In the late 1970s, China’s party leaders realized that China was not able to\ud
develop in isolation. Their aim of “learning from advanced countries” also\ud
implied bringing change to China on all business-related levels. However,\ud
both Chinese and Western practitioners and scholars agree on the\ud
inappropriateness of any change approach alien to Chinese specification.\ud
To bridge this void, this research directs its interest towards a substantive\ud
theorizing upon the Jesuits’ Accommodation approach in China (1583-1742).\ud
To do so, Hermeneutic Phenomenology, rooted within the Utrecht School\ud
and following Max van Manen, establishes a renewed contact with the\ud
Jesuits’ Accommodation experience outside its traditional research\ud
environment.\ud
Grounded in an exhaustive description of the Accommodation phenomenon\ud
along its meaning-units, a reflective analysis into the structural aspects of the\ud
Jesuits’ lived Accommodation experience allows eight essential themes to be\ud
abstracted. Becoming the building blocks of a substantive Theory of the\ud
Unique, these themes summarize all requirements that are reflected in,\ud
and/or concern Context, Course, and Content of any Sinicized change\ud
approach able to in-culturate/accommodate (foreign) persons|change-agents,\ud
(unfamiliar) ideas|concepts, and (alien) approaches|international bestpractices\ud
into a Chinese environment.\ud
As a result, research into the Jesuits’ Accommodation approach provides\ud
Chinese and Western management practitioners and scholars with one new\ud
substantive approach to act towards the Chinese Others with thoughtfulness\ud
and tact in a fresh and systematic way.\ud
Further conceptualized and Sinicized, applying The Chinese Change\ud
Concept—The 3C-Approach in a contemporary Chinese organizational\ud
environment finally allows to effectively manage change in Chinese\ud
organizational settings today