The Methods Used in this Study
The study uses several methods of investigation. Survey data were obtained from questionnaires administered to seniors at the time of graduation in 1993 and 1994. In-depth interviews with several dozen students and alumni supplemented these surveys. The author's employment as an associate professor from 1988 to 1994 permitted participant-observation and afforded considerable access to students, faculty, alumni and administrators. Generally, the study is qualitative in nature. A qualitative study can produce much data. At the outset the researcher is not guided so much by a set of hypotheses to test as by a general framework and method. Unlike quantitative analysis, the qualitative approach does not require a firm blueprint that must be rigorously followed, for the constant arrival of additional data often serves to open up new avenues of enquiry. The researcher finds him/herself surfing various waves of data, unsure in advance of the type of ride that will be given. It is an exciting experience. For the home builder such a process would prove extremely frustrating. The result might be a disparate collection of bricks, mortar and potential building materials...but no house. Yet, the qualitative researcher suffers less frustration because there is method to this madness; eventually, the data will come together--must come together--into a coherent conclusion.
Between Market and Plan
China in 1996 is now 17 years into the Dengist reforms that followed the end of the Cultural Revolution. Many social and economic systems are in a transitional stage--between plan and market. Transition, by definition, involves change. Indeed, the dynamic nature of the "system" makes it difficult for the researcher even to paint a descriptive picture. System itself is perhaps a misleading term if it suggests rationality, organization and control. During various parts of the transition period, the way university students get jobs involves an extremely complex phenomenon, subject to constant change. This research does not lend itself to simple conclusions.
Moreover, China is a large and diverse country where variety often characterizes its "systems" more than uniformity does. Taking the approach of exploring a single case offers advantages. Providing accurate description for a single case can be possible given the usual constraints (time, budget and analytical expertise) of the researcher. Shenzhen University offers insights into what is happening during this transitional stage.
As part of the modernization of its economy, in the early 1980s the prc started redefining its systems of human resource development. It began moving away from a rigid system characterized by the assignment of jobs to all university graduates towards a more open job market in which the participants--graduates, employers and schools--were all involved in the job securement process. A detailed history of Chinese manpower planning through an examination of four decades of documents on graduate allocation (biyesheng fenpei) in Chapter II identifies three main weaknesses of the system as perceived by academics and program administrators. Each of these weaknesses had a corresponding remedy: (1) greater efficiency would be achieved through increased flexibility; (2) each of the participants would become more responsible if made more accountable, and (3) improved equity could be gained through fair competition. These concerns were addressed in China's change in human resource policy.
When szu was established in 1984, it was the first university in China to allow graduands to choose their jobs freely. The university was established specifically to provide talent for local employers. The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (sez), in which szu is situated, provided jobs for over 80% of the school's graduates. Since its inception in 1978, Shenzhen has matured into an export- processing zone, where products manufactured in China are transshipped to Hong Kong, where they are reexported abroad. Most graduates are employed in business and banking, with a few using applied science in the workplace. Many work for municipal bureaux.
Major Findings: How Important is Guanxi?
The study shows that for 1993 social relationships were used more frequently by male than female graduates, by students who were academic underachievers during their college careers, and by those who took jobs in state- run companies and municipal bureaux. Graduates who worked in the banking sector, as well as those who work for foreign-funded companies, did not often rely on guanxi to get jobs. The school's Career Counselling Centre, which functioned actively for only a few years, was obviated when students realized that jobs were easy to find, given the sez's growing economy. At that time (before 1991), guanxi was not needed. As the economy slowed and jobs became more scarce, students began to rely on guanxi.
Guanxi is seen by many as the fabric of Chinese society. For the most part, Chinese in China, whether young or old, urban or rural, rich or poor, share a belief in the power of relationships. Various observers suggest that China is becoming Westernized, and many people argue that China should adopt more of the habits found elsewhere in the world. In terms of graduate employment, this would mean that jobs should be secured in a transparent process, through meritorious procedures. In such a view, relationships would not be the determining factor in whether a particular graduate secured a particular job. Overall, the findings of this study do not support the argument that relationships are losing importance in China. An argument that relationships are all that matters is also not supported.
Implicit in China's graduate employment reforms (and explicit in the academic discussion on the reforms) was a concern that students should procure jobs according to merit, not relationships. The data from the Shenzhen case are informative in this regard. The data support the finding that student job-seekers had a false impression about the importance of relationships. Job-hunting students generally subscribed to the folklore that good jobs could be found only by using connections. The reality was quite different.
The importance of guanxi in the Shenzhen job search varied from year to year. The variation was due in part to changing economic factors. When employers had a quantity of openings to fill--ten in a department of a municipal bureau, for example--they advertised, recruited, interviewed and selected through a public and mostly transparent process. Not all students who applied for jobs succeeded in getting hired, but among my interviews with students who had already experienced the job search, there was a consensus that relationships were not important in these cases. In several years (specifically 1991 in this study), students found jobs through this type of merit-based procedure. During that year state companies and municipal bureaux recruited on campus. By 1993, the year for which survey data were gathered, the job market had changed. Few municipal bureaux and state-run enterprises recruited on campus, because they had few positions to fill. Relationships proved essential for graduates who successfully found jobs in these sectors. Banks, however, were still expanding their personnel bases and recruiting, interviewing and hiring through fairly transparent procedures.
Therefore, it is too simple to say that relationships were always used by students finding jobs in the state sector. This was not the case during times of large-scale recruitment. As China steadily moves from plan to market, it will likely continue to experience the zigs and zags of capitalism. Hiring varies from year to year. In a given year, relationships may be important in a particular sector. The next year they may not. The experience of at least one graduate (Case 31) suggests that job procurement in state-run enterprises need not require relationships. This student found his job by listing his resum, on the computer database operated by the municipal labour market.
This varying importance of relationships does not apply to foreign-funded firms, where hiring procedures reflect meritocratic practices, regardless of the level of recruitment. Still, relationships may be important in providing job-seekers with information about job openings. The variation in the use of relationships, indeed the complexity of the entire subject, points out the vagaries of capitalism, something the prc did not experience for several decades.
A New Ideology Reflected in the Case of Shenzhen University
When Shenzhen University was established in 1983, its leadership decided there would be no job assignment. In this regard the university in China's largest and most prestigious Special Economic Zone was indeed special, for this marked the first time that a tertiary institution was permitted to deviate so far away from national manpower planning. A history of modern China's approach to graduate employment shows that a quarter century of job allocation by the state was successful in the context of the times. Job assignment was needed in order to further national development during the era of socialist construction. Post-Maoist times, however, saw a disenchantment with centralized planning for employment. Further economic development could be aided, planners argued, if the principal actors--schools, graduates, employers--were given more responsibility and were made accountable. Fair competition, it was believed, would further equity considerations. A market-based system would be more efficient because of its increased flexibility.
A new ideology is reflected in the reforms: graduates's needs and wants should be given consideration. Graduates should have freedom in choosing jobs. Whereas the former ideology was oriented toward the needs of the state, the new ideology treated the graduate as an individual, not just as a servant of the state. For this ideology to be realized, the economy needed to provide students with job choices. In one sense, the sez offered choices. Compared to job allocation, the new system offered choice. And compared to other places in China, where market reform lagged behind Shenzhen, the sez offered much choice. Students could choose to work for municipally-run bureaux, state-owned companies or foreign- funded ventures. They could choose different kinds of employers, with banking and trade companies most in search of university graduates. Students whose families lived outside the sez could choose to return to their hometowns. Some students could choose to go abroad.
In absolute terms, however, the choices were limited. Few szu graduates had the opportunity to pursue higher degrees in China, for there were no graduate programs at szu and admission to graduate programs at other Chinese universities was restricted. Students who wanted to teach at the secondary level (despite the relatively low salary) found that schools in the sez did not generally hire inexperienced teachers. The zone appealed to many who lived outside it, and teaching in the sez was attractive to outsiders. Vacancies were filled by graduates from normal (teaching) universities or by teachers with substantial experience. Nor could students choose to work in the social sciences, because few jobs in these areas existed for undergraduate generalists. Even entry level positions in journalism, social work, or entertainment management, for example, were largely non-existent. Graduates in chemistry, physics and maths found few jobs that needed the skills they acquired in university. In sum, students had job choice...but not many types of jobs to choose from. The economy had not caught up with the ideology.
Other Findings
The Shenzhen data suggest there is no single "best job." Students are a diverse group with a wide array of goals and ambitions. Some want to set up their own businesses and become private entrepreneurs, but others seek career opportunities in municipal bureaux. Students who belong to this latter group include those who are extremely savvy at knowing how to work the system. They are well socialized, and they place much importance on building guanxi and maintaining relational networks. While at the university many students in this group were academic "underachievers," unconcerned with getting good grades. They knew the system would not penalize them for their lack of motivation. In the workplace, if motivated they become high-achievers, as illustrated by Case 2 whose income is based on his sales.
This study found that female-held jobs are less guanxi- related than those occupied by men. Being female is more important than having connections in terms of association with the successful destination of the job search. How will China's plan-to-market transition affect the importance of the gender factor? The Shenzhen data show that many women graduates took jobs in banking and accounting, sectors where females competed equally with males for jobs. Others took jobs as executive secretaries, jobs also held by male graduates. Some took clerical and secretarial positions, types of jobs rarely held by men. At least one woman graduate in a foreign-funded firm moved into sales, an area usually dominated by men (Case 10). This suggests that at least some opportunities exist for women to overcome the gender gap.
Lessons from the Case
The free job market that szu graduates experienced was the first in modern China. As such it provides a test case in terms of the effectiveness of the plan-to-market transition. How is the szu pilot case appraised according to the goals of graduate employment reform--efficiency, responsibility and equity--as suggested in the literature? In regards to efficiency, students find jobs fairly easily. Most seniors procure jobs between April (when their coursework ends) and June (when they graduate). Of course, the degree of ease fluctuates with the state of the local economy. As the Special Zone's economy has matured, job- seekers in the 1990s face less of a seller's market. The relaxation of residential permit policies or their lax enforcement has meant that szu graduates are less in demand. In the 1980s, graduates with local residency were sought after by employers who found bureaucratic obstacles to hiring graduates from outside Shenzhen. As regulations eased, employers and students from outside the zone found it possible to navigate through the required paperwork. The extent to which a student wishes to hold out for the "best possible" job also affects his/her periods of unemployment. This study has found, however, that rather than be unemployed, most students will take a job, only to change it when a better one is found. One third of the 1993 graduates had changed jobs even before they graduated. Many new graduates appear to change employers at least once in their first year out of school. From the employer's viewpoint, this adversely affects efficiency. Why spend money and time to train an employee who is likely to leave soon after training has finished?
Concerning responsibility and accountability, has the szu free-for-all system produced responsibility on the part of the school, graduates, and employers? In the absence of job allocation, graduates and employers are jointly responsible for employment arrangements. Neither relies much on the municipally run labour marketplace, although some students who put their files into the computer data base report success in finding desirable jobs. Few graduates, however, take advantage of this facility. Likewise, neither student nor potential employer uses the university's career counselling centre. In its first years, the centre took an active role in matching students with employers. It also counselled students on writing resum,s and preparing for interviews. Yet, in viewing its task as one of job placement, it found itself unneeded by students who discovered that they were much in demand in a labour market. They could find jobs by themselves. Whereas counselling offices in Hong Kong and the West have expanded their role, away from job placement to career guidance, the szu office defined its role narrowly. After two years it downsized and has played no significant role in the students' job search.
Finally, regarding equity, this research has suggested that academically low-performing students tend to use relationships to procure jobs more often than average- or high-performing students. "Underachievers" often get "good" jobs that graduates who have had better performance in school cannot get because the latter lack the necessary relationships. Employers who hire strictly on merit--a group that almost exclusively comprises foreign capitalized ventures--tend to hire academic high-achievers. The use of relationships, however, covers all types of achievers, both genders, and is not restricted to personal characteristics such as language group or place in sibling birth order. While it does not equalize opportunity, it does not appear to favour particular groups in any extraordinary way. Male students, however, profit more from relationships than female students, yet the latter also take advantage of connections, just not as much as their male counterparts.
In terms of use of relationships in the job search, how unique is the Chinese case? Although this dissertation does not purport to be comparative, data reported for the U.S. (the country for which the author is most familiar) suggest that connections, especially through weak ties, are important for job seekers because they serve as major conduits for sharing information about job openings. In Shenzhen, relationships relate more directly with actual job securement. An introduction is tantamount to a recommendation. Introductions are not casual. The literature on guanxi suggests the important role of trust. The trust factor is the reason relationships are important in the job search.
Post-plan but Pre-market: China in Transition
Modernizing Chinese society has been described in many different ways. It is collectivist, hierarchical, family-oriented. These may change in importance, over time. As the one-child policy starts having an effect, the very essence of the traditional family, "a house full of sons and grandsons" may become a value that Chinese continue to discard. The hierarchical political arrangements that characterized the feudal era and its current successor may also over time mutate as socialism continues to develop. As materialism thrives, collectivity may also decline. It is unlikely, however, that the very fabric of society--the use of relationships--will be discarded.
This emerging research in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, where the market economy has existed longer than elsewhere on the Mainland, suggests that the U.S. model will not prove instructive for Chinese planners. In Shenzhen there is high job mismatch, but the compensating factor--a liberal education--does not exist. Graduates of Shenzhen University, for example, get little general education, and for the most part they do not use their acquired technical skills in their jobs. There is little evidence of institutional job training by employers, except for some foreign-capitalized companies. At present, several factors are preventing true marketization. There is such a high demand for college- educated youth that personal qualifications and individual abilities are not especially relevant. Second, jobs in certain sectors which experience limited expansion-- jobs notably in governmental bureaux and state-run companies--are not filled through formal procedures in the marketplace, such as recruiting, advertisements or school recommendations. An inefficient information system means that job-seekers must resort to informal networks for finding their jobs. Almost all jobs in these sectors are landed through informal networks, and this is one of the reasons a mismatch occurs. Even when graduates enter through the front door, the lack of an effective rules-driven bureaucracy has removed meritocracy as an element of the job search in the state sector.
The issues addressed in the Dengist graduate employment reforms-- responsibility, accountability, equity, fair competition, efficiency, and flexibility-- were examined in terms of how they related to planning mechanisms and politics. But they may be viewed from another perspective, that of state-individual relations, or more specifically of the state's control of the individual. The government's requirement that individuals comply totally with state plans is being replaced with a more flexible structure that permits a high degree of student choice. There seems to be little recognition by planners of the secondary and tertiary effects that will inevitably result from a dilution of state control. For the individual graduate, a free job market will likely bring greater mismatch between skilled learned in school and those used in the workplace, as occurs in other countries. Student choice will be based less on what is good for the state and more on what is good for the individual. Geographical and regional disparity is likely to continue, for graduates will continue to prefer urban jobs to those in grassroots areas. A free market for jobs, the subject of this thesis, does not address China's regional heterogeneity and disparity. The conflict between what China needs and what individual Chinese want remains unresolved. Of the three issues addressed in the reform of graduate employment-- efficiency, responsibility and equity--the equity issue will pose most challenging conundrum.
This study began with mention of the conflict between
sinologists,
globalists, and culturalists--groups that perceive China
from quite different
perspectives. The approaches to human resources development
taken by China
can be understood only in the context of Chinese society and
culture. But the
problems would be better understood if lessons were applied
from the experiences
of other economies--the Soviet experience with allocation,
other experiences in
free-market systems. Yet virtually none of the commentary
on Chinese graduate
employment cites non-Chinese experience. Few, if any,
comparative studies exist.
The etic perspective--the outsider looking in--is valuable
because observers often
see as important what participants take for granted. Such
is the case of social
relationships in job procurement by graduates, as
illustrated by this case study of
Shenzhen University.