The readiness and willingness in China for OD change: A mixed method study of Chinese management

China's economic market has been rapidly growing since the early 1980s, increasing the Chinese government's concern that trends in the economic sector will influence other sectors of society and dilute government control. Most studies of modern China have focused on social, economic, and political changes, but relatively little on the state, influence, and growth of organization development (OD) in China.; This study assesses the readiness and willingness of Chinese management to assimilate and apply Western-style OD to help them manage the economic expansion in their unique institutional and political context. The following research questions were posed: Is China ready for OD? Are Chinese managers, first, ready for OD and, second, willing to apply OD? Finally, how might OD function in a high control environment such as China's?; This author used Hofstede's cultural dimension values survey to test Chinese managers' readiness to change, and used the Likert profile organization characteristics survey and interview to diagnose managers' willingness to change during contextual shifts: (a) to describe the current organizational climate; (b) to discern how managers perceive an ideal organizational climate and the ideal culture from which it derives; and (c) to identify how strategic control is institutionalized within an organization and how it can be improved. The Likert profile of organization characteristics was selected for ease of use and appropriateness for Chinese culture. This study references institutional theory, theories of control mechanism, Confucian school of thought, Hofstede's cultural dimension values survey, and agency theory to illustrate how managers institutionalize strategic control when facing the ambiguities of learning Western management through catalytic and contagious processes.; Two groups of managers were selected for this research: one from the Chinese government, the other from private firms in various industrial sectors. Survey results showed both groups have similar perceptions regarding current and future organizational characteristics, but individuals who received institutionalized, overseas training improved more during training in perceiving ideal future organizational characteristics. This study concludes that Chinese managers are willing and ready for change, but their perceptions can be changed more effectively through strategically institutionalized learning processes than by simple association.