The management of second-generation migrant workers in China: A case study of centrifugal paternalism

Jingqi Zhu,Rick Delbridge

doi:10.1177/00187267211032948

Abstract

How have organisations sought to manage tensions between the needs for flexible labour in neoliberal market economies and the benefits of a committed and motivated workforce? Through an in-depth, qualitative study of a Chinese company, we identify and theorise a novel variation of paternalism that was developed by the organisation to manage the tensions under neoliberal capitalism. We label this management regime ‘centrifugal paternalism’ since it organises employment relations along the lines of ‘adult-like’ employers and ‘child-like’ employees but involves the diminution of employee dependency over time with an ultimate impulse away from the employing organisation. We find that the emergence of centrifugal paternalism is closely related both to the socio-demographic identity of the company’s employees as China’s second-generation migrant workers and to the economic context of the organisation. Through a ‘tough love’ approach, this regime allows the firm to secure flexible labour while responding to migrant workers’ needs for personal skills development and a fruitful rural-to-urban transition. Our research responds to recent calls for reconnecting organisation studies with society and situating workplace practices within their contexts. It also underlines the enduring importance of paternalism for understanding the dynamic and evolving nature of capitalist employment relations and management regimes.

Highlights

Through an in-depth, qualitative study of a Chinese company, we identify and theorise a novel variation of paternalism developed by the organisation to achieve exactly this
We examine the social and political contexts that give rise to centrifugal paternalism, concluding that the emergence of centrifugal paternalism is closely related to the socio-demographic identity of the company’s employees as China’s second-generation migrant workers
We respond to the concerns of scholars that current organisation theory is less well embedded in its societal contexts than was the case during its formative periods, with the result that much work appears to be trapped in a ‘theory cave’ and have very little to say about or to society (Hinings and Meyer, 2018; Vincent et al, 2020). In identifying this new management regime – centrifugal paternalism – that has emerged in China during one of the greatest rural-to-urban migrations in history, we extend the well-established concept of paternalism and discuss how this distinctive new form of paternalism has developed in a specific contemporary societal setting

Summary

Introduction

Organisations require a committed and motivated workforce given the intensive and demanding work that is needed to succeed in competitive markets (Brannan et al, 2015; Fleming, 2005). Through an in-depth, qualitative study of a Chinese company, we identify and theorise a novel variation of paternalism developed by the organisation to achieve exactly this. We label this management regime ‘centrifugal paternalism’ since it organises employment relations along the lines of ‘adult-like’ employers and ‘child-like’ employees but involves the diminution of employee dependency over time with an ultimate impulse away from the employing organisation. To capture the variations of paternalistic management regimes in metaphorical terms: centripetal paternalism binds employee and employer in familial relations while centrifugal paternalism sees the employee graduate from ‘school’

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Conclusion