Career Development of Management Associates in Banking Sectors in Taiwan

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(1)Career Development of Management Associates in Banking Sectors in Taiwan. by I-Chen Su. A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINSTRATION Major: International Human Resource Development. Advisor:. Shir-Tau Tsai, Ph.D. National Taiwan Normal University Taipei, Taiwan June, 2012.

(2) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am very grateful to many people that have contributed in direct or indirect ways to my master degree. First, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Ted Shir-Tau Tsai, for his constant guidance and encouragement throughout my research. Although Dr. Tsai worked in Taichung, our meetings were still hold regularly. Besides, I also want to thank my committee members, Dr. Lai and Dr. Tsen, for offering their precious opinions to the study. Also, I am so grateful to Dr. Chang for instructing me with patience. Although I am not her advisee, she still tried her best to understand my research and give me useful opinions. I am so lucky to be instructed by many good professors. I also want to express my deepest gratitude to Lynn and Sandra for helping me to get administrative works done. Thanks both of you for answering my questions patiently and giving me encouragements. I would also like to thank to my dear classmates for encouraging me, especially Ashley, Winni and William. Thanks for your encouragement and suggestions when I met obstacles and difficulties or felt frustrated. Your words motivated me to keep going. Moreover, I deeply appreciated 12 interviewees of my study. Busy as you were, you were still willing to having an interview with me. In addition, I would like to extend my thanks to those who help me to make contact with interviewees, Grace, James, William, Ming-Wei, Dean, and Bryan. Without all of you, it is impossible for me to complete this research. Lastly, I am deeply grateful to my family, especially my father and mother. Thanks for taking care of me and giving me big support. When I was in a hard time, they always showed their love and never betrayed me. I also want to thank God who never leaves me aside. Thank you Lord for knowing my needs and giving me what I need. I feel truly blessed by your amazing grace..

(3) ABSTRACT Management associate programs (MA programs) are programs used by organizations to development the managerial competence of management associates (MAs).. By 2005, MA. programs were widely implemented by most of banks in Taiwan to groom their future leaders. However, a survey conducted by Cooperate Leadership Council (2011), indicated that 25 % of high potentials want to depart their organization and 64% of high potentials are truly unhappy with their development activities. As a result, the study explored factors affecting career choices of MAs and portrayed the effect of MA programs on personal and future development of MAs. Finally, the research addressed difficulties MAs encountered and their coping strategies to adapt to the work environment. The study was adopted the qualitative approach. A semi-structured interview was designed for 12 participants from international, domestic, governmental banks in Taiwan. The major findings were shown below. The process of MAs’ choosing careers was complicated, involving intrinsic, extrinsic and interpersonal factors. Through MA programs, MAs obtained professional knowledge about organization and financial industry and built interpersonal network within and without organizations. In addition, they learned many soft skills through training, such as interpersonal skills. Overall, MA programs benefits their future development because they were considered outstanding and have broader perspectives. However, joining MA programs also confined future development of MAs. Since MAs had more working and learning opportunities, they encountered many difficulties, including heavy stress, overload, long working hours, and interpersonal relationship with colleagues and supervisors. In order to overcome these challenges, MAs had several coping strategies, including having good attitude, being actively and building good relationship with other employees. Keywords: management associates, management associate programs, career development, career choice. I.

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(5) TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................................................................................…….......I Table of Contents .........................................................................................................……....III List of Tables ................................................................................................................……. ..V List of Figures ..............................................................................................................…......VII. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................ ..……......1 Research Background ..........................................................................................……......1 Research Purposes ...............................................................................................……......2 Research Questions ..............................................................................................……......3 Definition of Key Terms ......................................................................................……......3 Delimitations and Limitations..............................................................................……......4. CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................ ..……......7 Management Associate Programs .........................................................................…….....7 Career Development ...........................................................................................……...15 Career Choice.....................................................................................................………..24. CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY.............................................................................29 Research Framework...........................................................................….........................29 Research Methods...........................................................................….............................30 Research Subjects...........................................................................…..............................31 Data Collection and Analysis...........................................................................…............37 Research Procedure...........................................................................…...........................39 Validity and Reliability ...........................................................................….....................40. CHAPTER IV. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.................................................43 Factors Affecting Career Choices of MAs................................................................…...43 The Effect of MA Programs on Career Development of MAs.........................................51 Difficulties and Strategies ..................................................................….........................64 III.

(6) CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS……………69 Conclusions..................................................................…................................................69 Recommendations………………………………………………………………………74. REFERENCES...................................................................................... ……….77 APPENDIX INTERVIEW INSTRUMENTS ..................................... ………...83. IV.

(7) LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1. An overview of banks having MA program..........................................................14. Table 2.2. Overview of career theories ..................................................................................18. Table 3.1. Summary of interviewees......................................................................................32. Table 4.1 Coding list for the factors affecting the motivation of MAs to join MA programs ..............................................................................................................................43 Table 4.2 Coding list for the factors influencing retentions of MAs ....................................46 Table 4.3 Coding list of factors influencing turnover intention of MAs ..............................49 Table 4.4 Coding list of the effect of job rotation on career development of MAs...............51 Table 4.5 Coding list of the effect of specific skills training on career development of MAs ................................................................................................................................54 Table 4.6. Coding List of the effect of special assignments on career development of MAs ................................................................................................................................56. Table 4.7. Coding list of the effect of mentoring/coaching on career development of MAs ..............................................................................................................................58. Table 4.8. Coding list of the effect of MA programs on career development of MA ............59. Table 4.9 Coding list of difficulties MAs encountered .........................................................66 Table 4.10 Coding list of strategies MAs used to cope with difficulties .................................67. V.

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(9) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1. The expanded TWA predictive model .................................................................27. Figure 3.1. Research framework ............................................................................................29. Figure 3.2. The first step of coding ........................................................................................38. Figure 3.3. The second step of coding ...................................................................................38. Figure 3.4. Research procedure .............................................................................................39. Figure 5.1. Factors affecting career choice of MAs ...............................................................70. Figure 5.2. The effect of MA programs on career development of MAs ............................72. Figure 5.3. Difficulties and strategies ..................................................................................74. VII.

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(11) CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION This chapter is the introduction of this study, including research background, research purposes, research questions, definition of key terms, research delimitation and limitation.. Research Background What organizations face now is a global competition and fast-changing environment. Human recourses are seen as a dynamic element of organizations. As a result, organizations should have a flexible management team to response different kinds of challenges. Management associate programs (MA programs) are used widely by organizations to groom their future leaders in advance in order to solve problems of unexpected talent shortage. Before proceeding with the discussion on career development of management associates in banking sector in Taiwan, the researcher needs to define the meaning of management associates. Management associates (MAs) are regarded as high- potential individuals and organizations give them training to ensure they are ready to fill the management positions when the positions are open. Management associate programs, can also be called as fast-track, high-flyer, or high-potential development programs, have a series of development programs to help selected employees to develop their competencies quickly. This kind of programs has grown in popularity at Fortune 500 companies (Miller & Gentry, 2010). A number of firms have implemented management associate programs to meet the challenges of globalization, new technologies, competitive pressures and customer demands. By 2005, many banks in Taiwan, such as Fubon Financial, First Financial Holding, began to put management associate programs into practice (Chen, 2005). There are 16 financial holdings in Taiwan now, which is quite a quite competitive environment. After crisis of financial, credit card and cash card, it is very difficult for financial holdings in Taiwan to have a good performance. As a result, Taiwan’s financial holdings began to notice the importance of talents. In order to sustain their competitive 1.

(12) advantages, many domestic financial holdings imported MA programs from international banks. Citibank is the first one to implement this program in Taiwan financial industry, which have implemented it for over 30 years. Citibank develops a lot of outstanding entrepreneurs by MA program. It seems that management associates have a very good future and have relative higher pay. However, Chen (2005) pointed out that there are many problems in implementing the MA program. First, the personnel flow rate is high. Because most of management associates are outstanding, other companies will poach these talents. Second, the turnover rate of MA is higher than that of general employees. A survey conducted by Cooperate Leadership Council (2011), a company provides authoritative data and tools, best practice research, and peer insight to senior executives, indicated that 25 % of high potentials plan to depart their organization within the next 12 months and 64% of high potentials are truly unhappy with their development activities. However, organizations always invest heavily on these high potentials and have really high expectation on them. Retaining talented individuals becomes an important issue to organizations. As a result, it is necessary to explore what factors lead to these negative phenomenons. However, all researches only focused on the MA programs. Chen (2005) in his research suggested that future researcher can put emphasis on the career development of management associates. Hence, in order to fill this gap in our knowledge, this study investigated the career development of management associates.. Research Purposes In the study, the researcher aims to analyze how management associates make job-related decisions. Because of the high personnel flow, the researcher wants to find out what factors resulted in it. For the turnover rate and feeling unhappy with their developmental programs, the researcher is going to explore what difficulties management associates 2.

(13) encountered. In additions, the developmental programs are used to develop the skills and knowledge of management roles. As a result, the researcher has intention to find out what skills and knowledge of management associates were developed after taking part in the training programs and the effect of MA programs on their career is investigated. The purposes of this study are as below: 1.. To explore factors affecting career choices of management associates.. 2.. To identify the effect of management associate programs on career development of management associates.. 3.. To investigate difficulties management associates meet in the workplace and strategies they used to overcome them.. Research Questions To address the issues already outlined and to begin to fill the gaps in the previous research, the present study was designed to address the following research questions: 1. What factors affect career choices of management associates? 2. How do management associate programs affect career development of management associates? 3. What difficulties do management associates meet and how they overcome them?. Definition of Key Terms This section provides the general key terms in this study, which are management associate programs, management associates, career, career development, and career choices. Management associates are the subjects of this study, who are engaged in the management associate program and are considered as future leaders by the companies. Organizations always invest heavily on them and expect their return. Management associate programs are a series of activities and training that help 3.

(14) management associates develop competencies which organizations requires in a period of time. The program always includes job rotation, special assignments, coaching and mentoring, and specific skills training. Career is an evolving sequence of work activities and positions that individuals experience over times as well as the associated attitudes, knowledge and skills they develop through their life. Career development is a lifelong and continuous of learning process which is not only work-related but also individuals can develops beliefs, values, skills, aptitudes, interests, personality characteristics and knowledge of work (Zunker, 2006). Career choice means that one chooses one occupation from another. Individuals need to choose occupations when they have many career options and they prefer one job among these options (Agarwala, 2008).. Delimitations and Limitations In Taiwan, there were a lot of organizations in different industries executing MA programs. However, the researcher only focused on management associates in banking sectors in Taiwan. All participants of the study should be recruited as management associates by banks in the beginning. In other words, MAs from in-service transfer were excluded. The seniority in organizations of subjects was at least 2 years. In the study, researcher focused on how management associate programs develop these skills, knowledge, attitude, and future development of high potentials. Furthermore, the factors affecting their career choices, difficulties in the workplace and adopted strategies were explored. There were some limitations in this study. Due to willingness, the selection of participants was limited. First, most of interviewees were from domestic banks. The reason was it was difficult for the researcher to find MAs from international and government banks. Second, all participants were first-line managers now because it was hard to find participants 4.

(15) with longer seniority and higher position. Third, there were only 12 interviewees in the study. The result couldn’t infer to all management associates. Fourth, due to privacy and organizational regulations, participants might not reveal the identity of reality. In addition, participants might forget the detail of the training programs and their feeling with time passing by. As a result, information the researcher obtained might incomplete. Finally, when the researcher analyzed data and did coding, it might involve subjective opinions, causing some bias.. 5.

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(17) CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides the relevant previous literature review. This chapter is divided into three sections: (1) management associate program, (2) career development, (3) career choices. The first section covers definition and contents of management programs, characteristics of management associates, and an overview of banks implementing MA programs in Taiwan. The second section is career development, included the definition of career, career development, super’s theory and career stage. The third section covers the definition of career choices, Holland’s vocational choices, the factors affecting career choices and theory of work adjustment.. Management Associate Programs In the rapidly changing business environment, businesses need to have a flexible and high-quality talent pool to keep their competitive advantage (Dries & Pepermans, 2007). There are many ways for organization to cultivate their own future leader and implementing management associate programs is one of those ways. Potential assessments are used to find out high-potential individuals. After that, organizations give them training to ensure they are ready to fill the management positions when the positions are open. Nowadays, many organizations, regardless of industries, have widely used this way to cultivate their future leaders in the last few years.. Definitions According to website of Citibank Taiwan (2011), management associate program is a development program designed for high potential individuals. Developmental programs, one of career management activities, make high-potential employees learn new ideas and skills (Werner & DeSimone, 2008). These developmental programs consist of “job rotation, in-house HRD programs, external workshops and seminars, tuition assistance and reimbursement plans and mentoring programs.” (Werner & DeSimone, 2008) High-potential 7.

(18) individuals can obtain knowledge, skills and abilities for the future management positions through these training activities. Management associate programs can also be called high-flyer programs, fast-track programs, high-potential programs and talent management programs in academic field. These terms can be used interchangeably. Although the words are different, they have the same meaning. High-flyer or fast-track program is” a systematic method to socialize, develop, and screen a group of employees who have been identified as having potential for quick promotion to top-management positions.” (London, Weinstein, & Raghuram, 1998) High potential identiﬁcation and development or talent management means organizations put emphasis on the development of those who have high leadership potential and providing various training courses for those chosen talents to ensure that organizations have well-prepared employees who have enough abilities to achieve companies’ strategic objectives (Hausdorf, 2007). Overall, management associate program is a well-designed training program for potential employees to learn and develop quickly. If organizations want to keep their long-term competitiveness, they should do their best to develop and retain these high- potential individuals (Berke, 2003). Management associate program is always seen as a selection tools by businesses for finding their future leaders (Feild & Harris, 1991). The programs always focus on the fresh undergraduate students or newly-mint MBAs (Kets de Vries & Korotov, 2007). For example, HSBC has operated this kind of program, targeting at graduates and hire them into international management cadre, for a long time. These graduates are viewed as future global managers and they have opportunities of directing development towards this group (Jenkins, 2010).Similarly, Price water house Coopers (PwC) has an ‘‘emerging leader’’ strategy, which is also used to find talent and fast tracks high-potentials’ development (Woollard, 2010). In addition, there is the other way to executive the management associate program, 8.

(19) aiming at developing senior specialists (London et al., 1998). Many companies rely heavily on the use of direct supervisors to identify HIPO talent based on actual job performance, rather than using a list of attributes or assessments of future potential (Burke, 1997). Organization views the top performers as the future leaders and gives them special trainings. General Electric (GE) has a plan, called” Session C”, to identify the top performers in its organization and gives them special training (Woollard, 2010). In this situation, companies should consider whether to inform HIPOs their status or not. Most companies prefer to keep it secret because it is more flexible to take individuals on and off this list (Burke, 1997). Moreover, there is a typical belief that high potentials will become arrogant and complacent when they are informed of their status (Go¨bel-Kobialka, 1998).. Procedures for Management Associate Programs The procedures of carrying out this program consist of training need assessment (Patton & Pratt, 2002), design (Burke, 1997), selecting, developing them, and then actually going through the leadership succession process (Derr, Jones, & Toomey, 1988 ).. Training need assessment can be divided into two aspects: organizational and individual. Through this step, organizations can know which trainings they should provide for employees (Patton & Pratt, 2002) and then make the effectiveness of development actions maximize (Byham, 2001). Need assessment can be done by several tools, including interviews, pencil-and-paper-tests, 360 degree multi-rater surveys and acceleration center (Byham, 2001). The second step is design a management associate program, including determining HIPO criteria, a communication strategy, and creating a program evaluation mechanism (Burke, 1997). In the designing process, designers should decide selecting criteria, such as 9.

(20) education, work experience, etc. Harris and Feild (1992) suggested companies should communicate their goals of programs with the line managers if they want to maximize programs. Hence, communication of program objectives plays an essential role on the success of program. In addition, designers also should use an appropriate evaluation system to see whether the program meets corporate objectives or not.. The third step is selecting. Management associate identification is a hierarchical initiative. The selecting process is dominated by top management and the immediate supervisor, and sometimes initiated by the HR department. The selecting methods, such as performance appraisals and specific potential assessment procedure, are widely used by corporate (Pepermans & Vloeberghs, 2003). Candidates get high-potential labels should go through several tests. All organizations want to get the best people; as a result, they design a series of selection process. Take Taiwan Citibank for example, the first corporate to implement MA program in Taiwan, the process of interview consists of four stages. Stage one is application screening. Stage 2 is interview with human resources professionals. Stage 3 includes presentation, interview with Citibank managers and senior human resources professionals. The last stage is case study and panel interview with Senior Management Team. If MA applicants can go through four stages recruitment process, they are formal MAs. Because of going through many stages of interviews and tests and low acceptance rate, the selected person must be very outstanding. Organizations always use assessments to identify whether the person should have some specific characteristics to be a future leader. A research showed that the characteristics of management associates might include “teamwork, performance motivation, delegating leadership, cogency judgment creativity, company identification, flexibility, vision, integrity, cultural difference awareness, risk taking, and ability of giving feedback (Pepermans & Vloeberghs ,2003).”. 10.

(21) The fourth stpe is develop selected employees. Kuznia (2004) indicated that the development process consists of four parts: job rotation, special assignments, coaching and mentoring, and specific skills training.. Job rotation means employees have lateral moves among different positions and learn different skills and responsibilities within different tasks (Huang, 1999). It helps MAs to obtain a macro view of corporate (Zielinski, 2006) and also a formal effort at executive development (Beatty, Schneier, & McEvoy, 1987). Furthermore, it also makes participants to understand different organizational functions and build network within organizations (Werner & DeSimone, 2008). The second element in MA program is coaching and mentoring, which means “working with a senior member of the management team in an organization.” Senior employees will share their past experience with newcomers (Peterson, 2002). The function of mentoring can be divided into three parts: vocational or career coaching, social support, and role modeling (Scandura, 1992). Bloch (1995) said more and more organizations found that one-to-one coaching and mentoring are very useful methods in developing soft skills. As a result, they are included in the development programs.. The third composition in MA program is special assignments. McCall (1998) defined it as “discrete and temporary assignments to work on issues facing an organization.” Assignments consist of installing a new system, negotiating agreements with suppliers, or learning about new products or processes within the organization or industry (McCall, 1998). Organizations want MA to experience pressure and learn team-building, planning, and organizing (Heisler & Benham, 1992).. 11.

(22) The fourth element is specific skills training. Skills consist of hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills means skills needed to complete tasks, such as technical or administrative procedures. Soft skills also can be called people skills are skills which are needed to executive hard skills effectively. Examples includes “communicating, listening, engaging in dialogue, giving feedback, cooperating as a team member, solving problems, contributing in meetings and resolving conflicts (Coates, 2006) .” Through skills training, high potentials’ abilities can develop and their perspective can be broadened. There are many methods to do specific training, such as in house seminars and non-degree short courses. Because of the increasing importance of international aspects of business and managing change, organizations always provide courses about leadership, strategy and cultural change for them (Kuznia, 2004).. The final steps is that these candidates actually in the leadership positions. Derr et al. (1988 ) said those who can finally in the six to twelve positions at the top of the hierarchy are clearly qualify as high-level leaders.. Characteristics of Management Associates Those participates in management associate programs are management associates (MAs), which can also be called as “high potentials (HIPOs), stars, fast-trackers, and corporate property.” (London et al., 1998) High potentials, with different needs, motivations, and behaviors (Pepermans & Vloeberghs, 2003), are those who are considered as future leaders at that time (Dries & Pepermans, 2008). Because most management associate programs always focus on the on the fresh college graduates or newly-mint MBAs (Kets de Vries & Korotov, 2007), these individuals are usually young. Their career paths are carefully monitored by organizations and they usually receive special coaching and mentoring. They are often given high exposure positions and assigned projects with senior management when they enter 12.

(23) companies. (Pepermans & Vloeberghs, 2003) Organizations see them as a critical elements for organizations in the future survive (Pepermans & Vloeberghs, 2003) and indispensable to organizations (Boudreau & Ramstad, 2005). As a result, organizations will invest heavily on them than other employees, and expect their return and contribution (Baruch & Peiperl, 1997). Although they have more opportunities to promote and special trainings, they still meet many difficulties, such as completing short-term assignments and facing great stress for outperforming. The status of management associates is not permanent; as a result, they should maintain this status by outperforming constantly (Hausdorf, 2007). An important feature of high potentials is they have more traditional career paths for having more opportunities to move up the corporate ladder than regular employees (Dries & Pepermans, 2008). Although the style of employment differs between past and now, it seems that high potentials still have traditional career path. In the past, organizations provide long-term employment contract and offer employees security and slow promotion. High-potentials have special status to have rapid promotion in organizations (Iles, 1997). Career development is seen as an upwards and hierarchical progression. However, because of organizational restructuring, downsizing, outsourcing, and delayering in recent years, the employment contract and psychological contract are changed. Viney, Adamson, and Doherty (1997) indicated that the new employment style is no longer vertical progression. The new deal contact focus on personal development rather than promotion quickly (Larsen, 1997). High potentials get fewer guarantees to promote to the management positions in the future. As a result, the advantage of HIPOs who have more opportunities to promote was questioned. However, Dries and Pepermans (2008) suggested that high potentials are still getting “the old deal” as they are promised long-term career perspectives and upward advancement. Although many organizations do face the scarcities in promotional opportunities, they overcome it by setting stricter high-potential identification criteria and further segmenting the high-potential 13.

(24) population.. Management Associate Programs in Taiwan’s Banking Sector Citibank is the first one to implement this program in Taiwan financial industry, having implemented it over 30 years. By 2005, many banks in Taiwan began to put management associate programs into practice. The following table (Table2.1.) provides an overview of banks which have the MA program. Table 2.1. An Overview of Banks Having MA Programs Bank Name. Program Name. Citibank HSBC Standard Chartered Fubon Financial Holding E.Sun Financial Holiding China Development Financial Holding China Trust Cathay United Bank TaiShin Financial Holding Cosmos Bank. Management Associate Program Young Banker Development Program International Graduate Program Management Associate Program Management Associate Program Management Associate Program Management Associate Program Cathay Management Associate Program Management Associate Program Executive Trainee Program（ETP）. First Bank Taiwan Cooperate Financial Holding Hua Nan Financial Holding Mega International Commercial Bank Far Eastern Commercial Bank Chang Hua Bank. First Bank MA Program Management Associate Program Management Associate Program Management Associate Program Management Associate Program Management Associate Program. 14.

(25) Career Development Belet (2007) indicated that special management development programs providing for high potentials focus on “strategy skills, analytical tools and methods, case studies, consulting missions, organization development, traditional leadership skills development.” It means that these potential training opportunities can aid in the employee development.. Definition of Career Before discussing career development, it is important to clarify what career implies. The definition of career differs for covering different scopes. The narrow sense of career means the sequence of work-related, occupations, and experiences encountered by individuals. For example, Super (1957) defined careers as “the sequence of changes in occupational level or field made by an individual during his or her working lifetime.” The traditional definition restrict career to a professional work life.. However, some researchers proposed that the concept of time should be broadened. The broaden definition of careers include prevocational and postvocational activities, decisions, and other life role and contents (Schutt & Schutt, 2007). For example, Super (1976) defined careers as “the sequence of major positions occupied by a person throughout his preoccupational, occupational, and postoccupational life; includes work related roles such as those of students, employee, and pensioner, together with complementary vocational, familial and civil roles.” Career denotes a subjective construction that imposes personal meaning on past memories, present experiences and future aspirations by weaving them into a life theme that patterns the individual’s work life (Brown & Lent, 2005). Career consists of three dimensions: time, vocation/occupation, and roles (Wu, 2010). EL-Sabaa (2001) defined a career as “an evolving sequence of work activities and positions that individuals experience 15.

(26) over times as well as the associated attitudes, knowledge and skills they develop through their life.” In this study, the definition of career stated by EL-Sabaa (2001) is used for guideline because it refers career as not only a job but also a process that develop attitude, knowledge, and skills to achieve the set goals.. Definition of Career Development Career development, one aspect of human development (Gysbers & Moore, 1975), is a complex process. Some theorist said that career development involves individuals choose their career over life. For example, Brown and Brooks (1990) indicated that career development is a lifelong process involving “choose, choosing, and continually to make choices from available occupations in our society.” However, some theorist think career development is not only occupation-related but a process by which the individual develops beliefs, values, skills, aptitudes, interests, personality characteristics and knowledge of work (Zunker, 2006). Sears (1982) indicated that it is an ongoing and life span process. To sum up, career development is part of lifelong learning, in that personal and vocational skills constantly change and expand during a lifetime in response to career changes and emerging opportunities. One’s career development will be affected by organizational and individual activities. These activities can be referred to as career planning and career management (Werner & DeSimone, 2008). Career planning involves vocational choices, organizational choices, and self-development（Glueck & Milkovich, 1982）. Through career planning, individuals can know what they want and how they attain their goals. Career management includes activities which can help employees to carry out their career plans, such as rewarding, assessing, training and developing（ Glueck & Milkovich, 1982）. 16. These activities are mainly.

(27) implemented by organizations. Werner and DeSimone (2008) indicated that six categories of career development activities at large organizations: self-assessment tools, individual counseling or career discussions, internal labor-market information exchanges, job matching systems, organizational potential assessment processes, and development programs. This study focuses on how development programs influence employees’ career development.. Career Development Theory Career development theories differ in their coverage of the career development process versus career decision-making content (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2008). Before 1950s, career development focused on the career choice and put emphasis on how to connect personal traits to work requirements (Kuo, 2009). For example, Parsons (1909) proposed the root of career development theory: trait-and-factors model. He indicated three factors of choosing career: (1) a clear understanding of yourself, your aptitudes, abilities, interests, ambitions, resources, limitations, and knowledge of their causes; (2) a knowledge of the requirements, conditions of success, advantages and disadvantages, compensation, opportunities, and prospects in different lines of work; (3) true reasoning on the relations of these two groups of facts. (Parson, 1909, p.5) After 1950s, the scope of career development was broadened. Many new theories merged, such as the work adjustment theory (Lofquist & Dawis, 1969), social learning theory of career selection (Krumboltz, 1979), a developmental theory of occupational aspirations (Gottfredson, 1981), social-cognitive theory of career decision making (Lent & Hackett, 1994), and value-based model of career decision making (Brown, 1996). New elements such as occupational satisfaction, success, culture, work value were added to career development theories (Brown, 2002). Osipow (1990) analyzed four major sets of career theories: trait and factors, social 17.

(28) learning, developmental, and work adjustment. The following table (Table 2.2) provides an overview of career theories: Table 2.2. Overview of Career Theories Theory. Theorists. Orientation. Work Adjustment. Dawis & Lofquist (1969). Life-Span, Life-Space. Super (1957). Circumscription, Compromise, and Self-Creation. Gottfredson (1981). Developmental/ sociological, career choice/development. Vocational Personalities and Work Environments Learning Theory of Career Counseling Social Cognitive Career Theory Cognitive Information Processing Approach Values-Based, Holistic Model of Career and Life-Role Choice and Satisfaction Integrative Life Planning. Holland (1959). Trait-and-factors, career choice Social learning, Career choice development Social cognitive career choice, Development Cognitive career choice. Hansen (1997). Contextual career choice/ adjustment. Postmodern. Young, Valach, &Collin (1996). Action-theory. Krumboltz (1979) Lent, Brown, &Hackett (1994) Peterson, Sampson Jr., Reardon, Lentz (1996) Brown (1996). Trait-and-factors, career choice /adjustment Developmental. Trait-factor Career choice/adjustment. Constructivist Peavey (1992). Narrative. Cochran (1994) Note. Adapted from “Understanding and Appling Theories of Career Development,” by S.G. Niles and J. Harris-Bowlsbey. 2008, Career Development Interventions in The 21 st Century, p. 39-40. Copyright 2008 by the Pearson Education Publiciation. Niles and Harris-Bowlsbey (2008) indicated that “Life-span and life-space” theory proposed by Super (1957) and “Vocational Personalities and Work Environments” theory provided by Holland (1959) has high research support. Super’s life-span, life-space theory Super’s “life-span, life-space” theory is the mainstream approach to discuss how career develop (Super, Super, & Savickas, 1996). Super (1990) defined career development as “ a 18.

(29) dynamic, longitudinal, and development process essentially consisting of developing and implementing the self-concept.” His theory was composed by three key elements: (1) self-concept; (2) life-space; (3) life-span. Life span, life-space theory is built on 14 propositions proposed by Super (1990). There are three propositions discuss people have different abilities, values and personalities and they are qualified by different occupations. There are six propositions focus on the self concept. Self-concept is a “picture of the self in some role, situation, or position, performing some set of functions, or in some web of relationships.”(Super, 1963) People will construct their self-concept as a result of individuals interacting with their environment. Self-concept contains two elements: objective and subjective. Objectively, when we compare ourselves with others, self-understanding is constructed. Subjectively, we construct self-concept when we focus on our uniqueness emerging out of our life experiences (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2008). Both objective and subjective understanding can guide us during career-decision process. The changing of self-concept is a successive process not just at one point in time. Two propositions pay attention on career maturity. Career maturity means that the readiness, attitude and competency people have to cope with tasks of career development. The final three propositions discuss work satisfaction and life satisfaction (Hunter, 2009). Life space One of three segments in Super’s theory is life space which acknowledges that people have different life spaces because of personal and situational factors. These factors have influence on individuals’ shaping their life-role. Super (1980) indicated there are nine major roles people tend to play throughout their life: child, student, worker, partner, parent, citizen, homemaker, leisurite, and pensioner. Moreover, he also said that each role plays in a particular theater, such as home, school, work, community. Role will be played differently because individuals should consider the expectations if others around them. 19.

(30) Life span In Super’s life-span circle, there are five career development stages divided by age: growth,. exploration,. establishment,. maintenance,. and. disengagement. (Niles&. Harris-Bowlsbey, 2009; Super, 1990). The growth stage (age 4 to 13) is focus on the developing of self-sense and general understanding of work. Within the growth stage, there are three substages: fantasy, interest, and capacity. At first, children will engage in occupational fantasy. And then, they will find their interest and know their capacity. Through the stage, children begin to concern about their future. The exploration stage (age 14 to 24) is a process that adolescents began to plan for their future. The occupational preferences will be specified and people will implement career choices based on their preferences. People get the occupational information and use this information to choose the direction of future development. This stage also involves training and education for people’s lacking of capacity to enter the chosen occupational field. The establishment stage (age 25 to 45) involves individual stabilizes, consolidates, and advances in a congruent occupational position (Savickas, 2001). In the period, individuals will have an actual work experience. After getting a job, workers will adapt themselves to organizational culture and have adequate performance. Consolidating positions means that individuals pay attention on developing a good reputation in the position and become a dependable producer.. After that, workers advance their careers by getting higher pays or. positions. The maintenance stage (age 45 to 65) is a period that individuals consider to maintain or improve their current occupational situation. They should think whether they want to change the occupational field or not. If people choose to change different occupational fields, they will “re-cycle through exploration and establishment stage tasks.” If people choose to stay in 20.

(31) the same occupational field, they will concern about how to improve their current performance. However, when workers stay in the same occupation without updating their skills, they will become poor performers. The disengagement stage (age 65 and above) put emphasis on the retirement living. People begin lose interest in work and their capacity begin to decline. What they concern is their retirement lifestyles. Self concept Self- concept is “a picture of the self in some role, situation, or position, performing some set of functions, or in some web of relationships” (Super, 1963) Super (1990) designed the Archway Model to depict the various personal factors and situational factors in career choice and development. The base of the Archway is biographical and geographical foundations. There are two columns of the model are psychological and societal columns. The psychological column includes needs, intelligence, values, aptitudes, special aptitudes, interests, and personality. The societal column consists of community, economy, school, family, society, peer groups, labor market, and social policy. The interaction of the individual and society will influence the shape of role self-concept, decision-making, social learning during development stage (House, 2004). The development of self-concept is a life-ling process.. Career Stage Career stage is one way to look at career development. Career stage are “ the job sequences or career patterns that individuals pass through during the course of their working lives and that parallel the psychological concept of life stage” (Super, 1957). Morrow and McElroy (1987) suggested that career stage has been measured in various ways including: (1) individual age: use individual age to divide individual career into different phase, such as Donald Super’s life-span, life-space theory; (2) organizational tenure: use years of working in 21.

(32) organizations as a measurement; (3) position tenure: time which individuals work in one specific position are used to assess career development; (4) professional or occupational tenure: use the time individuals enter their profession as a measurement (Chen, 2001). Although most theories for career stage are measured by age or organizational tenure, it is more appropriate to use professional or occupational tenure as a measurement of career stages (Lynn, Le Thi, & Horn, 1996). One’s career can be composed by several short-cycle of learning stages. As a result, the chronological age is not so important when a person’s career is discussed. The important measurement is the career age, number of years the individual has spent in a particular cycle (Werner & DeSimone, 2008). Stumpf and Rabinowitz (1981) said that” individual should use the time they enter the profession to assess their career progression because they can transfer their rank and tenure status to other organizations (Lynn et al., 1996).” Dalton, Thompson, and Price (1977) defined four stages of career stages which are based on the study on scientists, engineers, college professors, and financial personnel. The four stages are stated as below (Clawson, 2009): Stage one: apprentice/novice stage The most important thing is learning. Individual should know how to make the transition from school to organizational life, how to do thing effectively, and how to adapt to the informal and formal group of companies. During this period, novice can know the organizational culture and values. Stage two: independent specialist/expert stage At this stage, workers begin to work independently. Individuals begin to think about how they make contribute to their organizations and develop their reputations. The most critical thing is that individuals should be self-motivated on their work to prove that they know what needs to be done. 22.

(33) Stage three: mentor/supervisor stage Individuals in this stage not only concern about their work but also other employees. Individuals know how to coordinate different task, give novices right direction, and take responsible for junior employees. Stage four: sponsor/manager stage In this stage, individuals need to involve with the goals and work of large groups of people or systems of groups. They should think about the goals of organizations and how to structure organizations’ place in society. Although the researchers divided career stage in to four parts, it doesn’t mean that everyone will go through all the stages. Because individuals’ personalities differ, some people prefer to remain in the independent specialist stage, and others may not move from the mentor to the sponsor stage. Stumpf and Rabinowitz (1981) also suggested that managerial and professional careers consist of three stages: establishment, advancement, and maintenance. The establishment stage (less than 2 years) In establishment stage, individuals primarily focus on develop professional skills and competencies and endeavor to get peer acceptance. The advancement stage (3 to 10 years) Workers are concerned with promotion, achievement, and being specialists within the organization. The maintenance stage (more than 10 years) One’s career become stable and he or she become less competitive and turn to encourage and help peer’s growth. Both Dalton et al. (1977) and Stumpf and Rabinowitz (1981) identified career staged by professional of occupational tenure. Dalton et al. (1977) suggested that career have four 23.

(34) stages: apprentice, specialist, mentor, and sponsor. Stumpf and Rabinowitz (1981) pointed out three stages of career: establishment, maintenance, and advancement. Combining these two theories, we can know that the tenure of apprentice stage is less than two years. The tenure of independent specialist is between 3 to 10 years. The tenure of mentor and sponsor is more than 10 years.. Career Choice Career choice means that one chooses one occupation from another. Individuals need to choose occupations when they have many career options and they prefer one job among these options (Agarwala, 2008). Holland’s theory is the mainstream model for the topic on vocational choice (Brown, 2002).. Holland Vocational Choice Holland (1959) first proposed a trait-oriented explanation of vocational choice which is originated from the trait-and-factor model. After revising, he published a full version of vocational choice theory in 1973. His theory emphasized on the relationship between vocational personalities and work environments. Holland (1985) posed RIASEC model: realistic (R), investigate (I), artistic (A), social (S), enterprising (E), and conventional (C). Holland (1997) provided four assumptions for his theory: (1) most people can be categorized as one type of RIASEC model; (2) environments also can be divided into one of the six types; (3) individuals tend to choose environments that fit with their personality; (4) behavior is determined by the fit between an individual’s personality and the environment by which he or she is surrounded. The explanation of six types personalities are as followed: (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2008) The realistic type Realistic people tend to be practical, materialistic, and conforming. They like to work 24.

(35) with hands and use tools, equipments, and machines. Their preference jobs are automobile mechanic, aircraft, controller, survey, farmer, electrician, etc. The investigative type Investigative people tend to be rational, critical, and analytical. They like to observe, ask questions, and do researches to solve problems. They prefer jobs such as biologist, geologist, chemist, etc. The artistic type Artistic people tend to be imaginative, emotional, and nonconforming. They like to use art, music, or drama to express themselves. Their preference jobs are musician, actor/actress, writer, etc. The social type Social people tend to be friendly, responsible, and patient. They are interested in people and like to train, develop, or cure others. They don’t like systematic activities. Their preference jobs are teacher, religious worker, counselor, etc. The enterprising type Enterprising people tend to be adventurous, self-confident, and ambitious. They prefer leading, influencing, and encouraging people. They usually have the organizing and managing ability so that they choose the field of business and management (Hunter, 2009). Jobs for the enterprising types are manager, salesperson, business executive, etc. The Conventional Type Conventional people tend to be careful, orderly, and practical. They like to work indoors and prefer works such as keeping records, organizing numerical data, and planning work and events. Jobs which suit them are bookkeeper, banker, tax report, etc. Holland divided characteristics of occupations and personalities of individuals into these six types and matched each kind of person to different jobs. Individuals will have higher 25.

(36) satisfaction and performance when their personalities match the characteristic of environments. Tan (2010) indicated that Holland’s career choice theory only includes individual and environmental factors. However, Tan (2010) pointed out that the interpersonal factors, such as colleagues, family, play an important role in choosing careers. There is a three-dimensional framework of career choices (Agarwala, 2008; Tan, 2010). It includes intrinsic, extrinsic, and interpersonal factors. Intrinsic factors mean personal factors, which come from inside of a person, such as interests, person-job fit and personal value and wishes. Extrinsic factors refer contextual factors, including financial and professional contribution of the job and market conditions. When individuals choose careers, they will think about which job provides them higher pay and benefits their future development. In addition, the availabilities of the job in labor market also had influence on their decision-making. Interpersonal factors mean the influence from people around you. These factors consist of family expectation and significant influence from friends, work colleagues, manager and teacher. The expectation comes from father, mother and significant partner will influence person on choosing his or her career. In this study, the researcher uses intrinsic, extrinsic, and interpersonal factors to discuss the motivation of MAs to take part in MA programs.. Theory of Work Adjustment Like Holland’s theory, theory of work adjustment is also based on person and environment theories (Dawis, 2000). However, Holland’s theory focuses on vocational choices but TWA put emphasis on work adjustment. TWA is used to predict human’s behaviors which based on the interaction between people and work environments (Lee, 2011). There are three assumption of TWA. First, people have some needs which environment 26.

(37) should try to satisfy them. Second, people have capabilities to meet environment’s requirements. Third, when people interact with environment, they will try to meet these requirements (Dawis, 2004). When person and environment are correspondence, it will result in P’s satisfaction and E’s satisfactoriness.. Figure 2.1. The Expanded TWA Predictive Model. Adapted from “The Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment,” by S.D.Brown and R.W.Lent, 2006, Career Development and Counseling, p.8. Copyright 2005 by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.. In figure 2.1, the correspondence of E’s reinforcers to P’s needs predict P’s satisfaction. Reinforcers refer to stimulus conditions related to the maintenance of work behavior. There are 20 need reinforcers in TWA, including ability utilization, achievement, recognition, advancement, authority, social status, company policies, compensation, coworkers, creativity, independence,. moral. values,. recognition,. responsibility,. security,. social. service,. supervision-human relations, supervision-technical, variety, and working condition (Smith and Compbell, 2006). The fit between P’s skills and E’s requirements predict P’s satisfactoriness. Both satisfaction and satisfactoriness of P result in maintenance and adjustment behaviors of P and E.. In addition, the correspondence between P and E style moderates satisfaction and satisfactoriness of P. Brown and Lent (2004) said that people will seek counseling if they 27.

(38) can’t adapt themselves to work environment. Dawis (2004) proposed four adjustment styles: (1) flexibility: how long individual tolerates the dissatisfaction before they do adjustment behaviors, (2) activeness: individual tries to change work environment to reduce discorrespondence, (3) reactiveness: individual tries to change his or her skills or needs to reduce discorrespondence, (4) perseverance: how long individual persist in adjustment behaviors. Dawis (1991) also indicated that other factor, such as interest, personality, family factors, labor market, and frictional factors had influence on work adjustment outcome.. In the study, the researcher used theory of work adjustment to discuss the factors influencing retention and turnover intention of management associates.. 28.

(39) Chapter III. Methodology This chapter contains seven parts, including the research framework, research methods, research subjects, research instruments, data collection and data analysis, research procedures and validity and reliability.. Research Framework The research framework (Figure 3.1) was developed in accordance with the research purposes and literature review. First, factors affecting choosing careers of management associates were explored. Second, based on literature review, MA programs included job rotation, specific skills training, special assignment, and mentoring/ coaching. The researcher found out how their skill, abilities, and knowledge were developed through training activities. In addition, the impact of MA programs on career development of MAs was investigated. Finally, since MA got better treatment, they encountered many challenges. The researcher conceptualized difficulties they met and their adopted strategies.. Factors. MA programs. Management associates in Taiwan Banking Sectors. Figure 3.1. Research framework. 29. Career Choice Career Development Difficulties and strategies.

(40) Research Methods This study employed a qualitative approach to gain an in-depth understanding of perspectives of management associates. Interview was used in this study because the researcher was interested in past events. There were three types of interview in qualitative approach, including unstructured interview, semi-structured interview, and structured interview (Merriam, 2009). A semi-structured interview was designed to obtain subjects responses to the topic. The semi-structured interview was used because it was flexible and new questions were brought up during the interview based on the interviewee response (Domonichi, 2010). As a result, it was considered the best approach for giving management associates the opportunity to share their personal experience. Interviews were held in face-to-face individually.. The researcher sent the interview invitation, interview outline and interview questions to participants first to make interviewees have a basic understanding of the research. In interview invitation, the researcher explained the purpose of the study and expressed grateful to all participants. The interview outline depicted the motivation of the research, criteria of interviewees and definition of career development. The last part was interview questions, consisting of basic information of interviewees and 10 interview questions checked by two experts were closely related to three research questions. During the interview, the research instruments included pens, recorder, and papers for note-taking. After interviews, the researcher transformed the record into transcripts and then analyzed.. 30.

(41) Research Subjects In the study, the subjects were management associates in banking sectors in Taiwan. A semi-structured interview was conducted for 12 management associates from international, domestic and government banks. Most of MA programs in Taiwan were a two-year training programs. As a result, the criteria of participants were having at least two years experiences for being management associates. Since only having experienced all training activities, they could share what they learned and how these training influenced their future development.. Patton (2002) proposed many sampling strategies included in purposeful sampling, such as typical sampling, stratified purposeful sampling, etc. Under the circumstance that management associates were so busy that they had less time to have interview with the researcher, the choices were limited. As a result, the researcher used criterion sampling and snow-ball sampling to choose 12 subjects.. Introduction of Participants Based on the literature review, there were 16 banks in Taiwan implementing MA programs. All participants were from those banks. Backgrounds of interviewees were summarized in Table 3.1. All of them had master degree and most of them were fresh graduates. One of 12 participants (A1) resigned after finishing training programs, on the contrary, other interviewees still retained in their organizations. Except for subject A1, every participant finished trainings and promoted to first-line managers.. 31.

(42) Table 3.1. Summary of Interviewees Subject. Age. Seniority. Education. Major. Position. A1. 28. 2. Master. Technology Management. Assistant Manager. A2. 31. 2.8. Master. Law MBA. Assistant Manager. B1. 30. 2.5. Master. Business. Team Leader. C1. 28. 2. Master. Public Finance. Personal Financial Consultant. C2. 30. 3.8. Master. Finance. Assistant Vice President. D1. 30. 3.5. Master. Finance. Third Assistant Manager. D2. 33. 3.7. Master. MBA. Third Assistant Manager. E1. 33. 5. Master. Business. Assistant Manager. F1. 31. 4. Master. Finance. Manager. G1. 27. 2.10. Master. Accounting. Assistant Manager. G2. 33. 3. Master. MBA. Assistant Manager. H1. 30. 3. Master. Economics. Senior Assistant Manager. Subject A1. Subject A1 majored in technology management in graduate school. He joined MA programs of company A in 2009. After finishing training program, subject A1 decided to be turnover due to personality and his mentor. After resigning, he also worked in financial industry because of interest.. Subject A2. Subject A2 had an MBA and law degree. He had an internship in NPO before. Besides, he was an amateur magician. Like A1, he took part in MA programs in 2009. The most difficult problem for him was heavy workload. He communicated with his supervisors 32.

(43) actively to cope with this situation. He was an assistant manager in company A and prepared for a promotion examination now.. Subject B1 When subject B1 graduated from graduate school, there was a great economic depression all over the world. He chose to be an MA because of having more training and quick career advancement. He received one-year training, including rotation, skill training and additional assignments. Now, he was a team leader in organizations.. Subject C1 Since subject C1 worked in an international bank, he couldn’t adapt to the work environment in the beginning. Since he was a little shy, he had trouble in adapting to a new environment and interacting with customers. In addition, because the program he participated was the newest, it was not well-designed. The irregular job transfers made him feel confused. In spite of meeting several difficulties, he still stayed in this company because of interests. He worked as personal financial consultant now.. Subject C2. Subject C2 was a management associate of HR in company C. Her motivations to take part in MA programs were related to interest, education background and intern experience. She was satisfied with her job due to having a sense of achievement. Although she had heavy work load and long working hours, she overcame these challenges for being optimistic. Now, she worked as assistant vice president in company C.. 33.

(44) Subject D1. Subject D1 took part in 2008 MA program. It was the first year for company D to implement MA program. As a result, subject D1 didn’t have regular rotation. When she did cross-functional projects, she encountered many interpersonal problems. Having good attitude was the action she took to overcome difficulties. Now, she was third assistant manager in company D.. Subject D2. Before entering company D, subject D2 had worked in several industries for about 5 years. Like subject D1, he also joined the 2008 MA program. After finishing training programs, he chose to work in human resource department because of interest. Now, he was third assistant manager in company D.. Subject E1. Subject E1 was an MA in a government bank, providing him a more stable work environment. After finishing programs, he had been expatriated to Hong Kong until now. He was glad to work in Hong Kong because it benefited his career. In addition, company E provided enough compensation with him. Now, he worked as an assistant manager in the Hong Kong branch of company E.. Subject F1. Subject F1, majored in finance, had worked in company F for about four years. In the first six months, his work and life were unbalance because of high self-expectation. Peers and family gave him big supports when he encountered difficulties. Now, his position in his company F was manager. 34.

(45) Subject G1. Subject G1 majored in accounting. She had an internship in accounting service before. The experience caused her not to work in the accounting service. Because of taking part in MA programs, she had more exposure to top management but it also caused her feel stressful and had longer working hours. Asking for a favor was her coping strategies with obstacles. Now, she was assistant manager.. Subject G2. Subject G2 studied abroad for MBA. After graduating, he had worked in technology industry for about 4 years. And then he transferred to financial industry due to having no interest in technology industry. Now, he worked as assistant manager in company G.. Subject H1 Subject H1 majored in economics in graduate school. His total seniorities were 3 years. Now, he worked as a senior assistant manager in the corporate banking division, which the core business of company H. Working in the most important division was his major reason to retaining.. Introduction of Company Company A. Company A, a domestic bank, now has 124 domestic and three overseas branches. Its business includes corporate and consumer banking, wealth management, credit card, financing, trust, and public treasury, enabling the bank to offer one stop shopping financial services. 35.

(46) Company B. Company B is one of domestic banks in Taiwan. It has over one hundred domestic branches and over ten overseas offices. Its products and services consist of deposits, loans and guarantees, international banking, trust and stock brokerage, overseas Chinese services, and credit cards.. Company C. Company C is an international bank, which has 1,700 offices in 70 markets. Its business covers personal banking, preferred banking, priority banking and SEM banking.. Company D Company D categorized into domestic bank has55 branches in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Its core business comprises wealth management, insurance agency, small- and medium-sized enterprise banking unit, consumer banking, credit card, corporate banking, and financial markets.. Company E. Having over 300 domestic and overseas branches, company E is a governmental bank. This bank is charged with corporate banking, personal banking, loan assets, wealth management, international banking, credit cards, treasury, risk management, electronic banking, and account.. Company F. Company F, establishing about 150 offices in Taiwan and 66 branches abroad, is type of domestic bank. Services provided by company F cover savings accounts, loans, guarantees,. 36.

(47) foreign exchange, offshore banking units, trusts, credit cards, cash cards, securities, debentures, proprietary dealing in futures, derivatives, factoring, safety deposit boxes, and e-banking and the Bank also serves as an agent for the lottery. Company G. The branches in Taiwan and overseas of company G are about 125. Company G is one of domestic banks in Taiwan. Their major business includes international bank, wealth management, personal banking, corporate banking, and credit cards.. Company H. Like company E, company H is categorized into the government bank. It has about 200. branches and offices all over the world. The services and products company E provided consist of corporate banking, international banking, credit cards, trust, personal banking, trading, and treasury.. Data Collection and Analysis Research data was mainly obtained from personal information and concept shared by the interviewees. Interviews were conducted from March, 2012 to May, 2012. At first, the researcher confirmed willingness of participants. After that, the researcher sent the interview outline to interviewees. In addition, the researcher told them this research was anonymous and interviews were conducted individually and took approximately 45to 60 minutes for each subjects.. Researcher used content analysis to analyze the interview feedback. After interviews, transcripts were generated. A code book and coding form were created based on the research questions and literature review. The first step of coding (figure 3.2.) was to extract the 37.

(48) meaningful information from the transcript and then transform them into concept. Each concept had a coding number, which indicated company sequence, interviewee sequence, page number, and concept sequence.. Transcript Question and Answer. Concept. Q: What was you motivation to join MA programs? The major motivation for joining MA programs was. C1-1-1 Because of interests, I. having interests in financial industry. As a result, when I applied for job, I checked job vacancies in banks first.. chose financial industry.. The meaningful information extracted from interview.. The concept is written according to the transcript.. C1: The third company/ 1st interviewee 1: page 1 1: 1st concept. Figure 3.2. The first step of coding. The second step of coding (figure 3.3) was to create a framework which was based on literature review and research questions. The concepts were categorized to different topics.. Topics. Categories. Concept. Career choices. Intrinsic factors. Interest. Topics are generated from the research questions.. Coding C1-1-1 Because of interests, I chose financial industry.. According to literature review, the affected factors in career choices are categorized.. Figure 3.3. The second step of the coding 38.

(49) Research Procedure The following figure explained the process of this research. Based on the literature review, researcher decided the research topic. Literature review made the researcher have concrete concept about the study and provided many main theories. As a result, the researcher proposed three research questions. Researcher formulated a research framework based on literature review and three research questions. Before conducting interview, the interview questions were generated and reviewed by two experts. After revising interview questions, researcher began to select interviewees and conduct interviews. After interview, the transcripts were developed and researcher extracted meaningful information. There were two researchers review the coding to achieve reliability. Finally, researcher produced findings and conclusions for the study.. Deceide Research Topic. Literature Review. Formulate Research Questions Formulate Research Framework Develop Interview Questions. Experts Review. Select Subjects Interview Analyze Interview Data. Peers Review. Generate Findings and Conclusions Figure 3.4. Research procedure. 39.

(50) Validity and Reliability The discussion of validity and reliability in qualitative researches differ from those in quantitative researches. Linclon and Guba (1989) proposed four criteria to examine validity and reliability of qualitative research, including credibility, transferability, dependability, and conformability.. Credibility Credibility refers to internal validity, which means whether information the researcher obtained is truth or not. According to Mertens (2005), there are several strategies to achieve credibility, such as peer debriefing, member checks, triangulation, etc. Before interviews, the interview questions were checked by two experts and the researcher made revision following their suggestions. During interviews, the open-structured interview questions were used to allow participants reply freely and the researcher tried to understand interviewees’ point of views during interviews. After interviews and transcripts being developed, the researcher invited two peers to do peer debriefing, which can enhance credibility.. In addition, triangulation was employed in the study. According to Arksey and Knight (1999), there were four types of triangulation: methodological triangulation, data triangulation, investigator triangulation, and theoretical triangulation. Data triangulation was used in data collection. The researcher collected data not only from interview but also from organizational official website and information from magazines and newspaper.. 40.

(51) Transferability Transferability refers to external validity, which means whether the findings can be applied to other scenario (Mertens, 2005). To achieve external validity, the researcher recorded the time, place and the context carefully.. Dependability Dependability also called reliability (Lincoln and Guba, 1989). Reliability can be achieved by many ways. First, the researcher used the same procedure to conduct interviews and analyzed data. Second, all interviewees were chosen carefully. Third, the researcher was familiar with the interview skills by reading books.. Conformability Lincoln and Guba (1989) said the meaning of conformability was the same as objectivity. To avoid subjective bias, the researcher reflected carefully on interview content.. 41.

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