Tse, Fuk Ying (2019) (Not) knowing about pay: managerial control over the understanding of pay in chinese auto parts factories. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

Preview

PDF WRAP_Theses_Tse_2019.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (1869Kb) | Preview

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

This research investigates the processes which determine how Chinese workers develop their understanding of the pay system under which they are governed at the workplace. By introducing a labour process perspective which is complementary to existing economic and organisational behavioural approaches, I examine the influence of management-labour relations in China in the shaping of workers’ pay understanding, which is fundamental to their capacity to formulate pay demands and contribute to pay determination in the workplace. In particular, I look at the role of managerial control on the shop floor in constraining workers’ access to pay information, as well as the workers’ capacity to contest pay under the social contexts of urbanisation and industrial development. Data was collected in a number of auto parts factories in Town S, southern China in 2016-2017 by interviewing workers and factory management; by undertaking participant observations in an auto part factory and a consultancy firm; and by conducting document reviews on pay-related statistics, labour laws and regulations on pay and the local context of Town S.

It is found that workers’ perplexity over the pay system was an outcome of managerial control, and their compliance with managerial interests regarding reward management. Managerial control was manifested in different forms across factories with different types of production regimes. This resulted in varying processes in which workers were obscured from pay and developed responses to pay opacity in different factories.

This research has, in empirical terms, contributed to deepening the understanding of the variety of pay systems in Chinese companies with various capital sources, and pay communication practices in China. It has also contributed to the re-examination of the existing literature on the social and political dimensions of pay determination which tend to take collective actors in unionised contexts for granted.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Automobile industry workers -- China, Compensation management -- China, Wages -- Automobile industry workers -- China, Communication in management -- China
Official Date:	September 2019
Dates:	Date Event September 2019 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Warwick Business School
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Meardi, Guglielmo ; Donaghey, Jimmy
Sponsors:	Warwick Business School ; Great Britain-China Educational Trust
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	vii, 224 leaves : charts
Language:	eng

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads