Happiness and Its Effect on Performance For Non-Academic

Staff in Organizational Restructurisation

Dede Rahmat Hidayat
[email protected]
Department of Guidance and Counseling, Universitas Negeri Jakarta

Abstract. Restructuring in an organization will have a psychological impact on anxiety because they are
faced with uncertainty. Changes in the structure of leadership and reorganization will be followed by policy
changes forcing them to make various adjustments. Research on organizational change was generally based
on the perspective of anxiety and organizational change. The study will investigate aspects of employee’s
happiness, because even though the changes have an impact on anxiety as well as hope. This research seeks
to find out various factors that contribute to happiness and its consequences for performance. Respondents
were all non-academic staff at the postgraduate program UNJ (N= 42). Data collection uses questionnaire
happiness with a Likert scale 1-4; performance is measured by performance measurement instruments for
public services that have a Likert scale (1-5). Explotatory factor analysis was used. Results indicated
generally employees feeling happy and 4 factors that account as contributor to happiness level, and
happiness have correlation with performance.

Keywords: Happiness, performance, factors that influence performance, organizational restructuration

1. INTRODUCTION
Research on happiness at work in recent years is increasingly being done [1]. Satisfaction in action is a
situation where employees feeling pleasure in working and feeling as if they are not working, this increases
efficiency and can achieve the expected targets, both individual and organizational levels and will produce
positive work behavior and this will encourage productivity and achievement of organizational goals [2] [3].
Employees who feel happy will be more productive than those who are unhappy. They have better performance
pleasant to help co-workers and better in serving customers. They can do more tasks and have more loyalty to
the institution [4]. Conversely, employees whom unhappy do not have deep attention to their duties [3].
Increasingly the happiness of employees in the organization will provide benefits, both individually and
organizationally Allen & McCarthy [5].
Although still debatable about whether success causes them to be happy, or happiness, which causes
them to be satisfied. Generally, the assumption about the relationship between two variables said that they are
comfortable and confident because they are successful. However, Rath and Harter (2018) concluded that
happiness is the source of success. Happiness is not only correlated with success in the workplace but also
becomes to be a driver for positive emotions and its impact to improve the outcome of a job [6].
How if the organization where the employee works are undergoing a re-structurization? Some studies
show that in the process of restructuring organization employee or staff generally feeling anxiety. In the
psychological perspective, the redesign is a change, and usually, adjustments will have an impact on anxiety
Alqahtani & Alajmi, [7] This anxiety arises because the change will change the comfort that has been felt.
Although in the future it is expected to improve overall organizational performance [8]. Postgraduate program
Universitas Negeri Jakarta at the end of 2017 has undergone an organizational restructuring, consist
changing structure of the organization, replacing employees based on competency and replacing head of unit.
Restructuring is expected to increase the efficiency and productivity of the organization. The impact is
resettlement and change of policy because the leadership changes. This study seeks to investigate the
psychological aspects of employees against these changes, using the perspective of subjective well-being.
The research question in this study are:
1. What is the level of employee happiness after organizational restructuring
2. What factors that have contribution happiness and its consequences for their performance

1.1 Defining happiness at work

Happiness related in the workplace is explained as a form of positive feeling. Moccia [9] described the
three levels of joy in the workplace, namely transient level, person level, and unit level. Refers to Weiss and
Cropanzano Moccia [9] temporary levels are interpreted as feeling happy in themselves, including state positive

ICRMH 2019, September 18-19, Jakarta, Indonesia

Copyright © 2020 EAI
DOI 10.4108/eai.18-9-2019.2293320
moods and emotions, the experience of flow and discrete emotion such as joy, pleasure, happiness, and
commitment. This is what explains why someone sometimes has a better mood than usual. Person- level
happiness is interpreted by various variants of interest that occur between individuals; generally, research on
happiness is at this level. Joy, at this level includes dispositional affectivity, job satisfaction, affective
commitment, and typical mood at work. The unit level is described as happiness collective as a team, work unit,
or organization.

1.2 Sources of happiness at work

Moccia [9] explains the sources of happines at work are from the environment, which consists of an
organizational level, job level, and event level. Maenapothi Chaiprasit & Santidhiraku [2] more explains
merely the factors that determine happiness at work; there are work inspiration, work relations, leadership,
and quality of work life.

1.3 Happiness and performance

Generally, happiness will have an impact on better quality of life [9]. In the scope of the organization,
happiness will affect job satisfaction [10], and a common effect is positive work behavior, which will then
affect work performance. In this study, the contributing factors to work use the concept developed by
Maenapothi thus can be described as the constellation of research regarding the factors that determine
performance.

X1 Work Inspiration

X2 Works relations

Y1 Happiness at Y2 Work
work performance

X3 Leadership

X4 Quality of work-life
Fig 1. Conceptual model of causes and consequences happiness to performance

2. METHODS

2.1 Respondents
Respondents are non-academic staff in the UNJ Postgraduate program (N = 42); the sample is a
population. They work in the finance, academic, library, and public services departments.

2.2. Materials
The instrument used to measure the factors that influence happiness consists of work inspiration, work
relations, leadership and work-life and happiness at work using tools developed by Maenopathy Chaiprasit
& Santidhiraku [2] which are instruments in the form of self-tests with Likert scale (1-4). The instrument for
performance measurement are using a performance measurement that is public service developed by
Vorontchuk with a Likert level (1-5) [11]. Data is collected using questionnaires and given to employees, so
it is self-test except for performance. Performance appraisal is carried out by superiors towards their
subordinate.
3. RESULT

Data analysis was carried out in two forms; those are descriptive and inferential. Descriptive data
presenting mean score of all research variables.
The result has shown if non-academic staff (employee) has happinnes level are high (mean = 3,07 on
1-4 scale), either level of performance of that has shown average – to high level too (mean =
3.23 on a scale of 1-5). In this case, the superiors judge that their subordinates can work generally well.
In terms of happiness, it can be seen that in general, the employees have a right level of satisfaction (mean
= 3.07 on a 1-4 scale). For the factor that determines the lowest score happiness is leadership, in this case,
the perception of subordinates about superiors at the postgraduate level feels that the command is quite
good (mean =
2.88 on a 1-4 scale).
Level happiness of non-academic staff average and up (mean = 3,07, four scales). Not too much different
with work performance. It is mean generally non-staffs academic are happy.

Table 1 . Mean of all variables

No Variable Mean SD Cronbach Scale
Alfa
1 Work inspiration 2.90 0.24 0,634 1-4
2 Work relation 3.06 0.34 0,657 1-4
3 Leadership 2.88 0.46 0,919 1-4
4 Quality of Work Life 2.99 0.48 0,726 1-4
5 Happiness 3.07 0.45 0,907 1-4
6 Work performance 3.23 0.34 0.904 1-5

3,5

2,5

1,5

Work Work LeadershipQuality of Happiness Work

Inspiration relation work life Perfomance

Fig 2. Graphic of the mean value of the research variables

The inferential analysis results carried out a model test of the factors that determine happiness and happiness
to assess performance with the Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) using Partial Least Square (PLS)
software.
 Fig 3. Test model for happiness and performance

Result of test model are happiness correlates with performance but not significantly (R = .277> p = .5) and
together all variables X (work inspiration, organizational relations, leadership and quality of work-life) are the
causal factors from happiness has a positive and significant correlation (R = .523 > .5). It can be interpreted
that staff (employee) gets the elements that make them happy, and happiness giving an impact on work
performance (r =. 227 <. 5). Partial test correlation between all variables and the results has already done, and the
result.

Table 2. Relationship between all variables

No Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Work inspiration - 0,587 0,692 0,241 0,231 -0,038
2 Work relation 0,587 - 0,161 0,060 -0,108 0,423
3 Leadership 0,692 0,161 - -0,178 0,450 -0,178
4 Quality of Work Life 0,241 0,060 -0,178 - 0,193 0,022
5 Happiness 0,231 -0,108 0,450 0,193 - 0,266
6 Work performance -0,038 0,423 -0,178 0,022 0,266 -

There are have correlations between all variables X (X1, X2, X3, X4 and Y1, and Y2 variables) that of
life and happiness) but negatively correlated with performance. Organizational relationships are positively
correlated with work inspiration, with direction, but negatively correlated with satisfaction and accomplishment.
Leadership is positively associated with work motivation, corporate relations, and happiness, but negatively
correlates with the quality of life and performance. Quality of life is positively correlated with almost all variables,
although not significant, except with leadership that is negatively correlated. Happiness has positively correlated
with all variables except organizational relations, while performance is are positively correlated (work inspiration
with work relation, leadership, quality almost all negatively correlated except with corporate relationships that
have a positive and significant correlation.
There are new conditions in the results of partial correlation analysis above that organizational
relationships have a negative correlation with happiness. Even though it is generally found that people who have
good corporate bonds will have a higher level of satisfaction. For advance, analysis of the contribution of each
independent variable is carried out on the dependent variable.

Table 3. Score P for all relationship between all independent variables with the dependent variables

P-value
Work relation Happiness 0,399
Work relation Work performance 0,118
Work Inspiration Happiness 0,165
Work Inspiration Work performance 0,985
Happiness Work performance 0,433
Leadership Happiness 0,035
Leadership Work performance 0,525
Quality of work-life Happiness 0,278
Quality of work-life Work performance 0,998

The highest contributing factor for happiness was organizational relations (p = .399) then quality of life
(p = .278). For the factors that determine performance through happiness are work inspiration and quality of life.
This means that the great inspiration for work and the good quality of life of employees will have an impact on
the high level of performance of employees.

4. DISCUSSION

The organizational restructuring program carried out at the UNJ Postgraduate Program, which has been
associated with positive results. In this study, the results show that happines level of employee is high. And also
with the performance, their level performance is quite good. The variable used to find out the supporting factor
for this performance is happiness. The factors that cause satisfaction are work inspiration, organizational
relations, leadership, and quality of work life.

The results of the analysis of the happiness model affect the performance of the results showing that there is
a non-significant positive relationship between happiness and achievement. The meaning is that even though
postgraduate non- academic staff generally feel quite happy while working at UNJ, but that happiness has no
significant implications for performance. The results of this study are somewhat different from several other
studies which state that happy people will have high performance [2] [3]. The level of happiness UNJ employees
has not contributed to the high performance of non- academic staff.

There are many causes of the insignificant relationship between happiness and performance, first based on
the results of the psychological assessment conducted previously it was found that only a few staff (less than
10%) were recommended to be maintained because of their excellent workability. Conversely, most (more than
50%) are not recommended to be kept but are recommended for mutasion and demotion, but this recommendation
is not fully implemented because there is a limited authority from the new leader so that there is still much staff
who do not have a match between fields of expertise and assignments. Second. Changes in leadership and work
patterns. Replacement of postgraduate leader has an impact on the leadership style, and work patterns applied.
As in general, changes will cause inconvenience. It seems that not all employees feel comfortable with the current
conditions, especially about more task- oriented leadership.

5. CONCLUSION

In general, level happiness UNJ postgraduate nonacademic staff is high. But for this case happiness level of
employees do not always have implications for performance. The performance of employee has a good level.
According to the appraisers (superior), the crews showed performance, which in general was quite good. Even
based on partial correlation analysis data obtained leadership has no relationship to performance. There appears
to be inconvenience from employees towards the ongoing direction. This condition is possible given that there
have been quite several drastic changes in the leadership at the UNJ postgraduate program and the management
style that is being implemented now. The demand for excellent service quality, tightening of the budget, and
orientation towards the task causes a change from the comfort zone (comfort zone) to a condition that gives
higher demands and is work-oriented. In addition to the placement of employees, it does not adequately consider
the capacity and harmony of employees.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I want to thank Professor Ilza Mayuni as director of Postgraduate Program Universitas Negeri Jakarta for her
support and give a grant for this research. I am also grateful for Dr. M.Yusro, Ph.D, and Dr. Sudrajat Wiradiharja
for their generous help in the data collection process.

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