International Journal of Management and Applied Science, ISSN: 2394-7926 Volume-6, Issue-4, Apr.-2020 http://iraj.in RESEARCH ON ORGANIZATIONAL MERGER AND ADMINISTRATIVE EFFICIENCY IN

1TSANG-TA TSAI, 2CHIA-NAN WANG

1,2National University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract - This paper focuses on the administrative effectiveness of organizational mergers.The main research objectives areunderstanding efficiencyaffect, and benefit. This research uses document analysis to do the study. A depth interview questionnaire is designed and used. The results are positive for management efficiency, low integration impact and good benefits. This merger is successful and good contributions.

Keywords - Organizational Development, Organizational Merger, Efficiency, Document Analysis.

I. INTRODUCTION merged and transformed the administrative organization, is the administrative effectiveness? On December 25, 2010, Taiwan completed the Really, improvement as expected? Alternatively, is election of the mayors of big 5 municipalities, and the actual situation after the merger far from Taiwan officially implemented the administrative expected? The merger of counties and cities is a division of the five metropolitan areas. The so-called major change in the government's administrative big 5 municipalities are City, , organization. It is also an excellent case study to City, City ,Kaohsiung City, etc. verify the theory of organizational development. Among them, Taipei City is an existing municipality Through the research, I hope to gain a better directly under the Central Government, New Taipei understanding of the relationship between City is an independent restructuring system, Taichung organizational transformation and administrative City is a merger and restructuring of Taichung effectiveness. and Tainan City is a merger and restructuring of Tainan County. Although Kaohsiung City is also a This study conducts more than one year after the county and city merger and restructuring, the former merger of counties and cities. This fashion is a Kaohsiung City was formerly the municipality merger and run-in period. In addition to the practical directly under the Central Government and the former observations for the first time of the history of local Kaohsiung County are provincial city and are the self-government development, it should also provide only special case of big 5 municipalities. reference for similar government organization merger However, in big 5 municipalities, Taichung City, projects in the future. Tainan City, and Kaohsiung City have all carried out This paper focuses on the administrative effectiveness county and city merger projects. The heads of the of organizational mergers, and the main objectives of three cities are seeking to merge the new city this research are: government quickly, and to appease personnel and First: Before the merger of count and city, business disputes in a short period. Resolving governance focus on power operation, and disputes in a political way such as "double bureaucratic culture of two local governments are administrative center" and "Average distribution different,the merger process will inevitably encounter setting". However, scholars believe that this lack of several obstacles, and what is the practice of the design from the administrative (or economic) municipal government to resolve organizational perspective will result in a decrease in administrative efficiency conflicts? How to make different demands efficiency due to lack of policy support. In particular, and establish new ways of power operation? What the "double administrative center" can respond to the effect does the original bureaucratic culture and needs of voters in different regions, but it will cause administrative views have on administrative difficulties in the coordination and integration of the effectiveness after the merger? municipal planning, such as the business that can be signed in ten minutes. After the "organizational Second: Pursuing administrative efficiency is an merger", it may take a day or more, which of course important administrative goal of all levels of affects the administrative efficiency [1]. government. Before the merger of county and city, One of the objectives of the local government's regardless of whether the central or global efforts to merge and reform is to improve the government believes that the rational adjustment of administrative efficiency by transforming the administrative areas and unified powers will be organization. However, the merger of counties and beneficial to the improvement of administrative cities is a rare move in the history of Taiwan's local efficiency. This search hopes to verify whether there autonomy. When the county and the city actually is any drop.

Research on Organizational Merger and Administrative Efficiency in Taiwan

33 International Journal of Management and Applied Science, ISSN: 2394-7926 Volume-6, Issue-4, Apr.-2020 http://iraj.in II. LITERATURE REVIEW operation process referred to the ability requirements that must be possessed in order to achieve good 2.1 Review of organizational development theory governance effects, mainly focusing on the internal In terms of the definition and content of factors of the administrative organs. This aspect organizational development, Wu [2] summed up three included the following elements: planning and budget points for the definition of organizational preparation, budget execution ability, the cause of the development: I. The organizational development was government officesystem, professional competence of based on the theory and technology of behavioral and the government officesystem,information disclosure, scientific knowledge. II. The purpose of knowledge management status, and process organizational development was to maintain and simplification. Administrative performance update the organization, and to enhance the orientation referred to the specific behavior presented effectiveness of individuals and organizations. III. through the administrative operation processes, The main object was maintained by organizational included honest, promote enterprise development development as artificial organizational systems and measures, promoted taxpayer satisfaction measures, interpersonal relationships. promoted complainant satisfaction measures, Pan [3] proposed that organizational development promoted service recipient satisfaction measures, was an eternal effort that lasts for a long time. It effective leadership, electronic government, and systematically analyzed the various problems existing innovative performance, etc. in the entire working group of the enterprise, finds out the crux of the problem, and proposed appropriate III. RESEARCH METHOD cooperative management methods. Through the assistance of various change groups, catalytic Document analysis is the most basic research method. personnel, the application of behavioral science By collecting the books, journals, papers, and theories, and techniques to solve problems or improve government related publications, which are related to programs, improved interpersonal, personal county and city mergers as the basis for this research. organizational relationships, and enhance This research will design a questionnaire related to organizational effectiveness.At the same time, the use county and city mergers, and administrative of the group and organization process was focused on effectiveness. With the principal of the Kaohsiung the overall organizational culture, and the changed of City Government Bureau and the principal of the planning, to facilitate the organization's resilience to as the main part, select a certain number of improve business performance (i.e. organizational interviewees, use written in-depth interviews, collect performance). relevant opinions and then summarize them. The Zhan[4] sorted out the three core theories of main process of this research is shown in Figure1: organizational development: I. Resource dependence theory defined an environmental system as an alliance formed by an organization(or sub-system). Each organization joined the alliance in order to obtain the resources it needs. Organizational efficiency was the key to the survival of the organization, and the level of effectiveness was judged by outside organizations. II. Organizational reinforcement theory was an incentive theory that employee behavior could be shaped, adjusted, or changed by manipulating reward systems, or suppressed by other related behaviors. III. Organizational expectations theory was also an incentive theory, but the focus was on the linksamongeffort-performance, work-reward, and when employees felt that their efforts lead to successful job performance, or organize employees' work performance. They would get their employees with highly motivated when they reported compensation or results.

2.2 Organizational change and administrative effectiveness The administrative efficiency factors related to this study, Shih[5] divided the administrative effectiveness into administrative operation process and administrative performance. The administrative Figure 1. Research architecture flow chart

Research on Organizational Merger and Administrative Efficiency in Taiwan

34 International Journal of Management and Applied Science, ISSN: 2394-7926 Volume-6, Issue-4, Apr.-2020 http://iraj.in Among them, the related research topics are as Kaohsiung City is the main part, the Water Resources follows： bureau and the Agricultural bureau upgraded from the original Kaohsiung County. In the district office, the A. The factors that have a positive effect on the merger of county has not affected the eleven district improvement of administrative efficiency by county of the former Kaohsiung City and city, this search and city merger may be: interviews the affected district of Lujhu, Liouguei, 1. head is appointed by the government Fongshan, Daliao, Jiasian, Gangshan, Namasha, and and cancel delegates, to vertical integration the other districts. power. Unifying the City and County of Kaohsiung, allowing 2. Organs merger to reduce the communication the entire Kaohsiung area to integrate and operate interface between county and city, and integrate under a single local administrative system, achieving the level of affairs. complementary resources and stimulating 3. Reduce administrative levels, simplify competitiveness. This is the main power force the administrative processes, and enhance merger of Kaohsiung County and Kaohsiung City. decision-making efficiency. The merger and promotion of the organization is not 4. Concentration of power, clear responsibility, and only the integration of the two organizations, it also enhance execution efficiency. means that the administrative efficiency of the former 5. Centralized distribution of municipal resources, Kaohsiung County bureau, which had a lower increased financial resource, and enhance administrative level before the merger, has been administrative energy. released, and which is the most obvious performance 6. Bureaucratic system has administrative of the Agricultural bureau. consensus and common bureaucratic culture. Before the merger, the township and town

government offices of the former Kaohsiung County B. The factors that have a negative effect on the were also self-governing groups. The township improvement of administrative efficiency by county mayors were elected by the people, and the and city merger may be: administrative autonomy was high. The policy 1. Expanded government governance, and the promotion and business execution were mostly government failed to digest the original decided by the township mayor, but the grassroots Kaohsiung county business. public opinion organs were also relatively- 2. Increase in business content, but the recurring Supervision of township citizens' congresses. The business at the original township level was supervision of the township civic congress to the transferred to the headquarters of the municipal public office is as good as the county and city bureau. councils, the county and city governments, and the 3. The original county and city government legislatures in the central organs. They also have the personal have a perception of the business right to budget and inquiry, and of course have a and implementation differences. certain degree of influence on the administrative 4. The former bureaucratic culture cannot be efficiency of township and city offices. integrated. When sorting out the views of the district offices on

the post-merger administrative efficiency, we found This search is based on the pre-merger Kaohsiung that the district offices were almost very sure that the City Government, Kaohsiung County Government, management system assist their business. They and the merged Kaohsiung City Government. The believed that this was the main reason for the survey conducted in April 2012 after the improvement of administrative efficiency, in addition questionnaire has been prepared based on the to reducing the interference of representatives of administrative effectiveness before and after the towns and villages. merger. The merger of county and city is an administrative

system dominated by the original Kaohsiung City. IV. THE INFLUENCE OF COMBINATION ON The scope of governance is expanded by seventeen ADMINISTRATIVE EFFICIENCY times. The expansion of jurisdictions has the positive

effects of unified powers and human resources 4.1 The bureaucratic system's view on the post- allocation, but it still has considerable problems for merger administrative Efficiency the bureaus. This research investigates the views of the nine The original Kaohsiung City was originally a bureaus and seven district offices of Kaohsiung City municipality directly under the Central Government. Government before and after the merger. In terms of Public officials have already adapted to the operation unit, Personnel office, Finance bureau, Education mode of the municipality. The administrative bureau, Social bureau, Development and Evaluation profession is high. Focus on performance first, and Commission, Works bureau, Economic Development the personnel are stable and experienced. bureau are merger of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung However, in the original Kaohsiung County, which County organizations. Basically, the former has a large difference after the merger, in order to

Research on Organizational Merger and Administrative Efficiency in Taiwan

35 International Journal of Management and Applied Science, ISSN: 2394-7926 Volume-6, Issue-4, Apr.-2020 http://iraj.in emphasize administrative coordination and balance, The merger of counties and cities has a positive and they also have to adapt to different regional negative impact on administrative effectiveness. The businesses. The administrative standards are difficult basic factor of positive influence is the unification of to be consistent, and their administrative efficiency is powers, which has a positive effect on the inevitable. administrative efficiency of planning, decision- After the merger of county and city, some of the making, execution, and thus stimulates urban original Kaohsiung City authorities moved away from competitiveness. The basic factor of the negative the Siwei building, causing many inconveniences. In impact is the expansion of the governance space, and addition, due to the organization and integration, the resulting negative effects of the increase in some of the organization’s power have been business efficiency, the increase in distance, and the transferred to newly established organization. In the different between urban and rural areas. However, in case of insufficient publicity, not only the people general, the positive effect of the combined think that the administrative agencies shirk their administrative efficiency is long-term and responsibilities, but the administrative agencies also comprehensive, and the negative effects are partial. affect the efficiency due to process changes. After a certain period, the personnel will be able to Although the county and city merger has eliminated improve after the operation are familiar. Therefore, the previous county and city’s communication the positive effect of the merger of counties and cities interface. Organizational consolidation has also on administrative efficiency is inevitably greater than unified the power of the matter, but some official negative. document administrative procedures have increased. All power have returned to the city after merger. The 5.2 The merger of county and city has a structural organizers have no immediate decision on the improvement effect on administrative efficiency ownership, so the case delayed and low On the basis of the unification of powers, the positive administrative efficiency. effects of county and city mergers on administrative efficiency are included: the overall development 4.2 The bureaucratic system's view on the post- planning of the region, the speed of decision-making, merger administrative ability the complementary use of resources, the unified The merger of county and city opened a new era of allocation of finance, and the rational use of human "administrative zero gap, resource zero gap, resources. After the elevation of some organizations, development zero barrier". The resources were the administrative level is reduced, resources are integrated, the financial strength, power and human increased, and efficiency is improved. The district resources of each institution grew, and their office, which was restructured by the autonomous administrative capabilities were strengthened. community, improved its effectiveness due to the The strengthening of administrative ability is disappearance of the congress and the reduction of basically manifested in the improvement of personnel administrative interference. The municipal professional ability. The former Kaohsiung County government's examination mechanism and Municipal Government personnel unit has different administrative support have improved the levels of organization culture, administrative professional administrative ability of the former operations, and procedures. Kaohsiung County Government personnel. During the merger process, the municipal government has spent a lot of effort on the administrative capacity 5.3 The negative effect of county and city merger of personnel;the personnel department mainly carries on administrative efficiency can be overcome out these tasks. The negative effects of county and city mergers on Poor finances, even the best administrative capacity administrative efficiency include the expansion of will also have useless, and finance has a fundamental government space, resulting in increased business impact on administrative capacity. volume, increased traffic distance, and gaps in the The central government has rushed to roll out the original county and city. There is still resistance in merger of county and the city. The pre-planning is not the process of personnel adjustment and the complete, and the relevant laws and regulations are administrative professionalism is not yet uniform. not completed. It is an equal to the merger of counties Some agencies have increased the number of officers and cities, and other measures are slowly put in, in the original Kaohsiung's staff, and some district which will of course give the combined offices have not yet achieved the best division of administrative capacity a discount. labor, but the process has been complicated. The office space of some organization was disrupted by V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION the merger, which affected the internal communication of the organization and caused the 5.1 Effect of county and city mergers on inconvenience of serving the people. After the administrative effectiveness is positively greater merger, the financial resources are still insufficient, than negative and it is impossible to expand the staff and speed up the difference between urban and rural construction.

Research on Organizational Merger and Administrative Efficiency in Taiwan

36 International Journal of Management and Applied Science, ISSN: 2394-7926 Volume-6, Issue-4, Apr.-2020 http://iraj.in Insufficient central support, laws such as the fiscal County mayor also repeatedly proposed this policy planning and public debt laws have not been announcement, and the principals of the bureaus also amended, and the division of business is still attention to the psychological adjustment of personnel incomplete. These negative effects are basically and properly handle them. The excepted rebellious technical problems, which can be overcome through mentality has not apparently emerged, and there is no time, communication, system improvement, etc., and major dispute in the new administrative environment. are not an unsolvable administrative problem. REFERENCE 5.4 Staff integration is smoother than expected The key to the success or failure of organizational [1] Y.-N. Yang, Not only political issues for the merger of consolidation is whether the two civil servants with country and city,China news, 16 Dec. 2010. [2] D. Wu， Organization development: theory and technique, different organizational cultures and habits can Tian-Yi published, Taipei, Taiwan, 1994. smoothly adjust and quickly integrate into a new [3] W.-Z. Pan, Organization development: theory method and administrative team with high administrative reality, San-Ming Published, Taipei, Taiwan, 1984. efficiency. The search found that the former [4] Z.-Y. Zhan, Organization change and development,Monthly Kaohsiung City Government staff were familiar with seminar forum,no. 78, 2007. [5] M.-Q. Shih, 2005 ， Government performance evaluation: the operation of the municipality without Local governance perspective, proceedings of the method of psychological adjustment. The former Kaohsiung performance evaluation, Chaiyi, 2005.

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