Research On Employee' Mental Model In Chinese Organizational Context

Mental model is a theoretical construct that has received much research scrutinyduring recent decades. There is ample evidence that employee1 mental model is thekey factor of learning organization.A qualitative and quantitative design was utilized to gain insight into employee'mental model and its relationship with individual process,organizational process,coping strategies and organizational outputs. Five-step study was carried out in orderto achieve the research purpose.Step 1:Literature Reviews on mental model and related contents to catch the profileabout the topic.Step 2:Questionnaires development on mental model,individual process factors,organizational process factors .coping strategies and organizational outputs,which areof high reliability and validity.Step 3:Questionnaires administration in a few of corporations to obtain responsesfrom more than 400 key informants.Step 4:Hypotheses validation on the relationships between mental model andindividual,organizational process,coping strategies and organizational output.Step 5:Summary of theory and empirical research.After the field survey,nine dimensions of mental model are identified based onexploratory factor analysis. They are Belief on diversity and working-style;Knowledge on information;Knowledge on organizational system;Belief onoccupational risk;Knowledge on working-partner;Belief on conflict:Belief onworking-demand;Belief on working-relation;Knowledge on instruments.Confirmatory factor analysis supported a two-factor structure for mental model,comprised of belief and knowledge.Multivariate Tests show that several variables influence the characteristic ofemployee1 mental model,which include gender,age,education,functional branch,position,industry,enterprise property,region.Results show the shared mental model are positively related with the development ofthe organization. The correlation between employee' mental model and organizationalclimate are also improved.Linear regression models were examined,whose results support that severaldimensions of mental model can predict the coping strategies for relationship andtechnique renovation.Lastly,the relations between mental model and organizational outputs are alsodiscussed.The research has both academic and practical benefits. Firstly,it develops the theoryof mental models especially in Chinese organizational context. Secondly,it putsforward some valuable suggestions for building learning organization in China.