CAREER ASPIRATIONS AND ATTRIBUTES OF

INDIAN GEN Y @ WORKPLACE

A RESEARCH STUDY IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

IKYA HUMAN CAPITAL SOLUTIONS LTD.,

MTHR GLOBAL AND

THE ACADEMY OF HRD

INDIAN GEN-Y

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

AN EXPLORATION OF INDIAN WORKING GEN-YERS CAREER

ASPIRATIONS AND

HOW COMPATIBLETHEIR CAREER ASPIRATIONS WITH THEIR

ON JOB MOTIVATIONS AND VALUES

INTRODUCTION

Gen Y population in India is 25.47%

of world population

(Indian Population

Bureau, 2009), but not all are ‘employment

ready’

Generation Y professionals’ skills and potentials are

crucial if economies are to move up the value chain.

THE RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY

We laugh at stringent rules

and unproductive processes at

workplace

We ask ‘Y’ ‘how’ ‘what’ ‘when’

often, till we are

ready to proceed…so answer

us!

With a smile we fight

workplace challenges. So lead us and we can

do anything!

Lack of validated Indian Studies on Indian Gen Y

population

KEY DEFINITIONS1. Career anchors: A person's career anchor is his or her self-concept

consisting of 1) self-perceived talents and abilities, 2) basic values, and, most important, 3) the evolved sense of motives and needs as they pertain to the career.

2. Managerial Task/Competence: People in this category exhibit a strong desire to climb the corporate general management ladder. Their ultimate objective is management per se and the responsibility which accompanies general management positions.

3. Technical / Functional Competence: For individuals anchored in technical / functional competence, actual work content becomes a primary concern and chief area of interest in formulating career decisions.

4. Security and Stability: The primary concern of people in this anchor category is stability and / or security.

5. Variety: The centrally important theme would involve the diversity of challenges and the need to maintain flexibility of responses.

6. Creativity: Individuals anchored in creativity are dominantly influenced by a motivation to build, create, invent or produce something of their own.

KEY DEFINITIONS6. Autonomy and Independence: In this category, emphasis is on personal

freedom which can be expressed in any number of ways. 7. Basic identity: The need to be associated with a firm or occupation

which externally or visibly enhances or substitutes for self definition.8. Intrinsic motivation: Intrinsic motivation is "the motivation to engage in

work primarily for its own sake (Amabile, Hennesy & Tighe 1994:950) and refers to the pleasure or the personal fulfillment from performing the activity itself (Sonesh-Kedar & Geirland 1998).

9. Extrinsic motivation: Extrinsic motivation emphasizes the value an individual places on the ends of an action. It is "the motivation to work primarily in response to something apart from the work itself (Amabile, Hennesy & Tighe 1994: 950).

10. Achievement orientation: Achievement orientation is conceptualized as a perceptual-cognitive framework that influences how individuals approach, interpret, and respond to achievement activities. (Dweck & Leggett, 1989).

11. Role immersion: High orientation and involvement in one’s professional role in an organization.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND

METHODOLOGY

Cross-sectional exploratory study

Urban locations of India, divided in 4 zones (North, South, East And West)

Mixed methodology

Two stage sampling: Judgmental and convenience sampling

Schein’s (1985) career orientation inventory , Udai Pareek’s (1997) extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and Sarupriya ‘s(1983) value preference scales

Duration May’2011 to October’2011

As the scope of our research study is limited to the working Gen Y professionals in India today, the

Gen Y of our study are born between 1981-1991

We have received a total of 707 responses from the

online survey; however, only 378 were completed

responses. The research findings are based on the quantitative data of 378

responses and the observations from

conducting 10 focus group discussions and 21 triad

interviews.

DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

61%

35%

4%

Date of Birth1981-1985 1986-1991 Unknown

51%

41%

8%

Gender

Gender Male Gender Female Gender Unknown

80%

20%

Work Experience0-5years 5-11 years

60%

29%

11%

Educational QualificationPost Graduates Graduates Unknown

SAMPLE GEN-YERS WORK PROFILE

74%

23%3%

SectorService Sector Manufacturing Sector Unknown

SAMPLE GEN-YERS WORK PROFILE

SAMPLE GEN-YERS WORK PROFILE

FINDINGS: Characteristics of Gen Ys’ Career Aspirations and Value preference

FINDINGS: Characteristics of Gen Ys’ Motivation

FINDINGS: The Relationships between Gen Ys’ Career Aspirations (CA) with Gender Cohorts -

Males & Females

FINDINGS: The Relationships between Gen Ys’ Motivation(s) with Gender Cohorts -Males & Females

FINDINGS: The Relationships between Gen Ys’ Value Preference(s) with Gender Cohorts -Males & Females

FINDINGS: The Relationships between Gen Ys’ Career Aspirations (CA), Motivation, Value with Location

FINDINGS: The Relationships between Gen Ys’ Career Aspirations (CA), Motivation, Value with Service Industry

& Manufacturing Industry Sectors

FINDINGS: The Relationships between Gen Ys’ Career Aspirations (CA), Motivation, Value with Service Industry &

Manufacturing Industry Sub-Sectors

FINDINGS: The Relationships between Gen Ys’ Career Aspirations (CA), Motivation, Value with Gen Ys’ Work

Experience

FINDINGS: Correlation between Gen Ys’ Career Aspiration with Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivators And Value Preferences

FINDINGS: Diametric Motivation(s) of Indian Gen Y @ workplace… a challenge for organization(s)!

CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Conclusions– Managerial competence, organization brand identity and sense of service are

Gen Yers’ focus in making their career decisions. However, a Gen Y employee may have one particular primary aspiration and two or more secondary aspirations.

– Gen Ys are motivated by extrinsic factors, only marginally than the intrinsic factors and they are highly oriented towards achievement value.

– Overall career aspirations are positively correlated with intrinsic motivations and values such as achievement, monetary and role orientations.

– Partial negative correlation is seen between the career anchors and intrinsic motivations, such as, technical & functional competence - technically competent supervisor, autonomy & independence - Equitable Pay, geographical stability - equitable pay.

– Some career anchors are partially negatively correlated with extrinsic motivations, such as managerial competence vis-a-vis sound company policies, job stability vis-à-vis fringe benefits and alike.

– Further analyses showed there were significant differences within the different cohorts, such as, industry, gender, location, and work - experience, for overall career aspirations, motives and values.

CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Direction for Future research: – Gen Ys’ career aspirations, motives and values are shaped by their individual

socio-cultural background – As Gen Y moves forward in their career & life stages, their career aspirations

also gets influenced by their personal and socio-cultural needs. – North youth is not enough demanding for comfortable working conditions

&sound HR policies. Either it could be because of “satisfied lot” Low aspirations or something more serious. These in-congruencies is worth exploring in future research

Limitations:– Inter and intra organizational factors have not been considered {for eg.

Comfortable working condition (as an extrinsic motivator) is very low at 18.71 (at Delhi & NCR) as compared to west (54.84) & south which indicates that organization in the north zone may have less developed corporate culture}.

– Market variables are neglected, {for eg. In the eastern zone, job stability lower than any other zone, maybe because of “socio-political effect”- more security feeling}.

– We have taken a single unit of analysis. Also, the underlying reasons of the correlation analysis results remain inconclusive, but it gives direction for future research.

– Generation Yers’ archetypes not explored. Scope of study limited to urban locations

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