Abstract
Chinese aerospace conglomerates AVIC, CASC, CASIC and COMAC have drawn upon a human capital strategy that hinges upon a solid foundation of research and development. Most importantly, their R&D employees have a high degree of work autonomy on the basis that industry founders’ implemented western work procedure and practice that was acquired first-hand within leading institutions. Building on the relationship between autonomy and innovation at the individual, team and corporate level, we elaborate using an in-depth company case study investigating the implication on intrinsic motivation as well as the continuity and change driven by Chinese economic reform.
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Notes
- 1.
Kasper (1982) provided a description of the autonomy among SOEs in Sichuan and Shanghai during the early reform period.
- 2.
Herzberg (1966) explained that salary was one of the characteristics of work leading to job dissatisfaction.
- 3.
The headquarters could coordinate various subsidiaries in the production of a system; in other words, different subsidiary units could be assigned to take responsibility for a specific sub-system within a complex project.
- 4.
Vallerand et al. (2003) defined harmonious passion as “the autonomous internalization of an activity, making it part of one’s identity and thus creating a sense of personal enjoyment and free choice about pursuing the activity”. In other words, those who considered their jobs as harmonious passion have internalized work activities or have accepted them as important and without any contingencies attached.
- 5.
The work method autonomy relates to the freedom in choosing the strategies to tackle the task while the work schedule autonomy relates to the choice of work timings and durations. The work criteria autonomy, on the other hand, allows employees to adopt the appropriate criteria used for evaluating their performance.
- 6.
The most highly cited aerospace journals consisted of a set of 32 journals, including Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics. These high-impact journals were read by engineers in China via online database.
- 7.
US publication, however, embodies research of the current technological frontier, while Chinese aerospace publication is high in terms of total number.
- 8.
It should be pointed out that there was a tight monitoring system for new recruits, i.e. daily email reports to the technical and administrative project leaders.
- 9.
As contrast to radical innovation, incremental innovation involves a lower degree of technical and market uncertainties since it aims to make small or relatively minor changes and improvement that do not alter in a substantial way the basic underlying design concepts.
- 10.
China Spacesat reported that 30% of its employees involved in research and development in 2015 (see China Spacesat Annual Report 2015).
- 11.
Other related parties include local and global suppliers as well as SOE investors e.g. AVIC, Shanghai Guosheng Group, China Aluminum, Baosteel Group and China Sinochem.
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Appendices
Appendix 3.1: Examples of Product Innovation – Rockets
Models First Successful Launch
Chang Zheng 1 1970
Chang Zheng 2A 1975
Chang Zheng 3 1983
Chang Zheng 4A 1988
Chang Zheng 5 Being developed
Chang Zheng 6 2015
Chang Zheng 7 2016
Chang Zheng 8 Being developed
Chang Zheng 9 Being developed
Chang Zheng 11 2015
Note: Each family of Chang Zheng or Long March rocket has related product/products, for example, Chang Zheng 6A is a modified version of Chang Zheng 6.
Source: ‘Chang Zheng (Long March) launcher family’, Sinodefence, 19 December 2010; ‘China begins assembly of new Long March 5 heavy-lift launcher’, Space Flight Insider, 29 April 2016; ‘CZ-6’ and ‘CZ-7’, China Space Report, September 2016; ‘China plans to develop CZ-8 and re-useable launch system’, China Space Report, 3 September 2016; ‘Chinese super-heavy launcher designs exceed Saturn V’, Aviation Week & Space Technology, 30 September 2013;
Appendix 3.2: Extract from transcript of Online Interview
Q: Could you please tell me your research experience in China and Germany?
首先, 從整體的感覺來說, 研究環境是和導師有很大關係的。導師的個人風格在很大程度上決定了整體的研究環境。就我遇到的導師而言, 無論是國內的還是國外的, 他們都是很寬容、和氣的, 特別是我的德國導師, 他對外國人非常友好, 無論是國內的還是國外的, 整體來說研究環境都和諧寬鬆。(Generally speaking, the research environment is, to a great extent, shaped by the supervisors. They tend to be easy going and friendly in both China and Germany.)
從細的方面看, 我想從三個方面來進行比較。(But I think there’s difference in three specific areas).
第一個方面是導師如何幫助你確定研究題目(1, how the supervisor helps you to nail down your research topic), 第二個方面是導師在研究中如何指導你開展研究工作 (2, the guidance from the supervisor), 第三個方面是同事和你自己的關係 (3, the relationship with colleagues)。我想從這三個方面分別來談自己的感受。
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第一個, 先談導師如何幫助你確定研究題目。我所遇到的國內外導師, 他們對選題的標準還是相當的一致。他們都很強調選題的科學性和嚴謹性, 強調所選的題目應當具備的研究深度。當然, 國內外導師也是有差異的, 主要體現在選題的自由度上, 國內導師強調你的選題和他當前承擔項目的相關性。國外導師給了我們更大的自由度。從我的觀點來看這方面的差異是和國內外對大學研究的定位相關的。國內大學一直強調產學研一體化, 在這種背景下, 工程類大學的老師的研究工作往往是和產業項目或工程項目聯繫在一起的, 而這種聯繫非常的深入。他的學生在一定程度上也就是他所接受的工程的施工人員或者說他所承接的工程的工作人員, 連學生的研究工作、研究內容甚至就是項目的一部分, 因此導師就會要求學生的研究內容要服務於他所領導的工程項目。而從比較來看, 國外的大學主要承擔基礎性的研究工作。基礎性研究工作如何成為一個產業?實際上是應該有相應的技術中介機構來實施的。比如在德國, 就有專門的中介機構來負責這類工作。儘管我的外國導師, 他也承擔一些外部企業的工程性的業務, 但是在這些業務當中, 導師的團隊, 包括像我們這些研究人員主要承擔的還是技術性的指導工作而不是工作的實施者。如果你承擔的是技術性的指導工作實際上體現的是你在這個領域以往的研究成果。因為技術性指導本身並不可能成為研究工作的一部分, 所以在這種背景下面, 導師並不會強調你的研究工作和他的工程項目之間要有必然的聯繫, 反而他會鼓勵你在新的研究方向上有所突破, 因為如果你的研究工作有了豐富的研究積累, 這樣整個團隊就能在更廣泛的領域承擔更多的技術性指導工作。
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第二個方面是導師在你的研究方面是如何指導你的。不得不承認, 我所遇到的所有的國內外導師, 他們都非常用心地指導了我的研究工作, 而且一般來說, 在具體研究中, 都會要求一周或兩周和導師碰一次面, 匯報相應的研究進展, 導師也會根據你提出的問題進行指導。不過從比較來看, 國內的導師會對研究進度的要求更高一些, 因為擔心你不能畢業, 國外的導師在這一點上主要還是依靠學生自己去把握的。從指導角度來看, 最大的差別是指導思路的差別。國內的導師更關注具體的研究內容中的問題, 而國外的導師更關注全局問題。關於局部問題和全局問題在我後面講國外的經驗對國內工作的幫助時會具體的解釋。
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第三個方面是同事和我們的關係。在研究機構裡面, 我覺得同事之間的關係還都是非常簡單的, 所以在這個方面還沒有感到很大的不同。比如說我們同事之間聊天或者聚餐都是比較常見的。感覺主要的區別在於國外的同事之間如果不是研究合作關係的話, 相互之間不會就研究內容進行很深的交流。國外的同事也不會隨便對你的研究工作發表評論或者說指導你, 當然如果你有任何的問題要請教你的同事, 他們也都會很樂意地、盡力地幫助你。但感覺幫助的界限是他會告訴你, 他會怎麼做, 但絕對不會告訴你, 你該怎麼做。就剛才說的這一點而言, 在國內就完全不一樣了。如果在國內大學呆過的人都很清楚, 在研究當中向上一屆的學生去請教我們在研究中的問題, 讓他們來指導你都是非常普遍的, 甚至很多在研究中遇到具體的問題, 不管是碩士還是博士, 都可以讓高年級的同學, 就是我們通常說的師兄來幫助你, 這一點在外國的研究機構裡是不可想像的。因此我覺得研究內容的交流深度是國內外同事關係中最主要的一種差別。第二個大問題, 國外獲得的哪些知識對於國內的工作是有幫助的?對於這個問題, 我認為知識本身的幫助可能並不大。因為現在信息都是開放的, 國內也很容易查閱到國外的最新的研究成果。在國內外並不存在知識的壁壘, 而且現在知識更新的速度也非常快。如果你依靠國外獲得的知識, 事實上是不能滿足國內工作的需求的。到了國內要重新開展工作, 要適應你的工作, 就必然需要對你的知識進行更新。所以我覺得就知識本身而言, 並沒有對國內的工作產生太大的幫助。我認為最有幫助的其實是一種思考問題的方式, 這和前面我們談到的第二個方面導師如何指導你開展研究工作是密切聯繫的。國外導師教會我的, 我認為最有幫助的東西就是全局地看待問題。因為對於任何一門學科或任何一個研究方向, 它都有一些所謂的它的根本問題。這些根本問題都是研究的起點, 以後針對的這些問題開展的所有研究事實上都是不同的人對於這些問題給予來不同的答案, 從而構成了不同的研究成果。如果一個研究者看不清上述我們談到的從根本性問題出發的研究脈絡, 事實上他也就無法知道如何開展下一步的研究。國外的導師在指導你的時候並不是就具體問題而言, 他是盡量地讓你看清整個全局是什麼, 這也體現了他在這個領域掌握或了解的程度。然後通過讓你了解全局, 指導你去尋找下一步的方向。在這一點上, 我認為國內的導師是不夠的, 他一般不會給你展現這些全局, 而是就當前你研究的這一步來指導你。其實從比較來看, 如果你有一種全局的眼光來看待問題, 不僅能夠更容易明白事情的來龍去脈, 更重要的是你能夠提出更有原創性的東西。這是我覺得我在國外接受學術訓練所獲得的最有用的東西。當然, 就以上這一點還可以談一些個人的看法。國外在研究中是非常重視文獻綜述的, 其實這就是一個全局問題的展現。而國內無論是碩士還是博士在研究中對於文獻綜述, 整體都是不太重視的。其實如果我們查閱一些國內研究期刊也可以發現, 在這裡面, 高質量的在某一領域的文獻綜述非常的少, 事實上, 很多研究者在這個研究領域裡面都缺乏一個全局的研究視野, 我認為這是國內外研究中很大的區別。
Source: Tsang (2016)
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Tsang, D. (2017). Work Autonomy and Product Innovation. In: Industrial Democracy in the Chinese Aerospace Industry. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58023-8_3
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