About 120 Chinese private entrepreneurs participated in three project workshops on Human Resources Management (HR) this June. Main focus of the workshops in Hengshui (Hebei), Dalian (Liaoning) and Anshan (Liaoning) was on practical experiences and strategies of major Chinese and German enterprises. The project had previously organized similar HR Management workshops in Kunming, Guiyang, and Handan last summer.

Dr. Dieter Jaehrling, former chief of HR development with Audi and Volkswagen, presented the carmaker's internal training systems for employees as well as key factors of leadership development. Personnel selection in the hiring process, staff evaluation and methods of retaining most-valuable-players in the enterprise - these were highlights in the presentation of Dr. Xia Yong of the Legend Group, one of China's largest non-state enterprises. Hermann Mayer, Director of Corporate Human Resources with Siemens China, Ltd., introduced the electronics giant's approach to view each employee as an "entrepreneur within the enterprise" and thus encourage a high sense of responsibility.

All experts shared a strong preference of flat enterprise organization structures with few levels of management, joint definition of goals between managers and employees, and a high degree of independence in each employee's method of reaching the goals. They pointed out that in today's global economy, the importance of staff quality and qualifications as well as their professional liberty and personal identification with the "corporate family" is continuously growing. To the participating private entrepreneurs, many of these presented ideas were highly relevant for future implementation in their own enterprises.

Zhong Ming, expert moderator of the German Institute for International Management (IFIM), guided through the workshop discussions and a variety of HR-related role-plays. At the end of each workshop, he presented the results of surveys on job incentives carried out earlier among the participants.

In the evenings, participants were offered an opportunity to discuss with the experts and workshop organizers of DIHT and ACFIC about their individual business needs and possible projects of cooperation with German enterprises. Helmut Schoenleber, DIHT project director in China, informed about ways to initiate and increase contacts with Germany. Forty participating entrepreneurs inquired about possible DIHT assistance in establishing such contacts.