Career Anchor Theory

• Author: Thomas J. Barth
• Published date: 01 October 1993
• Date: 01 October 1993
• DOI: 10.1177/0734371X9301300403
• Subject Matter: Articles

27

A USEFUL

FRAMEWORK

FOR

FEDERAL

MANAGERS

Career

Anchor

Theory

THOMAS

J.

BARTH

Despite

the

growing

concern

over

recruiting

and

retaining

the

"best

and

the

brightest"

in

government,

the

evidence

suggests

there

is

very

little

structured

career

management

activity

at

either

the

individual

or

agency

level in

the

federal

government.

This

article

suggests

that

one

of

the

reasons

for

this

is

a

lack

of

accepted

conceptual

frameworks for

understandingcareermotiva-

tion.

Schein’s

classic

career

anchor

theory

is

examined

as

a

potential source

of such

a

framework,

and

implications for

a

career

management

strategy

in

the

federal

government

are

discussed.

he

growing

concern

with

recruiting

and

retaining

the

&dquo;best

’

and

the

brightest&dquo;

in

the

government

has

led

to

a

wealth

t

of

recent

surveys

and

articles

analyzing

employee

reten-

T

tion

and

turnover

in

the

federal

civil

service.

For

example,

the

Merit

Systems

Protection

Board

has

issued

a

series

of

reports

examining

both

SES and

other

white

collar

employees’

reasons

for

leaving

the

federal

government

(Daley, 1991);

Newcomer,

et

al.

(1989)

have

reported

on

a

survey

of

the

Presidential

Management

Intern

(PMI)

program,

which

includes

questions

on

factors

which

lead

PMIs

to

stay

or

leave

the

federal

government,

and

the

General

Ac-

counting

Office

(1992)

has

released

a

study

of

how

federal

employees

view

the

government

as

a

place

to

work.

These

specific

studies

on

federal

agen-

cies,

as

well

as

other

recent

general

retention

and

turnover

literature,

tend

to

come

to

similar

conclusions:

although

compensation

is

clearly

important

in

the

decision

to

stay

or

leave

an

organization,

the

degree

of

importance

of

relative

earnings

varies

(Lewis,

1990;

Althaus,

1989)

and

there

are

other

very

important

nonmonetary

factors

that

strongly

affect

job

satisfaction

(Steel

and

Wamer,

1990;

Dougherty,

1990;

Lawson,

1991;

Panos,

1989).

These

nonmonetary

factors,

such

as

recognition,

challenge,

and

the

opportunity

to

develop

skills,

are

not

only

important

in

their

own

right

but,

unlike

compensation,

are

factors

over

which

public

managers

have

some

28

control.

As

Romzek

(1990:

374)

notes,

&dquo;the

more

managers

know

about

cultivating

these

psychological

ties,

the

better

the

employers’

chances

of

retaining

high

quality

employees.&dquo;

In

addition

to

the

much

discussed

recruitment

and

retention

&dquo;crisis&dquo;

in

the

federal

government

(Lane

and

Wolf,

1990;

Lewis,

1991;

National

Commission

on

the

Public

Service,

1989),

understanding

nonmonetary

career

motivators

is

more

important

than

ever

given

the

demographics

of

the

general

workforce.

The

overall

aging

of

the

workforce

translates

to

fewer

opportunities

to

advance

along

tradi-

tional lines

in

organizations,

more

&dquo;plateaued&dquo;

employees,

and

a

smaller

labor

pool

of

young

workers

from

which

to

recruit

(Matzer,

1988).

Yet,

as

will

be

discussed

later

in

this

article,

federal

agencies

have

typically

paid

little

systematic

attention

to

the

career

management

of

their

employees.

*Career

anchors:

providing

a

framework.

The

recent

plethora

of

surveys

of

the

federal

workforce

provides

a

unique

opportunity

to

address

this

career

management

gap

by

examining

the

data

collected

in

light

of

various

theories

of

career

motivation.

This

article

suggests

that

a

useful

place

to

start

is

with

an

examination

of

a

now

classic

framework

for

understanding

the

nonmonetary

or

psychological

factors

that

influence

career

decisions:

the

career

anchor

theory

devel-

oped

by

Edgar

Schein

(1978)

at

the

Massachusetts

Institute

of

Technol-

ogy.

Schein’s

theory

holds

that

individuals

possess

a

dominant

career

anchor,

or

a

concern

or

value

that

they

will

not

give

up

if

a

choice

has

to

be

made.

An

individual

can

only

discover

his

or

her

career

anchor

through

actual

work

experience,

where

self-perceived

talents,

motives

and

values

are

tested

or

verified.

Schein

identifies

five

career

anchors

through

a

longitudinal

study

of

MIT

graduates:

technical/functional

competence,

managerial

competence,

creativity,

autonomy/indepen-

dence

and

security.

This

article

addresses

the

extent

to

which

these

career

anchors

are

applicable

to

the

federal

workforce

based

on

existing

survey

data

and

the

implications

for

a career

management

strategy

for

the

federal

government.

The

argument

is

comprised

of

three

parts:

first,

why

a

framework

such

as

the

theory

of

career

anchors

needs

to

be

empha-

sized

at

the

federal

level;

second,

how

recent

public

sector

retention,

turnover

and

job

satisfaction

data

supports,

undermines

or

extends

career

anchor

theory;

and

third,

implications

for

public

managers

and

future

research

on

employee

retention.

The

value

of

career

anchor

theory

Before

defining

Schein’s

career

anchors

in

more

detail,

it

is

first

impor-

tant

to

make

the

argument

as

to

why

a

framework

for

understanding