The adoption of the philosophy of sufficience economy and its impacts on the employees' perspective and the organization's productivity : An action research on the river group

Abstract

The purpose of this study was threefold: 1) to explore and report on the processes of adopting the Guideline for Applying the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy to a Manufacturing Organization (Guideline), 2) to observe the changes in the employees’ perspective and in the organization’s productivity after the organization has adopted the Guideline, and finally 3) to investigate the relationship among the employee’s perspectives on Quality of Work Life (QWL), Employee Engagement (EE), and the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy (PSE). To accomplish these purposes, to answer the research questions, and to test the propositions, this research focused on studying the processes and impacts of adopting the Guideline as an Organization Development Intervention (ODI) at the River Group from the pragmatist perspective by employing the action research approach and using the nested mixed methods. The intervention was naturally and holistically bounded into three action cycles over a nine-month period from April to December, 2012. The goal of this planned change was to successfully adopt the Guideline, to gain favorable benefits from the adoption, and to yield sufficient learning.

In studying the processes and employees’ experiences of adopting the Guideline, the researcher used a qualitative research tool. The researcher summarized that participated employees had 1) changed to do good and be virtuous, 2) properly managed their revenues and expense, and 3) seeked for more revenues. They also had been aware of uncertainty. They, consequently, had prepared for changes and planned for the future. Relating to work life, they expressed more cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement with the organization. In addition, they had been aware of the idea of sufficiency and of a happier life. In studying of the impacts from the intervention, the researcher adopted the quantitative method with a pretest-posttest control group, using a quasi-experimental design. The study found that after the experimental mill adopted the Guideline, the employees’ QWL was better and the employees were more engaged with the organization. However, there was no significant difference regarding the organization’s productivity. By the way, there was a significant positive correlation among the PSE, QWL, and EE. These findings support the idea that the PSE is an integral science and should be classified under humanistic philosophy. The PSE is an alternative theory of development, leading to sustainability. In addition, applying the PSE in a business organization can be considered as both classical organization development and organization transformation. The grateful relationship orientation of Thais helps explain the relationships among the variables in this study. However, the finding opposes the notion that QWL and EE enhance higher productivity. Finally, as the PSE is multidimensional and being interdisciplinary, it requires lifelong learning activities. The researcher, therefore, proposes conducting a longitudinal study on the River Group, replicating the study with another organization, and if conditions allow, using paired data collection and analysis, further exploring how the PSE leads to sustainable development and/or corporate sustainability, and further exploring the relationships among QWL, EE, and productivity.