THE EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE ON TEAM CREATIVITY, JOB SATISFACTION, ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT, AND WORK PERFORMANCE

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1 THE EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE ON TEAM CREATIVITY, JOB SATISFACTION, ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT, AND WORK PERFORMANCE Angela Shin-yih Chen National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan, ROC Yu-Hsiang Hou Chung-Shan Institute of Sciences and Technology, Taiwan, ROC Kai-Tang Fan National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan, ROC ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of team creativity, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work performance under the impact of an on-going organizational change. A government-owned military-based R&D institute is selected to be the major target due to their recent reengineering process. 400 scientists distributed in 32 R&D teams will receive paper-based survey. The collect data will be used to examine the following research questions: What s the relationship between team creativity and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, as well as work performance? And Will the perception of organizational change moderate the relationship of creativity and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work performance? This study is expected to have both theoretical and practical implications for creativity research. INTRODUCTION Facing of the tide of globalization, one of the major challenges for human resource professionals is how to gain organizational competitive advantage in the rapidly changing environment. For any organization, an appropriate manpower structure in one approach to maintain effective organization performance (Jones, 2007). The major target populations of this research are the military of Taiwan, which facing a major organizational change these years. The 2006 National Defense Report of Republic of China points out that in order to maintain national combat readiness, further improve the quality of the military personnel, and to better utilize defense resource, it is necessary to adjust the military structure (National Defense Report, Republic of China, 2006). Therefore, since year 2004, the national military force started the reengineering process. The organizational structure became fewer levels and the military manpower were reduced from 380,000 people to 275,000 people, reaching a downsize scale of 27.6%. The final goal is to reduce military manpower to 200,000 people by year In such a reengineering process, the

2 remaining staff will obviously have more workloads and fewer promotion opportunities. Under such influence, what kind of impact will have on their performance? The purpose of this study is to explore how on-going organizational change affects employees work outputs in a R&D institute. Specifically, we want to examine the relationship of team creativity, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, work performance, and organizational change. Based on the research purpose, we develop the following research questions for further examination: 1. What s the relationship between team creativity and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, as well as work performance? 2. Will the perception of organizational change moderate the relationship of creativity and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work performance? LITERATURE REVIEW Creativity is important to any organization s innovation. The term creativity is often defined as the generation of ideas, and innovation is the implementation of theses ideas (Amabile et al., 1996; Politis, 2005). In order for employee to be creative, it is necessary that the organization provide a supportive process and environment (Amabile, 1998; Eyton, 1996; Goldsmith, 1996, Politis, 2005). Many researchers and practitioners stated that the environmental factors are conducive to creativity (Amabile, 1996; Politis, 2005). When employees perceived the workplace climate is high degree of challenge, involvement and trust, they feel motivated and committed to making contributions. On the contrast, when employees feel the environment is uncertain, low tolerance of ambiguity, less freedom and idea time for work, they become hesitate to take risk, and thus less motivated and committed to making contributions. (Isaksen, et. al., ). When an organization is experiencing organizational change, such as: re-structuring, downsizing, or merging, it will cause employees the feelings of anxiety, stress, and insecurity, and resulting impact on employees productivity, satisfaction, and commitment toward the organization (Ashford, et. al., 1989). According to the literature, research purpose and research questions, we develop a research framework to demonstrate the relations of variables. In this study, the team creativity is the independent variables. Job satisfaction, work performance and organizational commitment are the dependent variables. The perception of organizational change is the moderating variable. The framework is shown below: Organizational Change Work Performance Team Creativity Job satisfaction Organizational Commitment

3 METHOD Subjects A government-owned military-based R&D institute is selected to be the major target of this study. There are approximately 600 employees in this R&D institute and about 400 (67 %) of them are R&D professionals. Since this is a government-owned organization, the benefits and employment are better and more steady than most of the private organizations, so the employees intention of turnover is very low. However, the employees are facing the threat of reengineering since 2004, and the reengineering process is still continuing until year 2012, therefore, they are selected to explore the effect of organizational change on this study s variables. The participants are distributed in 32 R&D teams in this institute. The participants are highly educated; 62.5% holds master degree, with the area of highest degree in science and engineering. 90% are men, and their average age is 45 years and average tenure is 15 years. Measures Creativity will be measured by Kirton s (1976) 32-item adoption-innovation Inventory. High scores indicated an innovative orientations, or an ability to do things differently, and low scores indicated an adaptive orientation, or an ability to do things better. To measure Organizational Commitment, 12 items reported by O Reilly and Chatman s (1986) will be used. The scale contains such items as: If the values of this organization were different, I would not be as attached to this organization. And I am proud to tell others that I am a part of this organization. Job Satisfaction will be measured by the 20-item Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (Weiss, Dawis, England, & Lofquist, 1967). It has 2 dimensions on intrinsic satisfaction and extrinsic satisfaction. Intrinsic satisfaction involves such items as: being able to keep busy all the time and the feeling of accomplishment I get from the job. Extrinsic satisfaction involves such items as: the chances for advancement on this job and the working conditions. For work performance, there are two evaluation methods: subjective and objective performance evaluation. First, Williams and Anderson s 8-item of in-role performance will be used to measure selfperception on one s work performance. The questions contain such items as: I adequately completes assigned duties and I fulfills responsibilities specified in job description. For objective performance score, supervisors annual performance appraisal will be used. The criteria for performance appraisal are technical quality, budget and cost performance, the number of R&D publications, and overall group performance. For the variable of Organizational Change, Ashford, Lee, and Bobko's (1989) measurement on total job insecurity will be adapted. Sample items are: "How important to you personally is the possibility that you may he moved to a lower level in the organization?" and "How likely is it that you might he lay off for a short while?" DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS This study will use the paper-based survey to collect data. Before formal distribution, we will conduct a pilot test to ensure the face validity of the questionnaires. For formal distribution, participants will complete questionnaires at the organizational during normal business hours. All information will be treated confidentially. The use of statistical software SPSS v.10.0, descriptive statistical analysis, reliability analysis, factor analysis of the independent samples t-test, ANOVA, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and other statistical methods to verify the data.

4 ANTICIPATED CONTRIBUTIONS Theoretical Implication Our study will have some theoretical implication for creativity research. From Zhou and George's study, the empirical data supports that job dissatisfaction can results creativity with employee commitment and environmental supports (Zhou and George, 2001). For our study, we would like to observe the relationship of creativity, job satisfaction and job commitment from a different direction. The related findings or theory are few. It is hoped that our findings can generate new knowledge to this field. Practical Implication Our research has practical implications for managers or organization that is undergoing organizational change. By identifying the relationships of independent and dependent variables, the managers and organization can better understand the process of organizational change and find ways to enhance staff of the organization and improve employee performance and job satisfaction. REFERENCES Amabile, M T., Conti, R., Coon, Lazenby, H., J., & Herron, M. (1996). Assessing the work environment for creativity, Academy of Management Journal, 39(2), Amabile, T.M.(1998). A model of creativity and innovation in organizations. In Staw, B. M. and Cummings, L.L. (Eds.), Research in Organisational Behaviour, 10, Greenwich, CT: JAI. Press Ashford, S. J., Lee, C., & Bobko, P. (1989). Contant, causes, and consequences of job in security: A theory-based measure and substantive test. Academy of Management Journal, 32(4): Bharadwaj, S. & A. Menon.,(2000) Making innovation happen in organizations: individual creativity mechanisms, organizational creativity mechanisms or both? The Journal of Product Innovation Management, 17(6), pp Eyton, R. (1996). Making innovation fly. Ivey Business Quarterly,61(1), 59. Goldsmith, C. (1996). Overcoming roadblocks to innovation. Marketing News, 30(24), 4. Goris, J. R., Pettit, J. D., & Vaught, B. C. (2002). Organizational communication: Is it a moderator of the relationship between job congruence and job performance/satisfaction? International Journal of Management, 19(4): Hui, C., & Lee, C. (2000). Moderating effects of organization-based self-esteem on organizational uncertainty: employee response relationships. Journal of Management, 26(2), Isaksen, S. G.., Lauer, K. J., Ekvall, G., & Britz, A. ( ). Perceptions of the best and worst climates for creativity: Preliminary validation evidence for the situational outlook questionnaire. Creativity Research Journal, 13(2), Jones, G. R. (2007). Organizational Theory, Design, and Change (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Keller (1986). Predictors of the performance of project groups in R&D organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 29(4), Kirtin, M. J. (1976). Adaptors and Innovators: A description and Measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61(5), Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C (2006) National Defense Report, The Republic of China. Retrived from O Reilly, C., and Chatman, J. (1986). Organizational commitment and psychological attachment: the effects of compliance, identification, and internalization on proposal behavior. Journal of Appling Psychology, 71(3), Pettit, J. D., Goris, J. R., & Vaught, B. C. (1997). An examination of organizational communication as a moderator of the relationship between job performance and job satisfaction. The Journal of Business Communication, 34(1),

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