團隊內競爭與合作氣氛與研發人員的創造力: 內在動機與外在動機的互動

Abstract

研發人員是高科技公司競爭優勢的重要組成因素。高科技公司面臨競爭壓力，必須不斷提升研發能量，因此，研發人員管理的議題也日益受到關注。如何提升研發人員的創造力，對組織而言，成為至關重要的問題。 研發人員所在的團隊在激發創造力中扮演著重要的角色。本研究聚焦於兩個團隊層次的因子：團隊內競爭的氛圍與團隊內合作的氛圍，探討這兩個因子對研發人員創造力的影響。基於動機綜效模型並進一步發展其理論，本研究提供了一個跨層次的研究模型，團隊內競爭的氛圍與團隊內合作的氛圍通過個人層次的內在與外在動機的調節中介，進而影響到團隊中研發人員的創造力。 本研究通過對54個研發團隊的238名研發人員的問卷調查及分析，發現團隊內競爭氛圍對研發人員創造力的影響低於預期，而團隊內合作氛圍則對研發人員創造力有顯著的裨益。同時，內在動機與外在動機存在交互作用：對內在動機低的研發人員而言，提升他們的外在動機可以有效的增強其創造力表現；而對內在動機高的研發人員而言，外在動機的增加反而會減弱其創造力表現。因此，團隊內競爭的氛圍與團隊內合作的氛圍對研發人員創造力的影響，需要視團隊內研發人員內在動機與外在動機的狀況而定。

Research and development (R&D) professionals have been recognized as a key factor in strengthening high-tech organizations’ competitive advantage(Chien et al., 2010). The management of R&D professionals has emerged as an important topic as organizations seek constantly to optimize their research potential in the face of growing competitive pressures (Manolopoulos, 2006). Therefore, how to promote creativity of R&D engineers has become a pivotal issue for many organizations. The team context in which employee are embedded plays a central role in stimulating creativity(Amabile & Conti, 1999; Hirst et al., 2011; Shalley et al., 2004). This research focuses on two team contextual factors: intra-team competition and collaboration climate, and examines their effects on individual’s creativity for R&D engineers. Based on and extending the motivational synergy theory(Amabile, 1993), this research delineates a cross-level model that specifies how individual R&D engineer’s creativity relates to intra-team competition and collaboration climates through the moderated mediation of individual engineer’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Test results from a sample of 54 teams and 238 engineers show that the effects of competition on creativity are less pronounced than expected, while the effects of collaboration on creativity receive strong support. The interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is supported: for people with low intrinsic motivation, increasing extrinsic motivation significantly increases their creativity, while for people with high intrinsic motivation, increasing extrinsic motivation significantly decreases their creativity. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.