Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the role played by the human resource management (HRM) function in strategic organizational change initiatives. The objectives of the paper are to assess the extent to which the HRM function is perceived by senior managers to have contributed...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Chinese economic reform process has engendered significant changes in the structure and management of work organizations. Central to this process has been the “marketization” of state‐owned enterprises (SOEs). The paper reviews...

Purpose – This paper aims to link the process of “transition”, which started in the former Soviet system about 20 years ago, to the recent global financial and economic crisis. The paper considers “transition” as a shift from one socio‐economic “dreamworld” to another, rather...

With special reference to the steel industry, this article draws upon a politicalinstitutional perspective to examine the progress made in the most recent round of state-enterprise reform in China - the introduction of the Modern Enterprise System and Group Company System. This reform programme...

This text enlivens the study of the organization by shifting the emphasis to examine how social practices are embodied. The contributors offer an alternative framework for understanding the interplay between individuals, institutions and work

Clarifying the complex social relationship between organisation and its representation, contributors enhance our understanding of work and organisation and question basic, traditionally accepted distinctions between 'fiction' and 'reality'