Organization Culture of SOEs
The McKinsey Quarterly has an essay on Spurring performance in China's state-owned enterprises. It explains the values and principles guiding SOEs that favor asset worth, employee welfare, social responsibilities, etc. over the bottom-line. It offers some successful strategies on making SOE employees more accountable and performance oriented - all learnt from various case studies in China.
One paragraph that describes so well the organization culture (common in all communist countries) that breeds lack of self-initiatives, individual accountability, bad decisions and poor performances, etc in the state sector:
But that was the story then. Society has changed so much since the market gradually takes over.
So what to do with those employees or factory workers who consistently don't perform and makes no effort to improve their performance?
"Managers may have to take measures such as freezing pay or cutting benefits to minimal levels," the consultants recommended, though I am not sure whether freezing pay is legal.
One paragraph that describes so well the organization culture (common in all communist countries) that breeds lack of self-initiatives, individual accountability, bad decisions and poor performances, etc in the state sector:
"Under China's planned economy, success was a collective responsibility. It was essential to reach a consensus before moving forward, and a system of checks and balances ensured that a committee of peers reviewed and approved all important management decisions. The ultimate result was that no employee was held accountable for the fortunes of the enterprise. A large part of the challenge for China's state-owned enterprises is therefore to move workers from collective to individual accountability."
But that was the story then. Society has changed so much since the market gradually takes over.
So what to do with those employees or factory workers who consistently don't perform and makes no effort to improve their performance?
"Managers may have to take measures such as freezing pay or cutting benefits to minimal levels," the consultants recommended, though I am not sure whether freezing pay is legal.
