Marketing Research Of Graduates

A REPOR T ON PER CE PTION OF GRA DU ATE S REG ARDING WORKPLA CE EXPECT ATION (AN EXPL ORA TORY STUD Y)

SUBMITTED TO: Mr. RAJESH SHARMA (FACULTY OF NIILM CMS) SUBMITTED BY: MANOJ AGGARWAL (27120) AMBIKA GUPTA (27026) PGDBM 2007-09 SECTION A

Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge the contribution of the following groups and individuals to the development of my project:

We would like to give a special thanks to Mr. Rajesh Sharma (Faculty of NIILM CMS) for giving me this project and explaining the concept of the project. The college directed me to a wide range of resources on the web and in the library stacks.

MANOJ AGGARWAL AMBIKA GUPTA

2

ABSTRACT This research outlines the results of a study which investigates the perceptions of graduates

regarding

theoretical

foundation

workplace which

expectations.

explains

the

A

literature

nature

of

study

graduates'

provides

a

workplace

expectations. An empirical survey was conducted, using a self-administered questionnaire, which was completed by prospective graduates at two tertiary institutions. This sample was selected in terms of the proposed restructuring of higher education institutions. Eleven null-hypotheses, investigating relationships between the dependent and independent variables, are tested by means of specific statistical methods, such as analysis of variance and correlation coefficients. The

results

expectations

showed of

do

not

graduates

showed

much

(dependent

differences

variables)

and

between

workplace

classification

data

(independent variables). Specific guidelines are provided to ensure the creation of more realistic graduate expectations before entering the workplace.

3

INTRODUCTION When individuals join an organization they have certain expectations about

promotion,

salary,

status,

office,

decor

and

amount

of

challenging work (things they expect to receive). They also have expectations about their skills, time, energy and involvement (things they expect to give). The organization or employer also has certain expectations of what it will receive from the employee and of what it can offer the employee. This has been referred to as the 'psychological contract' between the human being as an employee and the organization as employer. The focus of this research is, however, on the first part of this 'psychological contract' – “expectations of graduates regarding the workplace”. As per NIEUWENHUIS (ref 2) there is conflicting empirical evidence regarding learning potential of the work place. Some studies conclude that work place should be seem as strong learning environment whereas others shows evidence of the effectiveness of the work place as a learning environment 4

Many researchers are of the opinion that graduate expectations are too high and also graduates need to be prepared to 'take a step back before going forward.' They argue that young graduates are finding it very difficult to enter the job market. Employers currently operate in a 'buyer's market' due to limited work opportunities. Therefore, they can pick

and

choose

among

the

best

prepared

applicants.

The

identification of sought after skills, values and attitudes, will help to build an employable profile. Without adequate workplace skills, values and attitudes a person may be able to acquire theoretical knowledge and/or

practical

experience,

however,

due

to

limited

career

development potential, unrealistic expectations can be created. This research sets out to examine the expectations of graduates regarding the workplace.

\ Objectives The primary objective of this research is to investigate the perceptions of graduates regarding workplace expectations. To help achieve this main objective, the following secondary objectives are identified: 1. To highlight the nature of graduate workplace expectation. 2.

To analyze the factors influencing workplace expectations. 5

3.

To empirically investigate the nature and extent of graduate workplace expectations.

4.

To provide guidelines to local industries regarding graduate expectations about the workplace.

5.

To assist graduates in developing realistic workplace expectations.

LITERATURE REVIEW Researchers define expectations as the action of mentally looking for something to take place. It is furthermore stated that expectations are reflected in both the attitudes and the consequent behaviour of 6

employees. (Robinns ref 1) defined that Expectations can also be described as wishing with confidence of fulfillment, the feeling that something is about to happen or the sum of the values of a random variable divided by the number of values. According to him Perception can be described as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. A graduate can be defined as a person who has received a degree from a school, where a school can be classified as a high school, college or university. The workplace can be an establishment, job site, or project at one geographical location containing one or more work areas or merely a place where work is done. There are various factors which a Graduate look for in a company.

Several factors could influence the graduate's workplace expectations. Expectations

regarding

rewards

and

benefits,

personal

factors,

education and career, job-related and employer- related factors, ethics and social responsibility and diversity and culture, were identified. These factors are stated below.

1. Rewards and benefits expectations 2. Personal expectations 3. Educational expectations 4. Job related expectations 5. Expectations regarding the employer 6. Ethical and social responsibility expectations 7. Diversity and cultural expectations 7

Rewards and benefits expectations A reward system can be defined as the umbrella term for the different components in performance evaluation and the assignment of monetary and non-monetary rewards. The remunerative benefits can be classified into three main categories, namely: financial security (e.g. pensions, life assurance, and personal accident insurance); financial assistance (e.g. Subsidized mortgages, company loans and relocation expenses) and personal benefits (e.g. personal, career and retirement counseling, compassionate leave and long service awards)

Personal expectations Some of the personal factors that could influence graduate work place expectations are attitudes, personality, values and norms. (Robbins ref 1) describes values as basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence. Other personal expectations which graduates might have about the workplace are the ability to: uphold personal Values; realize personal career goals and satisfy the need for Job security

8

Educational and career expectations Researchers and academicians are of the opinion that both the employee and the organization should be committed to each other throughout

the

working

life

of

the

employee.

Lifelong

career

commitment implies that job security is guaranteed as long as the employee is technically qualified and performs satisfactorily. Examples of career and educational expectations of graduates are: variety of career

opportunities;

provisioning

of

a

long-term

career

plan;

education relevance to the job situation and to receive guidance and mentoring

Job related expectations The reason why a graduate join an organization is to do a job. As per the researchers job analysis is a detailed description of the tasks involved in a job (job description), indicating its relationship with other jobs and ascertaining the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for a graduate to perform the job (job specification). Job characteristics, such as skill variety, task identity and significance, autonomy and feedback, play an important role when designing a job. Graduates looking for a job need to pay attention to these aspects in order to ensure a proper match. Other job-related expectations that need to be considered are: location of the workplace; productivity requirements; job rotation; flexible working hours and performance feedback.

Expectation regarding employer 9

Graduates joining an organization have certain expectations of what they could receive from an organization (employer) and things they expect to give to the employer. Things they could expect from an employer are among other, a meaningful and challenging job; recognition; compensation and promotion; openness and honesty; support from management; office space; induction training; team spirit and information on organizational policies and regulations. The second group of expectations is what an individual expects to offer an employer, for example: abilities and skills to execute tasks; social interaction; conforming to organization values and goals and to maintain a good public image of the organization.

Ethical and social responsibility expectations Researchers describe business ethics as the application of general ethical ideas to business behavior. They are of the opinion that social responsibility is organizational decision-making that is linked to ethical values and the compliance with legal requirements and respect for communities

and

the

environment.

Specific

examples

of

this

expectation include: fair treatment; safe working environment; respect for employee rights; influence of affirmative action policies and dealing with HIV/AIDS in the workplace.

Diversity and cultural expectations Thomas (ref 3) defines diversity as any mixture of items characterized by differences and similarities. Considering this definition, it should be noted that diversity is not synonymous with difference, but it 10

encompasses differences and similarities. Workforce diversity can thus be described as a mixture of people who can vary along an infinite number of lines, such as, age, tenure, lifestyle, sexual orientation, education, experience, geographic origin, race and gender. According to them culture refers to an entire society or any collective within it, an organization, and a part of it or an occupation. Examples of this expectation include: cultural differences; diversity training programs and dealing with various ethnic groups in the workplace.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS To investigate the relationship between the independent variables (classification data) and dependent variable (graduates expectations), various null hypotheses were tested. The null hypotheses addressed in this research were as follows:

H01:

Gender

of

graduates

does

not

differ

regarding

their

benefit/reward expectations. H02: Gender of graduates does not differ regarding their personal workplace expectations. H03: Religion of graduates does not differ regarding their personal workplace expectations. H04: Religion of graduates does not differ regarding career/educational expectations. 11

H05: Religion of graduates does not differ regarding their job related expectations. H06: Religion of graduates do not differ regarding their employer related expectations H07:

Religion

of

graduates

does

not

differ

regarding

their

cultural/diversity expectations. H08: Martial status of graduates does not differ regarding their career/education expectations. H09: Marital status of graduates does not differ regarding their employer-related expectations. H010: Number of dependants of graduates does not differ regarding their career/educational expectations. H011: Expected level of income of graduates does not differ regarding their benefit/reward expectations.

The alternative hypotheses (H, to Hn) can be stated as the exact opposite of the above null-hypotheses, indicating that there are differences/relationships between the variables. The reason for the inclusion of the above-mentioned hypotheses is that differences only exist between the following independent variables/classification data 12

(gender; ethnic groups; marital status; number of dependants and level of income) and dependent variables/graduate expectations (benefit/reward; personal; career/education; job-related; employerrelated and cultural/diversity). No significant differences exist between the other independent and dependent variables and were, therefore, not reported.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Approach The quantitative research method is used in this study. It is a form of conclusive research which involves a large representative sample and structured data collection procedures are used. The quantitative research approaches used, are exploratory research (an area that has not been studied in order to develop initial ideas) and descriptive research (describe expectations of graduates).

Testing unit: Target population consists of third year graduates pursuing different graduate courses like BBA, and other professional courses from Delhi University, Rai business school of management AND NSB. 13

Questionnaire design: Based on the size of the sample (100), a survey by means of selfadministered questionnaires was best suited to this project. The questionnaire consists of two sections: Section A provides classification data (demographic characteristics) of respondents and contains a nominal scale of measurement, using categorical variables. Nine classification data variables were tested. Section B deals with the variables regarding workplace expectations of learners. Seven workplace factors are tested, totaling 30 statements. The type of ordinal scale used is a five-point Likert-type scale. One open-ended question was asked.

Seven factors and no of question related to it are

Rewards and benefits expectations (Q1-Q5) Personal expectations (Q6-Q10) Educational expectations (Q11-Q14) Job related expectations (Q15-Q17) Expectations regarding the employer (Q18-Q23) Ethical and social responsibility expectations (Q24-Q 27) Diversity and cultural expectations (Q28-Q30)

14

Data collection The type of information required (data specification decisions) for the study can be classified as follows: •

Type

of

data

-

research

data

is

numeric

and

nonverbal

(Questionnaires). • Sources of data - both secondary and primary data (survey) were collected. • Nature of data - data was collected at a single point in time. • Form of data - non-overt data by means of questionnaires.

A total of 100 questions were being completed by final year students. The response rate for this was about 80%. 20% of questionnaires were not completed.

Data processing and analysis For processing of the data we have assigned the values on the following basis: Strongly disagree

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neither agrees nor disagree (3) Agree

(4)

Strongly agree

(5)

For analysis purpose we have used descriptive statistics, frequency distribution correlation and Anova analysis and croanbach alpha. 15

DISCUSSION OF RESULT Descriptive statistics (refer table 1 in annexure) An in-depth discussion of the descriptive statistics of the individual variables falls beyond the scope of this article. A few remarks, however, are made of those factors with significant statistics. In analyzing the mean values (a measure of central tendency) of these factors, it appears that most of these values cluster around point four (agree slightly) on the instrument scale. The lowest mean score (3.52) is indicated by factor six (ethical and social responsibility factor) and the highest mean score (4.108) is being shown by factor one (rewards and benefits expectations). This means maximum number of people has a common share of thought while think upon the rewards and benefits expectations. And as we have seen that lowest mean score has been received by factor 6, this means the next coming generation is having a least concern about ethical and social responsibility factor. Measure of dispersion being used standard deviation, in this analysis we can draw inference that our respondent has a differences in the opinions. The least standard deviation is being received by factor 5 (expectations regarding the employer), and maximum standard deviation is being received by factor 4 (job related expectations). This means in factor 5 most of the respondent varies less in their responses.

Result of section A 16

Following were the observation (refer table 2 in annexure) As we have collected data from different sources. We have collected data in which there is more or less perfect proportion of each attributes. In this we have taken sample in which 57% are male and 43% are female. The sample taken is of mixed age but still it is being dominated by 20 to 21 and 22 to 23 i.e. 35% and 41%. Since we taken fresh graduates, this means the sample will automatically will be unmarried, and the same also can be seen from the sample itself. In this 96% of people are unmarried. In this about 61% of people have a dependent between 0-2, and 30% of the people fall in the category of no response. In our sample 81% of people are from Hindu religion. Our area of research will also look in that factor that whether a religion will make a impact on their expectations or not. Since it was a survey being conducted on the fresh graduates, it was expected that maximum no of people will have work experience less than 1 year and same is being represented by the survey also. The sample we are considering is of the opinion that they should get job in private sector. After that it is followed by both private sector and public sector at 38%.

Factor analysis We have calculated cronbach alpha for different factors. (Refer table 3) In this we are finding that in every factor cronbach alpha is more than 0.5 in every case. So it can be concluded that our data is internally reliable

17

Correlation analysis correlation analysis factor 1 factor 1 factor 2 factor 3 factor 4 factor 5 factor 6 factor 7

-

factor 2 0.41559 8 -

factor 3 0.65616 5 0.49633 1 -

factor 4 0.53294 1 0.55469 8 0.58527 8

factor 5

-

0.47464

0.63864 0.46289 8 0.58867 2

-

factor 6 0.30686 1 0.41156 0.31362 0.45114 9 0.33965 4 -

factor 7 0.42990 9 0.32131 8 0.41857 3 0.33464 1 0.51452 9 0.49968 6 -

As in the correlation analysis we can see that there is highly positive correlation between all the factors. It means all the factors are interrelated to each other

Anova analysis (refer table 4) The purpose of this analysis is to investigate the relationship between the

independent

variables

(classification

data)

and

dependent

variables (graduate expectations) and to test the stated hypotheses. Inferential statistics are used to make inferences about the population using sample data and to make decisions about various hypotheses. Analysis of variance can be used to test for differences among means and cultivates a structure of simultaneous relationships among two or more phenomena. With regard to the ANOVA exercise, it reveals that relationships only exist between the following independent variables (classification data) and the dependent variables (expectations): 18

gender; religion; marital status; number of dependants and level of income.

Results Our first hypothesis is that gender of graduates does not differ regarding their benefit expectations. So in that case our alternate hypothesis is that they do not differ regarding this expectation. But if we see the Anova analysis this hypothesis can be accepted with a p value of. 0 .19 In this f tabulated value is 3.938. (Refer table 4.1)And our calculated value is 1.703 this means; mean score of responses fall in the area of confidence. So with a confidence level of 95% we failed to reject the null hypothesis. This means both male and female have a common thought regarding benefits and rewards expectations.

For the second hypothesis i.egender of graduates does not differ regarding their work place expectations, we can say that it can be rejected with a confidence level of 95%. In this f calculated is 5.034 (refer table 4.2), and in this f tabulated value is 3.93. This means that mean score of graduates fall outside the confidence range and we can reject our null hypothesis that male and female does not differ in their work place expectations. That means male and females have different 19

expectations from their work place. And our alternate hypothesis that is gender of graduates differs regarding their work place expectations can be accepted

Our third hypothesis is religion of graduates do not differ regarding their work place expectations; we can say that it can be rejected with a confidence level of 95%. In this f calculated is 0.28 (refer table 4.3) and f tabulated is 2.46. This means that in this also mean score fall outside the confidence range. And in this also we can reject our null hypothesis that people from different religion have difference of opinion regarding their work place expectations. So our alternate hypothesis that is religion of graduates differ regarding their work place expectations can be accepted Our forth hypothesis is saying that religion of graduates do not differ regarding career educational expectations. And with a confidence level of 95% we are failing to reject our null hypothesis, as we are findings that tabulated value is 2.467 (refer table 4.4) and calculated value is 2.04 this means religion does not make any impact on the expectation of graduates regarding work place. So this means what ever the religion all of them have same expectations from their work place. Our 5th hypothesis is religion of graduates does not differ regarding job related expectations. And with a confidence level of 95% we are failing to reject our null hypothesis. In this from our calculations we are getting a tabulated value at 2.467 (refer table 4.5) and calculated value for this hypothesis is 0.358. So this means that religion does not 20

have any impact on the job related expectations. A respondent may belong to any religion; they follow the same thought regarding job related expectations. Our 6th hypothesis is saying that religion of graduates do not differ regarding their employer related expectations. But if we see the calculations being made by excel we can analyze that mean score of all the respondent are their in the confidence range. In this we can see that calculated value of f is 0.219 (refer table 4.6) which is lying well in the confidence area of 2.46 (f tabulated value). This means that we are failing to reject our null hypothesis that religion does not have any impact on graduates regarding their work place expectations. Our 7th hypothesis is saying that religion of graduates do not differ regarding their cultural/diversity expectations. But if we see the calculations than we can easily find that Mean score is lying within the confidence interval with a 95% confidence level. In this f calculated is 0.503 and f tabulated is 2.46 (refer table 4.7). So our null hypothesis will be accepted or we failed to reject our null hypothesis. The next assertion that we checked upon is about marital status. Our null hypothesis is marital status of graduates does not differ regarding their career/education expectations. This statement is highly being supported by statistical analysis with f calculated as 0.0007 and f tabulated as 3.09 (refer table 4.8). So in this case also we fail to reject our null hypothesis.

21

The 9th hypothesis that we checked upon is marital status of graduates does not differ regarding their employer-related expectations. Again statistical analysis is showing a figure that enforces us to accept our null hypothesis. In this we are getting f calculated as 0.08 and f tabulated as 3.09 (refer table 4.9). And this is falling under the confidence area with a confidence level of 95 %. So we fail to reject our null hypothesis. The 10th hypothesis is saying that number of dependants of graduates does not differ regarding their career/educational expectations. This hypothesis also we failed to reject with a confidence level of 95%. In this tabulated value of f is 2.699 (refer table 4.10) and calculated value of f is 0.52. So we failed to reject our null hypothesis that number of dependants

of

graduates

does

not

differ

regarding

their

career/educational expectations. The 11th hypothesis is expected level of income of graduates does not differ regarding their benefit/reward expectations. In this f calculated is 0.549 (refer table 4.11) which is very well falling under the area of f tabulated of 2.467. So again we failed to reject our null hypothesis and we have to accept that expected level of income of graduates does not differ regarding their benefit reward expectations. This means what ever be the expected level of income they expect the similar level of benefits from their work place

22

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMEDATIONS It appears that the psychological contract that exists between the human being as an employee and the organization as employer plays an important and fundamental role that directs employment relations in the organization. Both the employee and employer have certain expectations about each other - what they can offer and what they 23

want

to

receive.

Secondary

research

revealed

that

graduate

expectations about the workplace are often too high and not realistic. For analysis purposes and the focus of this article, the following graduate workplace expectations were identified: benefit/reward; personal;

career/educational;

job

related;

employer-related;

cultural/diversity and ethical/social responsibility expectations. These Expectations were empirically tested. The following conclusions and recommendations can be drawn, based on the analysis of variance between the independent variables (classification data) and dependent variables (graduate expectations): 1. Since we have seen that first hypothesis we are failing to reject, this means gender of graduate does not have any impact benefit expectation. So for this our suggestion is that employer should design their policy in a way that they should give equal amount of benefits for both male and female. There should not be any discrepancy on the basis of gender. 2. In the 2nd hypothesis we have seen that gender of graduates have a great impact on the work place expectations. It means male have a different work place expectation that to from females. So females should be given more of the work which they preferred to do. As interest in the work will improve their productivity and efficiency and the whole output of the company will improve. 3. As regarding the religion we have seen maximum of the hypothesis are being accepted this means it does not have any 24

impact on different expectation that a graduate have from their workplace. 4. Strategies that could be used to bridge the gap between graduate expectations and the realities of the workplace are: vacation employment for undergraduates; high school outreach programmes by organizations; reality projects for final year students; workshops, lectures and seminars at schools and universities on business-related issues. 5. Employability

training

should

be

included

in

student

development programmes.

6. Because of the rapid obsolescence of skills, a capacity of life-long learning and flexibility should be created. 7. Attempts should be made to improve the earnings-generation capacity of the graduate and not merely satisfying the quest for knowledge. 8. Students should gain some practical work-related experience in the world of work before graduating. 9. Education should not be overly knowledge-based, but rather competency- and insight-based. 10.Graduate placement strategies should focus on how to: align graduate strategies with varied business needs for graduates; 25

making best use of e-recruitment; avoid overselling on the graduate development promise and how to develop graduates who are not on formal entry schemes

References 1. Organizational behaviour by Robbins 10th edition (Pearson) 2. HRD review by Academy of human resources development 3. Article by Thomas (redefining diversity)

26