Politics, culture and decision making in China

Decision making processes are key to the successful modernization of China, as the Chinese government itself defines that modernization. It will be the contention of this chapter that political factors, derived from the structures and ideology in place especially over the years 1949 to 1979, and cultural factors derived from China’s Confucian past, combine to inhibit rational decision making on a very large scale, and will continue to militate against the achievement of a rational order both in management and in government in China for many years to come. In order to demonstrate this, a simple model of decision making is used as a framework for analysis of several typical Chinese decision sequences. Three typical cases are then given in outline, and a variety of political and cultural factors which combine to make up the context for decision making in present-day China is examined. These factors are related to delays and interruptions in the decision sequences for the cases outlined, and it will be suggested that the continued widespread prevalence of these attitudes and conditions represents a significant retarding force in the campaign to modernize China. The conclusion to this chapter will reflect upon the suitability of Western models for application in non-Western societies, in which Western assumptions about rational processes to achieve rational goals may not be widely shared.