: A Cure For Corruption?: China’s Government Is Backing Online Auctions As A Remedy For Kickbacks. Guanxi May Never Be The Same’, Asiaweek, 30 June. Law, K.S., Wong, C.S., Wang, D. and Wang, L. (2000), ‘Effect of supervisor-subordinate guanxi on supervisory decisions in China: an empirical investigation’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 11: 4, pp. 751–65. Lee, D.J., Pae, J.H. and Wong, Y.H. (2001), ‘A model of close business relationships in China (guanxi)’, European Journal of Marketing, 35: 1/2, pp. 51–69. Leung, T.K.P., Luk, S.T.K., Wong, Y.H. and Davies, H. (1999), ‘The Benefits of Guanxi - The Value of Relationships in Developing the Chinese Market’, Industrial Marketing Management, 24: 3, pp. 207–14. Leung, T.K.P. and Wong, Y.H. (2001), ‘The ethics and positioning of guanxi in China’, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 19: 1, pp. 55–64.

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Li, Y. (2002), ‘Turning Guanxi into a more structured relationship marketing approach’, unpublished MA thesis, Liverpool Business School (LJMU). Li, J. and Wright, P.C. (2000), ‘Guanxi and the realities of career development: a Chinese perspective’, Career Development International, 5: 7, pp. 369–78. Marquand, R. (2001), ‘In China - Bonding Gone Bad? A Tradition of Relationships And Networking, Called Guanxi, Facilitates Widespread Corruption’, Christian Science Monitor, 10 January, http://newsline.dialog.com/htbin/get_pin?= M0110746700305_coverDate= (accessed 19/03/2002). Merrilees, B. and Miller, D. (1999), ‘Direct Selling in the West and East - The Relative Roles of Product and Relationship (Guanxi) Drivers’, Journal of Business Research, 45: 3, pp. 267–73. http://science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V7S3WYHX2T-4&_777686&_coverDate= (accessed 09/03/2002). Nakamura, H. (1964), Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples, London: Kegan Paul International. Nojonen, M. (1999), ‘Various worlds of establishing and justifying guanxi in Chinese business’, conference paper, People’s Republic of China at Fifty: Opportunities and Challenges, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, 8–10 June. Parnell, M.F. (2002), ‘Chinese Individualism: A New Analysis - National and International Perspectives’, conference paper, ‘Sixtieth Anniversary’ International Conference, Kumamoto Gakuen University, Kumamoto, 30–31 May. Parnell, M.F. (2003), ‘Chinese guanxi: ‘transcending’ the individual/group dichotomy?’, unpublished paper. Pearce, J.A. and Robinson, R.B. (2000), ‘Cultivating Guanxi as a Foreign Investor Strategy’, Business Horizons, 1 January, http://newsline.dialog.com/htbin/ get_pin?p=P0010832516627& coverDate (accessed 19/03/2002). Standifird, S.S. and Marshall, R.S. (2000), ‘The transaction cost advantage of guanxi-based business practices’, Journal of World Business, 35: 1, pp. 21–42. http://science?_ob=Ar ticleURL&udi=B6W5M-3YRWD4T-2&_user= 777686&_coverDate= (accessed 19/03/2002). Studwell, J. (2002), The China Dream, London: Profile Books. ‘The China Connection: As the Mammoth Nation Enters the WTO, International Food Retailers Eye New Market Share. Competing Effectively May Require Some Guanxi, (International),’ (2002), Progressive Grocer, 1 January. Trompenaars, F. and Hampden-Turner, C. (1997), Riding the Waves of Culture, London: Nicholas Brealy Publishers. Tung, R.L. and Worm, V. (2001), ‘Network capitalism: the role of human resources in penetrating the China market’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12: 4, pp. 517–34. Wing Polin, T.H. (2000), ‘Cover Story Reform: Master of Guanxi; How Li Wins People - And Deals’, Asiaweek, 3 November. Wong, Y.H. (1998), ‘Key to key account management: relationship (guanxi) model’, International Marketing Review, 15: 3, pp. 215–31. Wong, Y.H. and Tam, J.L.M. (2000), ‘Mapping relationships in China: guanxi dynamic approach’, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 15: 1, pp. 57–70. Xin, K.S. and Pearce, J.L. (1996), ‘Guanxi: Connections as Substitutes for Formal Institutional Support’, Academy of Management Journal, 39: 6, pp. 1641–58.

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Suggested citation Parnell, M.F. (2005), ‘Chinese business guanxi: an organization or non-organization?’, Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change 2: 1, pp. 29–47, doi: 10.1386/jots.2.1.29/1

Contributor details Dr Martin Parnell is a senior lecturer in the School of Management, Faculty of Business and Law at Liverpool John Moores University. His research interests include political economy, business and culture of Greater China; Germany and globalization; Sino-German business relations. Contact: Faculty of Business and Law, Liverpool John Moores University, John Foster Building, 98 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool L3 5UZ, UK. Tel: 0151 231 3829. E-mail: [email protected]

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Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change Volume 2 Number 1 © 2005 Intellect Ltd Article. English Language. doi: 10.1386/jots.2.1.49/1

Complex archetypal structures that underlie the ‘human condition’ Monica Lee Lancaster University Abstract

Keywords

In this article I synthesise notions from several different fields to argue that there are archetypal structures that underlie the human condition that can best be understood through the language of complexity. In so doing I accommodate the disparity that exists between different branches of the social sciences through the provision of a holistic overview that accords with the idea of a coherent scientific body of knowledge. To do this I use a Jungian typology to reinforce the parameters of four archetypes by which organisation and individuals have been interpreted, and locate this within some findings from evolutionary psychology, thereby building a metatypology of the human condition. I conclude by suggesting that this can best be understood through the notions of relationship and knowledge through the opposite, and by examining some of the implications this approach holds for the field.

complexity evolutionary psychology human resource development learning meta-typology underlying processes archetypes

Social science and complexity As the various branches of social science have developed the way in which they build accounts for the world and our existence within it they have moved away from each other and from the natural sciences. Barklow, Cosmides and Tooby (1992) note that the natural sciences have retained a common root in their development, such that any move forward needs to fit with both its ‘home’ discipline, and also be concurrent with all others in order to be accepted. This has not happened in a consistent way within the social sciences. In adopting a post-scientific perspective, postmodernism has challenged many of the contradictory yet self-sustaining frameworks that have developed. Yet in creating a world that is devoid of structure other than our own unique and individual structuring of it, postmodernism is actively engaged in preventing constructive (or ‘with structure’) dialogue between the various disciplines of the social sciences (but see Cilliers 1998). In contrast to this, the notions of complexity provide the ideal vehicle by which a meta-view of human existence can be established within which apparently contradictory world-views can be accommodated. In bringing together notions from diverse fields of social science in order to make my argument, I am not doing full justice to any of them. This diversity presents both a challenge to the ability to create a coherent account, and also the foundations of such an account. Each subset of my OTASC 2 (1) 49–70 © Intellect Ltd 2005

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argument, however, has its own literature and language. A word used in one account may be used in a subtly different way in another, such that the implications and meanings of the word become distorted in a hybrid account such as this. These words, however, are signifiers of deeper meanings, and it is those deeper meanings that I seek to access here. It is for this reason that I talk here about archetypes rather than paradigms. As Yolles (1999) describes, A paradigm is ‘the set of views that members of a ... community share’ (Kuhn 1970: 176) ... It is a shared Weltanschauung together with the explicitly defined propositions that contribute to understanding. When Weltanschauungen are formalised they become paradigms, and transparent to others who are not view holders. While groups may offer behaviour in ways that are consistent with their shared Weltanschauung, paradigms emerge when the groups become coherent through formalisation. (original emphases) (Yolles 1999: 7)

They are definable, and formalised through language which ‘enables a set of explicit statements to be made about the beliefs and propositions (and their corollaries) of a Weltanschauung that enable everything that must be expressed to be expressed in a self-consistent way’ Yolles 1999: 11). Paradigms are incommensurable, and grow and die, to be replaced by new paradigms. In other words, paradigms are conceived of as ‘things’, and are given existence in their own right. I want to make it clear from the start that in talking about archetypes I am not talking about things that can be defined or formalised. An archetype can be conceptualised through what it is not, but it has no existence in its own right, and its conceptualisation could be called into question if there existed an entity or system that uniquely demonstrated all the qualia associated with it. Similarly, as is implicit in the typologies that I introduce later on, archetypes can be seen as commensurate, in that entities and systems contain within them the potential for demonstrating the qualia of all quadrants of the typology - but in differing strengths or preferences. These might change over time, but the underlying archetypal structure does not. In so far as paradigms are coherent and incommensurate ways of thinking about and portraying the world, then the ideas presented here are rooted in the relatively new paradigm of complexity. Central to complexity theory is the idea that a complex system is more than ‘just’ a complicated system. A complicated system or a problem might be very complicated indeed, but with time and effort all its parts, and its whole can be measured and understood. In contrast, a complex system might be quite simple, yet its parameters cannot be measured or quantified (in the normal sense) and the whole is more than the sum of the parts. However much we atomise the different parts we can never get to the essence of the whole. In this there is similarity between postmodernism and complexity theory; however, unlike postmodernism, complexity theory suggests that whilst aspects of complex systems cannot be measured in the normal 50

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sense, we can infer relationships between the constituent parts and subsystems, and we can deduce global underlying principles. It follows from this that we cannot define what we ‘know’ in any unique sense, because all that we know about something is rooted in its relationship to other things - we know it by what it is not, its antithesis, as much (or more) than by what it is. There is no requirement that a complex system be uniform in nature. It may have subsystems that appear in structure and function to be significantly different to each other and to the whole yet each is in relationship to the others and to the ‘environment’ of the whole, and the whole is in relation to the wider environment. This relationship might be one that is in a state of ‘far from equilibrium’ yet the system maintains dynamic coherence and adheres to its global underlying principles. Put another way, however we chose to represent the world to ourselves, I shall argue that there exist processes that underlie all of humanity, and the principles of complexity theory might provide a language by which we can get closer to an appreciation of them (Tsoukas and Hatch 2001). Further, I suggest that the diversity apparent between individuals and nations is indicative of self-generating and self-managing subsystems that might be complex in their own right, but which are still parts of the whole, as each derives its identity or being from its opposite (as perceived from the whole) and ‘development’ in any of these subsystems is synonymous with interaction with the whole. The following sections of this article flesh out these claims and offer mechanisms by which these underlying principles might be transferred across generations.

Underlying processes In this section I shall explore what these processes might be through illustration. I do this to emphasis their metaphorical or representational nature. The words employed are used to represent concepts which are themselves socially constructed representations - in other words - whilst there might be some commonality of language between the various constructions discussed here it must be remembered that the meanings behind the words are dynamic, situated and ephemeral. One word may mean different things in different contexts and different things to different people (Jankowicz 1996). I am therefore trying to explore the parameters of the concepts or meanings behind the words, whilst acknowledging that these concepts are also socially constructed and essentially undefinable.

An evolutionary basis? Research into evolutionary psychology and psychiatry (Barklow, Cosmides and Tooby 1992; Bradshaw 1997) suggests that human (and primate) affectional development progresses through the maturation of specific affectional systems, and that, ‘All major psychiatric syndromes may thus be conceived as inappropriate expressions of evolved propensities concerned with adaptive behaviour in the domains of group membership [...], Complex archetypal structures that underlie the ‘human condition’

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group exclusion [...], and mating [...]’ (Stevens and Price, 1996: 29). They argue that there exist two ‘great archetypal systems’. The first formative experience faced by our proto-human ancestors would be that associated with parenting and family. As our ancestors developed the pattern of bearing live young that needed parental care for survival they also developed the pattern of behaviours and emotions that bonded parent and child in a dependant relationship. Thus their first great archetypal system has to do with attachment, affiliation, care giving, care receiving, and altruism. As the child grew, was replaced by other children, and eventually became a parent themselves, so ‘self ’ - and as a necessary and integral part of that process, ‘not-self ’, or the ‘other’, emerged. Therefore, the first fundamental dynamic played out in each person’s life is that of self and other. This pervades the whole of our existence and is the core of selfdevelopment literature. The second formative experience was that of collectivity. For 99 per cent of its existence, humanity has lived in ‘extended organic kinship groups’ of about 40 to 50 individuals, comprising 6 to 10 adult males, 12 to 20 child-bearing females, and about 20 juveniles and infants (Fox 1989). As predators, they were sufficiently effective not to need to develop large aggregations, flocking behaviour and high sensitivity to others in the group in order to survive, but they were sufficiently weak that they could only exceptionally survive as solitary individuals. We are therefore left with an awareness of society and its necessary structures and hierarchy, and also of individual agency. This equates to Steven and Price’s second great archetypal system, that concerned with rank, status, discipline, law and order, territory, and possessions. Stevens and Price posit that the search for achievement of archetypal goals occurs throughout the whole of the life cycle, though the presenting face of the goals we seek changes as our circumstances change with age. These dual aspects of our collective psyche (self and other, and the structured law and the anarchic body (Hopfl 1995)) can be seen mirrored in the tensions between sociology and psychology, or between structure and agency, as elucidated by Giddens (1976). In other words, we can identify two fundamental processes derived from our evolutionary history that continue to effect our humanity and our enactment of our existence. I want to make a clear distinction between the discussion here about the existence of fundamental or underlying processes and our day-to-day appreciation of them. Our daily lives and ways of seeing them are framed by our making sense of our past and by our anticipation of the future - we each live in our own self-constructed worlds. The surface diversity of our own worlds does not, however, detract from the existence of underlying processes. Our existence is interpreted differently across the spread of our civilisations, but that is a matter of the ways in which we choose to make sense of our existence. These two fundamental processes present the basis for a typology, and are mapped as the vertical and horizontal axes in Figure 1. 52

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A Jungian perspective? Parallels to these notions can be seen in the work of Carl Jung (1964, 1971). To reiterate, I am taking some ideas from his enormous contribution to this area, and I am using them in a loose sense to facilitate synthesis with ideas from other fields. It is beyond the confines of this article to delve more fully into his work, but these ideas are not used in a manner that would contradict other aspects of his work. Briefly, Jung suggested that there are four archetypal aspects of psychological orientation that fit together as a whole typology and which can be seen to be associated with the ways in which we perceive our world. The quaternity is an archetype of almost universal occurrence. It forms the logical basis for any whole judgement. ... There are always four elements, four primal qualities, four colours, four castes, four ways of spiritual development etc. So too, there are four aspects of psychological orientation ... in order to orientate ourselves, we must have a function which ascertains that something is there (sensation); a second function which establishes what it is (thinking); a third function which states whether it suits us or not, whether we wish to accept it or no (feeling), and a fourth function which indicates where it came from and where it is going (intuition). The ideal completeness is a circle or sphere, but its natural minimal division is a quaternity. (Jung 1961) In other words, whilst everyone seeks to make sense of the world around them, they focus on different aspects of their existence in order to create their account of it. In support of his typology he suggested that there exist two processes (perception and judgement) which are independent of each other, and both are bipolar. Perception is the process by which individuals make sense (consciously or otherwise) of their surroundings, and is thus mediated by previous understandings, expectation and anticipations, memory and unconscious influences (from the ‘promissory notes’ of metaphor, myth and rhetoric (Soyland 1994) to primal drives). When gathering information people prefer to focus either on the ‘here-and-now’ information from their senses, or on the ‘what-if ’ information they ‘intuit’ from the possibilities and patterns they see developing. Judgement is the process of deciding which of the many alternative perceptival interpretations available at any one instant to adopt as ‘reality’. Judgement is influenced by previous understandings and is more likely to be based upon post-hoc rationalisation than the traditionally accepted view of ‘scientifically’ weighing up the alternatives and rationally choosing the best option in advance of the final decision. When deciding about the information they have gathered, people prefer to make decisions based on objective thinking, by analysing and weighing the alternatives from a wide perspective, or to make decisions based on their feelings for each particular situation in an individualised manner. There is strong evidence of individual variation in preferred perceptual and judgemental styles (see, for example, Mitroff and Killman 1978; and Reason 1981). Such variation forms the basic premise of the Myers Briggs Complex archetypal structures that underlie the ‘human condition’

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Figure 1: Mapping of typologies. Type Indicator (MBTI), a management assessment and development tool for individuals and organisations that is being increasingly used worldwide (see Briggs Myers and McCaulley (1985); Krebs Hirsh and Kummerow (1987) for more detail). I raise the issue here to record general acceptance of the MBTI tool, and thus (by implication) the assumptions on which the tool is based. Other researchers have used Jungian dimensions as a basis upon which to build an analysis of their area, for example, Tufts-Richardson (1996) links Jungian typology to individual spirituality by mapping four types of spiritual path, whilst McWhinney (1992) maps four paths of change, or choice, for organisations and society. Figure 1 maps Stevens and Price’s fundamental processes against a Jungian typology, in order to illustrate the archetypal quartiles and to demonstrate the generalisability of this by mapping Hofstede’s (1991) typology that has been developed without reference to Jung. He described national culture by its position along five dimensions: those of individualism vs. collectivism; low-power vs. high-power distance; masculinity vs. femininity; low-uncertainty vs. high-uncertainty avoidance, and shortterm vs. long-term orientation. Although Hofstede makes it clear that many organisations illustrate a mix of these basic trends, his initial work 54

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can be criticised for an overly broad categorisation of national culture. For example, Poland is classed, alongside Sweden and Germany, as almost centrally balanced between long- and short-term orientation. Yet Poland (as a nation) is a compromise of relatively extreme and disparate tendencies towards either long- or short-term orientation, whilst both Sweden and Germany show less polarisation. Despite the problems associated with categorisation of nations, Hofstede’s dimensions are illuminative if viewed as relativistic indicators of preference - as archetypal parameters rather than ‘reality’. Also included in Figure 1 (in the corners) are associated approaches to learning and organisation. The approaches to learning are picked up again in Figure 3 and addressed later in the article. The approaches to organisation are derived from Lee (1997b) and are discussed more fully there. Briefly, the ‘hierarchical’ quarter is characterised by a system of high-leader control in a rationalised environment, in which independent thought, action and the ability to cope with ambiguity is minimised. The archetypal ‘hierarchical’ person is sensitive to the requirements of those in power and to the analytic nature of ‘acceptable’ contributions. Questioning is allowed, so long as it occurs within the recognised hierarchical structure and conforms to the ‘scientific’ investigative format. The ‘normative’ archetype is characterised by a particularly strong focus upon the creation and maintenance of behavioural norms supporting a leader-defined vision of the future. Rules of the predominant culture are imposed, under the assumption that without such imposition individuals would have little ‘self-control’. Appropriate behaviour is seen to evidence belief in the leader’s vision. Ultimate power is awarded to those who can convert others to their view of existence, thus questioning of these norms is anarchic or heretical behaviour; however, the coercive environment encourages such rebellion. The archetypal ‘entrepreneur’ views externally imposed values and codes of behaviour as non-mandatory, and preserves the freedom to question and choose. He or she responds rapidly in a changing environment and is able to be anticipatorily pro-active. However, as ‘individualists’, archetypal entrepreneurs, whilst able to lead others, have difficulty working as equals with others, or as subordinates, potentially falling into a damaging pattern of impotence and rivalry (Stacey 1993). The facilitative archetype is characterised by cooperative social responsibility within a flexible power structure. This requires the ability to understand the machinations of the external world, whilst maintaining integrity and lack of ‘game-playing’ (Baddeley and James 1987; Berne 1964; Harris 1973). Lack of unidirectional leadership challenges the group decisionmaking processes, such that the organisation’s political system might result in a power vacuum and drift (Stacey 1993). The conjunction of individual and national foci in the mapping of typologies in Figure 1 is intended to highlight the nature of this mapping, by which a ‘preference’ is interpreted through the extent to which its Complex archetypal structures that underlie the ‘human condition’

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opposite is realised; in which exploration of the unit under investigation is independent of the ‘size’ of the unit, and is, instead, linked to the unit’s relationship to its wider context. In other words, the ‘categories’ presented in Figure 1 are archetypal and are applicable to any size of grouping (to individuals, organisations and nations). Similarly, I wish to emphasise that it is not the intention to label the dimensions in a fixed and unique manner, but we do need to understand their qualia better if they are fundamental to our way of describing and enacting self and society.

Archetypal approaches to management and development? In this section I shall examine what these qualia might be in relation to management and development. Four main views of ‘management’ can be identified: the classical, scientific, processual and phenomenological (Lee 1997a). Managers, within the classical view, must be able to create appropriate rules and procedures for others to follow, they must be good judges of people and be able to take independent action as and when required. Good managers are assumed to be ‘born’ rather than ‘made’ - and so management development is a matter of selecting the ‘right’ people with leadership potential. The scientific view assumes that human behaviour is rational, and that people are motivated by economic criteria (Taylor 1947). Within this view ‘correct’ decisions can be identified and implemented appropriately through scientific analysis, and thus good management techniques can be acquired by anyone with the right training and ‘training departments’ systematically identify and fill the ‘training gap’. Both of these approaches assume a structured and known world based upon rational principles and in which rationality leads to success. The other two approaches to management assume a world in which agency (rather than structure) is the predominant force. The processual view of management assumes that economic advantage will come to those who are best able to spot opportunities, to learn rapidly, and to create appropriate commitment amongst colleagues. Human resource development is seen to help managers develop leadership and interpersonal skills, creativity, selfreliance and the ability to work in different cultures. Although the individual is the main stakeholder in his or her own development, the direction of the organisation (and thus of an individual’s development) remains at the behest of senior management who, through initiatives such as business process reengineering (BPR), aspire to mould the organisation and the people within it. Phenomenological management differs from processual management by the way in which the activities drive the functions, strategies and even leadership of the organisation. For many, management is about ‘purpose’ and ‘doing’ whilst phenomenology is about the ‘study’ of ‘being’. All individuals are seen to collude with their situation and, through that collusion, are ‘together’ responsible for the running and development of the organisation (despite some being ‘senior management’ and others from the shop floor). ‘Management’ is about being part of a system whose activities change as a function of the system and of its relationship to its environment. 56

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Figure 2: Four types of ‘development’, after Lee 1977b. These four approaches link quite closely to the four ways in which the word ‘development’ is used in the literature, as delineated through an entirely different line of research (Lee 1997b). An analysis of the literature showed that one meaning of development was to indicate a form of maturation - the (inevitable or natural) progression through a series of stages of life cycle. When used to indicate shaping it similarly implied a known endpoint to which the individual or organisation was steered by the application of various tools, within a known, quantifiable and manageable environment. In contrast, the other two uses of the word ‘development’ that were identified did not have a known endpoint. Development as a voyage was evident in literature about personal development - in which the self was the agent and the object, and development as emergent was evident in social science literature particularly, in which the lines between the individual and the organisation became blurred and the focus was upon co-development and co-regulation. Figure 2 shows a representation of these four forms of development, presented as a typology (in which the lines of the figure indicate the strength of spheres of influence, and not delineations or divisive categories) and maps on to these the four views of management discussed earlier. Complex archetypal structures that underlie the ‘human condition’

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This latter point is important and worth emphasising. I am NOT here discussing ‘real’ differences and saying that there exist four ways of ‘doing’ management or development - or that management or development are ‘things’ that can be done, or can be done to. In contrast, I am saying that there appear to be differences in the way that people talk about, or enact, whatever it is that constitutes ‘development’ or ‘management’ in their eyes, and that there appears to be some consistency within the realisation of those differences. I have also linked these to different approaches to learning, as I shall build upon these in the next section.

A mechanism for promulgation of the subsets In this section I suggest that these different approaches to the human condition are maintained by socialisation, but more than that, as each approach can be associated with a different view of learning and development so that the approach is reconstituted and reinforced in its own likeness. Socialisation can be seen as a mechanism by which the tensions and their resolution between self and other, and between structure and agency, are promulgated and emphasised through succeeding generations. I base my argument on the view that social development is a process of creative interaction in which ‘individuals dynamically alter their actions with respect to the ongoing and anticipated actions of their partners’ (Fogel 1993: 34; Smith 1992; McWhinney 1992; Lee 1994). Relationships exist within mutually constructed conventions or frames of reference (Kelly 1955; Duncan 1991: 345; Moreland and Levine 1989), and a dynamic view of culture is facilitated (Hatch 1993). ‘Society’ exists in so far as people agree to its existence - and could be a family unit or a nation. In some way (whether by being born into and thus socialised within it - as in a family or nation; through meeting like-minded people and thus forming friendship groups; or formally through induction into an organisation) individuals come to identify (and be identified by others) as part of a community. In so doing they help create and collude with underlying values and norms. This process starts at birth and is a basal acculturation mechanism in which the underlying processes are the same whether the focus is upon family and friendship groupings, temporary ‘micro-cultures’, small or large organisations, or national culture (Burns 1977). There is empirical evidence of correlation between the form of parenting and the child’s life stance (Baumrind 1973; Bee 1985), and between career and family history (Cromie, Callaghan and Jansen 1992). Similarly, there is evidence that choice of curricula, methodological approach and course design are partially governed by the value base of the providers, and thus perpetuate that value base (Ashton 1988; Boyacigiller and Adler 1991). Thus the approach to learning adopted by each society has a fundamental effect upon the continuation of the parameters of that particular society (Lee 1996). In Figure 3 different forms of learning were mapped against the archetypal parameters of self and other, and of structure and agency. In practical 58

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Figure 3: Movement through typologies (after Lee 1996). terms, the ‘cognitive’ environment carries with it group norms about received wisdom and the value of qualifications. Power is vested in those who have achieved qualifications and those who can give them. Cogent argument carries more importance than applicability or individual difference. The ‘problem’ student (or heretic (Harshbarger 1973)) would be someone who lacked sufficient intelligence to master the required concepts. The ‘behavioural’ environment focuses upon activity, functionalism, and the importance of the end result. Norms are about identifying competence, and filling the ‘training gap’ to achieve appropriate levels of competence. The heretic is someone unable to demonstrate the required competence. The ‘humanistic’ environment focuses upon difference and equality. Received wisdom (in so far as it epitomises a particular view of reality) is inappropriate, as are identifiable and assessable ‘competencies’ (in so far as they epitomise a ‘right’ way of doing things). The problem participant is unwilling to explore and share their affective and attitudinal aspects. In the ‘experiential’ environment the focus is on actionable outcomes - the end justifies the means. The heretic is someone who questions the route, or prefers inactivity. (‘The confidence to act is a prerequisite for learning’ (Blackler 1993).) Complex archetypal structures that underlie the ‘human condition’

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I am not suggesting that in ‘real life’, ‘learning’ only occurs within one approach. Instead, it is much more likely that in any situation one learns more ‘holistically’ (Lee 1996). Honey and Mumford (1989) suggest that ‘experience’ plays a part in any learning, regardless of whether or not it is acknowledged or focused upon within the educational process. One of the best-known models of experiential learning is that of Kolb (1974, 1984) who suggests that the process of learning is cyclical, revolving through experience, reflection, theorising and planning. In Figure 3 this is represented by the large (arrowed) circle. From this perspective, we only really learn by engaging in all aspects of the activity. Transformative experiences, therefore, appear to be those that force us to (re)examine our world-view (Emery and Trist 1965, Pascale 1990). Any ‘experience’ is an opportunity for learning, however, as Dewey (1938) pointed out, ‘It is not enough to insist upon the necessity of experience, nor even of activity in experience. Everything depends upon the quality of experience which is had ... every experience lives in further experiences.’ Vasilyuk (1984) takes it further, building the case that all learning that has a transformative effect upon us is derived from a clash between our understanding of the world and our experience, such that learning and change are painful processes of redefinition and Romanelli and Tushman (1994) offer empirical support for rapid, discontinuous change in organisations being driven by major environmental changes. Similarly, Stevens and Price argue that our changing lives necessitate renegotiating our position with respect to the great archetypal systems, and that, ‘Psychopathology results when the environment fails, either partially or totally, to meet one (or more) archetypal need(s) in the developing individual’ (1996: 34). In the terms of complexity theory, transformative experiences occur at bifurcation points, when the system and the environment impact in such a way that the system can either continue in its current, well-travelled pattern, or shift to some way of being that is new and unpredicted (though not necessarily unpredictable). Indeed, the current analysis would suggest that the system is likely to shift to incorporate qualia of a different world-view. I have argued that there exist two main bipolar underlying processes by which the human condition is structured, and that these give rise to four main archetypes. The processes of socialisation, or learning, emphasise particular aspects of our world-view, such that the various systems or subsystems, be they individuals, organisations or nations, have a tendency to enact the qualia of a single archetype. However, although I have talked of the qualia of the archetypes, I have deliberately failed to define them other than by example. Archetypes, by their nature, are indefinable in the scientistic sense, and also, as discussed above, the qualia are unmeasurable other than dialectically (Pascale 1990) by reference to their ‘opposite’. Furthermore, that ‘opposite’ might be different under different occasions or interpretations. For example, in one situation it was found that the word ‘conflict’ was interpreted by some people to be ‘contested negotiation’ whilst others saw it as ‘a fight to the death’, and acted accordingly with misunderstanding on 60

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both sides (Lee 1998). We could extrapolate that for these people the opposite to their views of conflict would be the similar but subtly different qualities of ‘easy negotiation’ and ‘peaceful life’. We live within our own world-view yet in order to understand or even describe it we need to compare it with that of others in a dialectic manner. In other words - to know what we are, we also have to know what we are not. We cannot categorise the human condition in a positivistic mutually exclusive sense, but we can use the arguments above to develop a dialectically based meta-typology.

A wheel of typologies Figure 4 shows a typology of typologies, or a meta-typology, of the human condition, constructed by plotting the axes of the great archetypal systems against typologies of individual, organisational and governmental approach and those of individual influence, education and metaphor (as a form of organisational glue, after Morgan (1986)). In other words, it is intended as a typology that underlies those discussed previously and others in the literature. This is not intended as a categorisation. Each spoke of the wheel supports the others with no clear distinction between neighbouring typologies, and each is validated dialectically by the qualia of the spoke opposite it. Thus an archetypal individual and organisational approach is represented as if it were located in a radial segment of the wheel (the width of which would depend upon the diversity of the element in question), and the probability of identifying an approach typified by other segments or individual parts of the wheel would be negatively correlated with the distance from the primal segment. If this meta-typology is imagined in three dimensions, with the centre forming the tip of a cone, the third dimension represents a continuum moving from micro variables at the apex towards macro variables at the base. In other words, the tip of the cone might represent degrees of aggregation, and the base, large aggregates of elements, yet each has influence upon the other. An example of the influence the individual can have upon a large organisation can be seen in Connolly (2004) who recounts how the raising of an eyebrow by a senior manager in a meeting delayed an organisational change initiative by several years. Similarly, work exploring geneculture co-evolution indicates the potential for rapid genetically linked cultural change linked to choice of mate (Laland 1993; Richerson and Boyd 1989). This example also indicates the permeable nature of the boundary between individual and society. Individuals might be actively choosing a mate (though factors of background and parenting are likely to mediate in such choice (Duck 1986)), but they are unlikely to be doing so in order to influence societal form. These examples emphasise both the unpredictable influence of individual factors (cf. Gleick 1987, and chaos theory) and the speed with which such ‘inactive’ change might occur. When visualised as a cone, however, the meta-typology represents three dimensions each of which possess a pole that focuses upon ‘individuality’, though the import of this is different in each case. This generates multiple layers of meaning that are sacrificed if a one-dimensional form of analysis is Complex archetypal structures that underlie the ‘human condition’

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Figure 4: A typology of typologies (note that the words are indicative, not definitional). adopted. Each segment and type is interpretable in the light of its archetypal opposites within these multiple layers, thus analysis of the meta-typology is richer if a dialectic perspective is adopted. Organisations comprise multifaceted membership and are likely to contain dissidents who might be expected to voice an approach at the polar opposite to that held by the organisation (heresy) or to work outside the accepted bounds of the segment (deviance). Inconsistency of approach might also be found across the levels and/or functions of the organisation (Demirag and Tylecote 1992), and within the individual (leading to analysis within psychodynamic frameworks) (Parsons 1951). It can be speculated that the level of conflict will be positively correlated with the degree of inconsistency both between individual approaches and within aspects of an approach. 62

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The three-dimensional interpretation of the wheel presents a holistic and interactive overview of the meta-typology that is, in essence, static. Given the notion that individuals and organisations, despite their ‘presenting approach’ will possess hidden qualia of their opposites and that it is the conflict between these which are, themselves, part of the environment, or with other aspects of the environment, that generates creative tension and transformation, then it is necessary to introduce a fourth dimension to the meta-typology - that of transformation over time, or dynamism. From Hereclites onwards (circa 500 BC) it has been suggested that humanity is in a state of always ‘becoming’ despite the appearance of structured categorisation and ‘being’ fostered by Western scientism (Lee 2001a; Stacey, Griffin and Shaw 2000). In other words, our lives are dynamic, and in a state of constant change. Fixed goals, known endpoints and clear delineations are tools that we use to provide a sense of stability, but that sense is merely a mechanism and is false with respect to the wider reality of existence. The meta-typology, presented here with lines and detail, is merely an attempt to indicate underlying structures; those structures exist, however, not as things in themselves but are presented as a possible pattern of relationships: a representation of the relationships between other representations. As noted above, even the terminology used is just a representation. For example, Campbell and Muncer (1987) show that both occupational role and gender are indicative of whether a person views ‘aggression’ as a functional act aimed at imposing control over other people, or in expressive terms as a breakdown of self-control over anger. Thus understanding of the word ‘aggression’, co-varies with the axes and will be interpreted by different readers in different ways.

Implications of the meta-typology I have argued that although the terminology differs, the underlying processes permeate our existence. Links between existing work and the meta-typology could be limited to positive correlation with existing typologies along a single axis. For example, Handy’s (1981) typology of organisation culture (power, role, task, person) shows some similarity to the vertical axis. Debates about field dependence/independence in cognitive style (Hayes and Allison 1994) appear to fit more closely to the horizontal axis, whilst those about the way in which individuals and societies are interconnected and mutually influencing are represented by the thirddimensional axis. Similarly, Rasheed and Prescott’s (1992) dimensions of complexity and dynamism in the classification of organisational task environments show some similarity to the two diagonal axes. Thus the metatypology can be linked to one-dimensional measures, such as equity sensitivity (King and Miles 1994), interpersonal orientation (Swap and Rubin 1983), or Machiavellianism (Robinson and Shaver 1973), and is potentially testable in its prediction of relationships between such measures. However, nearly every 2x2 matrix I come across seems to accord with the meta-typology in some way or another. Complex archetypal structures that underlie the ‘human condition’

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It is, perhaps, not surprising to find that 2x2 matrices, as representations of something, accord with other representations, especially if there do exist underlying processes from which we structure our worlds. However, I do not wish to suggest that any organisation or individual might demonstrate all the qualia of a particular typology - to do so might establish them as an archetype! As a complex system the individual might demonstrate forms of behaviour akin to one segment of the wheel (espousing an approach similar to that of the free market), whilst the observer notes aspects of behaviour that are located within another segment (working within traditional educational methodology and reinforcing respect for position and rules - theory in practice), whilst voicing a preference for a third segment (one that respects ‘human values’) (cf. Argyris 1990; Bate 1990; Papula 1993). The exploration of inconsistency might lead to greater understanding of organisations in practice (Schein 1985) and point to areas of knowledge that are, at present, under-explored. For example, the form of the model suggests an expansion of Morgan’s (1986) typology of organisational metaphor; it supports Buchanan’s (1991) call for alternative accounts of change, and it might provide an insight into the problems encountered when applying Western-style bureaucracy to African culture (Hyden 1983), or help contextualise inconsistencies in research findings (Judge and Watanabe 1994). Different parts of the organisation or society might well adopt different configurations, and configurations might change as ‘needed’. The activities of the social system are emergent and feed back into it (Weick 1977), they can influence all other aspects of the system, and the system itself can be far from equilibrium. This approach, therefore, denies the ability to ‘plan’ or ‘control’ organisational development - it argues for a resource-based view of the organisation in which the role of ‘managing’ is fragmentary (i.e. Mintzberg 1979) and offers a valuable critique of the established ‘discipline’ of strategy. In addition, because this view eschews ideas of (real) control by a hierarchy, as well as questioning the ability of the organisation to (really) predict or plan, it is more in tune with work that questions the serial and causal nature of our existence (Lee and Flatau 1996). So how does this link to my earlier points about the integration of the social sciences? Perhaps the earliest discipline was philosophy, from which grew core disciplines of psychology and sociology with their very different views of the world. This can be seen in relation to the meta-typology. If we look at the core disciplines of sociology and psychology; sociology, with its focus on social forces and core debates around structure and agency, can be seen to be aligned along one axis of the representation whilst psychology, with its focus upon the individual and their relation to the collective, can be seen to be aligned along the opposite axis. Both are looking at the human condition, but from very different perspectives. They understand it differently and employ different techniques to further their understanding. There is, of course, a wide variation within each discipline, and many of the fields of study that have developed from these are more hybrid in their approach. Disciplines such as education, politics, law, and anthropology 64

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can also be associated with particular areas of the meta-typology (in relation to content and approach) as can hybrid fields of study such as cultural studies, ethnography, ICT, management (including economics, finance, etc.), and organisational studies. However, these are just titles that are applied to a particular focus on the world, and, if we are to apply my previous arguments, it is inappropriate to delineate one from the other in a delimiting fashion. Indeed, having gone through a period of diversification and delimitation, the rhetoric is now about interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary investigation. It is worth noting, though, that these terms in themselves imply segregation. Whilst there might be a desire to work together across disciplines, the tenets and language of the various disciplines mitigate against this. There is a need to adopt a flexible view of language (as has been evident throughout this article) in order to encompass the multiple specific meanings that have developed around particular words. Take, for example, the words ‘consciousness’, ‘subconscious’ and ‘unconscious’ that merit a field of study in their own right and mean very different things to a Jungian and a sociologist. This refining of language cannot be done through definition, as each field defines it within their own terms - it can only be done by a refusal to define (Lee 2001b) and through joint understanding by exemplar. The more hybrid fields of study, by their very nature, can suffer from the diversity inherent in their approach, but also offer a way forward. I will briefly focus here on human resource development (HRD) as an example, though similar things could be said about other hybrid fields. I suggest that, regardless of one’s ‘understanding’, or the terminology used, that which might be called the development of human resources is actually located at the dynamic and co-creative interface between the elements of the system, and between subsystems, such that interacting, they become more than the sum of the parts. Thus the business of HRD, in so far as it exists as a concept and a practice, is concerned with the relationship between the representations. Research into HRD is, in effect, research into the processes that underlie the human condition. The practice of HRD is about influencing the relationships that comprise the glue of the human condition. From this emerges organisational transformation and social change. In terms of complexity, as we research the human condition we need to be aware that we are researching the intangible and unmeasurable. We can catch glimpses of what we are looking for and we can try to represent or model it - but we need to avoid the temptation to overly objectify or embody that which we research. The ‘individual’ and the ‘organisation’ are not unitary bounded concepts - they are part of a whole and are identifiable by their relationship to the whole. It is the interactions that are of importance, rather than descriptions of ‘purpose’. Similarly, when we intervene in the human condition with some aim in mind, both the ‘outcomes’ and their ‘value’ are subject to interpretation. There is no longer necessarily a clear and obvious route between cause and effect - and one person’s preferred ‘outcome’ might be someone else’s feared possibility/cause. We Complex archetypal structures that underlie the ‘human condition’

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can no longer assume that a particular intervention at a particular time will produce a known effect. We lose the gloss of certainty that permeates a well-defined and causal view of the world.

Conclusion I have suggested that there exist ‘great archetypal structures’ that underlie the human condition, and that these can be identified by their effect upon it, such that human society and thought clusters into four main archetypal world-views. The axes by which these are located are bipolar and termed, again, for convenience, self and other, and structure and agency. This forms a meta-typology or representation of the human condition. I suggest that much of human functioning, including ways of examining the world (research methodologies) and interpreting it (disciplines and fields of study) can be mapped against this meta-typology. These great systems and their products are most fruitfully discussed by embracing the language (and thus the concepts) of complexity. This recognises that whilst the entity cannot be pulled apart and understood, it can be accessed by examining the relationships between the multiplicity of representations that are located within it. Thus the study of the entity is the study of the relationships within it. Acknowledgement These arguments have been rehearsed in the ESRC Seminar Series on HRD (Woodall, Stewart and Lee) and appear in part in Lee (2003) which is a book derived from that series. Works cited Argyris, C. (1990), Overcoming Organizational Defences, Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Ashton, D.J.L. (1988), ‘Are business schools good learning organisations?: Institutional values and their effects in management education’, Personnel Review, 17: 4, pp. 6-14. Baddeley, S. & James, K. 1987. Owl, fox, donkey or sheep: Political skills for managers. Management Education and Development, 18: 3-19. Barklow, J.H., Cosmides, L. and Tooby, J. (eds) (1992), The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture, New York: Oxford University Press. Bate, P. (1990), ‘Using the culture concept in an organisation development setting’, Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 26, pp. 83-106. Baumrind, D. (1973), ‘The development of instrumental competence through socialization’, in A.D. Pick (ed.), Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology, vol. 7, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Bee, H. (1985), The Developing Child, New York: Harper and Row. Berne, E. 1964. Games People Play: The psychology of human relationships. London: Penguin. Blackler, F. (1993), ‘Knowledge and the theory of organisations: Organisations as activity systems and the reframing of management, Journal of Management Studies, 30, pp. 863-884.

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Boyacigiller, N., and Adler, N.J. (1991), ‘The Parochial Dinosaur: Organisational Science in a Global Context’, Academy of Management Review, 16: 2, pp. 262-90. Bradshaw, J.L. (1997), Human Evolution: A Neuropsychological Perspective, Hove: Psychology Press. Briggs Myers, I., and McCaulley, M.H. (1985), A Guide to the Development and Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press. Buchanan, D.A. (1991), ‘Vulnerability and agenda: Context and process in project management’, British Journal of Management, 2, pp. 121-32. Burns, T. (1977), The BBC: Public Institution and Private World, New York: Holmes and Meier. Campbell, A. and Muncer, S. (1987) ‘Models of anger and aggression in the social talk of women and men’, Journal of the Theory for Social Behavior, 17, pp. 489-511. Cilliers, P. (1998), Complexity and Postmodernism: Understanding Complex Systems, London: Routledge. Connolly, M. (2004) ‘An Investigation into the Generative Dynamics of Organization.’ Unpublished PhD Thesis, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK. Cromie, S., Callaghan, I. and Jansen, M. (1992), ‘The entrepreneurial tendencies of managers: A research note’, British Journal of Management, 3, pp. 1-5. Demirag, I. and Tylecote, A. (1992), ‘The effects of organisational culture, structure and market expectations on technological innovation: A hypothesis’, British Journal of Management, 3, pp. 7-20. Dewey, J. (1938), Experience and Education, New York: Kappa Delta (then Collier). Duck, S. (1986), Human Relationships, London: Sage. Duncan, S. (1991), ‘Convention and conflict in the child’s interraction with others’, Developmental Review, 11, pp. 337-67. Emery, F.E. and Trist, E.L. (1965), ‘The causal texture of organisational environments’, Human Relations, 18, pp. 21-32. Fogel, A. (1993), Developing Through Relationships: Origins of Communication, Self and Culture, Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Fox, R. (1989), The Search for Society: Quest for a Biosocial Science and Morality, London: Rutgers University Press. Giddens, A. (1976), New Rules of Sociological Method: A Positive Critique of Interpretive Sociologies, London: Hutchinson. Gleick, J. (1987), Chaos, New York: Viking. Handy, C.B. (1981), Understanding Organisations, Harmondsworth: Penguin. Harris, T. 1973. I’m OK - You’re OK. London: Pan Books. Harshbarger, D. (1973), ‘The individual and the social order: Notes on the management of heresy and deviance in complex organisations’, Human Relations, 26: 2, pp. 251-69. Hatch, M.J. (1993), ‘The dynamics of organisational culture’, Academy of Management Review, 18, pp. 657-93. Hayes, J. and Allison, C.W. (1994), ‘Cognitive style and its relevance for management practice’, British Journal of Management, 5, pp. 53-71. Hofstede, G. (1991), Cultures and Organisations, Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and its Importance for Survival, London: McGraw-Hill. Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (1989), The Manual of Learning Opportunities, Maidenhead: Peter Honey. Hopfl, H. (1995), ‘Organisational rhetoric and the threat of ambivalence’, Studies in Cultures, Organisations and Societies, 1: 2, pp. 175-88.

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Tufts-Richardson, P. (1996), Four Spiritualities: Expressions of Self, Expressions of Spirit. Palo-Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing. Vasilyuk, F. (1984), The Psychology of Experiencing: The Resolution of Life’s Critical Situations (English translation, 1991), Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Watson, J. (1994), Management Development to the Millennium: The New Challenges, London: Institute of Management. Weick, K. (1977), Organisational Design: Organisations as self-organising systems, Organisational Dynamics, Autumn, pp. 31-67. Yolles, M.I. (1999), Management Systems: A Viable Approach, London: Financial Times/Pitman.

Suggested citation Lee, M. (2004), ‘Complex archetypal structures that underlie the “human condition”’, Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change 2: 1, pp. 49–70, doi: 10.1386/jots.2.1.49/1

Contributor details Professor Monica Lee is Visiting Professor at Northumbria University, and is based at Lancaster University, in the United Kingdom. She came to academe from the business world where she was the managing director of a development consultancy. She has worked extensively in Central Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the United States of America coordinating and collaborating in research and teaching initiatives. Recent publications include articles in Human Relations, Human Resource Development International, Management Learning and Personnel Review, and books in the ‘Studies in HRD’ monograph series that she edits. Contact: Department of Organisation, Work and Technology, Lancaster University, LA1 4YX, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

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Monica Lee

Review Article Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change Volume 2 Number 1 © 2005 Intellect Ltd Review Article. English Language. doi: 10.1386/jots.2.1.71/4

When the West Meets India Multinationals in India: Managing the Interface of Cultures, Jai B.P. Sinha (2004) New Delhi: Sage Publications, ISBN 0761932054, 296 pp., Rs 350, $8 (pbk); ISBN 0761932046, Rs 580, $13 (hbk) Jai Sinha’s book is a timely contribution on the subject of multinationals (MNEs) in India during the era of globalization. His book attracts attention because he has set out to discover how MNEs manage the interface of global corporate culture given that India is a polyglot society and has very powerful, traditional and widely varying cultural practices (particularly in religion) that are thousands of years old. This is a topic that should have been researched a long time ago as it is one that meets the criterion of substantial ‘research in an international setting’ (Dowling et al. 1994). To achieve the research goal, Jai Sinha selected case companies that were diverse in culture and origin: Brown-Armstrong Corporation (BAC) is a British-American corporation; SHOCII is a Swedish firm; Hilton Roulunds (HRL) is a Danish multinational; Vijendra-Mikasha (VM) is an IndoJapanese joint venture; and Korean Chaebol (KIMCO) is a South Korean company. As Sinha’s book states: ‘The five multinationals were drawn from three cultural zones: Anglo-American, Scandinavian and the Pacific Rim. The BAC represented the first, the SHOCII and the HRL the second, the VM and the KIMCO, the third cultural sector’ (p. 237). Is ‘I can’t understand what you are saying’ happening when the West meets India? Jai Sinha examines the impact of home and host cultures, and institutional influences on MNEs’ management. Globalization/integration and localization/adaptation of MNEs is one of the themes that current international business-related literature is focusing on (Morley and Collings 2004). This theme is present throughout Sinha’s book and the author states: ‘A qualitative process analysis approach was adopted to interrelate diverse managerial practices within each multinational, identifying the underlying principles of management that reflected the worldviews of the home and host cultures of the multinationals’ (p. 13). This book is logically structured. Chapters 1 and 2 describe and discuss the intricacies of the indigenous market, and provide a historical review of the changing government policy toward MNEs entering India, and the major issues facing MNEs when operating there. The major arguments addressed in these chapters are: ‘The policy frame of the central government OTASC 2 (1) 71–73 © Intellect Ltd 2005

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for expediting industrial growth of the country passed through the receptive, the restrictive and the liberalization phases’ (p. 27) and ‘Multinational companies adopted different ways of managing organizations’ (p. 37). Chapter 3 explores in great detail what Sinha calls the interface of culture, establishing the central thesis of his comparative study. This chapter encapsulates Sinha’s argument about MNEs in India, which is that: A glocal approach requires MNEs to either enter into joint ventures where the Indian partners manage culture-specific issues or hire Indian managers who have the responsibility to synthesize the confluence of different cultures or compartmentalize organizational functions in such a way that different cultural influences coexist without neutralizing each other... (p. 70).

Chapters 4 to 8 present five case studies. Chapter 9 sets out the discussion, conclusion and recommendations. Throughout his book Sinha discusses the issues of globalization and localization from many perspectives, including physical features, e.g. layout of office, recruitment, training, appraisal, leadership and employee relations. He concludes that each MNE brings to India its unique cultural imprint, while at the same time realizing the need to adapt management practices to the local setting. This finding lends support to ‘best fit’ (Shen, forthcoming), or what Phatak (1992) has termed the ‘glocalization’ approach, which is both integrative and contingent, i.e. globalization that has to adapt to local circumstances and, particularly in the context of Asian economies, sustained cultural traditions and practices. Sinha explores these approaches systematically in the Indian context and backs up his arguments with empirical evidence. These are the book’s major contributions. Jai Sinha also suggests future strategies for those MNEs operating in India. However, reading this book reveals that Jai Sinha has presented many facts, but little that is actually new. What the book lacks is conceptualization of these facts. Before I opened the book I expected Sinha to suggest a theoretical model of how MNEs should manage their business operations in India, which could explore the degree of impact of ‘the country of origin’ (Ferner 1997), or host-contextual and firm-specific factors. I found no such evidence of a theoretical conceptualization when I finished reading the book. I was left with the feeling that I needed to know more. This omission may have resulted from a different research approach. It is, however, rather disappointing. Moreover, the validity and representativeness of the findings of this study are questionable given that it is very difficult to generalize from so small a sample (five multinationals), when the author himself states that there are ‘over 3,000 MNEs’ (p. 37). Overall, this book is very interesting, timely and a useful resource. It is one of the best reference sources available on the increasingly popular topic of how MNEs interact with host countries. Reviewed by Jie Shen, University of South Australia

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Works cited Dowling, P.J., Schuler, R.S. and Welch, D. (1994), International Dimensions of Human Resources Management, 2nd edn., New York: Wadsworth. Ferner, A. (1997), ‘Country of Origin Effects on HRM in Multinational Corporations’, Human Resource Management, 7: 1, pp. 19–37. Morley, M.J. and Collings, D.G. (2004), ‘Contemporary Debates and New Directions in HRM in MNCs: Introduction’, International Journal of Manpower, 25: 6, pp. 487–99. Phatak, A. (1992), International Dimension of Management, 3rd edn. Boston: PWS-Kent. Shen, J. (2005 forthcoming), ‘Toward a Generic International Human Resource Management (IHRM) Model’, Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change, Vol. 2.

Suggested citation Shen, J. (2005), ‘When the West Meets India’, Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change 2: 1, pp. 71–73, doi: 10.1386/jots.2.1.71/4

Contributor details Jie Shen, Ph.D. is a lecturer in human resource management at the School of Management, University of South Australia. His main research interest is international human resource management (IHRM) and organizational behaviour. He has published in the International Journal of Human Resource Management, International Journal of Manpower, Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, Health Services Management Research, Asia Pacific Business Review, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Industrial Relations, and the Compensation and Benefits Review. Contact: University of South Australia, School of International Business, City West Campus, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia. Tel. +61 8 8302 0477. E-mail: [email protected]

Book Review

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intellect books2005 Education

Education

Education

Designing Authenticity into Language Learning Materials

ICT for Curriculum Enhancement

Learning for Innovation in the Global Knowledge Economy

By Freda Mishan Paper, £19.95/$39.95 1-84150-080-1

Edited by Moira Monteith Paper, £19.95/$39.95 1-84150-061-5

By Dimitrios Konstadakopulos Paper, £14.95/$29.95 1-84150-085-2

This book puts forward an authenticity-centred approach to the design of materials for language learning. The premise of the approach is the importance of using authentic materials for language learning, materials drawn from ‘cultural products’ of the target language culture. Part one provides a theoretical grounding to the authenticity-centred approach. Part Two demonstrates its practical application in resource sections containing descriptions of tasks for the classroom.

This book considers the cognitive nature of courses connected with ICT or using ICT as an integral part of the course, including some views on the associated learning and teaching styles. Which factors lead to learning outcomes and are these intended or fortuitous? Factors may include ones specific to particular subject areas and their relationship with ICT, motivation associated with ICT usage, the interest which teachers, pupils and students who enjoy using ICT bring to the learning context. Contents include: • Remodelling Education • ICT Capability and Initial Teacher Training • IT as a key skill for teachers

This book is a major step forward in understanding the learning behaviour of clustered technologyintensive small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing upon qualitative and quantitative research methods and sampling techniques, it identifies how learning for innovation is stimulated or inhibited. An informative, challenging and comprehensive empirical study and analysis, this book will be useful to scholars and students of regional development, European and Asian relations, development economics, and management studies.

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