The intra-organisational Guanxi networks in the three case studies consist of dense, closed within-team Guanxi networks and loose cross-team Guanxi networks. In all three organisations, the within-team Guanxi networks composed of Familiar Guanxi as a majority and Family-like Guanxi as a minority are dense networks with relatively strong, multiplex and direct ties and have some levels of network closure due to team membership; the cross-team Guanxi networks are loose with the existence of Stranger Guanxi and, thus, indirect ties. To compare, Case Study II greatly increases the presence of Familiar Guanxi across teams and therefore the cross-team Guanxi networks are denser in Case Study II than in Case Study I and III. Table 7.7 highlights the similarities and differences.
Comparison Case Study I Case Study II Case Study III Within-team
Guanxi networks
Similarities:
Dense, closed Guanxi networks with relatively strong, multiplex and direct ties
Cross-team Guanxi networks
Similarities:
Loose Guanxi networks with the existence of Stranger Guanxi and thus indirect ties Differences:
Existence of many Stranger Guanxi
Moderate density with Stranger Guanxi as a minority
Existence of many Stranger Guanxi Table 7.7 Cross-case comparison: within-team and cross-team Guanxi networks
According to Section 2.3.2, there remains a question on whether the Guanxi networks in Chinese organisations have more features of bonding social capital or bridging social capital. The three case studies provide empirical insights into the question. The social capital literature differentiates two types of social capital: bonding social capital emerging
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from closed, dense networks consisting of fairly homogeneous, strong and multiplex relationships and bridging social capital emerging from loose networks consisting of indirect and weak ties due to the gaps between disconnected people (Gao et al., 2013; Ellison et al., 2015). While Guanxi may be a combination of bonding and bridging social capital in ‘more-or-less’ categorisation (Section 2.1.3), the within-team Guanxi networks may present more features of bonding social capital, and the cross-team Guanxi networks may present more features of bridging social capital. Therefore, the case studies create important knowledge on the features of the intra-organisational Guanxi networks in Chinese organisations. More importantly, while demonstrating how the design and functioning of formal role relations shape the types of Guanxi relationships within teams, across teams and between managers and subordinates, the case studies offer empirical explanations of the formation of bonding and bridging of social capital in intra- organisational Guanxi networks.
In addition, Case Study II demonstrates that the organisation has increased the bonding social capital in its cross-team Guanxi networks by promoting cross-team interpersonal interaction and the development of generalised trust and interpersonal affection between organisational members. Hom and Xiao’s (2011) survey study posit that empowered teams, flexible work designs and collective incentives reinforce the network closure of Guanxi in Chinese organisations. Case Study II offers empirical explanations of how frequent employee-initiated cross-team job transfers and projects, formally-reinforced organisational values and family culture in the organisation create the structural and relational features of cross-team Guanxi relationships required by the bonding social capital. In other words, Case Study II provides an empirical example of how to develop bonding social capital in cross-team Guanxi networks and thus to increase the bonding social capital in intra-organisational Guanxi networks. Overall, the three case studies offer empirical insights into how the dynamic intertwining of Guanxi relationships and formal role relations creates bonding and bridging social capital at the group level and organisation level.
7.4 Summary
The three case studies yield important knowledge for answering Research Question I: How Guanxi relationships intertwine with formal job role relations, shaping social networks in Chinese organisations? Figure 7 highlights key themes on the intertwining of Guanxi relationships with formal job role relations that emerge from the case studies.
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At the dyadic level, the three case studies illustrate how the intertwining of Guanxi relationships with formal job role relations results in the development of hierarchical and non-hierarchical ties and three types of Guanxi relationships in Chinese organisations. While little research has investigated intra-organisational social networks composed of both vertical and horizontal ties (Luo et al., 2016), the three case studies offer empirical evidence on how the intertwining of formal and informal relationships causes the formation of hierarchical Guanxi relationships between managers and subordinates and sometimes between senior and junior team members and non-hierarchical Guanxi relationships between the rest employees. Moreover, whie there is limited literature identifying different types of Guanxi among organisational members (Section 2.3.2), the case studies explain how the intertwining of Guanxi relationships and formal role relations leads to the development of Family-like Guanxi, Familiar Guanxi and Stranger Guanxi in within-team, cross-team and manager-subordinate interpersonal relationships.
At the network level, the three case studies demonstrate how the intertwining of Guanxi relationships and formal role relations results in the formation of intra-organisational Guanxi network consisting of dense, closed within-team Guanxi networks and relatively loose cross-team Guanxi networks. While there is a limited understanding of whether the Guanxi networks in Chinese organisations have more features of bonding social capital or bridging social capital (Section 2.3.2), the case studies offer empirical explanations of how the dynamic intertwining leads to more bonding social capital in within-team Guanxi networks and more bridging social capital in cross-team Guanxi networks. More importantly, Case Study II offers an empirical example of how to increase bonding social capital in cross-team Guanxi networks. Furthermore, the three case studies indicate that embedded in the intra-organisational Guanxi networks, there is the relational structure composed of team-based Guanxi groups, Paternalistic Leadership and hierarchical or
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non-hierarchical Senior-junior Guanxi. While there is lack of research on the structuring of social networks in Chinese firms, such as the density, connectivity and hierarchy of social ties (Section 2.3.2), the findings on the relational structure greatly further the knowledge of the hierarchy of intra-organisational Guanxi networks in Chinese organisations.
In addition, the three case studies elaborate that the Western job role system and Chinese Guanxi compete and weaken the practices of each other in the intertwining of formal and informal relationships in Chinese organisations. As found, first, relational obligations and values often override organisational obligations and professional values in Case Study I but not Case Study II and III, and team-based Guanxi groups have strong exclusivity in Case Study I but not in Case Study II and III. Such variation justifies empirically that Guanxi-related obligations and values surpass organisational obligations and values without the enforcement of a formal performance management system and formally developed organisational culture and values. Second, there is strong authoritarian leadership in Case Study I but limited authoritarian leadership in Case Study II and Case Study III. Such differences offer empirical evidence that the complete implementation of Western job role system lessens the traditional respect for Guanxi on Confucian authority. Third, while management has a critical view about organisational outcomes of Guanxi in Case Study II but a rather positive view in Case Study III, Case Study II has further eliminated the hierarchical differentiation in Senior-junior Guanxi and the exclusivity of team-based Guanxi groups. In other words, the management perceptions on the organisational outcomes of Guanxi also have an impact on the competition between the Western job role system and Chinese Guanxi.
Whereas there is a lack of research on how the transfer of Western management practices to China alters of the influence of Guanxi in Chinese management (Section 2.3.1), the case studies offer empirical evidence on how the implementation of Western job role system reduces the centrality of Guanxi and the respect for Confucian authority in Chinese organisations. The variations in the findings of the case studies indicate that the extent to which a Western job role system is introduced and differential management perceptions on Guanxi affect the degree to which the Western job role system reduces the centrality of Guanxi and the respect for Confucian authority in Chinese organisations.
To conclude, the three case studies enrich empirical understanding of how the intertwining of Guanxi relationships with formal job role relations shapes interpersonal relationships and intra-organisational social networks in Chinese organisations. Moreover, the case studies increase empirical knowledge of how Chinese Guanxi and Western job role system interplay in the intertwining of Guanxi relationships with formal role relations.