A Study on Downsizing the Taiwan Provincial Government
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Date of Award
1997
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Format
Abstract
A sudden announcement by the ruling party in Taiwan to downsize the provincial government has created heated controversy in the society. As productivity of the Taiwan government organizations is low, the ruling party decided to downsize the provincial level of government.
The provincial printing agency in this case now faces an uncertain future and its productivity and morale further declined significantly. The agency faces a serious challenge to improve its productivity and morale.
The author conducted a questionnaire survey in the agency and found that the motivation within the organization is not effective, because the motivation, as in other government agencies, is based on Theory X and Bureaucratic Values.
The questionnaire study included two samples: the Provincial printing agency and one large computer chip maker in Taiwan. The statistical results show that there is no significant difference in motivation orientations between the two samples. In contrast to the old assumption that the government employees would be Theory X oriented, the research found that the government employees also need motivation at high levels of the need hierarchy.
It is concluded in this study that the productivity problem in Taiwan's government may not be because of the redundancy of the provincial level, but because of the lack of true motivation of government employees. To improve the government productivity, whether the provincial level is downsized or not, the central government needs to reassess the current reward and penalty policies, incentive programs and other motivation systems, to incorporate Theory Y and Humanistic Values. Only when the public employees are motivated, can the government's productivity be improved.