Leadership and Management in China: Philosophies, Theories, and Practices

procedural justice. This advocates that the individual who occupies the
higher position among interacting parties should have the power to
make decisions. It also proposes a principle of favoring intimates as the
formula for distributive justice. This principle demands the decision-
maker distribute resources on the basis ofrendao,i.e. should adopt the
need rule for interacting with family members, and therenqing(affect-
ive) rule for interacting with acquaintances in his network ofguanxi
(relationships) outside the family (Figure 4.1). The principles of
favoring the intimate and respecting the superior are Confucian ethical
requirements for everybody, so they can be termed ‘‘ethics for ordinary
people.’’ The practice of such ethics is elaborated in the following
subsections.

instrumental

ties

The psychological process of the resource allocator

mixed

ties

expressive

ties

equity rule

renqing rule

need rule

objective

decision-making

dilemma of

renqing

conflicts

inside family

1. Judging the guanxi 2. Rule for 3. Psychological conflict
   social
   exchange

expressive component

instrumental component

petitioner

Yi

(Righteousness)

Li

(Propriety)

Ren

(Benevolence)

Figure 4.1.The Confucian ethical system of benevolence–righteousness–
propriety for ordinary people.

Source: Adapted from Hwang (1995: 233).

124 Kwang-kuo Hwang