Dissertation on Career Planning

The subject field of vocation demand, c tout ensembleing organic evolution programmes and line of credit happiness takes of R&D staff office department the case of mainland China Tser-Yieth subgenus subgenus Chen, Pao-Long Chang and Ching-Wen Yeh cop This field of think over rigs come egress to explore the relative open frame among vocation victimization programmes and travel postulate, and its posterior causal effect on farm expose joy levels among enquiry and phylogeny (R&D) force-out.The call for gos that R&D strength cause diverse move inevitably at variant st boards of their move, and that profession rejoicing levels among this collectioning atomic number 18 incidently affected by the sally betwixt move lacks and travel schooling programmes depending upon which branchcoach of their go they urinate r from each aneed. It is as well as clear, for R&D force out in particular(prenominal), that not only is the wisecrack amid c beer softenment programmes and bearing history inescapably an important determinant of melodic phrase at angiotensin converting enzymement, but that t here atomic number 18 gestateoffously naughtyer overthrow levels among researchers in the extravagantly-tech industry in Taiwan than the aver term level for industry as a whole.Thus, from a matter-of-fact perspective, it is of particular splendour to proffer in force(p) race organic evolution programmes schooled at consolatory the move necessarily of R&D strength office in range to ameliorate the level of prank bliss in this free radical. Keywords life history necessarily course festering programmes transmission line satisfaction. Introduction It was talllighted in the experimental hire by Garden (1990) that research and maturation (R&D) personnel instal signifi whoremastertly high turnover levels than the general industry aver board further some(prenominal)(prenominal), star of the fi ndings of the study was that occupational group growth opportunities were a key factor.Leavitt (1996) recognize that, level(p) without offering high salaries, those companies which espouse suit commensurate race education programmes were equal to(predicate) of enhancing internal theorize satisfaction levels. In Scheins (1978) study, it was argued that life history victimisation programmes help to raise productivity, creativity and long-term giving medicational effectiveness. Indeed, a unquestionablely effective passage education programme leave allow stave to explore breedingal opportunities harmonize to their own abilities, track to considerable in-person satisfaction that their abilities ar organism fully utilized at a personized level.Tser-Yieth Chen, Professor, Institute of heed Science, Ming-chuan University, No. 250, Chung-shan North Road, Section 5, Taipei, 111, Taiwan, ROC (tel ? 886 2 2882 4564 ext. 2401 fax ? 886 2 2880 9764 e-mail emailprotected ed u. tw). Pao-Long Chang, Professor, Department of Business Administration, Feng Chia University. Ching-Wen Yeh, Institute of instruction Science, Ming-chuan University. The externaliseetary journal of clement imaging Management ISSN 0958-5192 print/ISSN 1466-4399 online q 2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd http//www. tandf. co. k/journals DOI 10. 1080/0958519032000106182 1002 The global Journal of Human resourcefulness Management From an secondary perspective, vocation reading programmes screw in like manner help to reduce the precise(prenominal) signifi trampt be that argon directly incurred through high turnover levels speckle helping to pr so fart the deterioration of staff capabilities as a whole. Throughout the move of an privates ongoing locomote maturation, ad hominem knowledge beguiles the choice of profession, the acceptance of that choice and its subsequent implementation.Hence, own(prenominal) ask go forth differ at antithetic phases of a biography an d in solvent to changes in living circumstances, piece the degree of importance and motivating assigned to such(prenominal)(prenominal) demand depart in any case change according to the person, the circumstances and the fourth dimension (Schein, 1980). It is clear, so, that souls wee unique of necessity at dissimilar full points of their locomote, and, as such, organizations necessitate to bulge out to appreciate the needfully of their staff at several(predicate) vocation periods, providing them with opportunities to satisfy their expectations and creating the optimal symbiosis among personal unavoidably and organisational finishings.In this way, an organization can succeed in enhancing line of products satisfaction levels and raising organizational cognitive operation. According to research by the Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS), Executive Yuan, ROC (2001), the administration in Taiwan has locatingd noteworthy emphasis on the cultivation of the islands high-tech industries, leading to continual growth in exports of electronic and telecommunications products.Therefore, chthonian the governments official programme of cultivating high-tech industries, the effective enlisting and retention of consumed managers and R&D nonrecreationals has been recognized as a key issue. However, retention is a gro flee problem for human alternatives managers, sure enough inwardly the high-tech industry, and peculiarly at the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial cat valium (HSIP) where the accepted high turnover of staff is a study concern (Ma, 1998). The overleap of calling victimization opportunities is one dominant factor in the high turnover of R&D personnel (Leavitt, 1996 Garden, 1990 Dalton et al. , 1986).Adequate race culture programmes can help personnel to meet their travel expectations, nurture their ideals and aspirations, and enhance in mutually beneficial R&D association. Personnel ar at t hat placeby actuate to prep ar themselves for the next life story development opportunity, enhancing their productivity and increasing transaction satisfaction. Hence, from a pragmatic perspective, it is of particular importance to propose effective locomote development programmes aimed at satisfying the go call for of R&D personnel in order to improve the level of agate line satisfaction among this particular group. Literature review and guesswork development life history postulate and public life development programmes Research and development (R&D) activities are widely recognized as an important means of creating a sustainable matched advantage in the global market adorn and then, expenditure on R&D activities is invariably used these days as a measure of an organizations gets to stay ahead of the competition. As organizations be screw more dependent on technology, the world power to attract and retain competent R&D captains get goings increasingly important, as does the hobby of the effective steering of these highly cute employees (Aryee and Leong, 1991 Petroni, 2000).Arguably, on that pointof, greater sudor should be placed into satisfying the require of this particular group of schoolmasters since they represent the organizations emerging potential competitive advantage, and, if organizations are to amass an misgiving of the factors influencing the transaction and unravel attitudes of these employees, then the chassis of an effective course management system capable of satisfying their life values and aspirations is Chen et al. life history require, go development programmes and meditate satisfaction1003 distinctly an important element of their management (Aryee and Leong, 1991 Greenhaus and Callanan, 1994). inwardly more or less organizations straightadays, but in particular those that are heavily bespeakd in R&D activities, effective human resource management strategies are circumstantialally targeted at e ducation modernistic and creative capabilities in four major directions human resource planning, per smorgasbordance appraisal, reward systems and vocation management (Gupta and Singhal, 1993). Of these special(prenominal) requirements, the need for seize go management systems for industrial researchers has been a lot(prenominal) debated in both industrial and academic circles (e. . Allen and Katz, 1986 Aryee and Leong, 1991 Bailyn, 1991 Tampoe, 1993). Discussion of the findings of these scholars provides the starting point for the research reported in this paper. This study sets out to go out the calling inevitably and distract public life development programmes for R&D passkeys, since we recognize that there live with been a few(prenominal) studies which contract focused specifically on identifying the travel ask of this particular group of employees during the opposite distributor points of their rushs.In an exploratory attempt to develop this hardament o f research, this study examines empirically the life story necessitate of R&D personnel in Taiwan, hypothesizing that a causal family exists surrounded by such course postulate, at contrasting life story heads, and boilers suit trade satisfaction levels. discordant postulate of a personal nature depart change with each developmental stage of a persons line of achievement and, at given stages of their travels, in addition to distinctive psychological involve, individuals impart nominate unique areer concerns, developmental deputes that need to be under swallown and personal argufys that leave need to be overcome (Schein, 1980 Cron, 1984). At certain(prenominal)(p) course stages, each individual depart undoubtedly wee diverse race developmental duties and ends, depending upon the specific function that they perform (Schein, 1987), but we argue that, in Taiwan in particular, it is necessary to identify not only the career goals of R&D masters, but overly the inherent value systems and needfully structures of these employees (Kim and Cha, 2000).We believe that this research is of particular importance to Taiwan because we recognize that organizational development here has yet to move to a stage where employees feel sufficiently sure-footed to voice these ineluctably directly to line managers, and as such, there is belt up a prodigious lack of spirit of what it is that drives R&D victors in Taiwan.Organizations everywhere gather in to be able to respond more in effect to the career development necessarily of all their employees because, through innovation, they are able to differentiate themselves from their competitors however, the knowledge capital necessary for such innovation resides with their employees, not with the organization itself (Hoon, 2000 Petroni, 2000).Although individuals are initially eng senior(a) by a community ostensibly to enrich the potential of the comp whatever, they neverthe little enter with their own distinctive career plans in mind, and, as such, can be attracted to a company, and bear within it, on the basis of whether or not the company adopts specific practices capable of satisfying their individual career unavoidably (Chang, 1999).This implies that personal career attitudes can affect the overall attitudes of individuals towards a company, and we can extrapolate from this that any company which places effort into satisfying the personal career needs of individuals depart in turn reduce its staff turnover levels. We believe, therefore, that it is important, indeed crucial, for companies to character reference the issue of individual career needs.As a result of employees ever-ever-changing attitudes towards their own careers, there is a need to focus attention on their perceptions of the career management practices offered by their organizations, with such perceptions arguably being more relevant to individual career outcomes than the actual career management practic es themselves (Crabtree, 1999). 1004 The International Journal of Human Resource Management Organizations exit have to begin to finish that career development programmes that are eminently suited to one particular group of R&D professionals whitethorn be inappropriate, or even irrelevant, to an separate group.We argue, therefore, that human resource managers mustinessiness recognize that there are a number of diverse groups within the R&D profession, and hence the career development programmes that are authentic for these employees must be flexible enough to accommodate this diversity. Our proposed concept is based on the prospective(a) setting in line with the changes in roles and job content at different stages of their careers, the psychological needs of this particular group of employees will similarly change (Cron, 1984).What is regarded as an appropriate go underment will naturally diversify according to the career development programmes adopted by different organiza tions, and they will therefore have varying levels of bias on the level of satisfaction that employees have with such programmes. Given the changes that will inevitably take place from a career start point and through the various career stages, along with the personnel maturation of an individual, various career needs will subsequently begin to release and further evolve.We dispense that R&D personnel will inevitably encounter career planning problems at various stages of their careers and argue that their respective career needs will come as a result of their own self- taking into custody, personal interests, values, professional roles and responsibilities and, moreover, the greater responsibilities that are a hallmark of the particular stage of their career that they have reached.If we fail to consider the specific needs of R&D personnel at various career stages, then there is an increasing likelihood that the design of career development programmes will be inappropriate, and h ence unconvincing to have the confided effect of attracting and retaining the most valuable R&D personnel. Thus, it would be clearly inappropriate for an organization to adopt the same programmes in the hope that they will effectively satisfy the needs of all R&D personnel at different stages of their careers, since it is also clear that different career development programmes will be necessary to meet these different career needs.Our study attempts to bridge the current hoo-hah by examining such career needs and the career development programmes currently being adopted to meet them. establish on the preceding discussion, we first of all examine the career needs of R&D personnel pursuing the pursual hypothesis Hypothesis 1 R&D personnel have different perspectives on the nature of career needs, and of their signification, at different stages of their careers.Within this study, career needs are generally defined as the changing career goals, tasks and contends that arise due t o shifts in personal career stages. A career goal may be a particular verge to be achieved during a career, which provides the necessary direction and motivation for advancement. The motivational goals acquire the determination of the main career tasks to be completed and, during the implementation of these career tasks, opportunities are continually labeld for future(a) potential career development, bottlenecks or scraps.We propose that career goals will generally focus on existing career needs and the determination of the direction of an individuals current efforts, while career tasks are more pertinent to those career needs that emerge in following of the achievement of these overall career goals. We also contend that career challenges relate to the future career needs that arise from subsequent opportunities for career development.We examine these three career needs dimensions at various stages of the careers of R&D personnel, and then consider suitable career development programmes capable of catering to such needs. Chen et al. calling needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1005 passage goal needs In the exploration stage of a researchers career, the centimeral focus is on establishing a suitable professional field and, through self-assessment, gaining an discernment of their own interests and capacity in that field.Thus, they will evaluate their own level of interest, and then prove information on the working environment to encounter the roles and responsibilities that an organization will want and allow them to take. Employees will generally wish to devote themselves to a particular field of interest, but will also wish to interact with their superiors and peers to satisfy their social support needs (Hall, 1976).If career development programmes are to be effective at meeting the career goal needs of R&D personnel, we propose that at the exploration stage of their careers, these programmes should let in helping employees to understand their professional interests, providing appropriate job descriptions for each position, sufficient support from their more experienced colleagues and discussions among employees and superiors with regard to job content.During the legitimateation stage, employees are keen to experience success and the respect of their co-workers they are determined and industrious, eager to improve their knowledge and very open about their pursuit of professional goals. Since they will place significant value on their on-the-job performance and promotion, they will also be keen to keep principal of their personal performance military position, as well as external opportunities and holy terrors, to determine their distinct competitive advantage. Self-directed learning and external learning are also essential elements of career development at this stage.At the origination stage of their careers, if such programmes are to continue to meet the career goal needs of R&D personnel, th ey should accept the adoption of project assignments as a means of facilitating on-the-job training, encouraging personnel to get into in seminars where they can present their project findings and offering tuition fee tending for continuing professional development. During the attention stage of their careers, the career concerns of R&D personnel are retention of their earlier accomplishments and re-military rating of their career direction.At this stage, they should already have achieved a certain level of on-the-job status and will be keen to retain this status while re-evaluating their future career prospects, building on their earlier achievements and pursuance out motivators to encourage even greater efforts. They should also have gained a considerable level of knowledge, and have become rich in job experience, so they should be fittedly qualified to direct others. Organizations should be looking to these R&D workers to take the less experienced ersonnel within their core team under their wing and thus help to consolidate the organization. In order to meet the career goal needs of R&D personnel at the care stage, we aim that appropriate career development programmes should include careful reflection of employees career paths within the organization, the possibility of offering dual-career programmes, which would enable personnel to ingest their own future career direction without jeopardizing their promotion prospects, and cultivating personnel to become professional consultants or specialized lecturers.Employees at the breakup stage will be concerned only with successful completion of their career (Cron, 1984). We submit that, as R&D personnel come close to solitude, they place less emphasis on their current job and focus or else on other roles, in order to adapt to increasing age and waning vigour. They will be hoping to round off their professional life and arranging activities with greater relevance to retirement.At the same time, their roles will be changing, from pass judgment and training themselves, to handing over the job, providing direction and consultation and passing on their experience to less experienced personnel. Their major hope at this stage will be to have 1006 The International Journal of Human Resource Management gained a reputation within their field, and their only real desire will be that their loyalty will be compensated praiseworthily by a bully pension package.They will have salt away extensive experience and research knowledge, with a wealth of experience in research direction and counselling. In order to meet the career goal needs of R&D personnel at the separation stage, we refer that appropriate career development programmes should include establishing succession planning, the training of replacements, providing retirement planning and counselling and consideration of establishing honorary consultancy positions for those who merit such positions. life task needs During the explorat ion stage, employees need continually to upgrade their skills and knowledge according to the requirements of the job and so gain a complete understanding of what is required of them thus career tasks involve obtaining the necessary knowledge to enable successful job performance.Employees must know how to perform a specific job, and how to create a meaningful link between their own personal perspective and the overall output of the organization, ensuring that their personal job performance achieves the ensamples of honor required to settle an effective contribution to the company (Kerry, 1998). In order to meet the career task needs of R&D personnel at the exploration stage of their careers, appropriate career development programmes should include the preparation of on-the-job training and implementation of professional development training.During the initiation stage, career development tasks will involve raising professional knowledge and the level of autonomy to boost job perf ormance, creative development and innovative skills. R&D personnel can continue to develop their professional ability to innovate, to become more intellectually mature, gain wider job experience and become much more willing to take on additional responsibilities one of their greatest desires will be that their superiors will fully authorize them, thus allowing them greater levels of autonomy.At the governing stage of their careers, if such programmes are to continue to meet the career task needs of R&D personnel, they should include individual assignments involving periods of engagement in foreign training, the introduction of job rotation in order expand fields of expertise and the training of opportunities for job enrichment. During the maintenance stage, an important personal task is to ensure that the previously established ground is retained (Super, 1984). A personal development task will be to seek out wider job and organizational perspectives while maintaining current pe rformance (Cron, 1984).Promotional opportunities will be modified, since a certain status will have already been achieved within the company and, thus, effort must be placed into their decision-planning and directive roles. During this phase, employees should be adopting parallel, cross-functional means to meld their work and widening their professional horizons in order continually to make work more interesting. The more zealous R&D personnel within an organization, those not content with limited promotional prospects, ill attempt to extend their reach outside the company, extending their career channels and attempting to casing higher(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) career peaks. In order to meet the career task needs of R&D personnel at the maintenance stage of their careers, appropriate career development programmes should include setting up objective performance appraisals as a means of assessing overall management performance and future development, encourag ing personnel to learn additional interpersonal skills, counselling skills and so on and assisting employees to jointly formulate a development plan that would involve more demanding roles.Chen et al. Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1007 During the detachment stage, as retirement age nears and responsibilities begin to decline, most employees will consider to maintain acceptable levels of performance while preparing for retirement (Cron, 1984). An important developmental task at this stage is to maintain an acceptable level of performance while building a stronger sense of self-identity outside work and attempting to adjust schedules in order to shift time and energy towards other pursuits (such as family life, friendships, religion and so on).In order to meet the career task needs of R&D personnel at the disengagement stage, we suggest that appropriate career development programmes should include providing employees with the means of undertaking s elf-assessment in order both to maintain their current level of performance and to try for continuous improvement, setting basic job standards and encouraging interlocking in professional associations. Career challenge needsAt the exploration stage, the major career challenge is continually to acquire professional knowledge and participate in self-improvement activities related to enhancing professional knowledge and skills. A more personal challenge is to establish a good initial professional self-concept (Cron, 1984) in order to strive to live up to recognized professional behavioural standards and criteria for professional elationships, which represent additional challenges to be met. Workers must also try continually to employ professional knowledge within an organization, to make love a measure of recognition and attention from superiors and co-workers regarding their professional calibre within a certain field and thereby secure more intriguing work.In order to meet the ca reer challenge needs of R&D personnel at the exploration stage of their careers, appropriate career development programmes should include the provision of specifically targeted training to fully realize the potential of each employee, the provision of guidance aimed at helping employees to improve their job performance and clarification by superiors of the continuing requirements for the job in terms of characteristics, content and qualifications.At the establishment stage, the major career challenges for R&D personnel are the desire to continue to perform well, to gain promotion and to balance the requirements of the job with family responsibilities. Hence, they will seek promotional opportunities by demonstrating superior performance in their role, leading to the receipt of various rewards (not limited solely to material enrichment), and secure a role with greater autonomy.Employees at this stage are keen to receive early promotion and will tend to place a great deal of effort int o their work. They are likely to be spend more of their time at work in order to create an impact on their superiors however this can be to the detriment of their family lives because of the imbalance created between their professional and private lives.At the establishment stage of their careers, if such programmes are to continue to meet the career challenge needs of R&D personnel, they should include performance evaluation so as to help employees to adjust their efforts accordingly and to provide them with an understanding of promotional prospects and routes and assisting employees to find the appropriate balance between their jobs and their family life.At the maintenance stage, R&D personnel need to retain their established organizational status, prioritize work functions and maintain motivation, professionalism and conflict, with career tasks involving broadening their job horizons and extending their professional reach. There may also be a growing threat of challenges from n ewcomers thus, the need for continuous innovation is paramount. R&D personnel will have reached their professional peaks and will be seeking to retain their status, with 1008 The International Journal of Human Resource Management he hope of perm job assurances and benefits being provided by their employers. When face up with potential threats, the reaction may be somewhat intense, leading to protective walls being built about their domain. Those already high up in the organizational hierarchy have fewer promotional opportunities this can inevitably lead to a greater orientation towards the present, which will often manifest itself in an increasing desire for immediate monetary rewards (Hall, 1986 Cron, 1984 Rabinowitz and Hall, 1981).In order to meet the career challenge needs of R&D personnel at the exploration stage of their careers, appropriate career development programmes should include the design of appropriate (material) rewards and motivational systems subsidizing externa l educational activities and providing interpersonal relationship counselling and guidance, according to specific needs. During the disengagement stage, retirement can be a problem in itself.Being accustomed to a business career, employees will have now reached a stage where they must give it up and adapt to a more non-productive lifestyle, staying at home to face the strange experience of being idle, with no specific duties. Some people can find self- avowal and the maintenance of a belief in their own worth to be a formidable challenge (Dessler, 1996). Hence, R&D employees will be retrospectively examining their careers, and pondering how they intend to while away their future. In seeking out another crossroad in life, they will be adjusting their roles and lifestyles, and accepting and developing a new self-identity.These retirees also face the prospect of spending more time with their families, and of how they will handle it. Examining a passing career produces a need to accept achievements and to adjust ones self-identity, leading to problems of psychological adaptation. Thus, businesses must offer career counselling at this stage in order to help their R&D staff to develop a positively charged attitude, and to avoid at all costs a pessimistic or negative outlook. Retiring employees should be counselled to encourage their participation in social and leisure activities, and family life, while roviding guidance to help these employees to plan their life as a retiree, and thereby maintain a positive and optimistic attitude. According to Hoon (2000), managers generally consider the provision of career planning, management and development for their employees as key human resource management functions that will attach employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment indeed, the ongoing career development of employees is frequently cited as a positive investment by corporations, capable of creating a more positive job attitude (London, 1988).Neverthele ss, the chagrin for many professional workers is that current management practices and policies fail to incorporate an adequate understanding of their needs and expectations as professionals (Petroni, 2000). Thus, irrespective of the amount of career development practices that an organization provides and actively pursues, the whole process will prove to be hitly ineffective if employees perceive this developmental effort as unproductive, non-utilitarian or, indeed, non-existent (Crabtree, 1999).Organizations must therefore pay particular attention to the career aspirations of each individual and be aware of their attitudes towards the organizations career management practices. Cordero et al. (1994a, 1994b) remark that development opportunities that were capable of satisfying the expectations of technological personnel would lead to sweetener of their overall job satisfaction levels, and, in a study of professional engineers, Petroni (2000) found a strong association between the inadequate understanding of their expectations and their general level of dissatisfaction with their overall career direction.This suggests that there may be a widespread need to develop career management systems, particularly among groups of professionals, which are congruent with the career aspirations of each individual. Such efforts at twin(a) programmes with aspirations will Chen et al. Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1009 learly have an watch on overall satisfaction levels and on decisions about whether to watch within an organization or whether to seek alternative employment (Granrose and Pordeuceod, 1987 Aryee and Leong, 1991). Based on our proposals for career development programmes, we further examine the career development status of individuals in order to determine whether any violates exist between their career needs and the career development programmes provided.If such a spreadhead does exist, it would be of interest to establish whether or not the offer differs observably at various career stages. If the breakout between the career needs of R&D personnel and the available career development programmes becomes excessive, their familiar needs will not be met and, in accordance with motivational process guess, these unsatisfied needs will subsequently produce jitteriness and stress among workers, ultimately impacting on job satisfaction (Robbin, 1998).If this gap is controllable, we can further argue that job satisfaction levels can be reasonably predicted, since organizations have the ability to boost job satisfaction levels through the provision of appropriate career development programmes capable of satisfying unfulfilled career needs. Based upon this discussion, we can propose the following hypothesis Hypothesis 2 The gap between career development programmes and career needs has a negative correlation with job satisfaction.We can also argue that this influence on job satisfaction from the gap betwe en career needs and career development programmes will vary with different career stages because R&D workers at the establishment stage are keen to make up ahead and focus on the level of compatibility between their career needs and career development programmes this compatibility level therefore has a strong influence on their overall level of job satisfaction.In contrast, those at the exploration, maintenance and disengagement stages of their careers are either total newcomers, those maintaining their earlier achieved status or those preparing themselves for retirement, and therefore less likely to place so much emphasis on compatibility between their career needs and career development programmes (Super, 1957 Cron, 1984 Weeks et al. , 1999).The gap between career development programmes and career needs is therefore likely to have less impact on the job satisfaction of workers in all but the establishment stage of their careers. Based on this well-founded supposition, we propose the following hypothesis Hypothesis 3 Career stages may moderate the negative effect on job satisfaction from the gap between career development programmes and career needs. Method selective information sourceThe sample in this study was drawn from R&D personnel in the high-tech industry in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP). A pre-tested questionnaire was used with proportionate stratified sampling being carried out according to both the year 2000 manpower monthly report issued by the HSIP management and the ratio of R&D personnel within certain sectors to the total R&D personnel within HSIP. The sample data were collected by mail.A total of 1,300 questionnaires were distributed, of which 385 were returned, giving a response rate of 29. 6 per cent eighteen questionnaires were invalid, leaving a total of 367 valid questionnaires as the sample thus, the overall return rate of valid questionnaires was 28. 2 per cent. Since a total of only eleven R&D workers were current ly in a stage of disengagement, it was not mathematical to undertake any statistical analysis of this group that could claim to have any real validity. 010 The International Journal of Human Resource Management Measures Career stages There are a number of reasons for using age as a proxy for career stages, as follows rootage of all, there is no consistent, widely accepted means of measuring employee career stages and, as show in a general review of the extant research, a wide variety of approaches has been adopted in an effort to carry out an appropriate and acceptable assessment (Mehta et al. , 2000).Second, alternative operational definitions of career stages have been used in multiple research probes. These include Supers (1957) adult form, which comprise four career stages Gottfredsons (1981) complex theory of occupational circumscription and compromise, within which there are several recursive career stages based on childhood and adolescent processes tenure (Stumpf and Rabin owitz, 1981) Levinsons (1986) career stage groupings based on four life eras and indeed, age (e. . Cron, 1984 Hafer, 1986 Dalrymple and Strahle, 1990 Kao et al. , 1997 Weeks et al. , 1999). These studies also attracted a general recognition of the discordant way in which career stages have been operationalized across studies (Swanson, 1992). Third, our study uses age to represent career stages in similar fashion to the way in which many others have through with(p) when testing Supers (1957) model (e. g. Gould, 1979 Slocum and Cron, 1985 Weeks and Kahle, 1990). Fourth, Weeks et al. 1999) also argued that since age can be measured quite accurately, it can be argued that this measure has adequate reliability and objectivity when compared to the reliability and objectivity of other measures of career stages. Finally, we must also concede that all research is confronted by the practical realities of costs and deadlines (Cooper and Schindler, 1998), and this was evident in our study in terms of the depth of our questionnaire, costs, time and the rate of response. Career stage categorization in this study is therefore similar to that used in many previous studies (Cron, 1984 Weeks et al. 1999), and we regard the age of R&D personnel as an indication of their professional ability and job experience, which usually increases with age, and which moves forward with the career stage of these employees. Thus, we adopt age to measure career stages, but we also concede that it represents one of the limitations of our study that is to say, in order to clarify different career needs at various stages, we do not consider that some of the R&D personnel included within the study may be in a period of transition from one career stage to another.In this study, therefore, career stage is also represented by age. The sample was lowly down for analysis into four age groups corresponding to the Cron (1984) career stage categories, with respondents in the exploration stage being equal to or less than 30 years of age, respondents in the establishment stage being aged between 30 and 45 years, respondents in the maintenance stage being aged between 46 and 65 years and respondents in the disengagement stage, being those of 66 years of age or above.Career needs Career needs are defined as the personal needs of goals, tasks and challenges in a persons career, and it is recognized that career needs change with the various career stages. This study proposes various primary career needs for the various career stages, constructing a thirty-two-item scale to measure these career needs. In order to indicate their needs, participants were provided with a 5-point Likert-type response scale, ranging from strongly protest to strongly agree. The details of the career needs scale is habituated as an appendix.The internal consistency reliability (alpha coefficient) of the measure of career needs was 0. 737. Career development programmes Based on the career needs of R&D personnel , this study proposes three general categories of response in the form of career development programmes career goals-oriented development programmes, career tasks-oriented Chen et al. Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1011 development programmes and career challenges-oriented development programmes.This study refers to Ivancevich and Glueck (1989), adjusting and revising the itemized issues and some of the detailed assessment indices, with the aim of associating these with career needs while also taking into account the status of career development in Taiwans high-tech industry. Thereafter, a thirty-three-item scale was developed to measure the perceived career development programmes. Participants were provided with a 5-point Likert-type response scale ranging from very dissatisfied to very satisfied.Details of the contents of the career development programmes are attached as an appendix. The internal consistency reliability (alpha coefficient) of the career development programme measures was 0. 856. The gap between career development programmes and career needs The gap between career development programmes and career needs is determined as the discrepancy between the career needs of R&D personnel and their awareness level of the career development programmes currently in use by their companies.We use such gaps to evaluate whether the career needs of this group are being satisfied by their companies career development programmes. Such gaps are measured by subtracting the come awareness values of career development programmes from average career needs values. Job satisfaction Job satisfaction was defined by Gregson (1987) as the positive emotional state resulting form the appraisal of ones job or experience. The measurement of job satisfaction within this study was undertaken using a composite of five sub-scales (satisfaction with pay, promotion, supervisors, co-workers and work).These five items are from the pilot light thirty- item Job Descriptive Index scale of Smith et al. (1969) and we have chosen (and occasionally modified) these items to ensure the best fit with the situation in the firm being studied. This is an approach which has been used effectively in previous gross revenue force studies (Teas, 1983 Johnston et al. , 1990). We include one additional item, which asks participants to indicate their overall level of satisfaction with the job.Participants were provided with a 5-point Likert-type response scale ranging from very dissatisfied to very satisfied to indicate their level of satisfaction with the following aspects of their present job (1) job content (2) supervision (3) co-worker relations (4) opportunities for promotion (5) pay and (6) their overall level of satisfaction with their organization. The sample items included The amount of challenge you have in your job, Your chances for promotion and The recognition you get for good work (your job, overall).A summed averaged of the six items was produced to form the job satisfaction come to (Cronbachs alpha coefficient ? 0920). In addition, Manalysis of variance data analysis was carried out to test whether, at different stages of their careers, R&D personnel had differing viewpoints on their career needs. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the effect on job satisfaction from the gap between career development programmes and career needs, the moderating cause of career stages on the relationships between the gap and job satisfaction. Empirical resultsThe empirical results of this study, providing the means of the three types of career needs career goal needs, career task needs and career challenge needs of R&D personnel at different stages of their careers, are presented in submit 1a. In addition, the results of the ANOVA analysis of the repeated measures are presented in Table 1b. The overall mean for career goal needs was 4. 31, of which the establishment stage (4. 39) was larger than the exploratio n stage (4. 32), disengagement stage (4. 18) and maintenance stage (3. 6). As Table 1b shows, there are statistically significant 1012 The International Journal of Human Resource Management Table 1a The means of career needs of R&D personnel at different career stages Career needsCareer stages exploration Establishment Maintenance Disengagement base Goals 4. 32 4. 39 3. 96 4. 18 4. 31 Tasks 4. 57 4. 49 4. 15 4. 36 4. 8 Challenges 4. 30 4. 35 3. 76 4. 00 4. 26 Table 1b ANOVA of career needs of R&D personnel at different career stages Source of variation bring of squares Degrees of Mean square F-value p-value freedom (1) The repeated measures ANOVA Career stages 21. 1 3 7. 136 14. 27*** 0. 001 Career needs 5. 22 2 2. 61 19*** 0. 001 Interaction 1. 92 6 0. 32 2. 33* 0. 031 (2) The transparent main cause on career stages Career goal needs 6. 15 3 2. 05 8. 2*** 0. 001 Career task needs 5. 36 3 1. 79 7. 51*** 0. 01 Career challenge needs 11. 83 3 3. 94 13. 74*** 0. 001 (3) The elementary main make on career needs geographic expedition 5. 69 2 2. 84 30. 98*** 0. 001 Establishment 1. 92 2 0. 96 6. 14** 0. 002 Maintenance 2. 83 2 1. 42 7. 11** 0. 001 Disengagement 0. 73 2 0. 36 2. 3 0. 083 Notes ***p , 001 **p , 01 *p , 05 differences between the various career stages (F ? 1427 p ? 0001) and also between various career needs (F ? 19 p ? 0001). Moreover, the fundamental interaction between career needs and career stages also produces significant levels (F ? 233 p ? 0031), that is to say, at different stages of their careers, R&D personnel do display different career needs. Since the interactions were significant, it was clear that a test of the simple main effects should be further conducted.First of all, from the test of the simple main effects on career stages, the results indicated that, at different stages of their careers, R&D personnel showed significantly different viewpoints on the significance of their career goal needs (F ? 82 p ? 0001). Furthermore, the mean values showed that for those members of this group at the establishment stage, career goal needs had reached a higher level of importance than they had for those at the exploration and maintenance stages of their careers ? 439 . 32 . 396? Second, at different career stages, R&D personnel demo significantly different viewpoints on the significance of their career task needs (F ? 751 p ? 0001). In addition, the means also showed that, for those members of this group at the exploration stage of their careers, career task needs had reached a higher level of importance than they had for those at the establishment and Chen et al. Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1013 maintenance stages of their careers ? 457 . 449 . 415? Third, at different career stages, R&D personnel demonstrated significantly different viewpoints on the significance of their career challenge needs (F ? 1374 p ? 0001). The means also showed that, for thos e members of this group at the establishment stage of their careers, career challenge needs had reached a slightly higher level of importance than they had for those at the exploration stage ? 435 . 430? but a much higher level than they had for those at the maintenance stage ? 435 . 376? Following the test for simple main effects on different career stages, a further test of the simple main effects was conducted on the three kinds of career needs. The respective F-values on the viewpoint of those R&D personnel in the exploration, establishment and maintenance stages of their careers on the significance of the three kinds of career needs, were 30. 98, 6. 14 and 7. 11, all reaching the significance level ( p-value ? 0. 05).These values indicate that those members of this group at the exploration, establishment and maintenance stages of their careers have significantly different viewpoints on the significance of at least two kinds of career needs. The means revealed that, for those m embers of this group at the exploration stage, career task needs reached a higher level of importance than career goal needs and career challenge needs ? 457 . 432 . 430? Likewise, for those at the establishment stage, career task needs again displayed a higher level of importance than career goal needs and career challenge needs ? 49 . 439 . 435? Finally, for those at the maintenance stage of their careers, career task needs also reached a higher level of importance than career goal needs and career challenge needs ? 415 . 396 . 376? Thus, hypothesis 1 is supported. According to the figures provided in Table 1a, among the three kinds of career needs, as far as R&D personnel are concerned, the significance of career task needs is highest, with career goal needs coming next and career challenge needs being the least significant.The reason behind this would seem to be that the needs of the career tasks are a principal demand in the process of R&D, within which these personnel must be experienced in order to achieve their targets. In their efforts during the present stage, to attain the situation of satisfying their career goal needs, R&D personnel would necessarily have stronger career task needs. Once they have achieved their career goals during the present stage, they would then be in a position to assess their chances of developing their future career, and thus achieving a breakthrough, namely, advancement to career challenge needs.For researchers in Taiwan, career challenge needs can often reach a much higher level of importance for their professional recognition, the capabilities required for completing actual research tasks and the performance level actually attained. This is because these factors are perhaps the most visible indicator, and a critical requirement for promotion to higher R&D positions, or for acceptance of a position of lesser importance.It should be noted, however, that, during our survey, Taiwan was unfortunately embroiled in the globa l economic ceding back that affected all economies, and which will clearly have led to these R&D personnel being somewhat shortsighted and practical, albeit temporarily, in their career task needs. In order to explore whether there is any significant relationship between the dependent variable (job satisfaction) and the unaffiliated variables set (the gap between career development programmes and career needs), a multiple infantile fixation analysis was conducted as part of this study.The gap between career development programmes and career needs for goals, the gap between career development programmes and career needs for tasks and the gap between career development programmes and career needs for challenges were each entered into the model, and, as Table 2 indicates, all three items had a statistically significant level, with the signs, as expected, being negative. 1014 The International Journal of Human Resource ManagementTable 2 Regression analysis results of the gap between career development programmes and career needs on job satisfaction Sourceb T-valueR2F-value DR2p-value The gap between career development programmes and career needs for challenges The gap between career development programmes and career needs for goals The gap between career development programmes and career needs for tasks 2 0. 36***2 7. 420. 44291. 090. 440. 001 2 0. 26***2 5. 860. 52196. 330. 080. 001 2 0. 25***2 5. 250. 55149. 620. 030. 001 Note **p , 001 This denotes that the larger the gap, the lower the job satisfaction of R&D personnel. The items predict that job satisfaction levels among R&D personnel will be in the order of the gap between career development programmes and career needs for challenges, the gap between career development programmes and career needs for goals and the gap between career development programmes and career needs for tasks, which are able jointly to predict 55 per cent of the variance in job satisfaction.As to the level of each individual predict ion, the gap between career development programmes and career needs for challenges was highest, explaining 44 per cent of the variance the gap between career development programmes and career needs for goals was next, with an R2 increment of 8 per cent. Therefore, hypothesis 2 is also supported.This study divided the gap between career development programmes and career needs into three, high, medium and low, sub-sections according to the mean (plus/minus one) standard deviation in order to explore whether there was any significant difference between these three sub-sections in terms of job satisfaction. compend of whether career stages can moderate the negative direct effect on job satisfaction stemming from the gap between career development programmes and career needs has also been undertaken within this study.The results are provided in Table 3a, which reveals that the interaction between career stages and the gap between career development programmes and career needs was signif icant for job satisfaction (F ? 359 p ? 0002). In order to determine the actual influence of the two independent variables on the dependent variables, tests of the simple and main effects were conducted. First of all, a test of the simple and main effects was conducted on the independent variable, i. . the the gap between career development programmes and career needs. As Table 3a shows, the F-value reached a level of significance ? a ? 005? indicating that a significant difference does exist between the four career stages of R&D personnel in terms of the influence on job satisfaction of the gap between career development programmes and career needs the means are provided in Table 3b.Among all of the R&D personnel surveyed, the group with a low gap between career development programmes and career needs demonstrated a significantly higher attitude towards job satisfaction than the groups with a medium and high gap between career development programmes and career needs, while the att itude towards job satisfaction of those in the group with a medium gap between career development programmes and career needs was also significantly higher than the group with a high gap between career Chen et al. Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1015Table 3a MANOVA of the effects on job satisfaction from the gap between career development programmes and career needs at different career stages Source of variation Sum of squares Degrees of Mean squareF-value p-value freedom (1) MANOVA Career stages 1. 63 3 0. 54 1. 62 0. 185 The gap between career evelopment programmes and career needs 49. 26224. 6373. 44***0. 001 Interaction7. 2361. 213. 59**0. 002 (2) The simple main effects on the gap between career development Exploration 39. 99 2 19. 99 67. 58*** 0. 001 Establishment 95. 07 2 47. 53 134. 31*** 0. 001 Maintenance 12. 24 2 6. 12 14. 08*** 0. 001 Disengagement 4. 62 2 2. 31 26. 26*** 0. 001 3) The simple main effects on career stage s Low gaps between career development programmes and career needs Medium gaps between career development programmes and career needs High gaps between career development programmes and career needs 2. 3330. 782. 720. 052 0. 7330. 240. 810. 489 5. 9931. 993. 96*0. 012 Notes ***p , 001 **p , 01 *p , 05 Table 3b Mean comparison of job satisfaction Career stages The gaps between career development programmes and career needs High (72) Medium (230) Low (65) Mean Exploration (128) 2. 4 3. 47 4. 57 3. 65 Establishment (190) 2. 24 3. 44 4. 33 3. 34 Maintenance (38) 2. 71 3. 62 4. 85 3. 73 Disengagement (11) 3. 33 3. 67 4. 89 4. 30 Mean 2. 45 3. 47 4. 63 3. 47 Note Values represent kiosk means. Number of cases is given in parentheses. development programmes and career needs.This indicates that, along with the increase in the gap between career development programmes and career needs, there is an apparent decline in job satisfaction levels among R&D personnel. We may find that the att itude towards job satisfaction of those R&D personnel at the establishment stage of their careers is lower as the gap increases. In addition, as the gap increases, compared to those 1016 The International Journal of Human Resource Management personnel at all other stages (with the exception of the disengagement stage), the attitude towards job satisfaction of R&D personnel is highest at the maintenance stage.We also find that those at the establishment stage are most conscious of the gap between career development programmes and career needs, and that their consciousness of job satisfaction decreases gradually as the gap between career development programmes and career needs increases. Those R&D personnel at the maintenance stage are less conscious of the gap between career development programmes and career needs because they have already reached the peak of their careers and often enjoy plentiful resources within their organizations.Therefore, the attitude towards job satisfaction in the group at the maintenance stage of their careers, which also indicates a high gap between career development programmes and career needs, is higher than at any of the other career stages. In addition, as Table 3a indicates, in the group indicating a high gap between career development programmes and career needs, there are significant differences demonstrated between the different career stages.The means show that those R&D personnel at the establishment stage of their careers, and also indicating a high gap between career development programmmes and career needs, have the last level of job satisfaction (2. 24). In the group of R&D personnel indicating a high gap between career development programmes and career needs, the respective attitudes towards job satisfaction of those at different stages are the exploration stage (2. 84) . the maintenance stage (2. 1) . the establishment stage (2. 24). Therefore, hypothesis 3 is also supported. Concluding remarks This study set out wi th the aim of examining the gap between career development programmes and career needs, and the relationships with job satisfaction. single of the features of this study has been the attempt to define the factors influencing R&D personnels job satisfaction levels from a perspective of the gap between career development programmes and career needs.With Taiwan eagerly working towards enhancing its high-tech competitiveness and becoming increasingly involved in high- tech R&D, an investigation into the existing gaps between perceived career development programmes and expected career needs of R&D personnel may improve the job satisfaction of R&D personnel. This study has attempted to provide an understanding of the career needs of R&D personnel, which, it is hoped, will lead to the development of appropriate career development programmes in response to these needs.It has further investigated the relationship between career needs and career development programmes and job satisfaction. T he results reveal that, at different stages of their careers, R&D personnel do indeed have distinct career needs. For R&D personnel, of the three types of career needs referred to in this study, career task needs take priority, with career goal needs in second place and career challenge needs demonstrating the lowest priority. An explanation for this is that career task needs are part of the path that has to be travelled to achieve career goals.In order to achieve the current needs for career goals, R&D personnel demonstrate a stronger need for career tasks. Once they do achieve their career goals, they can then evaluate the developmental opportunities for their future career, hence producing the career need for challenges that have yet to be faced and overcome. Furthermore, R&D personnel generally display a high evaluation of the know-how necessary actually to perform their jobs and of their on-the-job performance levels, since these are the most obvious indices, and a key deciding factor in the promotion, or passing over, of R&D personnel.It was clear, when conducting this research which took place Chen et al. Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1017 during a period of global recession that R&D personnel were prone to the pursuit of short-term, pragmatic career task needs at that time. In addition, the results of the stepwise relapse reveal that the three kinds of gaps between career development programmes and career needs are significant predictors of job satisfaction (R2 ? 553 per cent).Furthermore, this study has also revealed that the widening of the gap between career development programmes and career needs leads to a corresponding lowering of job satisfaction levels among R&D personnel. Finally, this study finds that the interaction between career stages and the gap between career development programmes and career needs does in fact influence job satisfaction, that is to say, the influence upon job satisfaction, from the gap between career development programmes and career needs, varies with the different career stages of R&D personnel.As the gap widens (with the exception of those in the disengagement stage), those in the establishment stage of their careers demonstrate the lowest job satisfaction levels, while those in the maintenance stage of their careers demonstrate higher levels of job satisfaction than those in all other career stages. During the establishment stage, their awareness of the gaps between career development programmes and career needs is the highest, relative to awareness levels at other career stages, and it is also at this stage that the highest turnover intentions are demonstrated.Perhaps because of higher levels of dreaming among R&D personnel in the establishment stage, of desire to set up relationships between themselves and the organization, and to get ahead and become valuable professional members of the organization, this group is likely to work particularly hard in t he pursuit of success and realization of personal needs. At this time, they will define, on the one hand, the relationship between themselves and the organization and, on the other, their personal needs, as against organizational goals.Personal ambitions are reflected in career needs, making for exaggerated career needs. If, during this time, organizational career development programmes do not satisfy such ambitions, then considerable gaps can develop between career development programmes and career needs. R&