Shattered work lives, older workers, the breakdown of traditional employment relationships, and ...

203 Pages·2000·11.07 MB·English

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Shatteml Work Lives: Older Workers, the Breakdown of Traditional Employment
Relatioaships, and the New Corporate Culture of Uncertainty
by
Heather K. Scott
A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements
for the degree of Master of Science
Graduate Department of Community Health
University of Toronto
O Copyright by Heather K. Scott 1999
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SHATTERED WORK LIVES: OLDER WORKERS, TRE BREAKDOWN OF TRADITIONAL
EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS, AND TIIE NEW CORPORATE CULTURE OF UNCERTAINTY
Heather K-S con
Master of Science. 1999
Graduate Department of Community Health
University of Toronto
Current attempts to target the older worker during company downsizing campaigns have brought to the
fore issues concerning how this group may be uniquely affected by the stresses associated with the
uncertainty of organizational retrenchment. STUDY OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the present study
were: 1 ) to explore contextual features of the downsized workplace and how these are perceived by older
workers targeted by the early retirement incentive program (ERIP), and 2) to determine both the type and
extent of differences in employer-directed attitudes related to use of the ERIP as a downsizing
mechanism. RESEARCH DESIGN: Secondary survey data derived from the University of Toronto's
lssues of an Aging Workforce (IAW) Project were used to examine the comparative p e ~ c t i v eosf
employees of two large North American financial service institutions. One of the companies had
undergone a series of downsizings using the ERiP, while its counterpan had managed to keep its workers
relatively insulated from the threat of layoff. Employees at each company were compared on four
dimensions of commitment to the 'implicit career contract'. a conception based on the unique life
histories of older workers. RESULTS: Downsized employees were significantly more likely to repon the
presence of perceptible levels of retirement pressures at their workplace (xk43.37. d+3. p<.OOl).
Additional bivariate and multiple regression analyses revealed the level of contract commitment to be
consistently and significantly lower among workers at the downsized company. CONCLUSIONS:
Organizational pressures to retire that stem from use of the ElUP may cause workers to withhold certain
socio-emotional conmbutions to the firm in the form of loyalty and citizenship behaviour. From the
perspective of a traditional -best practice' approach to human resource management these tindings
suggest that campaigns of organizational downsizing which target the older employee may have
deleterious consequences for company function in the long term.
A number of people have played roles of vital support toward completion of this thesis. I must
first thank my thesis supervisor, Professor Victor Marshall. His mentorship and support has been
a constant source of inspiration. I am also grateu to my committee member Professor &nnis
Raphael who, in addition to providing key statistical support, has been extraordinarily generous
with his time and advice.
I must also extend thanks to Professor Ann Robertson for her feedback on an earlier
draft, and to Susan Underhill for her assistance with the data Special thanks are extended to my
mother, Patricia Scott, whose love and support has helped me to endure, I am also grateful to my
friends and colleagues, Ellie Berger and Marcy Facey. I feel remarkably blessed to have been
able to share this experience with them. Finally, to my dear friends Shan Khimji, Lee-Ann Wiun,
and Lisa Silver, many thanks for your unflagging patience and support while I disappeared into
the writing of this thesis.
I would like to acknowledge the Innovations Fund of Human Resources Development
Canada for fhding the program of research into "Issues of an Aging Workforce" conducted by
CARNET:T he Canadian Aging Research Network. Data for this thesis were derived from this
larger project.
Table of Contents
.
Abstract i
Acknowledgments ii
Table of Contents iii
List of Tables & Figures vi
Introduction viii
PART 1
REMEW OF LITERATURE
Chapter 1. Age-Neutral Restructuring or Age-Biased Targeting? Older Workers and the
New Regime of Corporate Downsizing 1
Chapter 2. The Social Contract, Corporate Culture, and the Implicit Career Contract:
Changes and Consequences in the New Global Economy
2.1 The Breach of the North American Social Contract and the Breakdown of
Traditional Employment Relationships
2.2 The Organization Man: Corporate Culture and the Implicit Career Contract
2.2.1 The psychological contract and the implicit career contract
2.2.2 The nature of employment contracts
2.3 Broken Promises: The Consequences of Downsizing as a Perceived Violation
of the Implicit Career Contract
2.3.1 Perceptions of justice in the post-layoff work environment
2.3.2 Job insecurity in the post-layoff work environment
2.3.3 The psychological consequences of downsizing: a unified perspective
2.4 A Theory of Multiple Contracts
2.4.1 Women and implicit career contract commitment
2.4.2 The male family context
iii
Chapter 3. Implications for the Present Study 76
3.1 Shifts in The Social Contract as a Determinant of Implicit Career Contract
Commitment: The Present Study 78
3.2 Objectives and Hypotheses 81
3.2.1 Employee perceptions of the organizational context
3.2.2 Employee commitment to the implicit career contract
3.3 Company Policy as a Determinant of Implicit Career Contract Commitment:
A Case Study Comparison 86
3.3.1 The Sun Life and Prudential case study sites: portraits in brief 87
PART It
METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS
Chapter 4. Methodology
4.1 The Data
4.1.1 The Sun Life employee sample
4.1.2 The Prudential employee sample.
4.2 Instrumentation
4.3 Descriptive Statistics
4.3.1 Demographics
4.3.2 Study measures
4.4 Bivariate Analyses
4.4.1 Employee perceptions of organizational context
4.4.2 Employee commitment to the implicit career contract
4.5 Multivariate Analyses
Cbapter 5. Shifts in the Social Contract, the Breakdown of Traditional Employment
Relationships and Employee Commitment to the Implicit Career Contract
5.1 Results from the Present Study
5.1.1 ICC commitment as a function of employee status characteristics
5.1.2 The effects of employee withdrawal on organizational h c t i o n
5.2 Caveats for the Present Results
5.3 The Need for Future Research
References
Appendices
Appendix A. Sun Life and Prudential Employee Surveys
List of Tables and Figurn
Table 1. Rotated Factor Matrix for Implicit Career Contract Dimension Job Satisfaction 93
Table 2. Unrotated Factor Matrix for Implicit Career Contract Dimension
Attitudes Toward the Importance of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour 95
Table 3. Second Order Factor Analysis onto Construct Implicit Career Contract
Commitment 96
Table 4. Profile of Sun Life and Prudential Employees 99
Table 5. Mean Scores and Standard Deviations for the Dimensions of Implicit
Career Contract Commitment 100
Table 6. Employee Perceptions of Organizational Context as a Function of
Company Downsizing Policy
Table 7. Means (standard deviations) for the Dimensions of Implicit Career
Contract Commitment and Comparisons with F Values from the ANOVAs 104
Table 8. Means (standard deviations) for the Dimensions of Implicit Career
Contract Commitment as a Function of Company Policy and Length
of Employee Tenure
Table 9. Means (standard deviations) for the Dimensions of Implicit Career
Contract Commitment as a Function of Company Policy and
Occupational Status
Table 10. Means (standard deviations) for the Dimensions of Implicit Career
Contract Commitment as a Function of Company Policy and Gender
Table 1 I . Means (standard deviations) for the Dimensions of Implicit Career
Contract Commitment as a Function of Company Policy and
Male Family Context
Table 12. Hierarchical Multiple Regression of Predictors of Implicit Career
Contract Commitment Dimension Intrinsic Job Satisfaction
Table 13. Hierarchical Multiple Regression of Predictors of Implicit Career
Contract Dimension Extrinsic Job Satisfaction