The Firm as a Total Institution: Reflections on the Chinese State Enterprise

Organization Studies · 1996 · Volume 17 · Issue 6

Abstract

All organizations manifest some features of a total institution; however, no other commercial organization is as close to that metaphor as the Chinese state-owned enterprise (CSE). After establishing the similarity between the CSE and the total institution, the present paper uses four types of total institution to describe the CSE: a work camp, a religious order, a prison and a boarding school. The functions of each of the four for the Chinese system are considered, and individual and group repercussions are assessed. Finally, a typology of organizational totality is proposed, and theoretical implications are drawn.

Keywords

Descriptors: international/comparative management, Chinese management, total institutions

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