Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

5-2005

Abstract

Against the background of a rapidly changing business environment, the article examines the organisational change management behavior of the owner-managers of small and medium-sized enterprises in Singapore. The analysis of survey data is aimed at ascertain whether there are any differences between Chinese and English-educated small (Chinese) businessmen in terms of Change Management (CM), a dichotomy which is of great historical and politico-cultural significance in Singapore. The survey data show that there are indeed differences between the subgroups (e.g. with regard to the initiation of a more participatory people management style) but these variations turned out to be far less pronounced than expected. Access to information appears to be a key antecedent of the various change management approaches used by both groups. Chinese-educated businessmen in particular seem to be somewhat disadvantaged in this respect as the modern management literature is largely published in English.

Keywords

Ethnic Chinese, Singapore, small and medium enterprises, change management

Discipline

Asian Studies | Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Die Betriebswirtschaft

Volume

25

Issue

2

First Page

154

Last Page

177

ISSN

0342-7064

Publisher

Schäffer-Poeschel

Copyright Owner and License

Publisher

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