Browsing by Subject "urat"

Careers have changed from moving hierarchically within a single organization to moving in more diverse directions. These changes have proven to affect also the relationship between employee and employer. The psychological contract theory has been used in studies to understand the reciprocal relationship between the employee and the employer and what the parties expect from each other in the employment relationship. This Master Thesis is an assignment from Company X and its purpose is to study former and current plant engineers’ and employer representatives' expectations of a plant engineer’s work and career. According to the sponsoring company, the turnover rate for plant engineers is too high and for that reason the aim of this study is to understand the expectations of both parties. This study is implemented as a qualitative theme interview. I interviewed four current plant engineers, two former plant engineers, and five employer representatives. The data was analyzed using a theory-guided qualitative content analysis approach and psychological contract theory structures the analysis. The research findings indicate that an employee's work and career expectations are subjective and impacted by the messages they receive and interpret from the organization, social cues and individual predispositions. The turnover rate is heightened by the constant messages about the high turnover rate and that the job is positioned as a “fast track” to other jobs. Employer representatives' expectations about a plant engineer's work and career were partly contradictory. Considering psychological contract theory, the expectations should be clarified in order to communicate them consistently to the employees.