คุณภาพชีวิตในการทำงานของเจ้าหน้าที่สถาบันวิจัยและพัฒนาพื้นที่สูง (องค์การมหาชน) จังหวัดเชียงใหม่

Abstract

This study has the objective to examine the work environment as well as problems in the working life of personnel of the Highland Research and Development Institute (Public Organization) headquartered in Chiang Mai Province. The needed information was collected through questionnaire interview from totally 187 HRDI personnel, distinguishable into 96 field operational officers and 91 practitioner officers. The quality of working life was assessed upon eight aspects as indicators including 1) the adequate and fair compensation, 2) the safe and health wellness enhancing workplace environment, 3) the career advancement and security, 4) the opportunity for human resource development, 5) the working together and relationship with others at workplace, 6) the right to privacy, 7) the life tempo, and 8) the contribution to the society. The analysis was based on the results of descriptive statistics and Likert’ scale rating. In addition, t-test was performed to discern whether statistical difference exists between the field operational officers and the practitioner officers in terms of their perception about the quality of working life and problems arising from works and workplace environment. The findings on the part of field operational workers indicated that the majority of them can be described as female, single in marital status, 35 years old on the average, master’s degree graduate, holding the work position of officer level 3 – 5, having 7 years’ work experience with the HRDI, and earning 18,001 – 25,000 baht monthly income. Their overall quality of working life was assessed to be at good level. The highest rated indicator of quality of life in question appeared to be the contribution to the society for the attributes that the HRDI has been working in support of various Royal Project Development Centers and Royal Project’s Achievements Extension Projects to help improve the quality of life of the hill-tribe population with widely recognized successful results, and that the HRDI has worked in advocacy to get its personnel to have an awareness about contribution to the society. The second highest rated indicator was found to be the opportunity for human resource development for the attributes that one has the opportunity to fully use his/her knowledge and capability in the execution of his/her duty and tasks, and that the higher or supervisory level officers invariably give support to and encourage their sub-ordinates to attend various training courses. With respect to problems related to works and work conditions, as a whole there was a moderate degree of complaints. The most common problems encountered were the stress from works and the rather low level of monthly income and welfare provision considering the heavy burden of works. The second most common problem was the routine working procedure making it boring to perform the tasks. Among the practitioner officers under study, the majority can be characterized as female, married, 39 years old on the average, bachelor’s degree graduate, holding the work position of officer level 3 – 5, having averagely 7 years’ work experience with the HRDI, and earning monthly income in the range of 18,001 – 25,000 baht. Their quality of working life as a whole was considered to be at good level. The highest rated indicator of such quality of life was found to be the contribution to the society for the reasons that the HRDI has been working to support and reinforce the operations of various Royal Project Development Centers and Royal Project’ Achievements Extension Projects to improve the quality of life of the hill-tribe population with widely recognized successful results, and that the HRDI has worked in advocacy to get its personnel to have an awareness about contribution to the society. The second highest rated indicator was the life tempo in the sense that the works at workplace do not hamper the personal life thus enabling these officers to manage and allocate their time appropriately for office works, family, social activities, and private life. Meanwhile, problems related to works and work environment as a whole was assessed to be moderate. Specifically, the most serious common problem was the routine working procedure making it boring for these officers to perform well their tasks. The second most recognized problem appeared to be the partisan behavior and practice within the organization. Different results were obtained from the test of difference between the field operational officers and the practitioner officers in terms of their perception about the quality of their working life and problems arising from works and work environment. Both groups were statistically significantly different in their perception about the safe and health wellness enhancing work environment and the tempo of life, and specifically those practitioner officers rated their quality of working life resulted from these two aspects relatively higher than did the field operational officers. Meanwhile, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups concerning different items of problems at workplace.