Benevolent authoritarianism, paternalism and religious humanitarianism in Sri Lanka: a dependent or autonomous HR?

Abstract

This article examines the cases of five Sri Lankan export-oriented companies, each situated within global production networks (GPN) with British companies at the apex. In examining their managerial practices, a strong similarity to the practices associated with Anglo-Saxon paternalism is identified. However, these observed parallels are a product of local circumstances and the particular location within the GPN rather than a consequence of any emulation of British practices. The resulting system reflects a high power-dependency relationship that employers hold over ­employees. In this sense, the emergent HR system is partly dependent on the position in the GPN and partly autonomous. The system is characterised by a gendered division of labour and by the proximity of managerial oversight over the issue of worker autonomy. The factory setting has lower levels of worker autonomy and dependency compared to tea harvesting. One outlying exception to the general paternalistic approach, in one of the companies studied, is where the religious and ethnic makeup of the workforce is not shared with management, leading to increased conflict with the unionised workforce. The nature of Sri Lankan paternalism is specific and endogenous, but the conditions creating this paternalism are likely to be replicated elsewhere.