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Investigating the role of career anchors in job satisfaction and organisational commitment: a PJ fit approach
Where: British Psychological Society 2008 Annual Conference When: April 2008
Co-Presented with Dr Jan Francis-Smythe, Poster Presentation
Objectives:
Career anchors were developed by Edgar Schein in the 1970s. Since then they have been a popular model in career counselling. Having an understanding of career anchors can help individuals make important career decisions. This is becoming an important skill in the workplace as organisations are taking an increasingly hands off approach to career management. Career anchors are widely used but the empirical evidence to support the model is limited. The aim of this work was to investigate the relationship between career anchors, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and career salience. It was hypothesised that good fit between anchors and job or anchors and the organisation would lead to increased job satisfaction and organisational commitment. It was also hypothesised that career salience would moderate these relationships.
Design:
Two approaches were taken to measuring fit. The first was a direct approach, where individuals were explicitly asked to asses the fit between their career anchors and their job. The second approach used a questionnaire to assess the career anchors of an individual’s job. A measure of fit was calculated using this data.
Methods:
This study was conducted within a UK police organisation. Firstly the career anchors were matched to the organisation and to a selection of jobs within it. Two approaches were used for this. Firstly an expert panel of staff from the organisation were asked to carry out the matching. Secondly job incumbents were asked to complete a questionnaire to assess the career anchors of their job and of the organisation. The results from these two approaches were then combined. Two separate studies were conducted within the host organisation, (study 1; N=122, study 2; N=184) to investigate the hypotheses outlined above. All participants were members of Police Staff from this organisation. Job satisfaction was measured using Warr, Cook and Wall’s (1979) measure, Organisational Commitment using Cook and Wall’s (1980) measure and Career Salience using Allen and Ortlepp’s (2004) measure.
Results:
Hierarchical regression analysis was used to investigate the hypotheses. Baron and Kenny’s (1986) method for investigating moderating variables was used to investigate the role of career salience. Fit between career anchors and job was found to predict job satisfaction and organisational commitment in both studies. Career Salience was found to moderate the relationship between fit and organisational commitment in study 2. No relationship was found between anchor/organisation fit and job satisfaction or organisational commitment. Career salience alone was found to predict both job satisfaction and organisational commitment.
Conclusions:
These studies provide support for the role of career anchors in improving job satisfaction and organisational commitment. This suggests that a knowledge of career anchors could help both individuals to make effective job and career choices. Knowledge of career anchors could also be beneficial to organisations in modifying the content of work roles to fit with the individual job incumbents’ values and needs. Similarly career anchors could be used to aid succession planning. In another part of this research line managers from one organisation were encouraged to use career anchors as a framework for career development discussions. Feedback was positive from both line managers and staff.
LikePolice staff careers – what makes them unique?
Where: British Psychological Society 2007 Annual Conference When: March 2007
Co-Presented with Dr Jan Francis-Smythe, Poster Presentation
Currently there are approximately 66,000 Police staff working in the UK. This work focuses on Police staff career development.
Objectives:
In light of the above the objectives of this work are to: establish what career development opportunities are available for Police staff; elicit the views of key stakeholders about Police staff careers; and investigate Police staff career anchor.
Design:
This work uses a mixed method design. A qualitative approach was used to investigate current provisions. A quantitative approach was used in the analysis of career anchors.
Method:
To examine current practices, telephone interviews were conducted with career development officers from seven forces; semi -structured interviews were conducted with 11 Department Managers and employees were asked to complete an anonymous online survey. To examine career anchors 606 employees from various organisations completed a 40-item questionnaire.
Results:
Interviews showed that Police staff career development was something that all of the stakeholders were trying to address. Survey data showed that the majority would like to have a long-term career with the police, however when asked if the service could provide for their long-term career needs the majority were unsure. Looking at Police staff career anchors showed that they do differ from other groups of staff. In particular Police staff place higher value of Security and Sense of Service than other groups.
Conclusions:
Mawby (1998) noted that the Police service may be left with those, who do not seek greater recognition, promotion and increased responsibility. The finding from this research could be used to design bespoke career development initiatives. To attract and retain quality Police staff the service need to take steps to introduce a clearer career structure to enable staff to see that they have a future in the organisation.
Career values in the noughties - what do people want from their career today?
Where: 2007 Postgraduate Occupational Psychology Conference , British Psychological Society When: January 2007
The concept of careers has recently undergone a dramatic change in the UK. This is due to the changes that have happened in the way organisations now operate. Expressions such as Boundaryless (Arthur, Inkson & Pringle. 1999), Protean (Hall 1996) and Porfolio careers are being used in the research literature to define the new shape of careers.
The general trends for all of these models are; changing jobs more frequently throughout our working lives, the need for continuous learning and more responsibility for career management falling to the individual. This is markedly different to the "job for life" approach that previous generations experienced.This change has placed increasing demands on individuals to be more active in managing their own careers (Stickland, 1996).
This work uses Scheins' career anchors (Schein, 1993), to explore the factors that are important to people in their careers. Career anchors were chosen as the basis for this study as they allow for broader lifestyle issues to be considered, unlike many other models of careers (Arnold, 2004). Schein, (1996) proposed that certain anchors such as Lifestyle and Sense of Service would gain popularity. Reasons for this are related to the changes that have occurred in the way we work. A new type of contract has had to be developed that is more individual. Herriot and Pemberton (1995), suggest that individuals' career aspirations will reflect general cultural movements. Schein's proposal that the Lifestyle and Sense of Service anchors would gain popularity would certainly reflect a cultural change. Popular media is full of references to work life balance and how we can be more socially responsible.
A sample of 606 UK based employees took part in this study by completing an on-line questionnaire to measure their career anchors. The data was then analysed to look for patterns in the career anchors that people hold today and to provide support for Scheins' proposal outlined above. The career anchors that were found to be most important to people in this sample were indeed Lifestyle and Sense of Service, thus confirming Schein's predictions. The study also proposes and tests a number of other hypotheses relating to demographics.
Significant differences were found between men and women on the Lifestyle, General Management and Pure Challenge career anchors. Significant differences were also found in the Autonomy career anchor between groups who had reached different educational levels. These results have implications for career development initiatives within organisations. Much career development is aimed at high achievers, people who want to progress to a high level within an organisation. This approach excludes many people from participating in career development interventions. It may be time for organisations to take a serious look at what it is that their employees want from their career and help them to achieve it.
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