An Assessment of Organisational Change through International Human Resource Management Practices in Chinese Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in Africa

This article draws attention to the nature and strategies of organisational change through International Human Resource Management (IHRM) in Chinese Multinational Corporations (MNCs) from their headquarters to African subsidiaries, specifically the agents as change generators, change implementers and change adopters. It begins with a review of the literature on change management through IHRM in Chinese MNCs in Africa. And then based on cross-level and in-depth data, it focuses on one Chinese MNC in the telecommunication sector, Huawei, to analyze its strategies for managing change and the agents that influence the organisational change from its headquarter in Shenzhen, China to its subsidiary in Accra, Ghana. It examines the transferability of an organisational change model through IHRM in the western contexts from China to Africa with adaptation of unique Chinese characteristics and under African conditions. This research provides theoretical foundation to both academics and practitioners on the nature, strategies and change agents through IHRM practices in Chinese MNCs when they are transferred into different contexts, especially in Africa.