DO AN INSTITUTION’S POLICIES, KEY FOCUS AREAS AND ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PREDICT SATISFACTION AMONG STAFF?: A STUDY AT A MALAYSIAN RESEARCH UNIVERSITY
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Lokman Mohd Tahir, Narina A. Samah, Wahid Omar, Shahrin Mohammad, Siti Aishah Panatik, Helen Tan Sui Hong & Muhammad Hisyam Lee Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Global Higher Education Forum 6.0 (GHEF6.0) | 8 October 2018 | Le Meridien Putrajaya
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
In achieving the university’s vision and mission, several pertinent elements were identified and these include the university’s policies and the key focus areas (KFAs) for its strategic planning. These two elements along with the organisation’s values, both at the university and individual levels, were predicted to have strong linkages with the effectiveness of the university’s vision and mission.
AIMS OF STUDY
• To examine the understanding of staff towards the university’s policies, KFAs and also the organisation’s values that have been emphasised as a research-based university. • To investigate whether the university’s policies, KFAs and the organisation’s values have some influence on staff satisfaction.
dependent variable. Figure 1, below, shows the proposed research model.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Research University‘s DNA and Culture
University’s Strategic Planning (Key Focus Area)
University’s values
Staff Satisfaction
Personal values
Figure 1: The research conceptual model
Participants
IVs
DV
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. Do the staff of the research university have a clear understanding of their KFA, their DNA research culture and their organisational and personal values? 2. Do the staff feel satisfied with the services provided by the management or leadership of the research university? 3. Which elements of the research university, such as the KFA, DNA research culture or the organisational or personal values, act as significant predictors of staff satisfaction?
RESEARCH RESPONDENTS
740
University staff (total)
419
Female (majority)
287
Age between 31-40 years old (majority)
82
Academic administrators
333
Academic staff
325
Non-academic staff
RESEARCH INSTRUMENT Institutional*Research*Questionnaire*(UTM*JB)
! 2016%
No:______________%
*
Bahagian%B:%DNA%Institusi% Part!B:!Institutional!DNA% % Arahan:* Segala* soalan* adalah* berkaitan* PTJ* (Pusat* Tanggung* Jawab)* anda,* iaitu* tempat*anda*berkhidmat*atau*yang*memberi*perkhidmatan.*Sila*tandakan*(/)*dalam* kotak*pilihan*jawapan*yang*merujuk*kepada*diri*anda*seperti*berikut:* * Instruction:* All* questions* are* related* to* your* own* PTJ* (Pusat* Tanggung* Jawab),* which* is* the* place* that* you* are* currently* working* or* providing* * services* to* the* university.* Please* tick* (/)* in* the* box* of* answer* which* refers* to* your* ownselves* as* accordingly:* * Sangat* Sangat* Tidak* Tidak* Penting/* Penting/* Penting*/* Penting/* Neutral* Important* Very* Not*at*all* Not*Important* Important* important* * 1* * * * * 4* 5* 3* 2* * * % % Bil/% Sejauh%mana%PTJ%anda%memberi%keutamaan%/penekanan%kepada%perkara] No.! perkara%berikut%dalam%tindakan%dan%keputusan%mereka?* * To!what!extent!does!your!PTJ!give!priority/emphasis!on!the!following! matters!in!their!actions!and!decisions?! * 1% Ke*arah*pencapaian*enrolmen* * * * 27,000*pelajar.* * *
2%
Towards*the*target*enrolment*of* 27,000*students.* * Sebanyak*60%*pelajar*adalah* pasca*siswazah.* 60%*of*UTM*students*are* postgraduates.* *
1*
*
1*
*
2*
3*
*
*
2*
3*
4*
4*
5*
* 5*
8* *
123
Total items
University’s DNA
26 items
Key Focus Areas
45 items
Institutional Values
28 items
Staff Satisfaction
24 items
FINDINGS OF RQ1 Do the staff of the research university have a clear understanding of their KFA, their DNA research culture and their organisational and personal values? In general, it was indicated that staff had a clear understanding of the university’s KFAs based on the seven mean scores which were above 3.50. Awareness towards KFAs: • Sustainable campus, facilities, ICT, community and networking (M = 4.04) • Financial sustainability (M = 4.02) • High delivery impact (M = 4.01) Mean scores for the research university’s KFA
FINDINGS OF RQ1 (cont.) Do the staff of the research university have a clear understanding of their KFA, their DNA research culture and their organisational and personal values? Table&to&be&improved&suggested&by&Billam&
• The mean value of all DNA mean scores were ranging from a value of 3.55 (the lowest mean score) to 4.28 (the highest mean score). • Indicates that all DNA were perceived satisfactory by the administrative and academic staff. &
Mean scores of the research university’s DNA
FINDINGS OF RQ1 (cont.) Do the staff of the research university have a clear understanding of their KFA, their DNA research culture and their organisational and personal values? All 14 items were perceived to have high values by the academics and administrative staff. Personal values: • Trust (M = 4.48) • Respect (M = 4.41) • Honest (M = 4.40)
Mean scores of the research university’s values
&
Organisational values: • Respect (M = 4.22) • Honest (M = 4.21) • Initiative (M = 4.18)
FINDINGS OF RQ2 Do the staff feel satisfied with the services provided by the management or leadership of the research university? Based on the responses, the findings provide a clear understanding that staff at the research university felt contented with the services provided by the management and leadership of the university. Mean scores for staff satisfaction
FINDINGS OF RQ3 Which elements of the research university, such as the KFA, DNA research culture or the organisational or personal values, act as significant predictors of staff satisfaction? Based on the structural model: • The university’s KFAs acted as a significant predictor of staff satisfaction. • Staff personal values also indicated greater predictive ability for staff satisfaction in the direct model.
CONCLUSION • Evidently, these findings concur with previous research findings that staff have a clear understanding, which implies their satisfaction and also shows their high level of commitment to their organisation within the Malaysian organisational context (Mansoor & Tayib, 2010) and other Asian higher educational contexts (Masum, Azad & Beh, 2015). • In analysing the influence of the organisational culture on staff satisfaction, previous studies pointed out that the organisational or university cultures have a stronger role in predicting staff satisfaction within the contexts of public or private universities or HEIs (Sabri, Ilyas & Amjad, 2011). • With the high level of staff satisfaction, it is believed that the university staff have positive emotions toward their university, which has positive implications for their productivity (Chuang & Mei Tai, 2014).
CONCLUSION • Based on hierarchical regressions results, the university staff perceived that their personal values and the university’s values and KFAs have a significant influence on their satisfaction while working. In other words, the university’s research culture and setting will definitely support staff satisfaction and commitment towards the research university. • In analysing the antecedents of the staff satisfaction, it is confirmed that the organisational values emphasised by the university’s leadership and management supported staff satisfaction in a research university context. • The university staff also selected the research DNA culture as a crucial element that might affect their satisfaction. • In particular, a research culture that emphasizes research and publications was believed to emphasize cooperative interaction between staff which, in turn, was able to enhance staff satisfaction.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors would like to express their gratitude to Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia for supporting this research under the Research University Grant (RUG) of UTM (Tier 1; Ref. No: PY/2017/01815; Cost Center No. Q.J130000.2501.20H48).
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