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THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE CAREER
PLATEAU IN THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
ORGANIZATIONS IN KENYA
BY
OLAL OCHOLAH WILFRED
UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY - AFRICA
SPRING 2020
THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE CAREER
PLATEAU IN THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
ORGANIZATIONS IN KENYA
BY
OLAL OCHOLAH WILFRED
A Research Project Report Submitted to the Chandaria School
of Business in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the
Degree of Masters of Science in Management and
Organizational Development (MOD)
UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY - AFRICA
SRING 2020
ii
DECLARATION
This research proposal is my original work prepared with no other than the indicated sources and
support and has not been presented elsewhere for a degree or any other award in any university.
Signature________________________ Date___________________________
Olal Ocholah Wilfred
This project report has been presented for examination with my approval as the appointed
supervisor.
Signature_______________________ Date___________________________
Prof. Damary Sikalieh
Signature________________________ Date___________________________
DEAN, Chandaria School of Business
iii
COPYRIGHT
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this research paper may be replicated, stored in retrieval system or
transmitted in any form, without the prior consent of the author except for brief citations in further
researches, critical reviews and articles.
© Copyright 2020 Olal Ocholah Wilfred
iv
ABSTRACT
This research sought to determine the role of leadership on employee career plateau. The study focused on
the telecommunication organizations in Kenya. The study was directed by the following research questions:
How does employee engagement affect career plateau situations in the telecommunications industry in
Kenya? Why is job redesign important in addressing career plateau situations in the telecommunications
industry in Kenya? How does mentoring impact employee coping with career plateau situations in the
telecommunications industry in Kenya?
The study adopted a correlational research design to determine the statistical relationship between the
independent variable (leadership role) and the dependent variable (career plateau situation). Purposive
sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 126 employees (managers and staff) from a
population of 182 employees who have stayed in the current role for over three years. The sampling frame
for the study was the official list of employees as was obtained from the human resources department of
each of the targeted telecommunication organizations in Kenya. Data was collected using questionnaires.
The study used the Statistical Package for Social Studies (SPSS) as a data analysis tool. One-way Analysis
of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significant differences on the effect of different leadership
roles on career plateau by the demographics. Correlation and Linear regression analysis techniques were
used to determine the relationship and effect of job redesign, mentoring, and employee engagement on
employee career plateau. The findings and results were presented using tables and figures.
The findings on the effect of employee engagement as a leadership role on career plateau
revealed that there was a statistically significant but moderate and positive
association/relationship between employee engagement role and career plateauing, r (101) =
0.316, p < .05. One-Way ANOVA test results showed that there was no statistically significant
difference on the effect of employee engagement role on career plateau by age F = 1.315, p >
.05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p > .05 and duration of
employment F = 1.402, p > .05. Linear regression analysis findings revealed that employee
engagement role explained 10% of the variability in employees’ career plateau in the
telecommunications organizations in Kenya (R2 = .100).
v
The findings on the effect of job redesign as a leadership role on career plateau revealed that
there was a statistically significant but weak and positive association/relationship between job
redesign role and career plateauing, r (101) = 0.233, p < .05. One-Way ANOVA test results
showed that there was no statistically significant difference on the effect of job redesign role on
career plateau by age F = 1.315, p > .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F
=0.792, p > .05 and duration of employment F = 1.402, p > .05. Linear regression analysis
findings revealed that job redesign explained 5.4% of the variability in employees’ career plateau
in telecommunications organizations in Kenya (R2 = .054).
The findings on the effect of employee mentoring as a leadership role on career plateau revealed
that there was a statistically weak and positive association/relationship between employee
mentoring role and career plateauing is statistically not significant, r (101) = 0.100, p > .05. One-
Way ANOVA test results showed that there was no statistically significant difference on the
effect of employee mentoring role on career plateau by age F = 1.459, p > .05, gender F = 1.598,
p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p > .05 and duration of employment F = 1.402, p >
.05. Linear regression analysis findings revealed that employee mentoring role explained 1% of
the variability in employees’ career plateau in telecommunications organizations in Kenya (R2 =
.100).
In conclusion employee engagement, job redesign and employee mentoring leadership roles
significantly affected employees’ career plateau in the telecommunications organizations in
Kenya. The study recommends that telecommunications managers and human practitioners
should adopt leadership roles in order to improve career plateau incidences in their organizations.
Further studies should be conducted in other industries in Kenya to determine the overall effect
leadership roles have on employee career plateau in those organizations.
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My sincere thanks go out to all the telecommunications organization’s human resource managers at Airtel
Kenya, Safaricom, and other telecom vendors who allowed me to access their staff for purposes of
dispensing the questionnaire. Special thanks go to all those who took their time out of their busy schedule to
respond to the questions, the enthusiasm you demonstrated was amazing. The research result is a product of
your invaluable input.
To my family, my unreserved gratitude to you as a whole, your encouragement, patience, support and
prayers. To my wife Stellah, daughters, Tansey Hawi and Caelyne Marwa and son Zuriel Mich, your
presence in my life was a source of inspiration to carry on despite those enduring periods that we couldn’t
find time to bond as a family.
Special thanks go out to my manager Alexander Kioko who made it possible for me to juggle between
work and studies through flexi work schedules. For sure this would not have been possible considering the
tight and demanding work expectations. It is because of your understanding that I was able to balance
between work and studies. A big thank you.
Special thanks to United States International University – Africa for giving me the opportunity to read and
learn from your wonderful facility. Most sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor,
Professor Damary Sikalieh for her patience, persistence and the resilience with which she
reviewed my work with useful comments in countless drafts until it took shape. To Gabriel
Okello, thanks man, for guiding me with research analysis and presentation, your input was
invaluable. My sincere thanks goes to the Dean, university administration, and fellow MOD
students from the Chandaria School of Business for the endless support and interaction during
the study.
To my MOD cohort, your input in terms of regular consultations on topical issues is highly
appreciated. Above all, this could not have been possible without the Almighty God. I thank Him
for life and blessing me with resources to pursue this master’s degree course and importantly
achieve this milestone in my life.
vii
DEDICATION
To family, wife Stellah, daughters Hawi and Marwa and Son Mich from whom I get the drive to pursue my
dreams in life.
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION........................................................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ vi
DEDICATION............................................................................................................................. vii
LIST OF TABLES .........................................................................................................................x
1.0. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1
1.1. Background of the Study .................................................................................................................. 1
1.2. Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................................. 4
1.3. The Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................. 7
1.4. Research Questions .......................................................................................................................... 7
1.5. Significance of the Study ................................................................................................................. 8
1.6. Scope of the Study ........................................................................................................................... 9
1.7. Definitions of Terms ........................................................................................................................ 9
1.9. Chapter Summary .......................................................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER TWO .........................................................................................................................13
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW .....................................................................................................13
2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 13
2.2 Career Plateau in Organizations ...................................................................................................... 13
2.4 Job Redesign and Career Plateau .................................................................................................... 33
2.5 Employee Mentoring and Career Plateau in Organizations ............................................................. 46
2.6. Chapter Summary .......................................................................................................................... 57
CHAPTER THREE .....................................................................................................................59
3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .........................................................................................59
3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 59
3.2 Research Design ............................................................................................................................. 59
3.3 Population and Sampling Design .................................................................................................... 60
3.4 Data Collection Methods ................................................................................................................ 63
3.5 Research Procedures ....................................................................................................................... 64
3.6 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 65
3.7 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................................................... 66
ix
CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................................67
4.0 RESULTS AND FINDINGS .................................................................................................67
4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 67
4.1 General Information ........................................................................................................................ 67
4.3 Career Plateau in Organizations ...................................................................................................... 73
4.4 Employee Engagement and Career Plateau in Organizations .......................................................... 78
4.5 Job Redesign Role and Career Plateau ............................................................................................ 91
4.6 Employee Mentoring Role and Career Plateau ............................................................................. 105
4.7 Combined Regression Analysis .................................................................................................... 119
4.7 Chapter Summary ......................................................................................................................... 121
CHAPTER FIVE .......................................................................................................................124
5.0 DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................124
5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 124
5.2 Summary of Findings .................................................................................................................... 124
5.3 Discussions ................................................................................................................................... 128
5.4 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 138
5.5 Recommendations ......................................................................................................................... 142
REFERENCES ...........................................................................................................................145
APPENDIX I: AUTHORIZATION LETTER ........................................................................154
APPENDIX II: NACOSTI RSEARCH PERMIT ...................................................................155
APPENDIX III: COVER LETTER .........................................................................................156
APPENDIX IV: QUESTIONNAIRE .......................................................................................157
x
LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Population Distribution ......................................................................................................... 61
Table 3.2 Sample Size Distribution ...................................................................................................... 63
Figure 4.1: Respondent’s Age ............................................................................................................ 69
Table 4.1: Respondent’s Level of Education ........................................................................................ 69
Figure 4.2: Respondent’s Position in the Company.......................................................................... 70
Figure 4.3: Respondent’s Duration of Service in Current Organization ......................................... 71
Figure 4.4: Respondent’s Period of Service in Current Role ........................................................... 71
Figure 4.5: Respondent’s Organizations ............................................................................................ 72
Table 4.2: Rating of Employee Career Plateau Perceptions in Organizations ..................................... 75
Table 4.3: Job Satisfaction in Organizations ........................................................................................ 76
Table 4.4: Job Commitment in Organizations ...................................................................................... 77
Table 4.5: Employee Engagement in Organizations ............................................................................. 78
Table 4.6: Cognitive Commitment in Organizations ............................................................................ 79
Table 4.7: Affective Commitment in Organizations............................................................................. 81
Table 4.8: Behavioral Commitment in Organizations .......................................................................... 82
Table 4.9: Correlation between Employee Engagement role and Career Plateau ................................ 84
Table 4.10: ANOVA for the Effect of Employment Engagement Role on Career Plateau by Age,
Gender, Duration in Current Role and Duration of Employment ......................................................... 85
Figure 4.6: Normal Q-Q Plot for Employee Engagement Role ....................................................... 86
Table 4.11: Test for Linearity between Employee Engagement Role and Career Plateau ................... 87
Table 4.12: Test for Heteroscedasticity for Employee Engagement Role and Career Plateau ............. 87
Figure 4.7: Scatterplot for Employee Engagement Role .................................................................. 88
Table 4.13: Test for Multicollinearity for Employee Engagement Role and Career Plateau ............... 89
Table 4.14: Model Summary for Linear Relationship between Employee Engagement Role and
Career Plateau ....................................................................................................................................... 89
Table 4.15: ANOVA for Linear Relationship between Employee Engagement Role and Career
Plateau ................................................................................................................................................... 90
Table 4.16: Regression Coefficient for Linear Relationship between Employee Engagement Role
and Career Plateau ................................................................................................................................ 91
Table 4.17: Job Redesign role in Organizations ................................................................................... 92
Table 4.18: Job Descriptions in Organizations ..................................................................................... 94
Table 4.20: Participative Decision Making in Organizations ............................................................... 96
Table 4.21: Correlation between Job Redesign Role and Career Plateau ............................................. 98
Table 4.22: ANOVA for the Effects of Job Resign Role on Career Plateau by Age, Gender,
Duration in Current Role and Duration of Employment ...................................................................... 99
Figure 4.8: Normal Q-Q Plot for Job Redesign Role ..................................................................... 100
Table 4.23: Test for Linearity between Job Redesign Role and Career Plateau ................................. 101
Table 4.24: Test for Heteroscedasticity for Job Redesign Role and Career Plateau .......................... 101
Figure 4.9: Scatterplot for Job Redesign Role ................................................................................ 102
Table 4.25: Test for Multicollinearity for Job Redesign Role and Career Plateau ............................. 103
xi
Table 4.26: Model Summary for Linear Relationship between Job Redesign Role and Career
Plateau ................................................................................................................................................. 103
Table 4.27: ANOVA for Linear Relationship between Job Redesign Role and Career Plateau ........ 104
Table 4.28: Regression Coefficient for Linear Relationship between Job Redesign Role and
Career Plateau ..................................................................................................................................... 105
Table 4.29: Employee Mentoring Role in Organizations ................................................................... 106
Table 4.30: Mentoring Relationships in Organizations ...................................................................... 108
Table 4.31: Mentoring as Organization Strategy ................................................................................ 109
Table 4.32: Technical Skills and Knowledge in Organizations .......................................................... 110
Table 4.33: Correlation between Employee Mentoring Role and Career Plateau .............................. 112
Table 4.34: ANOVA for the Effects of Employee Mentoring Role on Career Plateau by Age,
Gender, Duration in Current Role and Duration of Employment ....................................................... 113
Figure 4.10: Normal Q-Q Plot for Employee Mentoring Role ...................................................... 114
Table 4.35: Test for Linearity between Employee Mentoring Role and Career Plateau .................... 115
Table 4.36: Test for Heteroscedasticity for Employee Mentoring Role and Career Plateau .............. 115
Figure 4.11: Scatterplot for Employee Mentoring Role ................................................................. 116
Table 4.37: Test for Multicollinearity for Employee Mentoring Role and Career Plateau ................ 116
Table 4.38: Model Summary for Linear Relationship between Employee Mentoring Role and
Career Plateau ..................................................................................................................................... 117
Table 4.39: ANOVA for Linear Relationship between Employee Mentoring Role and Career
Plateau ................................................................................................................................................. 118
Table 4.40: Plateau Regression Coefficient for Linear Relationship between Employee
Mentoring Role and Career Plateau .................................................................................................... 118
Table 4.41: Model Summary for Linear Relationship between Employee Mentoring Role and
Career Plateau ..................................................................................................................................... 120
Table 4.42: ANOVA for Linear Relationship between Employee Mentoring Role and Career
Plateau ................................................................................................................................................. 120
Table 4.43: Regression Coefficient for Linear Relationship between Employee Mentoring Role
and Career Plateau .............................................................................................................................. 121
xii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1: Respondent’s Age ............................................................................................................ 69
Figure 4.2: Respondent’s Position in the Company.......................................................................... 70
Figure 4.3: Respondent’s Duration of Service in Current Organization ......................................... 71
Figure 4.4: Respondent’s Period of Service in Current Role ........................................................... 71
Figure 4.5: Respondent’s Organizations ............................................................................................ 72
Figure 4.6: Normal Q-Q Plot for Employee Engagement Role ....................................................... 86
Figure 4.7: Scatterplot for Employee Engagement Role .................................................................. 88
Figure 4.8: Normal Q-Q Plot for Job Redesign Role ..................................................................... 100
Figure 4.9: Scatterplot for Job Redesign Role ................................................................................ 102
Figure 4.10: Normal Q-Q Plot for Employee Mentoring Role ...................................................... 114
Figure 4.11: Scatterplot for Employee Mentoring Role ................................................................. 116
xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
HR: Human Resource Manager
SHRM: Strategic Human Resource Management
PLC: Public Listed Company
COTU: Central Organization of Trade Unions
OC: Organization Commitment
OCBs: Organizational Citizenship Behaviors
IT: Information Technology
1
CHAPTER ONE
1.0. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
Career researchers have investigated the phenomenon of plateauing since the late 1970s
yet the concept of reaching a perceived career plateau and its effects on individuals
continues to intrigue researchers (Godshalk and Fender, 2014). Much has however been
written in the contemporary career literature suggesting individuals are not bound by any
organization and therefore, should pursue boundaryless careers (Inkson, Gunz, Ganesh
and Roper, 2012). Recent studies continue to investigate organizationally employed and
plateaued professionals, their perceived reasons for being plateaued, and their work
outcomes (Godshalk, et al. (2014).
Career plateau which can be viewed positively and negatively as a phenomenon that
occurs when employees experience stagnation in own career (Ramlal and Siva, 2017);
Choudhary and Riaz, (2013) defined career plateau as a feeling of frustration and
psychological feebleness that employees feel as a result of career stagnation; Ference,
Stoners and Warren (1977) defined it as the point in a career where the likelihood of
additional hierarchical career advancement is very low; while Lin and Li (2013) on their
part saw career plateau as “the point at which future career mobility, including both
upward and lateral moves, is in reasonable doubt because the length of time in the present
position has been unduly prolonged”. According to Lapalme, Tremblay and Simard
(2009), plateaued employees give their supervisors negative evaluation, perceiving them
as less supportive. Employees who experience career plateau would think their employers
have forsaken their careers (Lee, 2013). It is therefore often associated with a number of
negative work outcomes such as lack of career and job satisfaction as well as increase in
the level of turnover intentions. Researchers have identified two forms of career plateau
over time, organizational and personal plateaus (Ramlal et al., 2017); where
organizational plateau arises when a person has the required skills to perform jobs that
are higher in level than present jobs but are not given an opportunity to perform the jobs
while personal plateau arises due to mismatch of abilities on job requirements, lack of
2
motivation or career aspirations of employees. It also happens when an employee doesn’t
desire for a higher-level job due to lack of professional and technical skills (Choudhary et
al., 2013). This research adopted the definition of career plateau as proposed by Lin and
Li (2013) and was measured by how long one stays in the present position without
receiving promotion.
According to Sharma and Jain (2013), leadership is the process by which a person
influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that
makes it more cohesive and coherent. Employees need leadership and guidance in
developing effective models and approaches to achieving career growth (Keller, Gordon
and Storlie, 2013). However, the leadership skills gained from such a relationship could
still transfer back to the workplace, potentially reducing the likelihood of hierarchical
plateauing. Leadership and its role are pertinent issues for the business and organizations
now-days. Leaders are individuals who establish direction for a working group of
individuals and who gain commitment from this group of members to established
direction and who then motivate members to achieve the direction's outcomes (Simiyu,
2015). The leadership role is to motivate and inspire the peoples in the organization to
work jointly so that the organization’s vision can be translated into reality. The role of
leadership is to identify career plateau tendencies in people and formulate ways to
eliminate their effects on employees (Simiyu, 2015). The leadership role in this research
is envisaged as described by Abbas and Asghar, (2010) as the ability of management to
get and protect the company benefits by realizing employee’s needs and company targets
and bringing them together to work in a better environment to achieve the common goals.
In the frame of an organization, the role of leadership is crucial for its proper function
and welfare. Several leadership roles have been identified by scholars in their research,
Sulaiman and Seng (2016) identified employee engagement as a leadership role that
relates to emotional and rational factors of work and overall working experience. These
emotional factors tie to people’s personal satisfaction and a sense of inspiration and
affirmation they get from their work and from being part of their organization. Employee
engagement as a leadership role addresses internal job motivation which is manifested in
3
four perceptions of efficacy, effect, meaningfulness and independence as reflected in
individual’s orientation towards his duties Vance (2006). This process encompasses the
growth and change process from childhood, formal career education at school and
maturation processes that continue throughout into retirement. Job characteristics model
is another leadership role that demonstrates ethical normative behavior towards task
significance and autonomy thereby affecting an employee’s motivation and enhanced
task performance (Piccolo, Greenbaum, Hartog and Folger, 2010). They found that task
significance and effort fully mediate relationships between ethical leadership and
subordinates’ job performance thus addresses employee career plateau.
Another leadership role is job redesign, which focuses on improving employee job
performance, worker motivation and dedication to work leading to better efficiency in the
organization (Achiaa, 2012). Job redesign is related to perceived work demands, job
control and social support from organizational leadership so as to improve work
productivity. Managers through leadership interventions can reduce occupational stress
which is a serious health issue among organizational employees and can lead to negative
consequences like anxiety, headache, stomach distress and cardiovascular disease
(Karimi and Alipour, 2011) and career plateau as a consequence. Some researchers have
also found out that mentoring as a leadership intervention plays a critical role in the
retention and success of employees in the organization. In fact, researchers have found
that mentoring helps alleviate negative and adverse effects of career that could lead to
plateau situations in organizations. Pfund (2012), in his research found that mentoring has
a life-altering relationship that inspires mutual growth, learning and development and has
the capacity to transform individual groups and organizations.
Mentoring is another leadership role which describes an individual’s perception of
challenge and responsibility in their daily interactions, reducing the likelihood of
experiencing career plateaus. Mentoring according to (Sindell and Sindell, 2016) involves
sharing one’s own personal experiences, insights and knowledge with the mentee and
isn’t focused on specific skills and actions to improve them but is more about overall
development. Mentoring is also defined as an interpersonal experience between a junior
4
and a senior employee, in which the senior employee (mentor) supports, guides, and
orients the junior employee (protégé) to the various tasks, functions, and culture within
the organization (Lentz, et al, 2009). The presence of frustrated employees in an
organization is likely to have a significant adverse effect on the organization’s operations.
Employees faced with a career plateau are likely to exhibit feelings of frustration. Such
employees may have a higher tendency to leave the company due to career stagnation
(Foster, 2004). Foster in his research further indicated that mentoring reduces plateau
tendency significantly and significantly lowers turnover intentions by improving job
satisfaction and positive job attributes. Therefore, fostering a mentoring environment can
reduce career plateau attainment and turnover intentions and this has a positive impact on
the organization’s operations.
Currently, the main market players in the telecommunication services sector are
Safaricom PLC, Airtel Kenya Ltd, Telkom Kenya, Equitel and other telecommunication
vendors. The telecommunication industry was found to be the most appropriate area to
conduct this research study since people working in this industry possess specialized
skills which are mainly needed in this industry and not easily transferable to other
industries making these employees prone to career stagnations because they cannot easily
switch jobs to other industries. This research was underpinned by the three leadership
roles of employee engagement, job-redesign and mentoring in the telecommunication
organizations in Kenya. The next section will address problem statement.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
The ongoing relationships between people and their work are nicely captured by the
notion of career, which uniquely connects individuals with organizations and other social
institutions over time. In New Zealand and Canada, studies have shown that
organizational restructuring and change, for example, mediate new career boundaries,
and change management affects, and is affected by, workers’ career-driven responses
(Inkson, Gunz, Ganesh and Roper, 2012). In China, career plateau reflects hindrance on
promotion and lack of challenge in job content (Lin, et al., 2013). The same is reflected in
South Africa (Bell, et al., 2014) and Kenya (Wawira, Mathews, Machogu and Wanjala,
5
2015) where employee performance may be affected by many factors, career stagnation
being one of them. For such organizations to have a competitive edge in retaining their
employees, they need to practice effective leadership interventions to help reduce plateau
situations significantly and lower turnover intentions by controlling job satisfaction and
positive job attributes (Foster, 2014).
Jones (2018) while studying the relationship of employee engagement and career plateau
of accounting/auditing professionals of Walden University, recommended a similar
research using a different industry and geographical location. Okechukwu (2018), while
investigating the role the various leadership styles have on employee engagement in a
Nigerian context recommended future studies be done to explore the role of other
boundary variables created by leadership behaviors in employee engagement. He further
suggested the consideration of the role played by individual differences and also that this
research should be expanded to include other companies so as to enhance generalization.
Cawe (2006) studied the factors that promote employee engagement across different
organizations in South Africa suggested a further study measuring the extent of the
engagement of employees in different organizational layers. Locally, Mutunga (2009)
identified factors which contribute to employee engagement among employees of Zain
Kenyan limited and proposed a further study on ways to improve staff training as a way
of promoting employee engagement and that employee engagement studies should be
replicated in other industries. Wachira (2013) while studying the relationship between
employee engagement at Barclays of Bank of Kenya on a mixed group of employees and
managers observed that the findings may not generalize to other banks and business
contexts. Therefore, replicating this study in different settings across different contexts
would yield different results.
Siengthai and Pila-Ngarm (2017) while studying the effect of job redesign and job
satisfaction in Thailand, found that employee performance in their study was concerned
with in-role performance and recommended further investigation on the extra-role
performance enhancement. Weng, Huang, Tsai, Chang, Lin and Lee (2010) in their study
recommended exploring the impact of job characteristics as a mentoring function by
6
supervisors to improve career development and role modelling functions. Achiaa (2012)
examined the effects of job redesign and employee motivation on job performance
between employees at GCB and GTBANK in Ghana and recommended that future
research would benefit from large-scale cross-cultural and/or cross-industry surveys.
Locally, Ngure (2016), in his research at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) on
leadership style and work environment recommended that future research can be
conducted regarding professional retention versus organizational retention since the cost
of training professionals is high. Further, Ahmed (2018) while studying the influence of
job redesign on employee performance at ICRAF, limited his research on three
components of job redesign, and recommended more evaluations on future studies on
effects of job enlargement strategies on employee productivity within other organizations
would result to different findings. While the above studies demonstrate the impact of
different leadership aspects on employees’ career plateau situations, none have
demonstrated that this research has ever been performed in the telecommunication
industry in Kenya. This makes this research relevant since its findings will be helpful in
correlating its outcome with the findings of this research.
Lentz (2004) studied the relationship between career plateaus and mentoring at the
University of South Florida proposed that future research be conducted to generalize
findings to different samples since his samples specifically sought out government
employees. He suggested that perhaps different relationship may emerge with employees
in private sectors or various industries. Jyoti and Sharma (2016) while researching on the
role of mentoring structure and mentoring culture recommended future research be done
on the same subject in other sectors. Salami (2010) while studying the relationship
between mentoring and career plateau among government employees in Nigeria
recommended future research to include employees in the private sectors to confirm the
generalizability of his findings. However, locally, I did not find an article that expressly
talked about the role of mentoring in career plateau. However, Ndungu (2016) studied the
effect of mentoring on career success in Nairobi’s hotels and recommended research in
other sectors. She further recommended that further research be done with a more
7
specific independent variable in mind. Her research also proposes a future research on job
satisfaction as a result of mentoring in organizations.
From the above, there is sufficient evidence that many researchers have done a lot of
work in the area of the impact of leadership on career plateau situations in organizations.
However, there is little evidence that similar research has been done in the
telecommunications industry in Kenya. Therefore, there is ground for this research to
proceed with the objective of trying to find out the effect of organizational leadership has
on employee career plateau situations by examining the role of employee engagement,
job redesign and mentoring as leadership practice to address career plateau situations.
This study therefore will attempt to answer the research question, what is the effect of
leadership characteristics on employee’s career successes in their organizations.
1.3. The Purpose of the Study
This study sought to explore the role of leadership on career plateau in the
telecommunication industry in Kenya.
1.4. Research Questions
This research sought to answer the following questions:
1.4.1 How does employee engagement affect career plateau in the
telecommunications industry in Kenya?
1.4.2 Why is job redesign important in addressing career plateau in the
telecommunications industry in Kenya?
1.4.3 How does mentoring impact employee coping with career plateau in the
telecommunications industry in Kenya?
8
1.5. Significance of the Study
This section describes the contribution of this study towards the broad literature or
contribution towards the set of broad educational problems upon completion.
1.5.1. Researchers and Scholars
The findings of this study will add more literature that can be used in future studies on
the role of leadership in employee career plateau situations both in academia and
research. This study will generate more data for further research and practical reference.
1.5.2. Policy Makers
The findings will be important to regulators and labour unions in particular, the Central
Organization of Trade Union (COTU) that conducts the overall supervision of employee
welfare. COTU is the umbrella organization which represents the interests of all the
employees working in Kenya. They can therefore borrow some useful findings from this
research which can be useful in policy formulation within the labour union. Professional
associations for example, institute of engineers of Kenya (IEK) which is responsible for
continuous professional development for its members as well as international ICT
associations.
1.5.3. The Employees and Management
This research sought views and opinions from employees and management and so its
output will definitely be useful in improving their work situations. Therefore, solutions
generated from this study if implemented will help address the challenges they face in
those organizations that could possibly boost positive organizational behavior. The
findings from this research will provide insight to management and therefore help them
in their efforts towards improving work environment for employees. Therefore, this will
create and strengthen a reciprocal relationship between the employees and management.
9
The findings serve as an inspiration for improving human resource management tools in
the telecommunications industry.
1.6. Scope of the Study
This study is out to find the effect of career plateau on telecommunications engineers and
managers and what management interventions are available for managers to help improve
the working of plateaued employees. This study focuses on the telecommunication
industry in Kenya. The actual respondents will be those employees who have been
serving in the current position for more than three years in the same organization.
1.7. Definitions of Terms
1.7.1. Career Plateau
It is the point at which future career mobility, including both upward and lateral moves, is
in reasonable doubt because the length of time in the present position has been unduly
prolonged (Lin and Li, 2013).
1.7.2. Leadership
It is the process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and
directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent (Sharma and
Jain (2013).
1.7.3. Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is a process by which an organization, increases commitment and
contribution of its employees to achieve superior results (Cawe, 2016).
1.7.4. Job Redesign
10
Is the restructuring the elements including tasks, duties and responsibilities of a specific
job in order to make it more encouraging and inspiring for the employees or workers
(Juneja, 2015).
1.7.5. Mentoring
Mentoring is a system of semi-structured guidance whereby one person shares their
knowledge, skills and experience to assist others to progress in their own lives and
careers (University of Cambridge website, accessed on 15th
June 2019).
1.7.6. Organization Commitment
Lizote, Verdinelli and Nascimento (2017) define organizational commitment as a type of
social bond established between the employee and the organization, made up of an
affective component of identification that influences a set of behavioral intentions of
proactivity, participation, extra commitment and defense of the organization.
1.7.7. Turnover Intentions
Turnover intention can be defined as intentions or thoughts about leaving a job
(Guðlaugsdóttir, 2016); the likelihood of an employee to leave the current job he/she are
doing (Belete, 2018); an inclination among employees to quit their organization (Ahmed
and Rehman, 2015).
1.7.8. Employee Performance
Employee performance is defined as the successful execution of work by employees, as
defined and evaluated according to set standards, while effectively utilizing resources
provided in a changing environment (Ndirangu, 2018).
1.7.9. Job Satisfaction
11
Job satisfaction is any blend of mental, physiological, and natural circumstances that
bring about a man honestly to say I am satisfied by my job (Rahman, Akhter and Khan,
2017).
1.8.0. Career Mobility
The ability of workers to move up (or at times down) the scale of occupations inside an
enterprise or from one enterprise to another within the same industry and across
industries. Mobility is a process whereby an employee has the opportunity to develop
both personally and professionally (Zamir, 2013).
1.8.1. Deviant Behaviors
Deviance simply means “to go astray”; those behaviors or characteristics that violate
significant social norms and expectations and are negatively valued by a large number of
people (Bala and Daniel, 2013).
1.8.2. Job Autonomy
Job autonomy, by definition, is the freedom and discretion allowed of employees in
facets of work method, work schedule, and work criteria to perform their tasks and
responsibilities (Lin and Ping, 2016).
1.9. Chapter Summary
Chapter one dealt primarily with the introduction of the main objective of the study
which is the determination of the role of leadership on employee career plateau situations
in the telecommunications organizations in Kenya. In the background section, career
plateau phenomenon was defined in the context of the study. Employee engagement, job
redesign and mentoring as leadership roles were also discussed in the context of the
12
current study. The effect of career plateau on organizations was stated as problem
statement. The chapter ended by highlighting telecommunications industry in Kenya as
the scope of the study. Chapter two of this study presents literature review on the
previous studies conducted based on the research questions relating to the role of
leadership on employee career plateau in organizations. Chapter three presents the
research methodology that was used during this study. Chapter four presents the research
results and findings obtained from the study, chapter five presents the summary of the
findings, discussions, conclusions and recommendations.
13
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
This chapter covers the review of existing literature on the research questions. This
section introduces different perspectives related to the effect of career plateau on
employees and how various leadership interventions are applied to address the plateau
situations. There are different career plateau situations in organizations and its effect on
employees in those organizations; how employee engagement addresses career plateau
situations in organizations; the importance of job redesign and how it is used by
organizations to address career plateau; and the impact of mentoring towards addressing
career plateauing in organizations.
2.2 Career Plateau in Organizations
Career advancement is an integral part in our lives, that’s why it’s important for
organizations to take a proactive approach in planning and managing it. Nowadays,
increasing complexity, unmoral and illegal acts in work environments draw managers
attentions to themselves. These behaviors which are mostly premeditated have various
grounds such as deviant behaviors, counterproductive behaviors and anti-social behaviors
Amini, Peykani (2016). The impact of career plateau according to researchers is
“Occupational altitude sickness” Zi tong, Juan (2011); low satisfaction, low motivation,
high stress, poor performance and high turnover intentions (Choudhary, Riaz, 2013).
Employees who experience career stagnation in own career perceive their supervisors as
less supportive and thus experience negative work outcomes such as lack of job
satisfaction and turnover intentions. Employees who work in telecommunications
industry poses specialized skills which cannot easily be transferred to other industries and
so they usually experience instances of plateau in the course of the career progression.
14
Senior managers in organizations need to understand the experience of employees and
colleagues as they pass through the various stages of careers over their lifespans. Career
management is a good business practice because it makes good financial sense to have
highly trained employees keep up with their fields so that organizations can protect
valuable human resources. Careers are person-centered; they exist only because people
pursue them. People entering the organization aim at developing their aspirations, but
unfortunately after working for five years or even more some of them would be unable to
reach their career goals and plan, thus plateau ensures (Badiane, 2016). This research
primarily focused on the two types of career plateau; organizational and personal
plateaus; organizational plateau arises when a person has the required skills to perform
jobs that are higher in level than present jobs but are not given an opportunity to perform
the jobs while personal plateau is where there is a mismatch of abilities on job
requirements, lack of motivation or career aspirations of employees (Choudhary et al.,
2013). These plateau situations determine the satisfaction level of every employee in their
organizations and determine how they conduct their duties within those organizations.
Plateaued employees derive lower satisfaction level from their organizations. The next
section presents reviewed literature discussing employee job satisfaction as a construct of
career plateau.
2.2.1 Job Satisfaction in Organizations
Researchers have studied career plateau over the years and even with the growth of
telecommunications industry over the years, there has been a growing concern over staff
welfare in organizations resulting from the number of employees seeking advancement
opportunities. Although little management literature is available to show a direct
relationship between job satisfaction and career plateau in the telecommunications
industry, experiencing a level of career plateau however is likely (Gordon and Storlie,
2013). This research therefore defines job satisfaction as any blend of mental,
physiological, and natural circumstances that bring about a man honestly to say I am
satisfied by my job (Rahman, Akhter and Khan, 2017). The job satisfaction and career
plateau relationship is connected to the telecommunications industry just as with any
15
organization in that, positive and negative factors of job dissatisfaction can affect its
overall organizational structure as well (Gordon, et al., 2013).
In the current economic environment, telecommunication organizations are paying more
attention to employee performance because of its inextricable connection to the
organizations bottom line. According to Gordon et al. (2013), in a rating-based business,
employees’ well-being can play a key role in establishing a competitive advantage.
Employers should give more attention to the well-being and job satisfaction of their
employees, for happiness is critical to organizational success and management of career
plateau. In the context of career plateau, job satisfaction refers to specific interactions
related to affective attitude, including pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits,
contingent rewards, operating conditions, coworkers, nature of work, and communication
(Drucker-Godard, Fouque and Flanchec, 2017). Job satisfaction arises when individuals
perceive positive levels of organizational collaboration, they are intrinsically encouraged
towards exerting considerably higher levels of effort in their jobs (Biswa and Bhatnagar,
2013). This satisfaction results from the congruence between employees’ personal values
and those of the organization which makes for greater meaningfulness and psychological
safety. When individual values are perceived to fit those of the organization, the former
are entrusted with greater responsibilities and are to feel more empowered.
On the other hand, employees can build their careers either by moving into a new job
within their current organization or else by moving to a different organization (Bidwell
and Mollick, 2015). Individual careers, the paths that people take from job to job over
time, are critical to their experience of work. Each job differs in the rewards that it
provides in terms of money, status, and responsibility, as well as its fit with their own
goals and preferences. Often, it is by progressing across different jobs as our careers
unfold that we are able to move into jobs that offer greater rewards and a better fit with
what employees want. The foundation of job satisfaction in organizations is to help
alleviate career plateau situations on employees. Job satisfaction is a stronger predictor of
positive organizational performance clearly showing the two-way relationship between
16
employer and employee manifested in job satisfaction. Satisfied employees are
emotionally attached to their organization and highly involved in their job with a greater
enthusiasm for the success of their employer, going extra mile beyond the employment
contractual agreement (Markos and Sridevi, 2010). McGinn and Milkman (2012),
observed that the socialization process in many professional service organizations like
telecommunications industry is intense and critical to career mobility leading to pressure
to “fit in” by most employees. Mobility has become a key aspect of careers, impacting
both organizations and employees, for organizations, career mobility is important because
it relates to strategic human resource management.
In South Africa, Joao and Coetzee (2014), explored career mobility and organization job
satisfaction in the financial sector and found that older employees perceived the cost of
leaving to influence their career mobility while younger employees regarded career
advancement important for their career mobility. Other studies have examined the impact
of job characteristics model on employees’ job satisfaction and found that job
characteristics were related to job satisfaction and performance in organizations. They
also found that autonomous motivation acted as a mediator in the relationship between
job characteristics and satisfaction. The satisfaction of specific career mobility
preferences through the provision of career mobility opportunities may assist in
embedding employees with the aim of talent retention (Joao et al., 2014). The provision
of career satisfaction opportunities by organizations provide the impression that the
organization values the employees and assert that employees possess the need to progress
and grow, and experience less career plateau situations even as they advance in their
careers. The initiation of the level of job demands and resources enable employees to fit
their jobs to their personal knowledge, skills and abilities and this has a positive effect on
how they perform in their jobs. Enhancing job satisfaction initiatives may be a good way
for employers to improve work motivation and other positive work outcomes in their
organizations (McGinn et al., 2012). Employees therefore could be encouraged to exert
more influence on their jobs.
17
The movement of workers to act in a desired manner has always consumed the thoughts
of managers. However, as the workers adjust their behavior in response to one of the
aforementioned stimuli, job satisfaction is actualized. According to Twalib (2017),
instilling of satisfaction within workers is a crucial task of management. Creating job
satisfaction strategies borrows heavily from the role of motivation in organizations.
Motivational factors play an important role in increasing employee job satisfaction as
satisfied employees in return help in improving organizational performance. While
studying factors influencing career growth of women in Turi farm in Nanyuki Laikipia
County, Mwarania (2015) found that organization policies prevent women in their career
growth and that institutional politics and fixing are major factors affecting the upward
mobility of women in top management. On the other hand, job satisfaction continues to
be of great practical significance to organizations and employees, whereby a well-
designed job may lead to increased employee well-being and may set the stage for
thriving, that is, when individuals surpass challenges at work and personally grow from
them. Therefore, these job characteristics improves employee job satisfaction and
aspirations in their organizations. Job satisfaction in the telecommunication industry is a
very important factor for employees just as in other industries as it is one way used by
employers to address plateaus in organizations as observed by Wamukoya (2014)
alongside other characteristics such as gender, age, position level; the nature of an
employee’s current job.
Job satisfaction is the degree to which an employee by means of an affective orientation
or positive attitude, achieves a positive result in relation to his/her job, in general, or to
specific personal aspects. It arises from analysis of an actual individual job, compared to
those expected, desired, and required. It also reflects individual subjective feelings which
reflect whether a person’s needs are being met or not by a given assignment or job. The
next section presents literature review on job commitment in organizations.
2.2.2 Job Commitment in Organizations
Job commitment here referred to as organizational commitment (OC) has been defined by
many scholars in different ways. It is a concept which has been extensively explored in
18
the literature for decades, and defined as a psychological state, a mindset, a dependent
variable that explains the link between the individual and the organization. This study
has adopted the definition proposed by Lizote, et al., (2017) as a type of social bond
established between the employee and the organization, made up of an affective
component of identification that influences a set of behavioral intentions of proactivity,
participation, extra commitment and defense of the organization. Three components of
commitment in organizations as developed by Meyer and Allen (1997) include affective,
normative and continuance commitments which indicate the desire to be part of an
organization, the obligation to remain in the organization and the need to stay due to the
perceived benefits (Pais, Castro and Monico, 2014).
Career scholars argue that employee’s job commitment and job engagement are job
related attitudes that have received considerable attention from researchers around the
globe. This is because committed and engaged employees are normally high performers
that contribute towards organizational productivity (Azeem, 2010). The success of an
organization and the pursuit of quality depend not only on how the organization makes
the most of human competencies, but also on how it stimulates commitment to an
organization. Pais et al. (2014) defined affective commitment as commitment based on
emotional ties the employee develops with the organization primarily via positive work
experiences; while normative commitment as being commitment based on perceived
obligation towards the organization, for example rooted in the norms of reciprocity; and
continuance commitment reflecting commitment based on the perceived costs, both
economic and social, of leaving the organization. According to Brown (2013), perceived
trust in the supervisor, and ability to be involved with the job, and feelings of job
satisfaction as major determinants of organizational commitment by employees. Career
plateauing is naturally accruing process, there are a large number of employees now a
days who are plateaued including in the telecommunications organizations across the
globe. Some studies estimate that 80% of the work done in organizations is performed by
the employees who are plateaued (Huma, 2014). This shows that there is a huge amount
19
of workforce in the organizations that are suffering from lack of commitment in those
organizations.
A large part of how people define who they are is by what they do. Work can be a key
part of our social identity, we use the membership of a group, organization or profession
to build our sense of self and find meaning (The British Psychological Society, 2017).
Working can be good for our health – being engaged, committed and absorbed in a good
job can promote psychological wellbeing. Poorly designed jobs, work that is not
organized well, difficult work environments, poorly trained managers and a lack of
understanding of human behavior in the workplace can create or exacerbate mental health
conditions. Eslami and Gharakhani (2012), found that positive and significant employee’s
job commitment in organizations comes from three factors of job satisfaction including
promotions, personal relationships and favorable conditions of work. According to
Cheng, Chwang, Kuo and Lu (2014), organizations depend on success of their members,
speaking up and sharing ideas, intelligence, and concerns. Organizations need the input
of employee ideas for doing things better, while, at the same time, promoting their
employees to work harder and to seek out opportunities for constructive change. For
example, career opportunities offered by organizations, such as career development or
opportunity for continuous improvement, if valued by individuals (as they enhance future
career prospects) will enhance their levels of commitment through job satisfaction
initiatives.
In Africa, staff retention has become a complex issue facing many contemporary
organizations. Tladinyane, Coetzee and Masenge (2013) examined the dynamics between
employee’s psychological career meta-capacities and their retention-related dispositions.
Organizations face the challenge of attracting and retaining high caliber human capital
within a highly turbulent business environment that competes for scarce skills in times of
global skills shortages. Similar studies have emphasized the importance of emotion and
affect by showing that employees who experience positive mentoring events at work
exhibited higher levels of affective organization commitment which in turn led to reduced
cases of career plateau in their organizations. Khan and Jan, (2015), observed that the
20
loss of valuable knowledge and experience because of staff turnover increases the
importance of staff retention for organizational sustainability and competitiveness. This
relationship addresses the career and psychological mentoring, and the employee
outcomes of job involvement and turnover intention. Tladinyane et al. (2013), observed
that retention of employees seems to be influenced by psychological attributes that
include individuals’ ability to adapt to and deal proactively with the changing and
uncertain nature of their careers in the contemporary world of work.
In an increasingly unstable and unpredictable work world, people are becoming more
dependent on their psychological and social capacities (human capital), and less
dependent on organizational career arrangements because of the more frequent
experiences of career transitions, and the demands for adaptability and greater individual
agency in career decisions. Biswa et al., (2013) suggest that when individuals perceive
positive levels of organizational collaboration, they are intrinsically encouraged towards
exerting considerably higher levels of effort. A higher level of employee engagement
reflects a greater trust and loyal relationship between the individual and the organization,
this demands building up of higher degree of commitment by the employee towards their
employing organization thereby reducing chances of plateau. According to Redelinghuys,
Rothmann and Botha (2019), continuous growth and manifestation of employee attrition,
especially within the highly skilled talent pool, is becoming increasingly problematic. Job
redesign is usually seen as a process in which the organization decides to change
something in the job, tasks or roles of the individual. Accordingly, employees are hired
by the organization first and then the employees start to change the job in such a way that
it better fits their abilities and preferences (Tims and Bakker, 2010).
Organization commitment expresses employee well-being as well as their socialization in
their organizations. Committed employees have been found to be high performers and the
success of their organizations depend on them. Employee’s emotional ties with their
organization is expressed through positive work experiences while their continuance
commitment is based on their perceived cost of leaving the organization. Researchers
have also established that supervisor is a major determinant of commitment in
organization. Employee organization commitment also demonstrates the positive mental
21
attitude of employees towards their organizations and work leading to reduced cases of
career plateau in those organizations. This relationship addresses the career and
psychological factors related to work, the outcome of this relationship determines the
levels of engagement of each employee and also determines plateau situations in those
organizations. Engaged employees are likely to be retained by their organizations because
these employees enjoys emotional connection with their employing organizations.
Job commitment relates to work related experiences, such as work characteristics (scope,
challenge, and variety of tasks), perceptions of justice, organizational support, and
relationships established. Elements of organization commitment reviewed include
motivation, compassion and self-sacrifice. Commitment is very important in organization
due to its impact on desirable variables, such as performance and organizational
citizenship behavior, among others. Commitment in organizations concern a relationship
between an individual and an organization that makes an individual’s desire to remain in
it or abandon it. The next section presents literature reviewed on employee engagement
and career plateau in organizations.
2.3 Employee Engagement and Career Plateau in Organizations
Melcrum (2005) defines employee engagement as composing of three areas: Think.
(Cognitive commitment): describes an employee’s intellectual connection with the
company, including their support of and belief in the company’s objectives. Feel.
(Affective commitment): describes a strong emotional connection to the company. They
feel loyal, devoted, have a sense of belonging and are proud to work for the company.
Act. (Behavioral commitment): employees act in ways that support the success of the
organization. As a concept, employee engagement can be understood as an attitude
(where employees feel proud and loyal towards the organization), behavior (wherein they
might be an advocate of the company and go the extra mile to accomplish their tasks) and
outcomes (namely, rate of accidents, extent of conflicts, productivity rates, attrition levels
and absenteeism rate) (Sange, 2015). Employee engagement involves a number of
variables at play that influence engagement or lack of it in organizations. For example
what type of impact is caused by employee loyalty, devotion, pride in the company and
22
feelings about their work? This describes how employees act and how committed they
are to succeed in whatever they do in the organization. According to Gallup Research
Report (2003), engaged workers have strong belief in the company and its leadership and
its workplace culture and they know how they contribute towards achieving company
mission. These employees exhibit value congruence with their organizations goals.
Companies use employee engagement to create positive organizational ethos to realize
better performance. They develop attitude as a positive organizational scholarship which
focuses on the dynamics in the organization that leads to elimination of career plateaus
that lead to flourishing outcomes and the best of human condition. The positive
organizational scholarship is characterized by focus on individual strengths to achieve
better productivity. Managers are therefore encouraged to avoid focusing on employee
weaknesses and try to fix career plateau situations in their organizations. This point has
been asserted by Cameron and Quinn (2005) that people who are given feedback on their
strengths are significantly more likely to feel highly engaged and to be more productive
than those who are given feedback on their weaknesses.
2.3.1 Employee Cognitive Commitment and Career Plateau
Cognitive commitment refers to employees' beliefs about the company, its leaders and the
workplace culture (Chutke, 2016). Cognitive commitment has been described by scholars
to refer to an employee’s connection with the company, including their support of and
belief in the company’s objectives. This connection construct contributes to the
effectiveness, efficiency, productivity and growth of the organization (HRM accessed on
25th
Aug. 2019). Employee engagement results from positive attitudes and behaviors
towards organization through commitment that improves organizational performance. It
is about employees’ feelings of pride and loyalty working for the organization, being a
great advocate of the organization to its customers, users and partners, exerting more
efforts to complete their job duties (Eljaaidi, 2016). Employees are assumed to know
exactly how much they value different job characteristics and to use these values as
weights when performing their jobs. This may make relatively good sense with regards to
phenomena like experiencing job fulfillment and career plateau situations, which are
23
generally regarded as having a strong cognitive component (Mastekaasa, 2009).
Furthermore, engagement is about utilizing staff’ opinions and knowledge to develop
products, and services produced by their organization. Thus, it is about being innovative
at workplace.
Cognitive commitment therefore describes an employee’s intellectual connection with the
company, including their support of and belief in the company’s objectives. This
connection construct contributes to the effectiveness, efficiency, productivity and growth
of the organization. Work engagement is currently one of the most studied topics in
organizational science from the various performance based perspectives of human
resource development (Lee, Kwon and Kim, 2016). It is closely tied to employees’
career, and it has a positive influence on organization and employees. The emotional
aspect is how employees feel about the company, the leaders, their colleagues and their
work. The behavioral factor is the value added component reflected in the amount of
effort employees put into their work. Employees who are committed in their work give
company’s crucial competitive advantages—including higher productivity and lower
incidences of employee career plateauing. Over time, employees have to face the fact that
they have to stay in the same position longer than expected, such employees exhibit
reduction in performance levels and so they plunges into career plateau state. Thus, it is
not surprising that organizations of all sizes and types have invested substantially in
policies and practices that foster engagement and commitment in their workforces
(Arriaga and Agnew, 2001). But what are employee engagement and commitment
exactly? They are common themes that emerge such as employee satisfaction with their
work and pride in their employer, the extent to which people enjoy their work and believe
in what they do for work and perception that their employer values what they bring to the
table and all these contributes towards alleviating plateaus in organizations.
Empirical research highlighted that commitment is a concept that presents a framework
that includes the famous constructs of job plateauing, motivation and citizenship
behaviors (OCBs) due to its validity and ability to describe work more efficiently (Shuck,
Thomas and Tonette, 2011). No company, small or large, can win over the long run
24
without energized employees who believe in the firm’s mission and understand how to
achieve it. Career plateau limit the positive feelings employees have towards their
careers, such employees lack challenge because they are not properly engaged by their
organizations and so their commitment is not guaranteed (Bhavani and Prasad, 2013).
That's why organizations need to take the measure of employee engagement at least once
a year through anonymous surveys in which people feel completely safe to speak their
minds (Vance, 2006). Employees who are engaged in their work, committed to their
organizations and are not experiencing career stagnations in their organizations, they give
companies crucial competitive advantages—including higher productivity. Thus, it is not
surprising that organizations of all sizes and types have invested substantially in policies
and practices that foster engagement and commitment in their workforces to liberate them
from plateau situations.
According to Eljaaidi (2016), employee commitment is a workplace attitudinal-
behavioral concept which ensues from the appropriate conditions for members of an
organization to exert their best efforts each day, be committed to the organization’s goals
and values, motivated to contribute to organizational effectiveness, with high levels of
their own welfare. Organizations have to support their employees to be able to get the
best out of them by improving their work environment so as to prevent such employees
from slipping into negative career situations like plateauing which could have a negative
effect on these employees (Leite, Rodrigues and Albuquerque, 2014). Such commitment
is lacking when the organization is not supporting its employees and so studies of
organizations with respect to commitment, has enabled broader knowledge of the
relationships established between workers and their organizations. Employee engagement
therefore, is based on various organization-related concepts, such as; mutual
commitment, organizational trust, integrity and effective system of communication inside
and outside the organization (Eljaaidi, 2016). Further research suggests that when
employees are cognitively committed, their career plateau situations decreases and so
their chances of prosperity are high, and this contributes to higher individual performance
and their well-being at work improves.
25
Other studies reveal that employee commitment is driven by three key factors:
relationship with the direct manager; belief in senior leadership; and pride in the
company (Kelly, 2018). Employees with an infectious relationship with their managers
are less likely to be fully engaged, and most certainly enter career plateau due to lack of
support. Similarly, employees who are not confident in the ability of senior management
tend to exhibit less commitment. A South African model of engagement, developed by
Ruwayne and McNamara, is based on a definition of employee commitment as a
psychological state within which an employee connects and identifies with the personal,
job and organizational dimensions of their work, resulting in retention and job
contentment. Their model integrates important factors, such as the relationship between
team members and supervisors, which contribute to engagement (Kelly, 2018). In other
studies, interest in commitment arose with the shift in focus in psychology from
weaknesses, malfunctioning and damage towards happiness, human strengths and
optimal functioning (Bailey, madden, Alfes and Fletcher, 2015). Such factors make
employees experience positive organizational feelings which leads to improved
commitment levels. Bailey, et al., (2015) further regarded the study and promotion of
happiness as important goals of psychology and suggested three routes to happiness,
namely pleasure, engagement and meaning. Commitment as a component of happiness,
entails that individuals pursue gratification by applying their strengths.
Kamau and Muathe (2016), show that when employees are cognitively committed, their
productivity increases. Such employees experience reduced career plateau situations
since individual assessment of their capacities is positive. Several studies have confirmed
that there is actually a relationship between employee commitment and positive
organizational career plateau situations. Gikonyo (2013) observed unpredictable and
unsatisfactory performance in public service and state corporations in Kenya with results
indicating that traits, psychological state and behavioral commitments significantly
influence career growth. In other studies, Otieno, Waiganjo and Njeru (2015) found that
job autonomy and cognitive ability and job-related skills among employees influence
personal job characteristics. Further, individuals with greater discretion in their work are
26
more likely to expand their jobs beyond the job description. Possession of the necessary
job skills gives employees the confidence to add more tasks. Autonomy and constant
feedback from supervisors are positively related to job commitment which in turn was
found to influence career plateau. Otieno et al., (2015) further concluded that employee
cognitive commitment is a major determinant of the outcome of how employees perceive
the support they receive from their organizations.
This section explored the literature on employees’ cognitive commitment as a way of
creating realization among employees towards their organizations. As organizations face
more sophisticated competitors, adapt to industry progress, and meet the ambitions of a
younger workforce, ongoing employee engagement becomes increasingly necessary in
order to retain top talent and to stay nimble. The literature showed that employees with
strong cognitive skills can learn quickly, handle multiple complex tasks simultaneously
and become highly productive without needing much supervision. On the contrary,
employees who face career plateau are likely to exhibit feelings of frustration making
them to have a higher tendency to exit their organizations. The next section reviews
employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with and involvement in an
organization as an affective commitment to the organization.
2.3.2 Employee Affective Commitment and Career Plateau
Researchers have generally agreed that the construct of affective commitment can be
described as emotional attachment to an organization as manifested by individual’s
identification with, and involvement in, that organization (Mercurio, 2015). This research
defines affective commitment as an employee’s emotional attachment to, identification
with and involvement in an organization (Kumari and Afroz, 2013). It influences
personal characteristics, structural characteristics, and work experiences. How does an
engaged workforce generate valuable business results for an organization? The process
starts with employer practices such as job and task design, recruitment, selection,
training, compensation, performance management and career development (Vance,
2006). Such practices affect employees’ level of affective commitment as well as their
career mobility. Performance and commitment then interact to produce business results.
27
To engage workers as well as to benefit from that commitment, your organization must
invest in its human resource practices. But just like other investments, you need to
consider potential return—that is, to devote resources to the HR practices you believe
will generate “the biggest bang” for your investment. You must weigh how much of this
commitment your company wants—and at what cost.
Commitment refers to attachment and loyalty. An affective commitment also refers to an
employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with and involvement in an
organization (Kumari and Afroz, 2013). It influences personal characteristics, structural
characteristics, and work experiences. Meyer and Allen (1997) reported that various
researchers analyzed the relationship between affective organizational commitment and
their quality of life, and the researchers reported that the predictors of affective
organizational commitment generally occurred in three categories: organizational
characteristics, personal characteristics, and work experiences. The common point of
affective commitment components is that the employees continue to remain in the
organization whatever they feel, positive or negative (Saygan, 2011). For instance,
although the employees have weak affective commitment, the lack of alternatives can
lead them to have a strong continuance commitment. This however may cause employees
to suggest that their organizations have caused their plateaus due to the narrowing
alternatives. The affective commitment may offer personal preference as the reason for
employees being plateaued. However, today’s workers personify the organization man,
where employees may choose for personal reasons like family or health not to seek
additional responsibilities (Shakila and Basariya, 2017).
Work behaviors according to Macey and Schneider, (2008) can be classified into three
categories: those required to accomplish duties and tasks specified in a job description
(prescribed behaviors), “extra” behaviors that an employee contributes for the good of the
organization (voluntary behaviors), and behaviors prohibited by an employer (proscribed
behaviors, including unexcused absenteeism, stealing and other counterproductive or
illegal actions). These behaviors influence employee affective behaviors in their
organizations and determine the level of employee’s job commitment and career
28
progression. Of course, job commitment occurs in an organizational context, which
includes elements such as leadership, physical setting and social setting. Macey, et al.
(2008), further argues that employers naturally want to encourage workers to perform
prescribed voluntary activities while avoiding proscribed ones. To achieve these goals,
organizations use a number of HR practices that directly affect the person, process and
context components of career plateau. Whatever the cause, such opportunities should be
used by employees to reassess and redefine their career goals and explore the next move.
In some instances, however, career plateau might motivate employees to change
companies, sectors or even careers.
Other studies which are also consistent to the findings in Africa has provided a three-
dimensional framework of organizational culture for employee commitment. They
include a workplace culture characterized by psychological conditions of meaningfulness
(achieved through job enrichment, work–role fit), safety (induced by supportive manager
and co-worker) and availability (refers to availability of all kinds of resources) which
makes people more committed (Ajibola, 2018). An employee may not receive future
career growth because management believes that the employee lacks managerial
capability or skills needed for higher-level jobs. Or the organization may believe that the
employee lacks affective commitment towards the organization. Hence, the organization
has made an assessment of the employee that precludes that employee from career
growth within the firm (Shakila et al., 2017). Still other findings have identified some
factors such as learning and development opportunities, mission and values of the
company, treatment of people, work–life balance policies, practices and rewards to
employees for their effort influencing employee career plateauing. Similarly, Jose and
Mampilly (2014), found out that psychological empowerment leads to employee affective
commitment. To put these altogether, this commitment then germinates and grows into an
organizational culture where trust, respect, openness, connectedness, integrity and
opportunities for learning and development exist towards addressing career plateau
tendencies.
29
Tarus (2014), noted that work is a fulfilling state of the mind characterized by vigor,
dedication and absorption. Employees with vigor have high levels of energy, mental
resilience and affective commitment. Dedication pertains to feelings of significance,
inspiration, pride and enthusiasm while absorption is an element of affective commitment
that implies being fully immersed in one’s work. Such situations usually occur when one
makes a conscious decision by taking control of one’s career so as to avoid plunging into
career plateau. Gikonyo (2013) noted that committed employees take greater initiative
and generate their own positive feedback so as to avoid career plateau situations.
Employees may require additional responsibilities but when they don’t receive them
because of personnel decision imposed by the organization, this may cause such
employees to perceive that there is little support and hence create perception of
plateauing. Such deficiency may lead employees to experience lack of affective
commitment, decreased energy and enthusiasm about their work. However, studies show
that positive attitude by employees lead to increased satisfaction and commitment
implying that even if an employee is in a plateau, he will still be satisfied because they
will radiate positive self-energy (Ongori et al., 2009).
The foregoing section confirms that various components of organizational commitment
have different implications for organizations. Same as many findings of various studies,
the literature showed affective commitment to be the most positive component of
organizational commitment. The social exchange view of commitment suggests that
employees’ perceptions of the organization’s commitment to them (perceived
organization support) creates feelings of obligation to the employer, which enhances
employees’ work behavior. The literature has emphasized on the dominant negative
aspects of affective organizational commitment in organizations and how it predicts
employee behaviors and how effective they become for the organization. The next
section will review literature on employee behavioral commitment in organizations.
2.3.3 Employee Behavioral Commitment and Career Plateau
This is the individual commitment to the organization resulting from the behavioral
characteristics exhibited by employees towards the organization that defines how they
30
interactions and feelings about their jobs (Verheijen, 2015). These behaviors predict work
variables such as turnover, organizational citizenship behavior and career plateau
situations. For decades, modern organizations have initiated changes to enhance their
competitive positions and their survivability in competitive markets. Therefore, they are
increasingly dependent upon employees’ supportive attitudes and behaviors to ensure the
success of planned changes. Organizational career plateau outcomes have a direct
relationship with a number of critical in-role behaviors including performance, absence,
lateness, and turnover (Chou, 2016). As with in-role behavioral commitment, non-role
behavioral commitment can contribute to or detract employees from organizational
effectiveness and so understanding how this commitment relates to these types of
behaviors would be a valuable contribution to the career literature. Davis and Rothstein
(2006) perceived behavioral integrity to involve the employee’s perception of the
alignment of the manager’s words and deeds and the relationship between perceived
behavioral integrity of managers and the employee attitudes of job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, and satisfaction with the leader and effect toward the
organization.
If employers wish to build commitment, they should create an environment of fairness,
trust, care and concern by acting consistently in ways that employees perceive as fair,
trusting and caring (Kaiman, 2013). Employee’s behavioral commitment is important
because high levels of commitment lead to several favorable organizational outcomes.
However, researchers have associated many pessimistic sentiments with career plateaus,
such that experiencing a career plateau may not be as humiliating or stressful as it is once
was. Many employees link these outcomes, which are promotions and upward
hierarchical movements as the primary indicators of expected behaviors and measure of
alleviating career plateaus at work (Mayasari, 2017). They reflect the behavioral
characteristics of employees which demonstrate commitment with their organization and
its goals. Researchers have shown that employees lose their morale when they continue to
work in the same job over a long period of time. These behaviors define the various
actions of employees in the organization that lead to favorable or unfavorable
organizational outcomes. They thus predict employee’s commitment manifested through
31
other behaviors in the form of performance, absenteeism and their reaction to negative
career outcomes like plateauing (Kaiman, 2013).
Behaviors of employees in organizations define their commitment. Committed employees
may be willing to exert more effort to be more successful in the workplace. Scholars of
career plateau have forwarded various dimensions of plateauing which relates to
organization and some are related with individuals (Farooq et al., 2017). These behaviors
arise when an organization does not give proper attention to the career growth of
employees making them get stuck on the same position which leads to plateau. Other
major determinants of plateau in organization are lack of intrinsic rewards, prevalence of
stress for a longer period of time causing inefficiency of workers. As a result,
performance suffers and job attitudes becomes more negative which causes feelings of
plateau. Abraham (2012), suggested that as employees’ are fulfilled and valued within an
organization, career plateau situations decreases. Such employees exhibit positive
behaviors in their work, and their retention levels increase. When employees are happy at
work, their individual and organizational performance and retention levels also increase
(Bakotić, 2016). These employees feel empowered, and are typically more satisfied with
their jobs. Managers who find ways to increase employees’ behavioral commitment may
increase employee career characteristic situations. In organizations, employee behaviors
borrow heavily from how orders are given, tasks are assigned, how members
communicate and how decisions are made in their organization, such determines
subordinate’s morale, discipline, and supervision (Kaiman, 2013).
Organizational commitment may be a positive outcome of employee behaviors. Faisal
and Al-Esmael (2014) contended that employees with high levels of commitment tend to
complete expected tasks and achieve organizational objectives. Employees who find that
their jobs are meaningless, having no challenge, no skills variety is required or work has
no meaning for them becomes plateaued. These employees exhibit negative job behaviors
since plateau has a negative crash on professional and organizational loyalty (Smith,
2017). To improve commitment, managers should plan and manage jobs so as to meet the
32
aspirations and needs of individuals despite challenges facing their organizations.
However, some of the grievances depends on the employee’s personal vision of reaching
the highest level in the organization. Managers who identify how employees are
committed to the organization may be able to determine the level of plateau on their
employees. Employees however, expect their organizations to provide opportunities for
learning for professional development to address career plateau frustrations (Ludwig and
Frazier, 2012). Indeed, it seems that a successful employee whose work performance is
recognized by his superiors and his peers will tend to do more than what is formally
required of him, this emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the
organization is positively related to supervisor care and concerns about their employees,
opinion, values and general well-being (Naqvi and Bashir, 2011).
The above review examined the various work-related behavioral commitments for
various organizations, and its impact on employee career outcomes. Various factors were
found to affect employee decision process to stay or leave their organizations such as job
search behaviors, job satisfaction, attitudinal commitment, met expectations and
supervisory support among others. Overall, employee engagement is linked to three areas
of commitment; that is cognitive, affective and behavioral commitments. The above
literature described how these commitment elements contribute to employee’s
willingness to stay with the company despite presence of opportunities in other
companies. It also presented the relationship between employee commitment and career
plateau in those organizations. These relationships were found to develop a positive
attitude towards a better performance and flourishing outcomes by employees. They were
found to focus on individual strength to achieve better productivity as opposed to
employee weaknesses. The relationship is also used by organizations to retain top talent
in the organizations. The literature also revealed that employees’ perception of their
organization commitment to them creates a feeling of obligation to the employer which
enhances their work behavior. The relationship identified job search behaviors, job
satisfaction, attitudinal commitment, met expectations and supervisory support as factors
that affect employee decision to stay in organizations. Employee engagement levels
33
therefore determine how they discharge their duties in those organizations. The next
section presents the literature on the relationship between job redesign and career plateau.
2.4 Job Redesign and Career Plateau
Even though job redesign has been recommended as a means of improving performance
in organizations, its effect on career plateaus of employees continues to be studied. Job
redesign is defined by Achieng, Ochieng and Owuor (2014) as the restructuring of the
elements of work including tasks, duties and responsibilities of a specific job in order to
make it more encouraging and inspiring for the employees or workers. This study defines
job redesign as the deliberate purposeful planning of the job, including all its structural
and social aspects and their effect on the employee. It is a broad concept that can refer to
any part or combination of parts of the job, and is characterized by task identity, task
variety, task significance, and autonomy. Job redesign is broadly categorized into job
demands and job resources, where sharing managerial responsibilities is a possible and
necessary solution to the problems that may occur when a career plateau is reached.
Some researchers suggest that, greater decision-making power can substantially increase
the feeling of success in the organization (Tremblay and Roger, 2007). Job demands
improves employees’ capacity of work context and addresses psychological and/or
physical costs that potentially could result in career plateau situations as they provide task
interruptions, workload management, and organizational changes (Mugo, Wario and
Odhiambo, 2014).
Job redesign involves reorganizing elements of work to include tasks, duties and
responsibilities of a specific job in order to make it more encouraging and inspiring for
the employees (Achieng, et al., 2014). Organizations do this by revising, analyzing,
altering, reforming and reshuffling the job-related content and dimensions to motivate
their employees. A job should have a substantial impact on the welfare of the
organization and help employees attain personal satisfaction. Job redesign is arguably
meaningful to individuals when they feel personally responsible for the job’s success or
failure. Scholars believe that job redesign can prove particularly useful when career
34
plateau is reached by changing the level of responsibilities. Job redesign has also been
found to introduce challenge to significantly influence job behaviors in organizations. In
situations of plateau, it is reasonable to think that those who are fortunate enough to be
stimulated in their present job will have more positive attitudes and behaviors (Mugo et
al., 2014). Career studies suggest that firms often assign plateaued employees to jobs that
offer less potential for enrichment. This study focused on the aspect of job redesign
which is characterized by tasks and job autonomy. The next section presents literature
reviewed regarding job descriptions and the implications of this on careers.
2.4.1 Job Description in Organizations and Career Plateau
Human resource professionals and consultants use job descriptions and job specifications
as basic building blocks for many human resource (HR) functions, including recruitment
and hiring, performance evaluations, and salary ranges (Mangaleswaran and
Kirushanthan, 2015). Some organizations however do not maintain the job description
and job specification; they don’t know importance of them. A job description can best be
thought of as a blue print of the position. It outlines the essential duties and
responsibilities that are expected of the employee and the basic purpose of the work the
employee is expected to perform. It also defines accountability in an organization, which
helps to prevent overlap of duties and assigns task responsibility (Mangaleswaran, et al.,
2015). It also defines the different tasks that constitute a job, and the number of job
cycles in a given period which essentially is job scope. To make employees perform their
jobs well there has to be a clear and specific job description.
Therefore, many organizations are working hard to make sure that job descriptions that
they have are effective in terms of productivity in achieving the organization’s objectives
(Raju and Banerjee, 2017). When employees have reached career plateau, the feeling of
being in a dead end occupies their minds, therefore personal variables such as desire for
advancement and personality (locus of control) play the most important role.
Organizations may change the attitudes of their employees towards career through job
description interventions, a concept that is meant to improve positive organizational
behaviors. According to Raju et, al., (2017), job descriptions are aspects of job that are
35
found in job analysis of the tasks that make up the jobs and skills, abilities and
responsibilities required for the job holder. With studies showing that job description is a
human resource function which is a vital factor in employees’ career management to
address negative career situations like plateaus (Nduta, 2017). Career plateau is a point
where employees find their jobs unchallenging by providing few opportunities for
professional development and future employability, job descriptions can be used to
enhance employee’s work outcomes. Therefore, a revamped job description will
rejuvenate the work challenge for such employees, it is by taking up this challenge that
such employees move from their plateaus (Raju et, al., 2017).
Therefore, well-developed job description is needed to clear all the obstacles that the
employees will face while performing their tasks and duties so as to improve their
plateaued situations. According to Shakila and Basariya, (2017), it adds responsibilities,
which if complimented with employee’s skills and knowledge is a necessary condition
for moving to a more challenging career tasks which helps eliminate plateaus. Taufik
(2014), in his study argued that job description is crucial for efficient work performance
in any institution, and that in many organizations employees complain of having
ineffective or non-existence job descriptions. That problems leading to poor performance
among the workers are related with absence or unclear job descriptions with unspecified
working conditions during recruitment process, poor involvement of workers in decision
making process and underutilization of skills acquired by employees. The other aspect is
organization structure which is a framework that helps to arrange work into positions
described by job descriptions (Bodnarchuk, 2012). The structure provides the necessary
motivation for employees to be able to gauge their career progress as they mature and
gain more experience in the organization by doing what is required to grow within the
organization ranks. It illustrates the formal and informal relationship between people and
positions in an organization with bureaucratic organizational structure offering rigid
boundaries between jobs and units.
Job description promises diversity; however, when employees stay in the same job and
same level, the feeling of plateau begins (Shakila et al., 2017). This situation can lead to
36
frustration and reduction of motivation for employees, such critical psychological factors,
in return, have a negative influence on employee career outcomes. Tremblay et al.,
(2007) provide some support for the view that the individual components of a job are
related to measures of attitudes and behaviors. Other empirical research have found that
jobs with high scope generated more satisfaction, better work performance, greater effort,
more involvement in work, a lower level of absenteeism and far less inclination to quit.
In addition, greater autonomy, skill variety, task significance and feedback may be
perceived by employees as an organizational action to support them deal with their
plateaus. According to the theory of organizational support, beneficial actions directed at
employees reinforce their obligation to respond positively (Eisenberger, Fasalo and
Davis-Lamastro, 1990). Scholars have found that employee perception on organizational
support affects attitude commitment and performance (Eisenberger et al., 1990), extra
behaviours (Shore and Wayne, 1993) and turnover intention (Guzzo et al., 1994).
The theory advanced by Oldham’s (1974) emphasizes on the job experiences. That
employee will be motivated to work as a result of the experiences he gets from his
workplace. This motivation may come from a variety of tasks that an individual partakes,
and that if an employee is not properly motivated, chances of them exhibiting high levels
of plateau are very high. Consequently, career plateaued employees are likely to be
detrimental to the operating activities of an organization, and reversing the situation is
likely to be an important issue for organizations (Shakila et al., 2017). Therefore, a good
job description should help mitigate plateau situations in organizations by focusing on the
core values of skill variety, task identity, task significance and autonomy (Henson, 2011).
Performance measurement is seen as a tool for feedback in the management paradigm,
which in turn acts as a contrivance for program improvement. In order to enhance
individual performance, feedback channels play significant part in organizations.
Managers can use performance feedback to discover and intervene in instances of
employees experiencing plateaus in their career development (Ali and Zia-ur-Rehman,
2014). Career plateau in organizations depends mainly on individual intention not to
work and give his full strength to organization due to negative organizational
environmental factors that hinder job satisfaction. Such employees will just apply little
37
effort, skills, competences, attitude as well as personalities in a bid to demonstrate his
lack of commitment and passion on the organization’s goals.
Similar findings from organizations in Africa have been reported by researchers that job
design is an effective way to alleviate employee career plateau. It can solve problems
such as those related to skills, work overload, repetitiveness, and increase in working
hours (Siengthai and Pila-Ngarm, 2015). Strict adherence to the old job descriptions no
matter what would be counterproductive to organizational wellbeing and is a recipe for
plateauing in organizations. In the event that the job functions of the employees change, it
is imperative that their job description change as well (Nduta, 2017). The changing job
functions is used by organizations to alleviate the feeling of frustrations in employees due
to lack of career growth. Employees use different strategies to cope with such career
changes, among them defense, reevaluation and transition, without which employees may
remain in the same position and become less productive as plateau ensures (Foster,
2011). However, by following these strategies, employees may move into new more
affective roles within the company making them eliminate or overcome boredom and
career plateau tendencies. Well-designed jobs also lead to increased employee well-being
(Strümpfer, 2006).
Achieng, Ochieng and Owuor (2014) while studying the effect of job redesign on
employee performance among commercial bank employees in Kisumu established that
task identity, task variety and task significance affects the performance of employees of
commercial banks in Kisumu. That organizations can improve work characteristics of
their employees who exhibit career stagnation symptoms through implementation of
work redesign strategies. In the study, they found that job redesign affects the career
plateau situations of employees and recommended that the banks create a high degree of
task identity for their employees. Other studies have also been shown to support the
principles that maximize rationality and efficiency in organizations. Mugo et al., (2014)
also found that limited promotional opportunities is now forcing managers in
organizations to rethink strategies to improve work experience through job redesign
initiatives. Nduta (2017) found that job description influenced employee job experience
38
at the ministry of water and irrigation and recommended that the ministry should review
all the job descriptions of each employee and design specific duties and responsibilities
for each employee.
The above reviewed literature showed how managers in organizations can implement job
descriptions strategies to addresses career plateau situation in their employees. It
highlights job description as an important human resource tool used by organizations to
make the work environment and work more effective. It also reviewed how organizations
can change the attitudes of their employees through job description interventions thereby
reducing incidences of plateau in those organizations. It also showed that employees can
also enter plateau especially when their current jobs are not challenging so as to provide
professional development and growth. Therefore, organizations usually take job
description review so as to introduce challenge and eliminate boredom. The next section
presents literature on the effect of role ambiguity on career plateau.
2.4.2 Role Ambiguity in organizations and Career Plateau
Role ambiguity emerges when an individual of a certain role does not comprehend the
role expectation of one or more members, this may lead to stress on an individual or
individuals in organizations (Alam, Haerani, Amar and Sudirman, 2015). Role ambiguity
has attracted particular attention of many researchers and it is from this background that
this research sought to find out how role ambiguity contributes to career plateau in those
organizations. Role ambiguity can be very dysfunctional for individuals and
organizations a like when it results in negative assumptions or destructive acts like career
plateau. It can also contribute to obstruction of job implementation especially when it
threatens individual perception of their career progression in those organizations
(Palomino and Frezatti, 2016). The constant interaction between an individual and other
people is called the socialization process. It is in this process that an individual assumes a
role, position, status, or responsibility that is required or demanded for a particular
context (Palomino, et al., 2016). In organizational context, demand for roles may make
39
employees get stressed especially when organizational expectation is ambiguous (Alam,
et al., 2015. When individual cannot finish a job, he could experience negative emotion
and anxiety in work place. Role ambiguity however, is not easy to avoid because many
organizations have roles that overlap (Alam et al., 2015).
A role is an expected act or pattern of individual in involving other people in action. Role
reflects a person’s position in social system with the rights and obligations, authority, and
responsibility (Alam et al., 2015). Interaction with other people is certainly needed to
anticipate their behavior. And this behavior shapes the career ambition of every
organization member. Role ambiguity leads to less favorable work outcomes and greater
cynicism. In such situations employees experiencing such ambiguity suffer generally
similar levels of psychological health suggesting potential negative consequences of
plateau in their careers. Performing more than one role in an organization is certainly not
an easy job as it could potentially lead to conflict among employees, this leads to distress
generating negative results in the workplace or approach in the employees (Khattak, et
al., 2011). Job stress is, therefore, the outlook of individual dysfunction attributable to the
environment in the workplace. And it is the psychological effect to the tight, unfavorable
or unapproachable workplace position (Palomino et al., 2016). Such conflicts can present
problems for managers as the employees involved might not respond to the usual
motivators, such as promotion and career development due to their plateaued situations.
Such employees are prone to stress at work, are overworked and are insecure in their
jobs, these are practical implication for managers.
Although we all like to believe that there are opportunities for everyone to “make it” in
organizations, the nature of role makes this impossible. Role ambiguity in work
organizations arises because employees are less equipped with good understanding about
their responsibilities and are having little knowledge of what is expected of their
performance (June et al., 2011). It manifests when employees experience lack of role
clarity, they tend to perform at lower levels. The conflict could be due to sustained
competition between employees making them to hold negative attitudes towards their
40
company driving them to plateau. Although most research has found negative
relationship between role ambiguity and job plateaus, the strength of association between
them varies widely according to types of occupation and performance measure.
Individuals experiencing role ambiguity lack adequate information about what their
responsibilities are and insufficient information about the process to accomplish these
responsibilities (Salami, 2010). Researchers have found that role ambiguity is playing
one of the roles of job stressor which leads to job dissatisfaction among employees. That
when role stressors are controlled, job stress is inevitably decreased (Khattak, et al.,
2011). Other factors being experienced by employees are increased career plateau
pressures, these may create confusion for such employees and start feeling they can no
longer cope with pressures of work.
Role ambiguity is conceptualized as a stressful condition due to employees’ confusion
concerning expectations of what their responsibilities are and lack of information
regarding appropriate actions in a given situation or not understanding the expectation of
management (Grobelna, 2015). In other words, role ambiguity takes place when a person
does not have the necessary information on how to perform work tasks properly or is
unsure how his/her performance will be finally evaluated, this creates uncertainty and
undesirable work outcomes job dissatisfaction, low commitment and career plateau
situations (Salami, 2010). Role conflict results from two or more sets of incompatible
demands involving work-related issues (Tang and Chang, 2010). Role ambiguity
produces conflict patterns and generally interferes with strategies to manage personnel
careers at each plateau stage. Some studies however have found that despite the
potentially negative effects of conflict due to job ambiguity, contrary evidence suggests
that role conflict might enhance creativity (Tang et al., 2010). However, and more
recently, researchers Srikanth and Jomon, (2013) have found role ambiguity to be
associated with lack of information on goals, conditions in which the job is to be
performed, responsibilities, and duties to perform one’s job effectively.
Regionally, work conflict situations are also a persistent challenge facing many South
African organizations just like the rest of the world. Factors such as role ambiguity, role
41
conflict, role overload, exhaustion, stress and burnout offer useful explanations for
plateaus (Naidoo, 2017). In fact, role ambiguity and role conflict are the most often cited
drivers of IT turnover (Lee, 1999). In Nigeria, Bako, (2014) found roles to be key aspects
of employees’ working function as it comprises the expectations of employees, and what
they expect of one another in connection with their functions in the organization. Such
expectations lead to the negative consequences associated with career success factors
such as job dissatisfaction, lack of organization commitment and plateau (Salami, 2011).
Aside from their direct impact on attitudes and behaviors, an interaction between these
variables may jeopardize an individual’s career aspirations due to role uncertainties.
Other studies in Africa, indicate that role ambiguity may be caused by changes in
technology, influence of social structures in an organization, new personnel entering an
organization, the appointment of a new supervisor, and changes in jobs emanating from
new job offers, transfers or promotions (Mashego and Radebe, 2015). Others may occur
as a result of the influence of social structures in a work situation. An employee who is
not properly orientated is likely to experience high levels of occupational stress, such
employees report increased levels of job stress and plateau in their work (Miles et, al.,
2013).
Kariuki, (2012) observed that organizations are facing greater potential for role conflict
than ever before in history. With the increasing diversity of the workforce, furthermore,
comes the potential for incompatibility and conflict. Individuals do not leave their
personalities at the doorstep when they enter the workplace. Personality conflicts are
realities in organizations and a contributor to negative work interactions. Unclear lines of
responsibility occur because uncertainty increases the risk that one party intends to
interfere with the other party's goals. Ambiguity also encourages political tactics and in
some cases employees enter a free-for-all battle to win decisions in their favor (Isaac,
2011). Therefore, it is argued by some researchers that this ambiguity tends to cause
people to move to other jobs perceived to be more rewarding and reassuring so as to
avoid incidence of career stagnation. However, better understanding of role will help with
reevaluation, where employees ignore the presence of conflict and adapt to situations to
reduce disappointments that might lead them to plateau situations. When mistake arises
42
in understanding the role during interaction, these people will work towards finding a
solution because they tend to know what is expected from them (Oyugi, 2013).
The above literature reviewed the direct and negative effects of job ambiguity on career
plateau in organizations. It has shown that job ambiguity has a positive and significant
effect on employee job satisfaction. It has also shown that stress has a major impact on
employees’ psychological well-being and organizational consequences. It also reviewed
the challenges individuals face in their organizations arising from negative emotions and
anxiety they face as they discharge their duties. The literature also revealed that when
employee’s fail to satisfy the high expectation of their organization due to role ambiguity,
job stress emerges because these individuals cannot comprehend the role expectation of
one or more members. Such individuals experience career plateau situations arising from
the role conflict in those organizations. The next section presents literature on the impact
of participative decision making and its influence on career plateau in organizations.
2.4.3 Participative Decision-making in Organizations and Career Plateau
The concept of employee participation refers to, in general, the participation of the
employees in non-managerial functions in the process of making decisions in the
organization, considering an interest’s union between the employer and the employee, in
achieving the long term objectives for the organization and for the persons that work in
the organization (Stefanescu, 2008). Participation is a special form of delegation in which
employees gain greater power in making decisions or choices with respect to bridging the
communication gap that exist between the management and the workers (Ugwu, et al.,
2019). Researchers believe that employees perceived participative decision making to
improve the organizational commitment. They argued that employees are the fuel that
runs the engine of the organizations and it is believed that their non-involvement in the
decision-making process creates tensions between management and staff (Khandakar,
Huq and Sultana, 2018). If employees, see themselves as stakeholders and owners of the
decision making and problem solving, then implementation of decision will be very
smooth. However, such employees may feel restricted in their roles; or no longer feeling
43
involved in their work, they may begin to look for alternatives that recognizes their
participation.
Employees enter career plateau as a shock when their career expectations are not being
met by their organizations. At this point there is no likelihood that these employees are
getting involved in organizational affairs, their chances have greatly diminished
(Beheshtifar and Modaber, 2013). For these employees to make it to the next position,
they need to be involved and so participation is great for their life in the organization.
These employees have extra energy and mental space which they can easily put towards
developing the organization through participative decision making and involvement.
Research suggests that employees with higher levels of job participation are less likely to
quit and that organizations can reap significant benefits from them. According to Ugwu,
Okoroji and Chukwu (2018), employees are known for idea generation, their feedback
and ideas are central in creating sustainable customers value as well as improving
organizational commitment. In organizations, participative decision making has been
considered as a managerial tool to promote organizational commitment, aimed to
improve reduce plateau situations and the overall well-being of the organization (Bidwell
et al., 2015).
Employee participation encompasses many things. However, some scholars propose to
differentiate practices that involve employees in every activity (e.g. greater job scope)
from practices of participation by which they may have an influence on the decision-
making process (Marchington, Wilkinson, Ackers and Goodman., 1994). A situation
when employees may suggest that the organization has caused their plateaus is due to the
narrowing structure of employment pyramid. The organization structure allows very few
employees to move up to higher positions. Such employees are often offered no reason
for their plateau. Participation is a joint decision-making (Tremblay, et al., 2014) or an
influence sharing between supervisors and subordinates. Meta-analytical research
revealed that formal and informal participation in decision-making has a positive
influence on performance and work satisfaction. Like many constructs in organizational
psychology, however, this participation influence commitment which is measured in
44
various ways; common to all the conceptualizations of commitment found in the
literature according to Allen and Meyer (1990) is the link with career plateau and
turnover intentions; employees who are strongly committed are those who are least likely
to leave the organization.
In addition, participation should enhance the perception of organizational support. A
well-established stream of research rooted in social exchange theory has shown that
employees’ commitment to the organization follows from their perception of employer
commitment to and support of them (Singh, 2009). Participation in decision-making may
thus be interpreted by the employee as an action implying trustworthiness and support.
According to this theory, the employee would be more likely to reciprocate with positive
attitudes and behaviors such as job involvement and loyalty. On the contrary, career
plateau in organization is a core predictor of employee’s negative attitude towards their
work and is a strong indicator of turnover behavior, withdrawal tendency and
organizational citizenship behavior according to (Gosh and Swamy, 2014). Career
literature suggests that sharing managerial responsibilities is a possible and necessary
solution to the problems that may occur when career plateau is reached (Sing, 2009).
Tremblay, et al., (2014) suggests that, when a greater number of middle- and lower-level
managers share the major political and strategic functions, some frustrations linked with
career plateau disappear.
The history of participative decision making goes back to early African agrarian
development, starting from the traditional forms of forest management that were
practiced by tribal communities for millennia, prior to colonial administration (Chirenje,
Giliba and Musamba, 2013). Just like in other parts of the world, decision rights allow
greater involvement of employees in deciding on issues that affect their work. With
participation, employees are able to identify undesirable work outcomes that might cause
them discomfort because of lack of continued upward progression. The issue of career
plateaus has a detrimental effect on employee’s career, as it changes the behaviors and
attitudes associated with work experiences (Nalule, 2011). It is assumed in the career
literature that the outcome of career plateaus is connected with the scope of involvement
45
of employees in decision making within their organizations. That employees are most
likely to overcome plateaus when they feel they are part of decision making in the
organizations as their opinions are sought towards finding solutions to the problems that
affect their organizations. Other studies propose that employee participation at any level
in the organization encourages positive behaviors and involvement in organizations
(Allen, Russell, Poteet and Dobbins, 1999).
Participation of employees in organizations is very crucial towards creating a sense of
belonging, it makes employees feel part and parcel of the organization. These employees
feel that their opinions count and are useful towards making the organization better. The
above literature therefore covers requirements for participative decision making in
organizations and its contribution towards addressing career plateau tendencies.
Managers and organizations may adopt participative decision making as a way of trying
to address negative work behaviors in organizations. Generally organizations use job
redesign as a tool to improve job characteristics for their employees. With this approach
organizations are able to introduce challenge, greater responsibilities as well as improve
employee’s psychological contract with the organization. It was highlighted in the
literature that changes in job design produce better employee performance and job
satisfaction. Job redesign as organization strategy also is expected to enhance employee
motivation and performance. The literature reveals that work should be challenging,
complex, varied and meaningful so that the higher order needs of employees are satisfied.
From the above literature, organizations achieve job redesign through revising, analyzing,
altering, reforming and reshuffling job-related content and dimensions to motivate their
employees. This is achieved by ensuring that a job has a substantial impact on the welfare
of the organization and help employee attain personal satisfaction. Individual attain
meaning from jobs, job redesign must therefore introduce challenge to influence job
behaviors in organizations. Organizations have been found to use job description
strategies to make work environment and work more effective for employees. It was also
found that employers can challenge the attitudes of their employees through job
description interventions to eliminate boredom. The literature also found that job
46
ambiguity has a positive and significant effect on employee career mobility with stress
being a psychological factor. Negative emotions and anxiety if not properly managed
may lead to employees being not able to satisfy the high expectations in organizations.
Through participation employees feel part and parcel of the organization, they feel their
opinions count and are useful towards making the organization better. The next section
presents reviewed literature on the effect of employee mentoring on career plateau.
2.5 Employee Mentoring and Career Plateau in Organizations
Mentoring is a management practice that can assist organizations in building a desired
corporate culture, while enabling the careers of those who are already motivated to
pursue one. It is an efficient and effective method of shortening the learning curve of new
employees and providing more knowledgeable employees with broader perspectives
(Marinescu, 2010). Organizations employ mentorships as a way of aligning their
employees with organization objectives. Human capital-centric organizations excel only
when they have outstanding talent and so they need outstanding talent management
system that attracts the right talent and helps them understand exactly what to expect
from their work experience with the company. Organizations need to hang onto those
employees who demonstrate best fit with organization culture, who share passion for the
vision, who have the education and technical skills to succeed (Kane-Urrabazo, 2006).
Organizations ought to pay more attention on the effects of mentoring on their employees
with studies showing that employees who have mentors or who are mentors report more
promotions, have a higher motivation, earn higher incomes, and score higher on work
satisfaction than their counterparts without a mentor or who are non-mentors (Salami,
2010).
Other studies also reveal that employees with mentoring experience showed lower
organizational plateaus and decreased turnover intentions (Lentz and Allen, 2009). They
cite benefits for mentors being professional enhancement, organizational and career
recognition, interpersonal relationship, meaningfulness and fulfillment and productivity.
Mentoring is also found to have significant favorable effects on behavioral, attitudinal,
health-related, relational, motivational and career outcomes. Mentoring also helps
47
towards increased self-confidence, personal insight, learning how to deal with people and
problems and fulfillment of psychological needs as some of the outcomes. Employees
who experience work related mentoring have been found to have reported a higher
current salary, greater rate of promotion, and higher perception of career success.
Mentoring is therefore defined as a professional and confidential relationship between
two individuals that assists one of them in developing “business strategies” and acquiring
new “technical” knowledge and skills (Kubicek, 2015). The affected employees develop
negative work characteristics due to increasingly lack of task and responsibilities; these
employees lack developmental opportunities even beyond rank and title. Mentoring offer
opportunities for organizations to address the absence of new, challenging and varied
tasks without possibilities so as to eliminate learning stagnation (Nachbagauer, 2002).
This study focused on mentoring relationships, mentoring as an organizational strategy
and mentoring in technical skills and knowledge. Each of these is discussed in the
subsequent sections.
2.5.1 Mentoring Relationships in Organizations and Career Plateau
Research into workplace mentoring is primarily focused on the experiences and
perceptions of individuals involved in the relationship, there is scarcely any research
focusing on the impact of mentoring relationships on their social environment (Jannsen,
Tahitu, Vuuren and Jong, 2018). Mentoring relationships are expected to deliver
exceptional outcomes that develop employees, improve their performance, and propel
their careers. However, many mentees do not know how to set realistic career goals.
Having someone to help them through the goal planning process is crucial to their
success. To optimize this benefit for the mentees, organizations need to match someone
who has gone through the experiences previously (Ragins, 2016). When the employees
know their roles and are adequately trained, they tend to feel more accomplished and in
turn employee career plateau rates are reduced. These employees tend to engage more
with one another, both same and higher level positions. Scholars believe that when
employees are well equipped, they are more motivated to do their job because they see
rewards at the end. In basic terms, they feel they are guided on how to get a promotion or
advance in the company.
48
Knowing what professional skills are required for advancement in career is one of the
major benefits that one receives through mentoring. One can then focus on the skills that
are lacking, develop them over time and enhance career success (Verasai, 2016).
Organizations use mentoring to address situations where career progression seems
difficult or obstacle-ridden in one’s career due to both internal and external reasons.
Employees may plateau differently either due to organizational or personal reasons and
so may have different attribution to explain their plateaus, therefore managers within
organizations may consciously (or subconsciously) pigeonhole employees as those who
are competent and willing to move up the corporate ladder and those who are not
(Shakila, et al., 2017). An organization’s assessment of an individual, whether it is
accurate or not, may be an antecedent condition that the employee believes created his or
her plateaued state. However, prescribing effective mentoring solution for such
employees through sharing of all the frustrations and issues regarding the organization
may help alleviate negative feelings that come with career plateau. In other instances,
when employees explicitly make their desire known not to be promoted further, while
others send ambiguous signals to the organization on proposed promotions, mentoring
bridges this gap helping such employees align their expectations with those of the
organization (Jannsen, et al., 2018).
In recent years, there has been much more investigations across many domains of
attributes of effective mentoring relationships. Although sometimes used as a synonym of
coaching or advising, it focuses on the long-term relationships, long-term goals, and
personal and career development (Gozukara, 2017). It helps to deal with the dilemmas
associated with career stagnation by focusing on promotion stagnation and
dissatisfaction. Many individual difference variables have been related to work behavior
like person-job fit, different forms of commitment, personality, self-efficacy and
individual goals. These individual differences control career plateau phases due to the
nature of employee interpersonal relationships on the job, since some jobs require a great
deal of interactions with others (Wawira, Mathews, Machogu and Wanjala, 2017).
Sometimes, this leads to hassles and frictions from the daily interactions in organizations.
49
Therefore, organization managers need to ensure that mentoring gets to where it is
needed most by ultimately helping move our mentoring relationships from the ordinary to
the extraordinary (Ragins, 2016).
Agumba and Fester (2010), examined mentoring relationships within organizations in the
South African construction industry and identified important characteristics that mentors
should possess. That many organizations have tried to formalize mentoring relationships
in order to capitalize on the potential development aspects of such relationships. They
found a marked difference between formal and informal mentor-protégé relationships.
That many organizations have established formal mentoring programs that attempt to
meet the organizations employee development needs. Fester (2010) also strongly believe
that mentoring relationships are strongly correlated to career success. They stated that
protégés tend to advance more quickly in their careers, feel more satisfied in their careers
and express positive psychological coping skills. Still other studies recommend that
organizations encourage managers to become mentors, set up formal (assigned)
mentoring programs, and link mentoring to other human resource management systems
such as compensation and performance appraisal to increase mentoring in organization
settings.
In Malawi Sawatsky, Parekh, Muula and Bui (2016) in their study believe that
organizations use mentoring relationships to develop unstructured social interactions of
employee career development experience. That drawing a .one-size fits-all blueprint for
effective mentoring would not be feasible. However, these studies agree that mentoring is
not a completely spontaneous endeavor but a deliberate effort by organization to its
people with specific objective. Based on years of experience, mentors have collaborated
and prepared guidelines for the many aspects of the mentoring relationship. Other studies
done in South Africa revealed that conditions surrounding the knowledge and expertise of
the mentor, experience and age of the mentor, approachability of the mentor, mutual
respect, open communication, mutual trust and honesty, passion and patience of the
mentor, mentee’s willingness to learn, alignment of expectations, as well as culture
sensitivity of the mentor are to be considered for effective mentor–mentee relationship
50
(Matabooe, Venter and Rootman, 2016). These conditions alongside the high
occupational self-efficacy of each employee may be helpful for overcoming career
stagnations. Thus people with high occupational self-efficacy beliefs are more likely to
be on a successful career pathway, and therefore the probability of career stagnation is
lower.
Locally, similar studies reveal that mentoring relationships are also useful even to the
senior partner in the union, as it provides an opportunity for them to develop a base of
technical support and power which can be readily summoned in the future (Nyamori,
2015). The result of the mentoring relationship can therefore lead to professional
development of employees and organizational effectiveness as well as performance in
organizations. Still other researcher believe that mentoring allows less experienced
individuals to develop relationships with established professionals in their field who can
provide advice on personal and career goals, introduce them to other practitioners in the
professional community, and provide positive examples of ethical and masterful
professional behavior (Zachary, 2010). It is the achievement of these goals that predict
career advancement in organizations for employees. The mentee professional skill level
and confidence therefore grows and the mentor adjusts the mentoring technique to stay
synchronized with the mentee’s development.
Mentoring relationships in organizations, the bivariate correlations suggest that the
relationship between mentoring functions and career outcomes varies by the type of the
function and role of every employee in his or her organization. Interestingly, it showed
how supervisory mentoring relationships provided more career development functions for
example, sponsorship, protection, challenging assignments and exposure; including
provision of psychological support functions to employees. Mentoring relationships
define how employees react to career plateau depending on the types of jobs,
organizational contexts, and individual characteristics. The literature also described how
mentoring relationships influence work attitudes including job characteristics such as
autonomy, role ambiguity and participation in decision making. Aside from the direct
impact on attitudes and behaviors, an interaction with career plateau is expected to
51
determine employee reactions. The next section presents a literature review on the
various strategies that managers and organizations can use to address the negative impact
of plateaus through mentoring interventions.
2.5.2 Mentoring as an Organizational Strategy and Career Plateau
Mentoring is a learning process where helpful, personal, and reciprocal relationships are
built while focusing on achievement; emotional support in organizations (Manson, 2016).
Interest in mentoring in organizations is at all-time high, with the programs touted as a
way to help employees who seem at risk of career related challenges get on the right track
with regards to their career ambitions. But popularity does not necessarily equate with
effectiveness, which brings us to a critical question: Does mentoring programs work? Or,
put differently, are employees who participate in these programs better off because of
their participation? Many scholars believe that mentoring is a way that organizations use
to align their employees action and thinking to the strategic long-term objectives and
position of their organization (Jekielek, Moore, Hair and Scarupa, 2002). That for
organizations to be effective, they ought to develop a corporate level mentoring strategy
embedded in its mission, vision and long-term objectives, then allocates appropriate
resources to ensure that these strategies are properly executed.
Mentoring improves the pool of talent for management and technical jobs and helps to
shape future leaders (Shea, 1998). Through mentoring, the people who have the most
experience can also effectively pass along knowledge throughout the organization. The
presence of frustrated employees in an organization is likely to have a significant adverse
effects on the organization’s operations (Foster, et al., 2011). Many people in
organizations struggle and stagnate in their career for one simple reason – lack of
mentoring. Therefore, mentors may use many practices like knowledge sharing, honest
feedback and networking opportunities to assist individual career problem solving, and
redefinition of career success to significantly facilitate career adaptation process (Pfund,
et al., 2016). As coaches or teachers, they provide socioeconomic support and seek to
bolster the self-confidence and self-esteem of employees in their organizations (Whitely,
52
et al., 1991). As sponsors, they actively intervene, contriving to get their protégés’
exposure and visibility through assignments that involve working with other managers
and endorsing their juniors for promotions and special projects.
For a mentoring relationship to be healthy, it must be evolutionary rather than static in
nature (Hale, 2007). The relationship changes because the purpose of the relationship is
to enable the mentee to acquire new knowledge, skills, and standards of social
competence. The perceptions of both members is that this strategy evolve as the mentee’s
performance reaches new levels under the mentor’s guidance and support. Any successful
mentoring relationship will move through four definite stages according to (Kram, 1985);
initiation, cultivation, separation and redefinition. In each phase, there are specific steps
and strategies that lead to mentoring excellence. The time spent in each one of these areas
will differ from relationship to relationship, but the progression is uniform. These four
stages can be seen in terms of an upward spiral, as both parties have the potential to grow
and develop as a result of the relationship. The mentee primarily benefits from mentoring
opportunities through cognitive manipulation of the meaning of the career plateau
(Foster, et al., 2011). This helps the stressed employee to selectively ignore evidence or
events related to career plateau so as to moderate the disappointment or feeling of
helplessness as a mentoring outcome.
Career plateau literature suggests that managers should take an active role to encourage
an employee facing a plateau to engage in reevaluation strategies. According to Foster et
al., (2011), effectively managing plateaued employees includes changing the employees’
environment using positive work opportunities. This is where development of effective
feedback and people development skills as a positive outcome of the mentor/mentee
relationship in organizations becomes important. Through a proper communication
strategy in the organization, mentees can have the potential to find out about other parts
of the organization, and to gain insight into the effect that senior management have on
their position in the organization. Hale (2007), suggests that effective verbal and
nonverbal communication as communication strategy is paramount to the success of the
mentoring relationships. Mentors have the responsibility for effective communication
53
because they are the primary source of support and challenge to the mentees. Because the
mentees will most likely be different from the mentors in age, and sometimes culture,
race, and gender, the mentors must know the different nuances of communication and
interpretation particular to the mentee (Foster et al., 2011).
A significant percentage of the workforce in the South African construction sector is
nearing retirement age over the next ten years according to (Nkomo, Thwala and
Aigbavboa, 2018). These employees have acquired a tremendous amount of knowledge
about how things work, how to get things done and who to go to when problems arise.
Losing their expertise and experience could significantly reduce efficiency, resulting in
costly mistakes, unexpected quality problems, or significant disruptions in services and or
performance (Nkomo, et al., 2018). The business world has long known and relied upon
mentoring as a proven technique for developing in house talent. Previous studies in the
region have proved that the implementation of mentoring program is beneficial for
enhancing employee skills and attitudes; effects of mentoring functions on the job
satisfaction and organizational commitment (Agumba et al., 2010); impact of mentoring
functions on job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Matabooe, eta l., 2016);
effect of mentoring in career development and role modelling functions in organizations
(Nkomo, et al., 2018).
Nyamori (2015) examined the effect of mentoring outcomes on employee performance,
to determine the effect of mentoring challenges on employee performance and to
determine the strategies for effective mentoring on SOS Children Villages and found that
mentorships allow new practitioners to set and achieve goals for their job role. It also
improves a pool of talent for management and technical jobs and help shape future
careers of employees in the organization. Mentors may also use practices such as
assisting individuals career problem solving, and redefinition of career success to
significantly facilitate their career adaptation processes. Therefore, the employees at risk
should have their career roles transition so as to eliminate/overcome plateaus (Foster, et
al., 2011). This strategy requires behavioral coping through taking some actions such as
transitioning into a new role within the company or exiting and moving into a new career
54
or job. Such transitioning moves can have positive or negative effects on individual’s job
performance and the organization, thus making such employees to become more
productive by adapting or changing to new environment. Mentorship therefore, aims to
increase employee proficiency on their job. That the key functions of mentoring are job
motivation; enhanced employee motivation; accelerates the process of learning; and
elevating higher education beyond technical expertise (Nyamori (2015).
The foregoing describe how organizations may utilize mentoring as a strategic tool to
manage career expectation of their employees. It describes how mentoring in
organizations offers a good platform for organizations to inspire challenge in their
employees so as to improve their perception about ‘what, how and when’ elements of
work in their organizations. At an organizational level, mentoring provide a host of
benefits including loyalty to the company, a greater sense of connection with the
company, encourages open communication between employees and management and
positive work experience. The literature also described how such organizations can take
advantage of mentoring to improve efficiency and expectations amongst its employees.
The end results has been found to be reduced frustrations on a personal level and improve
the job satisfaction of the individuals and provide benefit for those organizations.
Therefore, the relationship between mentoring in organizations and career plateau cannot
be overemphasized, with mentoring initiatives being useful strategies to help
organizations manage negative career consequences associated with plateauing. The next
section presents literature on the required knowledge, skills and abilities that mentors and
protégés ought to be exposed to and how this influences career plateau.
2.5.3 Mentoring in Knowledge, Technical Skills and Abilities in Organizations and
Career plateau
Organizations should recognize knowledge and skills as a valuable resource and must
develop ways to tap into the collective intelligence and skills of employees in order to
create a greater organizational knowledge base. This research present knowledge as
technology-based hard skills, which includes (but not limited to) computer skills, abilities
and knowledge required to accomplish tasks or use certain tools. Knowledge is seen as a
55
critical factor affecting an organization’s ability to remain competitive in the new global
markets (Stona, 2011). Effective mentoring requires more than common sense. Research
indicates that mentors and mentees develop to manage successful mentoring partnerships
and demonstrate a number of specific, identifiable skills that enable learning and change
to take place (Philips-Jones, 2003). Firms are therefore, recognizing that their employees
are their most valuable assets and business pioneers are striving to find ways to measure
and manage the skills, information and knowledge. Knowledge management is very
important because knowledge is one of the strategic resources that can produce a
sustained long-term competitive advantage for a business organization (Peiser, 2018).
Mentoring culture is a learning environment in which a person learns by watching others
behaviors. Mentoring culture consists of an environment, which implements mentoring in
a sound, complete and careful way (Jyoti and Sharma, 2016). It empowers the mentor
with communicating network, training and administrating skills to promote mentoring
relationships. Zachary (2005) highlighted four traits to successfully implement mentoring
culture in an organization, namely, flexibility, ownership, clarity and feedback. He
explains that for better implementation of mentoring cultures, organizations should
provide an element of a stable infrastructure like managerial and executive assistance,
flexible environment, proper incentives and needed appreciation of the employees to get
the required response. Lentz et al., (2011) found out that organizations with a mentoring
culture had better career outcomes from both career-related psychological mentoring and
are more satisfied with their careers and believe they would advance in their careers.
Culture as a building block, measures how consciously aligned the values and actions of
mentoring are in the organization (Zachary, 2005). According to 2008 mentoring
inaugural conference at the University of New Mexico division of student affairs,
mentoring is viewed as an organizational learning process; a strategy able to support the
increasing need for continuous learning, both at the system and individual levels, as well
as an approach to establish a better connection between the organizational demands and
the individual career needs of the employees. Corporations have been using mentoring as
a strategy for leadership development. Kabicek (2007), traditionally, mentoring has been
56
used to introduce new employees to the corporate culture and expedite the development
of leadership and career skills. Effective mentors can indeed provide new organizational
members with greater knowledge of the organizational culture, structures (promotions
and tenure processes) and practices. One of the central goal of mentoring culture in
organizations is to help new members maximize their likelihood of success by conducting
their work and themselves in closer accord with these prevailing understandings and
expectations (Kabicek, 2007). From a professional perspective, mentoring will try to
establish the functions and outcomes and guidelines that will help develop relationships
that will help organizations manage career plateau situations amongst their employees.
In Nigeria, the challenging business environment is on the rise with businesses operating
in an environment that is embedded with change, risk, high uncertainty, stiff competition,
unethical business practices, and ignorance of the role of mentors in business
development (Ayodeji and Adebayo, 2015). In other parts of Africa, mentoring culture is
rapidly becoming recognized as a highly effective human resource development process.
With studies focusing on the role of culture in the development and maintenance of
mentoring relationships in organizations. Sawatsky, Parekh, Muula and Bui (2016), while
doing their studies in the University Of Malawi College Of Medicine, highlighted the
strengths and challenges imposed by culture to provision of mentoring relationships at the
institution. Ongori and Agolla (2009) believe that career plateau in organizations is also
caused by conditions including inappropriate abilities and skills, low need for career
mobility and slow company growth. Therefore, if the employee does not have the
necessary skills and abilities to deal with career plateau challenges, he might face
difficulties coping with these new realities.
Other studies present that the benefits of the mentor to the mentees involves helping the
mentees integrate better, increase their confidence, give the mentee a stronger awareness
of the organization culture, allow the mentee to acknowledge their strengths and
weaknesses, which can in turn lead to faster learning and improved employee career
management (Nyamori (2015). In their study to determine the influence of mentorship
practices on employee’s performance in small manufacturing firms in Garissa County,
57
Vivian, Kiprono and Doreen (2016), established a significant relationship between
leadership mentorship and performance of employees. Wangechi (2008) however, found
that teachers can overcome plateauing by seeking external support systems, this increases
their enthusiasm by reducing career frustrations. Sources of career plateau according to
some researchers have been identified as individual skills, and abilities, and individual
needs. Knowledge and skills are important concepts that help employees navigate the
turbulent organizational environment, therefore it is important for employees to remain
abreast with the changes taking place within their organizational settings. It is this
knowledge that will help employees navigate the career plateaus in their organizations.
Managers should endeavor to use good practices that will help retain required expertise
within their organizations. Coaches, trainers and consultants can help employees learn
and grow professionally. A good mentor possesses the willingness to share skills,
knowledge and expertise. They demonstrate a positive attitude and acts as a positive role
model to the peers and juniors. They also take personal interest in the mentoring
relationship and exhibits enthusiasm in the field of mentoring. The literature described
how mentoring relationships relate to positive organizational and career outcomes
thereby influencing personal and professional growth of the mentees in organizations.
Mentoring can be effective in meeting the needs of employees by helping transmit
organizational culture, value, and knowledge across a wide range of functions, groups
and generations; hence, sustaining organizational health. As a strategy, mentoring makes
employee’s feel connected and supported, which increases their job satisfaction and
engagement. It also opens mentees’ s eyes to alternative career paths and help them find
the right “home” within the organization, upping the chances that they will stay with their
current employer.
2.6. Chapter Summary
In summary career plateau and leadership are increasingly receiving a lot of attention of
late in so far as employee’s organizational behavior is concerned. Organizations have to
deal with career related negative outcomes such as low motivation, low job satisfaction,
and low organizational commitment resulting from unfavorable behavioral factors in
58
organizations which leads to career plateau. These behaviors are a source of stress for
employees, thus, reducing their job involvement. Also individual factors including
individual skill, intrinsic motivation, and perception of individual, familiar factor and
locus of control as well as organizational factors such as absence of work dimension,
organization career orientation, innovative climate, and business strategy are variables
that affect organization behavior of employees. Organizations use job redesign strategies
to positively influence these factors for the benefit of their employees. Employee’s
personal skills, knowledge and interest allows them to participate in decision making
process through shared leadership, employee empowerment, and open book management.
The work place influence is therefore shared among individuals who are otherwise
hierarchically equals through various schemes such as co-determination of working
conditions, problem solving, and decision-making to benefit everyone in the
organization. Employees may benefit from this participation through improved
understanding and perception among colleagues and superiors and enhance personal
value in the organization. The following chapter describes research methodology.
Chapter four will present results and findings of the study. Chapter five will present
discussions, conclusions and recommendations.
59
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This chapter presents the methodology that will be used to carry out the study. It presents
the research design used, defines the target population and sampling design. It also
examines the data collection methods, the research procedures as well as the data analysis
methods that will be used in the study.
3.2 Research Design
Research design refers to the overall strategy used to integrate the different components
of the study in a coherent and logical way (Ndirangu, 2018). It effectively addresses the
research problem and constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement, and
analysis of data (Namada, 2017). It specifies the sources from which the study collected
data, the ethical issues and constraints the study is expected to encounter (Saunders,
Lewis and Thornhill, 2015). The research design provides answers to issues such as
techniques to use to gather data, the kind of sampling strategies and tools used and how
time and cost constraints will be dealt with (Ndirangu, 2018). There are four main
research designs namely; descriptive, correlational, exploratory and causal designs. This
study adopted correlational research design. This is because correlational research design
seeks to understand the kind of relationship naturally occurring variables have with each
other. It seeks to figure out if two or more variables are related and, if so, in what way. It
is useful in quantitative research designs giving valuable indicators to what variables are
worth testing quantitatively (Cooper and Schilndler, 2014).
A correlational research is a design where a researcher seeks to understand what kind of
relationships naturally occurring variables have with one another (Saunders et al, 2016).
This design was found suitable because it covers a wide range of variables and enhances
the understanding of the relationship between the independent and dependent variable of
60
the study (Cooper & Schilndler, 2014). For this study the independent variables for this
study were the different leadership roles: employee engagement, job redesign and
employee mentoring, which will affect the dependent variable of the study which is
career plateauing.
3.3 Population and Sampling Design
Population and sampling designs describes what the target population comprises of and
how individual samples are selected from the total target population.
3.3.1 Population
The population study is defined as the full set of cases or elements from which a sample
is taken (Saunders et al., 2015). Target population on the other hand refers to the subset
of the population which the researcher defines, and which is the actual focus or target of
the research inquiry (Saunders et al., 2015). The target population for this research were
engineers and managers from the telecommunications industry who have been working in
their present position/organization for over three years. The major telecommunications
companies as obtained from the Communications Authority of Kenya website, June
2019, for consideration for this research are Safaricom PLC, Airtel Kenya, and Telkom
Kenya. Also considered were the telecommunications vendors which are
telecommunication equipment suppliers. The population of study were the employees of
the above telecommunications organizations who have been working in the same
organization and position for over three years and will be obtained from the Human
Resources Department of the respective organizations and is shown in table 3.1 below.
61
Table 3.1 Population Distribution
No Company No. of Employees Percentage (%)
1 Safaricom PLC 100 54.95%
2 Airtel Kenya 33 18.13%
3 Telkom Kenya 33 18.13%
4 Other Telecom Vendors 16 8.79%
Total 182 100.00%
Source: Human resource department of respective companies, July 2019
3.3.2 Sampling Design
This is the structure through which research is carried out, thus it is a plan of collection,
measurement and scrutiny of data (Mong’are, 2014). Sampling is the process of selecting
part of the population and conclusions are drawn about the entire population (Cooper &
Schindler, 2014). The sampling design describes in detail the sampling frame, sampling
technique and the sample size.
3.3.2.1 Sampling Frame
A sampling frame is the list of elements from which the sample may be drawn (Adams,
Khan, Raeside and White, 2007). According to Adams et al. (2007), a sampling frame is
a list of members of the population under investigation and is used to select the sample (a
part of the population or universe of enquiry), for this study, the sampling frame was the
official list of employees from the telecommunications organizations in Kenya; those
who have been serving in the same role for over three years as was obtained from the
human resources department of those organizations. The target population was 182
persons.
3.3.2.2 Sampling Technique
Sampling is the process or technique of selecting a suitable sample for the purpose of
determining parameters (Adams et al., 2007). Sampling techniques can be broadly
classified as probability or non-probability (Sekaran and Bougie, 2013). Nonprobability
sampling is a procedure whereby the individuals have no equal chance of being selected
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because chance of selection to be included in the sample is not known (Cooper and
Schindler, 2014). Probability sampling ensures that all respondents have equal chances of
being selected (Cooper et. al, 2014). Non-probabilistic sampling technique, namely
purposive sampling was used in this study because it involves selecting certain units or
cases based on a specific purpose rather than randomly (Lohr, 2010). Using employee
lists obtained from the human resource departments of the selected telecommunication
organizations, 182 employees who had served in the current role for over three years
were used to form the sampling frame for the study. To constitute the sampling frame, the
study selected about 100 employees from Safaricom PLC, 33 employees from Airtel
Kenya, 33 employees from Telkom Kenya and 16 employees from other
telecommunication vendors to form each stratum; then purposive random sampling was
used to select individuals from each stratum based on a quota as described in table 3.1
above. They were put together to form the sample population for the study.
3.3.2.3 Sample Size
The sample size is defined as the number of respondents that a researcher uses to collect
data that represents the entire population (Saunders et al., 2012). A sample size is part of
a study population that is selected from the total population in a manner that ensures that
every different possible sample of the desired size has the same chance of being selected
(Cooper & Schindler, 2014). The sample size is important in achieving the objective of
making an inference about a population from a given sample. The purpose is to reduce
expenses and time by allowing the researcher to estimate information about the whole
population from a representative sample (Okello, 2018). For the purpose of this study,
Yamane’s (1967) formula was used to determine the sample size for the study
population;
Where n is the sample size required, N will be the population size (182), and e2 is the
margin of error, which is 5% for 95% confidence level.
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n = 182
------------------ = 125.086 individuals
1 + 182(0.05)2
Thus, the study anticipated to sample of 126 telecommunication employees.
Table 3.2 Sample Size Distribution
3.4 Data Collection Methods
Data collection methods refers to the process of gathering data after the researcher has
identified the types of information needed (Sekaran and Bougie, 2013). There are
different data collection instruments that a researcher may use to collect both primary and
secondary data. Primary data refers to first-hand information obtained by the researcher
on the variables of interest for the specific purpose of the study while secondary data
refers to information gathered from sources that already exist. Questionnaires are a
common instrument for observing data beyond the physical reach of the observer
(Creswell, 2013). The study used self-administered online questionnaires to collect
primary data. This study focused on primary data which was collected from the target
sample population. Use of primary data involves collection of first-hand information
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from the respondents based on the research questions. The questionnaire had a five-point
Likert scale for each question ranging from 1 – 5 where 1 = Strongly Agree (SA), 2 =
Agree (A), 3 = Not Sure (NS), 4 = Disagree (D) and 5 = Strongly Disagree (SD). The
Likert scale questions was used because they use a universal method of collecting data
which is easier for the respondents to understand. The Likert scale was also used because
it means that the collected data would be quantitative in nature and this will make it
easier for the researcher to draw conclusions, draw results and create graphical figures
from the responses.
The questionnaire was organized into five sections: the first section was designed to
collect demographic information of the respondent such as age, sex, duration of service
on the current role and duration of employment. The second section contained questions
relating to effects of career plateau situations in organizations; the third section contained
questions relating to the role of employee engagement on career plateau, the fourth
section contained questions relating to job redesign on career plateau and the lastly the
fifth section contained questions relating to mentoring effects on career plateau. The
questionnaire was extrapolated from the study’s literature review to ensure that the
findings could be compared to the literature.
3.5 Research Procedures
The researcher obtained a letter of introduction from the United States International
University-Africa showing the intent to carry out the study. The researcher also applied
for a permit and consent from the National Commission for Research Technology and
Innovation and Institutional Review Board to conduct the study. The above permit was
used to seek permission from the listed organizations to provide information for the
research study. The study used self-administered online questionnaires to collect primary
data. Reliability analysis for this study was done through a pilot test that was conducted
to check for the consistency of the research instrument. The pilot test was conducted by
circulating the questionnaires to 10 respondents in one company (Airtel Kenya). The
feedback received from the pilot was used to measure the reliability and validity of the
questionnaire. The researcher found this feedback useful as it helped in refining the
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questions to improve clarity, remove ambiguity, as well as to approximate the expected
time it will take to fill the questionnaire.
This process was expected to improve the quality of feedback from respondents. The
questionnaires were administered through online Google forms which were shared
directly to each respondent through their email addresses and was to be filled and
submitted online. In the context of research, ethics refers to the standards of behavior that
guide a researchers’ work, or are affected by it (Saunders et al., 2015). Ethical
considerations in this study included sharing questionnaires with only those respondents
who willingly consented (informed consent) to participate in the study, ensuring
confidentiality of their responses and not identifying them by names when presenting the
findings.
3.6 Data Analysis
Data analysis is a step by step process whereby the collected data is statistically analyzed
to answer a specific research question (Sekaran & Bougie, 2013). It involves reducing
accumulated data to manageable size, developing summaries, looking for patterns and
applying statistical techniques (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). The conclusions drawn
through the interpretation of the results of data analysis should be based on facts of
findings derived from the collected data. Prior to conducting analyses, data cleaning and
coding was done by the researcher to reduce error during the data entry stage and ensure
that clean data is used for analysis. This study used both descriptive and inferential
statistics in analyses of collected data. Descriptive statistics allowed for the presentation
of data in a more meaningful way which allows for simpler interpretations of the data.
Descriptive statistics techniques included mean and standard deviation.
The inferential statistical techniques included correlation, One-Way Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA) and linear regression analyses (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). Correlational
analysis was used to describe the strength and direction of association/relationships
among the dependent variables and independent variables for the study. One-Way
66
ANOVA was used to determine the significant differences in the effect of the leadership
styles on employee commitments by the demographics. Linear regression analyses were
used to determine the effect of each leadership role on employee career plateau. The
linear regression model that was used was of the form:
Where
Y = career plateau
If X1 then we have the employee engagement
X2 then we have job redesign
If X3 then we have employee mentoring
If X4 then we have achievement oriented leadership style
βi = Coefficients of the independent variables, where
ɛ = Error term
The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) tool and
results was presented in tables and figures.
3.7 Chapter Summary
This chapter has presented the methodology and procedures adopted in carrying out this
research. This research used a correlational research design; the sample population was
182 persons from the listed organizations. Purposive sampling was used and a sample
size of 126 persons was considered for the questionnaires. Google forms was used as
data collection tool to provide an online platform to ease data collection from
respondents. Correlational analysis was used to analyze the collected data so as to
establish the relationships and direction of the variable relationships. The results were
presented in tables and figures. Chapter 4 presents the findings of the study.
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CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 RESULTS AND FINDINGS
4.1 Introduction
This chapter presents the results and findings of the study based on the research
questions. The first section presents the descriptive analysis of the general information of
the respondents. The second section presents the findings on the effect of career plateau
in telecommunication organization employees in Kenya. The third section presents the
findings on the effect of employee engagement on career plateau in telecommunication
organizations in Kenya. The fourth section presents the findings on the effect of job
redesign on career plateau of telecommunication organization employees in Kenya. The
fifth section presents the effect of employee mentoring on career plateau in the
telecommunication organization in Kenya.
During this research, Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya had agreed to merge their
operations to form a new company to be called Airtel-Telkom, this saw 575 Telkom
employees rendered redundant and their contracts terminated as per a memo released by
chief human resources Catherine Olaka (Daily Nation Aug. 1, 2019). Therefore, Telkom
Kenya employees were not considered for feedback as this new development would have
compromised the quality of research results. A total of 93 respondents were considered
for questionnaire from 126 after excluding 33 persons who had been listed from Telkom
Kenya. 81 questionnaires were successfully filled and returned which represented a
response rate of about 87.10% which was considered adequate for analysis.
4.1 General Information
General information is the respondent’s biographical data relating to his past including
sex, age, etc. General information is important for this research because the researcher
gets to understand the sample population demographics in terms of age, gender, and
experience among other aspects which are important consideration in generalization of
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the findings. This research sought the respondent’s feedback relating to their sex, age,
level of education, position in the company, length of service in the organization, length
of service in the current role and name of the organization. This section presents the
results of the general information of the respondents.
4.1.1 Respondents Gender
Gender variable helps the researcher to understand the sample distribution of the
population by gender and also the effect of gender on the research variables. The
respondents were asked to indicate their gender. The results indicated that about 64% of
respondents were male while only 36% of the respondents being female.
4.1.2 Respondents Age
Age of the respondents is important in understanding their views about the research
questions on the basis of age and experience of the individuals. The respondents were
asked to indicate their age and their responses were as shown in the Figure 4.1. The
results showed that majority of telecommunication employees were aged between 35 and
44 years and this accounted for about 61%, followed by 30% who were 25 and 34 years.
The smallest percentage of 3% was below 24 years.
69
Figure 4.1: Respondent’s Age
4.1.3 Respondent’s Level of Education
Respondent’s level of education is important to the researcher because it will help the
researcher understand the relationship between a person’s level of education and their
career plateaus situations in organizations. It will also shed some light on the educational
background of employees in the telecommunication industry. The respondents were
asked to indicate their level of education and their responses are as shown in the Table
4.1. The results showed about 63% of the telecommunication employee who gave their
responses were those who have attained Bachelors, followed by those with Masters who
accounted for 33%.
Table 4.1: Respondent’s Level of Education
Frequency Percent Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Diploma 4 3.96 3.96 3.96
Bachelor 64 63.37 63.37 67.33
Masters 33 32.67 32.67 100.00
Total 101 100.00 100.00
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4.2.4 Respondent’s Position in the Company
Respondent’s position in the company was a variable of interest for this research as it
helped the researcher to understand whether career plateau has a relationship with one’s
position in the organization. The respondents were asked to indicate their position in the
company and their responses are as shown in the Figure 4.2. The results showed that
about 45% of those who participated in the study were in middle management, followed
by 34% of those who participated in the study being in specialist roles in their respective
organizations. The senior leadership accounted for 7% of those who gave their views on
the study.
Figure 4.2: Respondent’s Position in the Company
4.1.5 Respondent’s Duration of Service to the Organization
The respondent’s duration of service was useful for this research as it helped the
researcher to understand the relationship between how long one has served against career
plateau. The respondents were asked to indicate the duration of service to their
organization, and their responses were as shown in the Figure 4.3. The results showed
that about 44% of the telecommunication employees who participated in the study had
71
worked for their organization for a period of between 3 – 4 years, followed by those who
had served for between 5 – 9 years who accounted for 30%.
Figure 4.3: Respondent’s Duration of Service in Current Organization
4.2.6 Respondent’s Duration of Service on Current Role
The respondent’s duration of service in current role was useful for this research as it
helped the researcher to understand whether there is a relationship between period one
has served in the current role and career plateau. The respondents were asked to indicate
how long they have served in the current role and their responses were as shown in
Figure 4.4. The results showed that about 68% of those who gave their responses had
served between 3 – 4 years in their organizations, followed by those who had served in
the same role between 5 – 9 years who accounted for about 26%.
Figure 4.4: Respondent’s Period of Service in Current Role
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4.2.7 Respondent’s Organizations
The respondent’s organization was important to the researcher as it gave insight into the
demographic representation across the organizations under study. It demonstrated the
contribution of each organization in the generalization of findings of results of research.
The respondents were asked to indicate the name of their organization and their responses
were as shown in the Figure 4.5. The results showed that about 61% of the respondents
were Safaricom PLC employees followed by 25% of those who participated in the study
being from Airtel Kenya.
Figure 4.5: Respondent’s Organizations
The research findings revealed that about 64% of the respondents were male. The
dominant age bracket of the respondents was between 35 – 44 years which accounted for
61% of all the respondents. The results also revealed that majority of respondents had
attained Bachelors level of academic qualification signifying that most of the respondents
are highly skilled. In terms of organization hierarchy, about 45% of the respondents were
in mid-level management showing that they had grown in their organizations over time.
The research also revealed that most of the respondents had either not worked in their
73
organizations for long or had not served in the current role for long with about 44% of
those who responded having worked for their organizations for between 3 – 4 years, the
least being between 15 – 19 years. It can therefore be deduced that telecommunication
industry comprises of young workers probably due to the changing nature of technology
and technological innovation over time. The next section addresses the effect of career
plateau in organizations.
4.3 Career Plateau in Organizations
Many employees experience being “stuck” at some point in their career when movement
up the career ladder slows or seems to stop altogether. Such a “career plateau” is usually
caused by the pyramidal structure of the organization, which typically has fewer positions
than aspirants at each higher level. While career plateau is often accompanied by feelings
of boredom, frustration, loss of enthusiasm, and lack of commitment, it can also be a
valuable opportunity to regain perspective and digest new ideas. This study sought to
establish the strongest variable of employee career plateau dimensions. To achieve this,
the respondents were asked about their levels of job satisfaction and job commitment as
contributors or inhibitors to career plateau. The respondents were to indicate their level of
agreement with the statements on the career plateau situations in their organizations and
its effect on employees according to their level of knowledge on a scale of 1 to 5. Where,
1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not Sure (NS), 4=Disagree and Strongly
Disagree (DS).
Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation. Variables
with a mean close to 2.0 represented “Strongly Agree” while those with a mean close to
3.0 represented “Neutral” and those with a mean of 4.0 and above represented “Disagree
and Strongly Disagree”. Similarly, standard deviation was used to indicate the variation
of the responses. Similarly, standard deviation was used to indicate the variation of the
responses. The results are shown in Table 4.2. The findings indicated that most
respondents who participated in this study demonstrated a stronger agreement that they
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have plateaued in their careers. The variable for career plateau role that stood out across
all the respondents surveyed with the closet mean of 3.93 out of a possible maximum of 4
point (M = 3.93, SD = 1.329). Majority of the respondents disagreed that they don’t have
the required skills and abilities to take up the next challenges and that their jobs are
meaningless, have no challenge and offer no skill variety (M = 3.93, SD = 1.321). On the
point about my position in current organization is unduly prolonged, 15.8% strongly
agreed, 22.8% agreed as 26.7% remained neutral. However, 26.7% disagreed with the
statement as 7.9% strongly disagreed with it giving a mean of 2.88.
On the question on whether the respondent can develop his career aspirations in the
current organization, 55.5% agreed with the statement, while 30.7% disagreed. However,
13.9% remained neutral with a mean of 2.59. On the question as to whether employees
get satisfaction and psychological well-being from their current job, 13.9% strongly
agreed, 31.7% agreed, while 24.8% remained neutral. However, 17.8% disagreed while
11.9% strongly disagreeing with the statement with a mean of 2.82. On the item whether
the respondents experience low level commitment from the current job, 23.7% agreed,
while 56.4% disagreed with the statement while 19.8% remained neutral with a mean
3.41. On the item seeking the respondent’s opinion on whether there is really little chance
for promotion on their job, 17.8% strongly agreed with the statement, 23.8% agreed
while 20.8% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 23.8%
disagreed with the statement as 13.9% strongly disagreed with it giving a mean of 2.92.
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Table 4.2: Rating of Employee Career Plateau Perceptions in Organizations
Finally, on the question whether the respondent’s job is highly connected with their
identities, interests and life goals, 53.4% of the respondents agreed as 22.7% disagreed
with it. However, 23.8% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.59. The
next section presents findings on job satisfaction.
4.3.1 Job Satisfaction
Employee satisfaction, performance and retention have always been very important
issues in employee management literature among human resource management
practitioners. Job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from
appraisal of one’s job or job experience (Dugguh and Dennis, 2014). This study sought to
establish the strongest variable of personal job satisfaction as regards one’s job in order to
establish its relationship to career mobility. To achieve this, the respondents were asked
to rate their opinions on the statements on job satisfaction levels in their organizations on
a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not Sure (NS),
4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The findings indicated that the variable for job
satisfaction that stood out across all the respondents surveyed with the closet mean of
3.45 out of a possible maximum of 4 point (M = 3.45, SD = 1.330 and M = 3.04, SD =
1.280) respectively. That the respondents disagree that they their feel their jobs are
meaningless and that they feel the work they do is not appreciated.
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
My position in the current organization is unduly prolonged 15.8% 22.8% 26.7% 26.7% 7.9% 2.88 1.202
I can develop my career aspirations in my current organization 23.8% 31.7% 13.9% 22.8% 7.9% 2.59 1.290
I get satisfaction and psychological well-being from my current job 13.9% 31.7% 24.8% 17.8% 11.9% 2.82 1.228
I experience low level of commitment from my current job 7.9% 15.8% 19.8% 40.6% 15.8% 3.41 1.168
I don’t have the required skills and abilities to take up the next challenges 8.9% 10.9% 5.0% 28.7% 46.5% 3.93 1.329
My job is meaningless, have no challenge and offer no skill variety 9.9% 5.9% 12.9% 23.8% 47.5% 3.93 1.321
There is really too little chance for promotion on my job 17.8% 23.8% 20.8% 23.8% 13.9% 2.92 1.324
My job is highly connected with my identities, interests and life goals 15.8% 37.6% 23.8% 16.8% 5.9% 2.59 1.124
Career Plateau
Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.
76
Table 4.3: Job Satisfaction in Organizations
On the item on the respondent’s opinion on whether they like the people they work with,
34.7% strongly agreed with the statement, 45.5% agreed while 6.9% of those who gave
their responses remained neutral. However, 5.9% disagreed with the statement as 6.9%
strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.05. On the question whether the respondent’s like
doing what they do at work, 62.3% of the respondents agreed as 20.8% disagreed with it.
However, 16.8% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.37. Finally, on the
question whether the respondent feel a sense of pride in doing his job, 29.7% strongly
agreed with the statement, 34.7% agreed while 13.9% of those who gave their responses
remained neutral. However, 13.9% disagreed with the statement as 7.9% strongly
disagreed with a mean of 2.36. The next section presents findings on job commitment.
4.3.2 Job Commitment
Employees who are committed to their organization generally feel a connection with their
organizations, they feel that they fit in and, understand the goals of the organization. This
study sought to establish the strongest variable of selected employee job commitment
aspects in order to relate to career mobility status of an employee. To achieve this, the
respondents were asked to rate their opinions on the statements on job commitment levels
on a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not Sure (NS),
4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The findings indicated that most respondents
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
I like the people I work with 34.7% 45.5% 6.9% 5.9% 6.9% 2.05 1.135
I sometimes feel my job is meaningless 10.9% 14.9% 20.8% 25.7% 27.7% 3.45 1.330
I do not feel that the work I do is appreciated 12.9% 26.7% 17.8% 28.7% 13.9% 3.04 1.280
I like doing the things I do at work 26.7% 35.6% 16.8% 15.8% 5.0% 2.37 1.181
I feel a sense of pride in doing my job 29.7% 34.7% 13.9% 13.9% 7.9% 2.36 1.262
Job Satisfaction
Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.
77
who participated in this study agreed that their personal values fit with those of their
organizations with a mean of 2.47 The variable for job satisfaction that stood out across
all the respondents surveyed is that the respondents feel that their personal values fit with
those of their organizations (M = 2.47, SD = 1.064).
Table 4.4: Job Commitment in Organizations
On the item on the respondent’s opinion on whether they would do any job within this
organization, 12.9% strongly agreed with the statement, 17.8% agreed while 33.7% of
those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 20.8% disagreed with the
statement as 14.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 3.07. On the question whether the
respondent’s do not feel emotionally attached to their organization, 28.7% of the
respondents agreed as 48.5% disagreed with it. However, 22.8% of the respondents
remained neutral with a mean of 3.32. On the question whether the respondent think that
their organizations means a lot to them personally, 17.8% strongly agreed with the
statement, 29.7% agreed while 24.8% of those who gave their responses remained
neutral. However, 20.8% disagreed with the statement as 6.9% strongly disagreed with a
mean of 2.69. Finally, on the question whether the respondent’s would have feelings of
guilt if they were to leave the organization now, 30.7% of the respondents agreed as
49.5% disagreed with it. However, 19.8% of the respondents remained neutral with a
mean of 3.33. The next section presents findings on employee engagement in
organizations.
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
I would do any job within this organization 12.9% 17.8% 33.7% 20.8% 14.9% 3.07 1.227
I feel that my personal values fit with those of the organization 16.8% 41.6% 24.8% 11.9% 5.0% 2.47 1.064
I do not feel emotionally attached to my organization 7.9% 20.8% 22.8% 28.7% 19.8% 3.32 1.232
My organization means a lot to me personally 17.8% 29.7% 24.8% 20.8% 6.9% 2.69 1.189
I would have feelings of guilt if I were leave the organization now 6.9% 23.8% 19.8% 28.7% 20.8% 3.33 1.242
Job Commitment
Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.
78
4.4 Employee Engagement and Career Plateau in Organizations
Career Engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all
members of an organization to give of their best each day, committed to their
organization’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success, with
an enhanced sense of their own well-being. This study sought to establish the strongest
variable of employee engagement dimensions, which included cognitive, affective and
behavioral commitment. To achieve this, the respondents were asked to show their level
of agreement with the statements on the employee engagement levels in their
organizations on a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not
Sure (NS), 4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The findings indicated that most
respondents who participated in this study agreed that they act in ways that support the
success of their organizations and that they are committed to succeed in whatever they do
in their organizations. The variables for employee engagement that stood out across all
the respondents surveyed with the closet mean of 1.79 and 1.99 out of a possible
maximum of 2 point (M = 1.79, SD = 0.983 and M = 1.99, D = 1.212).
Table 4.5: Employee Engagement in Organizations
On the item on the respondent’s opinion on whether they are loyal, devoted, and proud
and have positive feelings about their work, 27.7% strongly agreed with the statement,
44.6% agreed while 14.9% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However,
2.0% disagreed with the statement as 2.15% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.15. On
the question as to whether the respondent’s always find meaning in what they do in their
organizations, 58.4% of the respondents agreed as 22.8% disagreed with it. However,
18.8% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.54. Finally, on the question
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
I am loyal, devoted, proud and have positive feelings about my work 27.7% 44.6% 14.9% 10.9% 2.0% 2.15 1.014
I act in ways that support the success of the organization 45.5% 40.6% 6.9% 3.0% 4.0% 1.79 0.983
I am committed to succeed in whatever I do in my organization 43.6% 35.6% 6.9% 5.9% 7.9% 1.99 1.212
In my organization, I always find meaning in what I do 17.8% 40.6% 18.8% 14.9% 7.9% 2.54 1.179
I feel empowered to do my work 14.9% 38.6% 25.7% 14.9% 5.9% 2.58 1.098
Employee Engagement Role
Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.
79
whether the respondent’s feel empowered to do their work, 53.5% of the respondents
agreed as 20.8% disagreed with it. However, 25.7% of the respondents remained neutral
with a mean of 2.58. The next section presents findings on cognitive commitment in
organizations.
4.4.1 Cognitive Commitment
Cognitive Commitment refers to understanding and describing general principles of
human cognitive processes of meaning making in the organization. This study sought to
establish the strongest variable of the respondent’s cognitive commitment dimensions in
order to relate with career mobility of employees in organizations. In order to achieve
this, the respondents were asked to rate their opinions on the statements on their cognitive
commitment levels in their organizations on a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree
(SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not Sure (NS), 4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The
findings indicated that most respondents who participated in this study are not sure
whether their organizations really care about their opinions or would forgive an honest
mistake on their part. The variables for cognitive commitment that stood out across all
the respondents surveyed with the closet mean of 2.93 and 2.82 out of a possible
maximum of 3 point (M = 2.93, SD = 1.134 and M = 2.82, SD = 1.071).
Table 4.6: Cognitive Commitment in Organizations
On the item on the respondent’s opinion on whether they feel their organizations really
care about their well-being, 15.8% strongly agreed with the statement, 38.6% agreed
while 26.7% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 11.9%
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
My organization really cares about my well-being 15.8% 38.6% 26.7% 11.9% 6.9% 2.55 1.109
My organization cares about my opinions 10.9% 25.7% 31.7% 22.8% 8.9% 2.93 1.134
If given the opportunity, my organization take advantage of me 15.8% 28.7% 25.7% 22.8% 6.9% 2.76 1.176
Help is available from my organization when I have a problem 11.9% 35.6% 33.7% 14.9% 3.0% 2.61 0.984
My organization would forgive an honest mistake on my part 8.9% 30.7% 39.6% 10.9% 9.9% 2.82 1.071
Cognitive Commitment
Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.
80
disagreed with the statement as 6.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.55. On the
question as to whether the respondent’s feel if given the opportunity, their organization
would take advantage of them, 44.5% of the respondents agreed as 29.7% disagreed with
it. However, 25.7% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.76. Finally, on
the question whether the respondent’s feel help is available from my organization when
they have a problem, 47.5% of the respondents agreed as 17.9% disagreed with it.
However, 33.7% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.61. The next
section presents findings on affective commitment in organizations.
4.4.2 Affective Commitment
Affective Commitment refers to an employee’s emotional attachment to, identification
with and involvement in an organization, it influences personal characteristics, structural
characteristics and work experience. This study sought to establish the strongest variable
of the respondent’s affective commitment dimensions in order to relate with career
mobility of employees in organizations. In order to achieve this, the respondents were
asked to show their level of agreement with the statements on the affective commitment
levels in their organizations on a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree
(A), 3= Not Sure (NS), 4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The findings indicated
that most respondents who participated in this study were not sure whether they were
happy to work for their organization until they retire or whether they feel personally
attached to their organizations. The variables for affective commitment that stood out
across all the respondents surveyed with the closet mean 3.27 and 2.76 of out of a
possible maximum of 3 point (M = 3.27, SD = 1.127 and M =2.76, SD = 1.133).
81
Table 4.7: Affective Commitment in Organizations
On the item on the respondent’s opinion on whether they feel a strong sense of belonging
to their organizations, 11.9% strongly agreed with the statement, 40.6% agreed while
30.7% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 9.9% disagreed
with the statement as 6.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.59. On the question as to
whether the respondents feel proud to tell others I work at my organization, 67.4% of the
respondents agreed as 17.9% disagreed with it. However, 13.9% of the respondents
remained neutral with a mean of 2.27. Finally, on the question whether the respondent’s
feel that working at my organization has a great deal of personal meaning to me, 51.5%
of the respondents agreed as 14.9% disagreed with it. However, 32.7% of the respondents
remained neutral with a mean of 2.50. The next section presents findings on behavioral
commitment in organizations.
4.4.3 Behavioral Commitment
Behavioral Commitment refers to the employee’s perceived alignment of the manager’s
words, deeds and the relationship between them that define their behaviors towards job
satisfaction, organization commitment, and satisfaction with the leader and effect towards
the organization. This study sought to establish the strongest variable of the respondent’s
behavioral commitment dimensions in order to relate with career mobility of employees
in organizations. In order to achieve this, the respondents were asked to rate their
opinions on the statements on the behavioral commitment levels in their organizations on
a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not Sure (NS),
4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The findings indicated that most respondents
who participated in this study agreed that they are always ready to give a helping hand to
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
I feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization 11.9% 40.6% 30.7% 9.9% 6.9% 2.59 1.051
I feel personally attached to my organization 13.9% 27.7% 35.6% 13.9% 8.9% 2.76 1.133
I am proud to tell others I work at my organization 26.7% 40.6% 13.9% 13.9% 4.0% 2.27 1.127
Working at my organization has a great deal of personal meaning to me 16.8% 34.7% 32.7% 10.9% 4.0% 2.50 1.030
I would be happy to work at my organization until I retire 11.9% 20.8% 24.8% 13.9% 28.7% 3.27 1.385
Affective Commitment
Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.
82
those around them. The variable for behavioral commitment that stood out across all the
respondents surveyed with the closet mean of 1.81 out of a possible maximum of 2 point
(M = 1.81, SD = 1.027).
Table 4.8: Behavioral Commitment in Organizations
On the item on the respondent’s opinion on whether my morale about my current job is
good, 17.8% strongly agreed with the statement, 42.6% agreed while 21.8% of those who
gave their responses remained neutral. However, 13.9% disagreed with the statement as
2.0% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.38. On the question as to whether the
respondents always help others who have heavy workload, 78.2% of the respondents
agreed as 8.0% disagreed with it. However, 8.9% of the respondents remained neutral
with a mean of 2.07. On the question as to whether the respondents keep abreast of
changes in their organization, 70.3% of the respondents agreed as 5.0% disagreed with it.
However, 23.8% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.15. Finally, on the
question whether the respondent’s feel they do their job without constant request from
their boss, 79.2% of the respondents agreed as 11.8% disagreed with it. However, 8.9%
of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.06.
The findings on employee engagement indicated that most respondents agreed that they
are not fully engaged by their organizations. The findings showed that most respondents
who participated in this study agreed that they act in ways that support the success of
their organizations and that they are committed to succeed in whatever they do in those
organizations (M = 1.79, SD = 0.983 and M = 1.99, D = 1.212). However, the findings on
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
My morale about my current job is good 17.8% 42.6% 21.8% 13.9% 2.0% 2.38 1.007
I am always ready to give a helping hand to those around me 47.5% 35.6% 8.9% 4.0% 4.0% 1.81 1.027
I help others who have heavy work load 25.7% 52.5% 13.9% 5.0% 3.0% 2.07 0.930
I keep abreast of changes in my organization 21.8% 48.5% 23.8% 2.0% 3.0% 2.15 0.892
I do my job without constant request from my boss 32.7% 46.5% 8.9% 5.9% 5.9% 2.06 1.094
Behavioral Commitment
Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.
83
the cognitive commitment showed that most respondents who participated in this study
are not sure whether their organizations really cares about their opinions or would forgive
an honest mistake on their part (M = 2.92, SD = 1.134 and M = 2.82, SD = 1.071). The
findings affective commitment showed that most respondents who participated in the
study were not sure whether they were happy to work for their organization until they
retire or whether they feel personally attached to their organizations (M = 3.27, SD =
1.127 and M =2.76, SD = 1.133). The findings on behavioral commitment showed that
most respondents who participated in this study agreed that they are always ready to give
a helping hand to those around them (M = 1.81, SD = 1.027). The study revealed that
employee’s ability to influence decisions at work is one of the most important factors
affecting their career engagement and psychological well-being thus the study concludes
that the level of engagement influenced employee career plateau in telecommunication
industry in Kenya. The next section presents correlation analysis findings.
4.4.4 Correlation Analysis
The study sought to determine the effects of employee engagement on career plateau on
employees. The study conducted correlational analysis, analysis of variance and linear
regression analysis. To determine the strength and direction of the
relationship/association between employee engagement and career plateau, correlational
analysis was done. The results are presented in Table 4.9. Findings indicated that there
was a statistically significant but moderate and positive association/relationship between
employee engagement role and career plateauing, r (101) = 0.316, p < .05.
84
Table 4.9: Correlation between Employee Engagement role and Career Plateau
4.4.5 One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for the Role of Employee
Engagement on Career Plateau by Age, Gender and Duration of Employment
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was carried out to establish if there were
significant differences between means in the respondent’s perception on the effect of
employee engagement role on career plateau in telecommunication organizations in
Kenya by age, gender, duration in current role and duration of employment. This was
important to the study to help understand the variation of employee engagement on career
plateau based on age, gender and duration of employment. Table 4.10 presents the
ANOVA findings which indicate that there was no statistically significant difference on
the effect of employee engagement role on career plateau by age F = 1.315, p > .05,
gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p > .05 and duration of
employment F = 1.402, p > .05.
Employee Engagement Career Plateau
Employee Engagement Pearson Correlation 1 .316**
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.001
N 101 101
Career Plateau Pearson Correlation .316** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.001
N 101 101
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
85
Table 4.10: ANOVA for the Effect of Employment Engagement Role on Career
Plateau by Age, Gender, Duration in Current Role and Duration of Employment
*p < .05 (The difference is significant at the 0.05 level)
4.4.6 Linear Regression Analysis
To ascertain the role of employee engagement on career plateau, the study conducted
simple linear regression analysis. Tests for Normality, Linearity, Heteroscedasticity and
Multicollinearity were done to ascertain the assumptions of linear regression analysis.
4.4.6.1 Test for Normality
To determine if the employee engagement variable has a normal distribution, the study
used Normal probability plot (Q-Q plot). Figure 4.6 presents the Normal Q-Q plot for
employee engagement role variable which indicated that data is approximately normal for
the employee engagement role variable.
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Employee Engagement Between Groups 18.535 35 0.530 2.114 0.005
Within Groups 16.282 65 0.250
Total 34.817 100
Age Between Groups 15.697 35 0.448 1.315 0.168
Within Groups 22.164 65 0.341
Total 37.861 100
Gender Between Groups 10.714 35 0.306 1.598 0.051
Within Groups 12.454 65 0.192
Total 23.168 100
Duration in Current Role Between Groups 10.746 35 0.307 0.792 0.771
Within Groups 24.814 64 0.388
Total 35.560 99
Duration of Employment Between Groups 35.912 35 1.026 1.402 0.121
Within Groups 46.108 63 0.732
Total 82.020 98
86
Figure 4.6: Normal Q-Q Plot for Employee Engagement Role
4.4.6.2 Test for Linearity
Linearity tests aims to determine if the relationship between independent and the
dependent variables is linear or not. To determine if the relationship between employee
engagement role and career plateau variable are linear in nature, the study used deviation
from linearity test. If the value sig. Deviation from Linearity> 0.05, then the relationship
between the independent variables are linearly dependent while if the value sig.
Deviation from Linearity < 0.05, then the relationship between independent variables
with the dependent is not linear. Table 4.11 presents the deviation from linearity test
results which indicate that there is no linear relationship between employee engagement
role and career plateau because the value sig. Deviation from Linearity <0.05 (0.025 <
0.05).
87
Table 4.11: Test for Linearity between Employee Engagement Role and Career
Plateau
4.4.6.3 Test for Heteroscedasticity
Heteroscedasticity test is part of the classical assumption test in the regression model. To
determine the assumption for employee engagement role variable, the study used tests for
heteroscedasticity. Table 4. 12 presents the results of the heteroscedasticity tests which
indicate that there is no problem of heteroscedasticity for employee engagement role and
career plateau (t = 3.32, β =0.577, p= 0.001). With a p-value = 0.001, it means that
employee engagement can statistically and significantly affect or predict career plateau
(The effect is positive because β is positive and is significant because p-value < 0.05).
Table 4.12: Test for Heteroscedasticity for Employee Engagement Role and Career
Plateau
Based on the scatterplot output in Figure 4.7, it appears that the spots are diffused and do
not form a clear specific pattern. So it can be concluded that the regression model does
not cause heteroscedasticity problem.
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Employee Engagement * Career Plateau Between Groups (Combined) 18.535 35 0.530 2.114 0.005
Linearity 3.488 1 3.488 13.923 0.000
Deviation from Linearity 15.048 34 0.443 1.767 0.025
Within Groups 16.282 65 0.250
Total 34.817 100
Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.
B Std.
Error
Beta
(Constant) 0.830 0.516 1.609 0.111
Career Plateau 0.577 0.174 0.316 3.320 0.001
a. Dependent Variable: Employee Engagement
88
Figure 4.7: Scatterplot for Employee Engagement Role
4.4.6.4 Test for Multicollinearity
To determine the assumption of no multicollinearity for the employee engagement role
variable, the study used variance inflation factor (VIF) values. If the VIF value lies
between1–10, then there is no multicollinearity, however if the VIF <1 or>10, then there
is multicollinearity. Table 4.13 presents the values which indicated that there’s no
multicollinearity since the VIF value (VIF = 1) was between 1 and 10.
89
Table 4.13: Test for Multicollinearity for Employee Engagement Role and Career
Plateau
4.4.7 Regression Tests
The following section presents the R2
value for regression model summary, F statistics
for regression ANOVA and t statistics for regression coefficient for the linear relationship
between employee engagement role and career plateau.
4.4.7.1 Regression Model Summary
The regression analysis findings presented in the model summary Table 4.14 indicates
that employee engagement role explained 10% of the variability in employees’ career
plateau in telecommunications organizations in Kenya (R2 = .100). This means that the
contribution of employee engagement role on the relationship between career plateau and
employee engagement is 10%.
Table 4.14: Model Summary for Linear Relationship between Employee
Engagement Role and Career Plateau
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig. Collinearity
Statistics
B Std. Error Beta Tolerance VIF
(Constant) 0.830 0.516 1.609 0.111
Career Plateau0.577 0.174 0.316 3.320 0.001 1.000 1.000
a. Dependent Variable: Employee Engagement
Model
R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error
of the Estimate
1.316
a 0.100 0.091 0.308
Model
a. Predictors: (Constant), Employee Engagement
90
4.4.7.2 Regression ANOVA
The linear regression F statistics value presented in Table 4.15 indicates that there was a
statistical and significant linear relationship between employee engagement role and
career plateau (F (1, 99) = 11.021, p < 0.05).
Table 4.15: ANOVA for Linear Relationship between Employee Engagement Role
and Career Plateau
4.4.7.3 Regression Coefficient
The regression coefficient findings were presented in Table 4.16 and shows that
employee engagement role statistically and significantly predicted career plateau (β =
0.173, t = 3.32, p < .05).
The estimated regression model explaining the results in Table 4.16 is given by:
Career Plateau = 2.509 + 0.173 x employee engagement role
The model shows that employee engagement role positively affects career plateau, i.e. a
unit mean index increase in employee engagement role applied will result into a positive
increase in career plateau by 0.173.
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Regression 1.048 1 1.048 11.021 .001b
Residual 9.411 99 0.095
Total 10.458 100
a. Dependent Variable: Career Plateau
b. Predictors: (Constant), Employee Engagement
Model
91
Table 4.16: Regression Coefficient for Linear Relationship between Employee
Engagement Role and Career Plateau
In summary, correlational analysis revealed that there was a statistically significant but
moderate association between employee engagement role and career plateau, r (101) =
0.316, p < .05. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test revealed that there was no
statistically significant difference on the effect of employee engagement role on career
plateau by age F = 1.315, p > .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F
=0.792, p > .05 and duration of employment F = 1.402, p > .05. Test for normality
revealed that data is approximately normal for the employee engagement role variable.
The test for linearity revealed that there is no relationship between employee engagement
role and career plateau because the value sig. Deviation from Linearity <0.05 (0.025 <
0.05). It was also found that employee engagement role explained 10% of the variability
in employee’s career plateau in the telecoms industry R2 = 0.100. This means that the
contribution of employee engagement role on the relationship between career plateau and
employee engagement is 10%. And finally, the regression coefficient findings showed
that employee engagement role statistically and significantly predicted career plateau (β =
0.173, t = 3.32, p < .05) thus Career Plateau = 2.509 + 0.173 x employee engagement
role. The next section presents the findings on job redesign role and career plateau.
4.5 Job Redesign Role and Career Plateau
Job redesign refers to an effort where job responsibilities and tasks are reviewed, and
possibly re-allocated among staff, to improve output. This study sought to establish the
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig. 95.0% Confidence
Interval for B
B Std. Error Beta Lower
Bound
Upper
Bound
(Constant) 2.509 0.136 18.468 0.000 2.239 2.778
Employee Engagement0.173 0.052 0.316 3.320 0.001 0.070 0.277
a. Dependent Variable: Career Plateau
Model
92
strongest variable of job redesign dimensions which included job descriptions, role
ambiguity and participative decision making to understand how they impact career
plateau. To achieve this, the respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreements
with the statements on the job redesign on a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree
(SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not Sure (NS), 4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The
findings indicated that most respondents who participated in this study were not sure
whether they were appreciated by their organizations when they think of what they are
paid or whether the job structure in their organizations stimulate personal growth,
development and learning. The variables for job redesign that stood out across all the
respondents surveyed with the closet mean of 3.12 and 3.00 out of a possible maximum
of 3 point (M = 3.12, SD = 1.291 and M = 3.00, D = 1.181).
Table 4.17: Job Redesign role in Organizations
On the item as to whether the tasks and responsibilities at the workplace are structured to
be more encouraging and inspiring, 9.9% strongly agreed with the statement, 29.7%
agreed while 31.7% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 19.8%
disagreed with the statement as 8.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.88. On the
question as to whether jobs in their organizations introduce challenge to influence
positive job behaviors, 46.6% of the respondents agreed as 28.7 % disagreed with it.
However, 24.8% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.74. On the item
on whether greater decision-making power increases feelings of success even if no
promotion is offered, 27.7% strongly agreed with the statement, 34.7% agreed while
17.8% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 13.9% disagreed
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
Task and responsibilities at my workplace are restructured to be more encouraging and inspiring 9.9% 29.7% 31.7% 19.8% 8.9% 2.88 1.116
Job structure in my organization stimulate personal growth, development and learning 10.9% 24.8% 27.7% 24.8% 10.9% 3.00 1.181
Jobs in my organization introduce challenge to influence positive job behaviors 14.9% 31.7% 24.8% 21.8% 6.9% 2.74 1.163
Greater decision-making power increases feelings of success even if no promotion is offered 27.7% 34.7% 17.8% 13.9% 5.9% 2.36 1.197
I like doing the things I do at work 23.8% 40.6% 18.8% 13.9% 3.0% 2.32 1.076
I feel unappreciated by the organization when I think about what they pay me 14.9% 16.8% 25.7% 26.7% 15.8% 3.12 1.291
Job description defines accountability in organizations 15.8% 37.6% 27.7% 15.8% 3.0% 2.52 1.035
Poor performance are related with absence of or unclear job descriptions 17.8% 35.6% 15.8% 24.8% 5.9% 2.65 1.204
Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.Job Redesign Role
93
with the statement as 5.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.36. On the question as to
whether I like doing the things I do at work, 64.4% of the respondents agreed as 16.9 %
disagreed with it. However, 18.8% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of
2.32. On the item on whether job description defines accountability in organizations,
15.8% strongly agreed with the statement, 37.6% agreed while 27.7% of those who gave
their responses remained neutral. However, 15.8% disagreed with the statement as 3.0 %
strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.52. Finally, on the question whether poor
performance are related with absence of or unclear job descriptions, 53.4% of the
respondents agreed as 30.7% disagreed with it. However, 15.8% of the respondents
remained neutral with a mean of 2.65. The next section presents findings on job
descriptions in organizations.
4.5.1 Job Descriptions
Job Description refers to a written narrative that describes the general tasks, or other
related duties, and responsibilities of a position, the analysis considers the areas of
knowledge, skills and abilities needed to perform the job. This study sought to establish
the strongest variable of the respondent’s job descriptions dimensions to understand how
they impact career plateau. To achieve this, the respondents were asked to indicate their
level of agreement with the statements on the job description levels in their organizations
on a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not Sure (NS),
4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The findings indicated that most respondents
who participated in this study agreed that skills variety is among the many task
characteristics that can influence the attitudes of individuals towards their work and that
employees skills and knowledge is a necessary condition for moving to a more
challenging career tasks. The variables for cognitive commitment that stood out across all
the respondents surveyed with the closet mean of 2.14 and 2.15 out of a possible
maximum of 2 point (M = 2.14, SD = 1.000 and M = 2.15, SD = 1.169).
94
Table 4.18: Job Descriptions in Organizations
On the item on whether jobs with high scope generate more satisfaction, better work
performance, greater effort and more involvement, 27.0% strongly agreed with the
statement, 33.0% agreed while 18.0% of those who gave their responses remained
neutral. However, 19.0% disagreed with the statement as 3.0% strongly disagreed with a
mean of 2.38. On the question on whether absence or unclear job description lead to poor
performance among workers, 69.3% of the respondents agreed as 16.9% disagreed with
it. However, 13.9% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.21. On the item
on whether organization structure provides the necessary motivation for employees to
gauge their career progress, 30.3% strongly agreed with the statement, 34.3% agreed
while 17.2% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 13.1%
disagreed with the statement as 5.1% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.28. The next
section presents findings on role ambiguity in organizations.
4.5.2 Role Ambiguity
Role Ambiguity refers to when people are unclear or uncertain about their expectations
within a certain role, typically their role in the job or workplace. This study sought to
establish the strongest variable of the respondent’s role ambiguity dimensions to
understand how they impact career plateau. To achieve this, the respondents were asked
to indicate their level of agreement with the statements on the role ambiguity levels in
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
Jobs with high scope generate more satisfaction, better work performance, greater effort and more
involvement 27.0% 33.0% 18.0% 19.0% 3.0% 2.38 1.162
Employees skills and knowledge is a necessary condition for moving to a more challenging career
tasks 37.6% 29.7% 16.8% 11.9% 4.0% 2.15 1.169
Absence or unclear job descriptions lead to poor performance among workers 30.7% 38.6% 13.9% 12.9% 4.0% 2.21 1.134
Organization structure provides the necessary motivation for employees to gauge their career
progress 30.3% 34.3% 17.2% 13.1% 5.1% 2.28 1.178
Skills variety is among the many task characteristics that can influence the attitudes of individuals
towards their work 27.3% 44.4% 18.2% 7.1% 3.0% 2.14 1.000
Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.Job Descriptions
95
their organizations on a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree (A), 3=
Not Sure (NS), 4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The findings showed that most
respondents who participated in this study agreed that role ambiguity has a direct impact
on attitudes and behaviors that make individuals react differently as a consequence of
reaching ineffective career stage (M = 2.15, SD = 1.004). Majority of the respondents
also disagreed that they don’t fully comprehend the expectation of their role in their
organizations (M = 3.57, SD = 1.228).
Table 4.19: Role Ambiguity in Organizations
On the item on whether an employee’s position in the social system is reflected by the
rights and obligation in the organization, 11.9% strongly agreed with the statement,
29.7% agreed while 35.6% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However,
18.8% disagreed with the statement as 4.0% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.73. On
the question whether each role requires different behavior in the same job environment
and an individual may play more than one role, 62.4% of the respondents agreed as
12.9% disagreed with it. However, 24.8% of the respondents remained neutral with a
mean of 2.32. On the item on whether performing more than one role may potentially
lead to conflict among employees, 20.8% strongly agreed with the statement, 36.6%
agreed while 21.8% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 12.9%
disagreed with the statement as 7.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.50. The next
section presents findings on participative decision making.
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
I do not fully comprehend the expectation of my role in the organization 7.9% 14.9% 12.9% 40.6% 23.8% 3.57 1.228
An employee’s position in the social system is reflected by the right’s and obligation in the
organization 11.9% 29.7% 35.6% 18.8% 4.0% 2.73 1.029
Each role requires different behavior in the same job environment and an individual may play more
than one role 21.8% 40.6% 24.8% 9.9% 3.0% 2.32 1.019
Performing more than one role may potentially lead to conflict among employees 20.8% 36.6% 21.8% 12.9% 7.9% 2.50 1.188
Role ambiguity has a direct impact on attitudes and behaviors that make individuals react differently
as a consequence of reaching ineffective career stage 26.7% 45.5% 16.8% 7.9% 3.0% 2.15 1.004
Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.Job Ambiguity
96
4.5.3 Participative Decision Making
Participative Decision Making refers to the extent to which employers allow or encourage
employees to share or participate in organizational decision-making. This study sought to
establish the strongest variable of the respondent’s role participative decision-making
dimensions in their organizations to understand how they impact career plateau. To
achieve this, the respondents were asked to indicate their levels of agreement with the
statements on the role of participative decision making levels in their organizations on a
scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not Sure (NS),
4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The findings showed that most respondents who
participated in this study were not sure whether supervisors and subordinates share
decision making influence in their organizations (M = 3.05, SD = 1.252). However, they
do agree that decision sharing in organizations enhances overall acceptability by
employees (M = 2.07, SD = 1.003).
Table 4.20: Participative Decision Making in Organizations
On the item on whether decisions are made by top leadership in their organizations, and
the rest of employees are supposed to follow, 30.7% strongly agreed with the statement,
30.7% agreed while 12.9% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However,
17.8% disagreed with the statement as 7.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.42. On
the question whether the respondents feel that the act of decision making by employees is
an act of trustworthiness by their organizations, 61.4% of the respondents agreed as
16.8% disagreed with it. However, 21.8% of the respondents remained neutral with a
mean of 2.34. On the item on whether decision sharing in organization eliminates some
frustrations linked with career on employees, 25.7% strongly agreed with the statement,
45.5% agreed while 16.8% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However,
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
Decision sharing in organization enhances overall acceptability by employees 31.7% 41.6% 17.8% 5.9% 3.0% 2.07 1.003
Decisions are made by top leadership in my organization, the rest of employees are supposed to follow 30.7% 30.7% 12.9% 17.8% 7.9% 2.42 1.306
Supervisors and subordinates share decision making influence in my organization 9.9% 30.7% 18.8% 25.7% 14.9% 3.05 1.252
I feel that the act of decision making by employees is an act of trustworthiness by my organization 27.7% 33.7% 21.8% 10.9% 5.9% 2.34 1.169
Decision sharing in organization eliminates some frustrations linked with career on employees 25.7% 45.5% 16.8% 6.9% 5.0% 2.20 1.058
Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.Participative Decision Making
97
6.9% disagreed with the statement as 5.0% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.20.
The findings on job redesign indicated that most respondents agreed that job redesign
affects employee’s career plateaus in organizations. The above finding is supported by
the results from the study that majority of the respondents were not sure whether they are
appreciated by their organizations when they think of what they are paid (M = 3.12, SD =
1.291) and whether the job structure in their organizations does stimulate personal
growth, development and learning (M = 3.00, D = 1.181). The findings of the study on
job description revealed that most respondents moderately agreed that skills variety is
among the many task characteristics that can influence the attitudes of individuals
towards their work (M = 2.14, SD = 1.000) and that employees skills and knowledge is a
necessary condition for moving to a more challenging career tasks (M = 2.15, SD =
1.169). The findings of the study on role ambiguity showed that it has a direct impact on
attitudes and behaviors that make individuals react differently as a consequence of
reaching ineffective career stage (M = 2.15, SD = 1.004). Majority of the respondents
also disagreed that they don’t fully comprehend the expectation of their role in their
organizations (M = 3.57, SD = 1.228). The findings of the study on participative decision
making showed that most respondents were not sure whether supervisors and
subordinates share decision making influence in their organizations (M = 3.05, SD =
1.252). However, they do agree that decision sharing in organizations enhances overall
acceptability by employees (M = 2.07, SD = 1.003). In summary therefore, task variety
affects employee’s performance by giving them opportunity to use a number of valued
skills and abilities. That, enriched and complex jobs promote increased satisfaction and
motivation and so moderates the feelings of plateau on employees. The findings also
showed that task variety go hand in hand with knowledge as job variety increases
knowledge that is useful in decision-making. The next section presents findings on
correlational analysis.
98
4.5.4 Correlation Analysis
The study sought to determine the effects of job redesign on career plateauing of
employees in their organizations. The study conducted correlational, analysis of variance
and linear regression analysis. To determine the strength and direction of the
relationship/association between job redesign role and career plateau, correlational
analysis was done. The results are presented in Table 4.21. These findings indicated that
there was a statistically significant but weak and positive association/relationship
between job redesign role and career plateauing, r (101) = 0.233, p < .05.
Table 4.21: Correlation between Job Redesign Role and Career Plateau
4.5.5 One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for the Role of Employee
Engagement on Career Plateau by Age, Gender and Duration of Employment
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was carried out to establish if there were
significant differences between means in the respondent’s perception on the effect of job
redesign role on career plateau by age, gender, duration in current role and duration of
employment. Table 4.22 presents the ANOVA findings which indicate that there was no
statistically significant difference on the effect of job redesign role on career plateau by
age F = 1.315, p > .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p >
.05 and duration of employment F = 1.402, p > .05.
Career Plateau Job Redesign
Career Plateau Pearson Correlation 1 .233*
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.019
N 101 101
Job Redesign Pearson Correlation .233*
1
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.019
N 101 101
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
99
Table 4.22: ANOVA for the Effects of Job Resign Role on Career Plateau by Age,
Gender, Duration in Current Role and Duration of Employment
*p < .05 (The difference is significant at the 0.05 level)
4.5.6 Linear Regression Analysis
To ascertain the role of job redesign on career plateau, the study conducted simple linear
regression analysis. Prior to linear regression analysis, test for the assumptions for linear
regression analysis were done. Tests for Normality, Linearity, Heteroscedasticity and
Multicollinearity were done to ascertain the assumptions of linear regression analysis.
4.5.6.1 Test for Normality
To determine if job redesign variable has a normal distribution, the study used Normal
probability plot (Q-Q plot). Figure 4.8 presents the Normal Q-Q plot for job redesign role
variable which indicated that data is approximately normal for the job redesign role
variable.
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Job Redesign Between Groups 17.996 35 0.514 2.393 0.001
Within Groups 13.966 65 0.215
Total 31.962 100
Age Between Groups 15.697 35 0.448 1.315 0.168
Within Groups 22.164 65 0.341
Total 37.861 100
Gender Between Groups 10.714 35 0.306 1.598 0.051
Within Groups 12.454 65 0.192
Total 23.168 100
Duration of Employment Between Groups 35.912 35 1.026 1.402 0.121
Within Groups 46.108 63 0.732
Total 82.020 98
Duration in Current Role Between Groups 10.746 35 0.307 0.792 0.771
Within Groups 24.814 64 0.388
Total 35.560 99
100
Figure 4.8: Normal Q-Q Plot for Job Redesign Role
4.5.6.2 Test for Linearity
Linearity tests aims to determine the relationship between independent and the dependent
variables is linear or not. To determine whether the relationship between job redesign role
and career plateau variable are linear in nature, the study used deviation from linearity
test. If the value sig. Deviation from Linearity> 0.05, then the relationship between the
independent variables are linearly dependent while if the value sig. Deviation from
Linearity < 0.05, then the relationship between independent variables with the dependent
is not linear. Table 4.23 presents the deviation from linearity test results which indicate
that there is no linear relationship between job redesign role and career plateau because
the value sig. Deviation from Linearity <0.05 (0.003 < 0.05).
101
Table 4.23: Test for Linearity between Job Redesign Role and Career Plateau
4.5.6.3 Test for Heteroscedasticity
Heteroscedasticity test is part of the classical assumption test in the regression model. To
determine the assumption for job redesign role variable, the study used tests for
heteroscedasticity. Table 4. 24 presents the results of the heteroscedasticity tests which
indicate that there is no problem of heteroscedasticity for job redesign role and career
plateau (t = 2.379, β =0.407, p= 0.019). With a p-value = 0.019, it means that job
redesign can statistically and significantly affect or predict career plateau (The effect is
positive because β is positive and is significant because p-value < 0.05).
Table 4.24: Test for Heteroscedasticity for Job Redesign Role and Career Plateau
Based on the scatterplot output Figure 4.9, it appears that the spots are diffused and do
not form a clear specific pattern. So it can be concluded that the regression model does
not cause heteroscedasticity problem.
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Job Redesign * Career Plateau Between Groups (Combined) 17.996 35 0.514 2.393 0.001
Linearity 1.729 1 1.729 8.046 0.006
Deviation from Linearity 16.268 34 0.478 2.227 0.003
Within Groups 13.966 65 0.215
Total 31.962 100
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.
B Std.
Error
Beta
(Constant) 1.330 0.507 2.625 0.010
Career Plateau 0.407 0.171 0.233 2.379 0.019
a. Dependent Variable: Job Redesign
Model
102
Figure 4.9: Scatterplot for Job Redesign Role
4.5.4.6.4 Test for Multicollinearity
To determine the assumption of no multicollinearity for job redesign role variable, the
study used variance inflation factor (VIF) values. If the VIF value lies between 1 – 10,
then there is no multicollinearity, however if the VIF <1 or>10, then there is
multicollinearity. Table 4.25 presents the values which indicated that there’s no
multicollinearity since the VIF value (VIF = 1) was between 1 and 10.
103
Table 4.25: Test for Multicollinearity for Job Redesign Role and Career Plateau
4.5.7 Regression Tests
The following section presents the R2
value for regression model summary, F statistics
for regression ANOVA and t statistics for regression coefficient for the linear relationship
between job redesign role and career plateau.
4.5.7.1 Regression Model Summary
The regression analysis findings presented in the model summary Table 4.26 indicates
that job redesign role explained 5.4% of the variability in employees’ career plateau in
telecommunications organizations in Kenya (R2 = .054). This means that the contribution
of job redesign role on the relationship with career plateau 5.4%.
Table 4.26: Model Summary for Linear Relationship between Job Redesign Role
and Career Plateau
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig. Collinearity Statistics
B Std.
Error
Beta Tolerance VIF
(Constant) 1.330 0.507 2.625 0.010
Career Plateau 0.407 0.171 0.233 2.379 0.019 1.000 1.000
a. Dependent Variable: Job Redesign
Model
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate
.233a 0.054 0.045 0.316
a. Predictors: (Constant), Job Redesign
104
4.5.7.2 Regression ANOVA
The linear regression F statistics value presented in Table 4.27 indicates that there was a
statistical and significant linear relationship between job redesign role and career plateau
(F (1, 99) = 5.661, p < 0.05).
Table 4.27: ANOVA for Linear Relationship between Job Redesign Role and Career
Plateau
4.5.7.3 Regression Coefficient
The regression coefficient findings were presented in Table 4.28 and shows that job
redesign role statistically and significantly predicted career plateau (β = 0.133, t = 2.379,
p < .05).
The estimated regression model explaining the results in Table 4.28 is given by:
Career Plateau = 2.379 + 0.133 x job redesign role
The model shows that job redesign role positively affects career plateau, i.e. a unit mean
index increase in job redesign role applied will result into a positive increase in career
plateau by 0.173 in telecommunication organizations in Kenya by a positive mean index
value of 0.133.
ModelSum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Regression 0.566 1 0.566 5.661 .019b
Residual 9.893 99 0.100
Total 10.458 100
b. Predictors: (Constant), Job Redesign
a. Dependent Variable: Career Plateau
105
Table 4.28: Regression Coefficient for Linear Relationship between Job Redesign
Role and Career Plateau
In summary, Correlational analysis revealed that there was a statistically significant but
weak and positive association between job redesign role and career plateau, r (101) =
0.233, p < .05. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test revealed that there was no
statistically significant difference on the effect of job redesign role on career plateau by
age F = 1.315, p > .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p >
.05 and duration of employment F = 1.402, p > .05. Test for normality revealed that data
is approximately normal for job redesign role variable. The test for linearity revealed that
there is no relationship between job redesign role and career plateau because the value
sig. Deviation from Linearity <0.05 (0.003 < 0.05). It was also found that job redesign
role explained 5.4% of the variability in employee’s career plateau in the telecoms
industry R2
= 0.054. This means that the contribution of job redesign role on the
relationship between career plateau and employee engagement is 5.4%. And finally, the
regression coefficient findings showed that job redesign role statistically and significantly
predicted career plateau (β = 0.133, t = 2.379, p < .05) thus Career Plateau = 2.379 +
0.133 x job redesign role. The next section presents the findings on the effect of
employee mentoring roles on career plateau.
4.6 Employee Mentoring Role and Career Plateau
Employee mentoring refers to providing guidance to a less-experienced employee, the
mentee, where the mentor can be an employee of the same company or perhaps a
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig. 95.0% Confidence
Interval
for B
B Std.
Error
Beta Lower Bound Upper
Bound
(Constant) 2.611 0.145 18.028 0.000 2.324 2.899
Job Redesign 0.133 0.056 0.233 2.379 0.019 0.022 0.244
a. Dependent Variable: Career Plateau
Model
106
professional from an outside company. This study sought to establish the strongest
variable of employee mentoring dimensions which included mentoring relationships,
mentoring as an organizational strategy and mentoring in knowledge, skills and abilities
to understand how they impact career plateau. To achieve this, the respondents were
asked to indicate their level of agreement with statements on the mentoring levels on a
scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not Sure (NS),
4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The findings indicated that most respondents
who participated in this study agreed that mentoring is a useful way of building skills (M
= 1.76, SD = 1.124) and that development opportunities for elected members are
important (M = 1.93, SD = 1.160). However, the study revealed that majority of the
respondents aren’t sure whether their supervisor’s has more time for them (M = 2.87,
SD = 1.246).
Table 4.29: Employee Mentoring Role in Organizations
On the item on whether the respondents have been involved in mentoring activity in their
organizations, 26.7% strongly agreed with the statement, 23.8% agreed while 14.9% of
those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 25.7% disagreed with the
statement as 8.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.66. On the question on whether
most employees learnt best by doing their work, 77.2% of the respondents agreed as
12.8% disagreed with it. However, 9.9% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean
of 2.03. On the item on whether mentoring is useful way of building skills, 56.4%
strongly agreed with the statement, 26.7% agreed while 5.9% of those who gave their
responses remained neutral. However, 5.9% disagreed with the statement as 5.0%
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
I have been involved in mentoring activity in my organization 26.7% 23.8% 14.9% 25.7% 8.9% 2.66 1.351
Development opportunities for elected members are important 46.5% 31.7% 9.9% 5.9% 5.9% 1.93 1.160
Most employees learn best by doing their work 39.6% 37.6% 9.9% 5.9% 6.9% 2.03 1.170
Mentoring is a useful way of building skills 56.4% 26.7% 5.9% 5.9% 5.0% 1.76 1.124
Training provides valuable support for employees in my organization 43.6% 29.7% 10.9% 12.9% 3.0% 2.02 1.157
Employees learn more from each other than from their supervisors 32.7% 42.6% 12.9% 6.9% 5.0% 2.09 1.087
When something concerns me, my supervisor listens patiently 17.8% 41.6% 17.8% 11.9% 10.9% 2.56 1.228
My supervisor has more time for me 11.9% 33.7% 24.8% 14.9% 14.9% 2.87 1.246
Employee Mentoring RoleLevels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.
107
strongly disagreed with a mean of 1.76. On the item on whether training provides
valuable support for employees in their organization, 43.6% strongly agreed with the
statement, 29.7% agreed while 10.9% of those who gave their responses remained
neutral. However, 12.9% disagreed with the statement as 3.0% strongly disagreed with a
mean of 2.02. On the question on whether employees learn more from each other than
from their superiors, 75.3% of the respondents agreed as 11.9% disagreed with it.
However, 12.9% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.09. Finally, on the
item on whether when something concerns me, my supervisor listens patiently, 17.8%
strongly agreed with the statement, 41.6 % agreed while 17.8% of those who gave their
responses remained neutral. However, 11.9% disagreed with the statement as 10.9%
strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.56. The next section presents the findings on
mentoring relationships in organizations.
4.6.1 Mentoring Relationships
Mentoring Relationships refers to as a professional relationship in which an experienced
person (the mentor) assists another (the mentee) in developing specific skills and
knowledge that will enhance the less-experienced person’s professional and personal
growth. This study sought to establish the strongest variable of the respondent’s
mentoring relationship as provided by the supervisor. In order to achieve this, the
respondents were asked to rate their opinions on the statements on mentoring relationship
levels in their organizations on a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree
(A), 3= Not Sure (NS), 4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The findings indicated
that most respondents who participated in this study were not sure whether their
supervisors always provide them with developmental opportunities for their work (M =
2.68, SD = 1.199). They are also not sure whether their supervisors always provide clear
targeted areas of intervention in their careers (M = 2.64, SD = 1.213).
108
Table 4.30: Mentoring Relationships in Organizations
On the item on whether my supervisor always has relevant work knowledge and
experience, 16.8% strongly agreed with the statement, 42.6% agreed while 19.8% of
those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 9.9% disagreed with the
statement as 10.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.55. On the question on whether
my supervisor always willing to positively influence my career work experiences, 54.5%
of the respondents agreed as 22.9% disagreed with it. However, 21.8% of the respondents
remained neutral with a mean of 2.60. On the item on whether my supervisor always
encourages me in my work, 18.8% strongly agreed with the statement, 37.6% agreed
while 19.8% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 11.9%
disagreed with the statement as 11.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.60. The next
section presents the findings on mentoring s an organizations strategy.
4.6.2 Mentoring as an Organization Strategy
Mentoring strategy refers to elements of both informal and formal mentoring that defines
the relationship and how the mentor and mentee will work together to achieve identified
goals (Manson, 2016). The study sought to establish the strongest variable of the
respondent’s opinion on mentoring dimensions as an organization strategy to understand
how they impact career plateau. To achieve this, the respondents were asked to rate their
opinions on the statements on the role of mentoring as a strategy in their organizations on
a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly Agree (SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not Sure (NS),
4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS). The findings showed that most respondents who
participated in this study are not sure whether their organizations have a well-structured
plan for their own learning over the next 12 months (M = 3.19, SD = 1.278). They are
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
My supervisor always provide me with developmental opportunities for my work 13.9% 37.6% 27.7% 7.9% 12.9% 2.68 1.199
My supervisor always has greater relevant work knowledge and experiences 16.8% 42.6% 19.8% 9.9% 10.9% 2.55 1.204
My supervisor always willing to positively influence my career work experiences 14.9% 39.6% 21.8% 14.9% 8.0% 2.60 1.150
My supervisor always provides clear targeted areas of intervention in my career 15.8% 38.6% 21.8% 12.9% 10.9% 2.64 1.213
My supervisor always encourages me in my work 18.8% 37.6% 19.8% 11.9% 11.9% 2.60 1.258
Mentoring RelationshipsLevels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.
109
also not sure whether their organizations have policies that allow employees to get direct
feedback from people which can be used for personal development (M = 3.02, SD =
1.288).
Table 4.31: Mentoring as Organization Strategy
On the item on whether my organization endeavor to change employees’ environment
using positive work opportunities, 11.9% strongly agreed with the statement, 30.7%
agreed while 28.7% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 17.8%
disagreed with the statement as 10.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.85. On the
question on whether my organization has developed a proper communication strategy for
employees’ development, 41.6% of the respondents agreed as 37.6% disagreed with it.
However, 20.8% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.93. On the item
on whether my organization allows me to participate in mentoring activities as
opportunity for my own learning, 15.8% strongly agreed with the statement, 26.7%
agreed while 24.8% of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 22.8%
disagreed with the statement as 9.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.84. The next
section presents the findings on technical skills and knowledge.
4.6.3 Technical Skills and Knowledge
Technical Skills and Knowledge refers to technology-based hard skills, which include
(but not limited to) computer skills, abilities and knowledge required to accomplish tasks
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
My organization endeavor to change employees’ environment using positive work opportunities 11.9% 30.7% 28.7% 17.8% 10.9% 2.85 1.178
My organization has developed a proper communication strategy for employees’ development 14.9% 26.7% 20.8% 25.7% 11.9% 2.93 1.267
My organization has policies that allows employees to get direct feedback from other people which can
be used for personal development 13.9% 24.8% 21.8% 24.8% 14.9% 3.02 1.288
My organization has a well-structured plan for my own learning over the next 12 months 12.9% 18.8% 20.8% 31.7% 15.8% 3.19 1.278
My organization allows me to participate in mentoring activities as opportunity for my own learning 15.8% 26.7% 24.8% 22.8% 9.9% 2.84 1.231
Mentoring as Organizational StrategyLevels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.
110
or use certain tools. This study sought to establish the strongest variable of the
respondent’s opinion on technical skills and knowledge dimensions in managing career
plateau. To achieve this, the respondents were asked to rate their opinions on the
statements on their opinion on how technical skills and knowledge levels can be used to
manage career plateau in their organizations on a scale of 1 to 5. Where, 1=Strongly
Agree (SA), 2=Agree (A), 3= Not Sure (NS), 4=Disagree and Strongly Disagree (DS).
The findings showed that most respondents who participated in this study agreed that
mentoring is about learning and growing (M = 1.98, SD = 1.157). The study also found
that successful mentoring in organization involves such traits as flexibility, ownership,
clarity and feedback (M = 2.03, SD = 1.179).
Table 4.32: Technical Skills and Knowledge in Organizations
On the item on whether I endeavor to develop and demonstrate specific and identifiable
skills in my work, 35.6% strongly agreed with the statement, 38.6% agreed while 13.9%
of those who gave their responses remained neutral. However, 5.0% disagreed with the
statement as 5.9% strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.06. On the question on whether
better implementation of mentoring cultures requires executive assistance, flexible
environment and proper incentives, 76.3% of the respondents agreed as 12.8% disagreed
with it. However, 10.9% of the respondents remained neutral with a mean of 2.10. On the
item on whether inappropriate abilities and skills cause stagnation in organizations,
32.7% strongly agreed with the statement, 36.6% agreed while 13.9% of those who gave
their responses remained neutral. However, 7.9% disagreed with the statement as 8.9%
strongly disagreed with a mean of 2.24.
SA(1) A(2) NS(3) D(4) SD(5)
I endeavor to develop and demonstrate specific and identifiable skills in my work 35.6% 38.6% 13.9% 5.0% 5.9% 2.06 1.118
Mentoring is about learning and growing 43.6% 32.7% 11.9% 5.9% 5.9% 1.98 1.157
Successful mentoring in organization involves such traits as flexibility, ownership, clarity and feedback 42.6% 30.7% 13.9% 6.9% 5.9% 2.03 1.179
Better implementation of mentoring cultures requires executive assistance, flexible environment and
proper incentives 32.7% 43.6% 10.9% 6.9% 5.9% 2.10 1.118
Inappropriate abilities and skills cause career stagnation in organizations 32.7% 36.6% 13.9% 7.9% 8.9% 2.24 1.242
Technical Skills and Knowledge Levels of Agreement (%)
MeanStd.
Dev.
111
The findings on mentoring in organizations indicated that most respondents agreed that
mentoring is a useful way of building skills (M = 1.76, SD = 1.124) and that development
opportunities for elected members are important (M = 1.93, SD = 1.160). However, the
study revealed that majority of the respondents aren’t sure whether their supervisor’s has
more time for them (M = 2.87, SD = 1.246). The findings of the study on mentoring
relationships revealed that most respondents moderately agreed that their supervisors
always provide them with developmental opportunities for their work (M = 2.68, SD =
1.199). They were also not sure whether their supervisors always provide clear targeted
areas of intervention in their careers (M = 2.64, SD = 1.213). The findings of the study on
role of mentoring as an organization strategy showed that most respondents who
participated in this study aren’t sure whether their organizations have a well-structured
plan for their own learning over the next 12 months (M = 3.19, SD = 1.278). They are
also not sure whether their organizations have policies that allow employees to get direct
feedback from people which can be used for personal development (M = 3.02, SD =
1.288).
The findings of the study on role played by technical skills and knowledge showed that
most respondents agreed that mentoring is about learning and growing (M = 1.98, SD =
1.157). The study also found that successful mentoring in organization involves such
traits as flexibility, ownership, clarity and feedback (M = 2.03, SD = 1.179). In summary
this study reveals that opportunities exist in the telecoms industry and so successful
mentoring provides overall organizational support for mentees so as to identify their
skills, experience, goals, and other essential criteria to assist in overcoming career plateau
challenges. Mentoring culture in organizations therefore plays a large role in whether or
not organization is happy, healthy place in which to work. Empowerment and mentorship
provide foundation of trust and promotes positive attitudes, values and behaviors for
positive career behaviors. The next section presents the findings on correlation analysis.
112
4.6.4 Correlation Analysis
The study sought to determine the effects of employee mentoring on career plateauing of
employees in their organizations. This study conducted descriptive, correlational, analysis
of variance and linear regression analysis. To determine the strength and direction of the
relationship/association between employees mentoring and career plateau, correlational
analysis was done. The results are presented in Table 4.33. Findings indicated that there
is a weak and positive association/relationship between employee mentoring role and
career plateauing which is statistically not significant, r (101) = 0.100, p > .05.
Table 4.33: Correlation between Employee Mentoring Role and Career Plateau
4.6.5 One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for the Role of Employee
Mentoring on Career Plateau by Age, Gender and Duration of Employment
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was carried out to establish if there were
significant differences between means in the respondent’s perception on the effect of
employee mentoring role on career plateau by age, gender, duration in current role and
duration of employment. Table 4.34 presents the ANOVA findings which indicate that
there was no statistically significant difference on the effect of employee mentoring role
on career plateau by age F = 1.459, p > .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current
role F =0.792, p > .05 and duration of employment F = 1.402, p > .05.
Career Plateau Employee Mentoring
Career Plateau Pearson Correlation 1 0.100
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.319
N 101 101
Employee Mentoring Pearson Correlation 0.100 1
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.319
N 101 101
113
Table 4.34: ANOVA for the Effects of Employee Mentoring Role on Career Plateau
by Age, Gender, Duration in Current Role and Duration of Employment
4.6.6 Linear Regression Analysis
To ascertain the role of employee mentoring on career plateau, the study conducted
simple linear regression analysis. Prior to linear regression analysis, test for the
assumptions for linear regression analysis were done. Tests for Normality, Linearity,
Heteroscedasticity and Multicollinearity were done to ascertain the assumptions of linear
regression analysis.
4.6.6.1 Test for Normality
To determine if the employee mentoring variable has a normal distribution, the study
used Normal probability plot (Q-Q plot). Figure 4.10 presents the Normal Q-Q plot for
employee mentoring role variable which indicated that data is approximately normal for
the employee mentoring role variable.
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Employee Mentoring Between Groups 29.694 35 0.848 1.459 0.094
Within Groups 37.788 65 0.581
Total 67.481 100
Gender Between Groups 10.714 35 0.306 1.598 0.051
Within Groups 12.454 65 0.192
Total 23.168 100
Age Between Groups 15.697 35 0.448 1.315 0.168
Within Groups 22.164 65 0.341
Total 37.861 100
Duration of Employment Between Groups 35.912 35 1.026 1.402 0.121
Within Groups 46.108 63 0.732
Total 82.020 98
Duration in Current Role Between Groups 10.746 35 0.307 0.792 0.771
Within Groups 24.814 64 0.388
Total 35.560 99
114
Figure 4.10: Normal Q-Q Plot for Employee Mentoring Role
4.6.6.2 Test for Linearity
Linearity tests aims to determine the relationship between independent and the dependent
variables is linear or not. To determine if the relationship between employee mentoring
role and career plateau variable are linear in nature, the study used deviation from
linearity test. If the value sig. Deviation from Linearity> 0.05, then the relationship
between the independent variables are linearly dependent while if the value sig.
Deviation from Linearity < 0.05, then the relationship between independent variables
with the dependent is not linear. Table 4.35 presents the deviation from linearity test
results which indicate that there is a linear relationship between employee mentoring role
and career plateau because the value sig. Deviation from Linearity <0.05 (0.092 > 0.05).
115
Table 4.35: Test for Linearity between Employee Mentoring Role and Career
Plateau
4.6.6.3 Test for Heteroscedasticity
Heteroscedasticity test is part of the classical assumption test in the regression model. To
determine the assumption for employee mentoring role variable, the study used tests for
heteroscedasticity. Table 4. 36 presents the results of the heteroscedasticity tests which
indicate that there is no problem of heteroscedasticity for employee mentoring role and
career plateau (t = 1.002, β =0.255, p= 0.319). With a p-value = 0.319, it means that
there is no problem of heteroscedasticity for employee mentoring and career plateau (The
effect is positive because β is positive and is not significant because p-value > 0.05).
Table 4.36: Test for Heteroscedasticity for Employee Mentoring Role and Career
Plateau
Based on the scatterplot output figure 4.11 below, it appears that the spots are diffused
and do not form a clear specific pattern. So it can be concluded that the regression model
does not cause heteroscedasticity problem.
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Employee Mentoring * Career Plateau Between Groups (Combined) 29.694 35 0.848 1.459 0.094
Linearity 0.677 1 0.677 1.165 0.284
Deviation from Linearity 29.016 34 0.853 1.468 0.092
Within Groups 37.788 65 0.581
Total 67.481 100
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) 1.698 0.753 2.255 0.026
Career Plateau 0.255 0.254 0.100 1.002 0.319
a. Dependent Variable: Employee Mentoring
Model
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Figure 4.11: Scatterplot for Employee Mentoring Role
4.6.6.4 Test for Multicollinearity
To determine the assumption of no multicollinearity for the employee engagement role
variable, the study used variance inflation factor (VIF) values. If the VIF value lies
between 1 – 10, then there is no multicollinearity, however if the VIF <1 or>10, then
there is multicollinearity. Table 4.37 presents the values which indicated that there’s no
multicollinearity since the VIF value (VIF = 1) was between 1 and 10.
Table 4.37: Test for Multicollinearity for Employee Mentoring Role and Career
Plateau
Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig. Collinearity
Statistics
B Std. Error Beta Tolerance VIF
(Constant) 1.698 0.753 2.255 0.026
Career Plateau 0.255 0.254 0.100 1.002 0.319 1.000 1.000
a. Dependent Variable: Employee Mentoring
117
4.6.6.5 Regression Tests
The following section presents the R2
value for regression model summary, F statistics
for regression ANOVA and t statistics for regression coefficient for the linear relationship
between employee mentoring role and career plateau. The regression analysis findings
presented in the model summary Table 4.38 indicates that employee mentoring role
explained 1% of the variability in employees’ career plateau in telecommunications
organizations in Kenya (R2 = .100). This means that the contribution of employee
mentoring on the relationship between career plateau and employee mentoring is 1%.
Table 4.38: Model Summary for Linear Relationship between Employee Mentoring
Role and Career Plateau
4.5.6.6 Regression ANOVA
The linear regression F statistics value presented in Table 4.39 indicates that there was no
statistical and significant linear relationship between employee mentoring role and career
plateau (F (1, 99) = 1.004, p > 0.05).
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error
of the Estimate
.100a 0.010 0.000 0.323
a. Predictors: (Constant), Employee Mentoring
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Table 4.39: ANOVA for Linear Relationship between Employee Mentoring Role
and Career Plateau
4.5.6.7 Regression Coefficient
The regression coefficient findings were presented in Table 4.40 and shows that
employee mentoring role statistically and significantly predicted career plateau (β =
0.039, t = 1.002, p > .05).
The estimated regression model explaining the results in Table 4.30 is given by:
Career Plateau = 2.851 + 0.039 x employee mentoring role
The model shows that employee mentoring role positively affects career plateau, i.e. a
unit mean index increase in employee mentoring role applied will result into a positive
increase in career plateau by 0.039 in telecommunication organizations in Kenya by a
positive mean index value of 0.039.
Table 4.40: Plateau Regression Coefficient for Linear Relationship between
Employee Mentoring Role and Career Plateau
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Regression 0.105 1 0.105 1.004 .319b
Residual 10.353 99 0.105
Total 10.458 100
a. Dependent Variable: Career Plateau
b. Predictors: (Constant), Employee Mentoring
Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig. 95.0% Confidence
Interval for B
B Std. Error Beta Lower
Bound
Upper
Bound
(Constant) 2.851 0.102 28.058 0.000 2.650 3.053
Employee Mentoring 0.039 0.039 0.100 1.002 0.319 -0.039 0.118
a. Dependent Variable: Career Plateau
119
Correlational analysis revealed that there was a statistically significant but weak and
positive association between employee mentoring role and career plateau, r (101) =
0.100, p > .05. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test revealed that there was no
statistically significant difference on the effect of employee mentoring role on career
plateau by age F = 1.459, p > .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F
=0.792, p > .05 and duration of employment F = 1.402, p > .05. Test for normality
revealed that data is approximately normal for employee mentoring role variable. The test
for linearity revealed that there is a linear relationship between employee mentoring role
and career plateau because the value sig. Deviation from Linearity <0.05 (0.092 > 0.05).
It was also found that employee mentoring role explained 1% of the variability in
employee’s career plateau in the telecoms industry R2
= 0.100. This means that the
contribution of employee mentoring role on the relationship between career plateau and
employee engagement is 1%. And finally, the regression coefficient findings showed that
employee mentoring role statistically and significantly predicted career plateau (β =
0.039, t = 1.002, p > .05) thus Career Plateau = 2.851 + 0.039 x employee mentoring role.
4.7 Combined Regression Analysis
To ascertain the role of independent variables on dependent variables, a simple regression
analysis was conducted using the independent variables leadership roles and dependent
variable career plateau.
4.7.1 Combined Regression Tests
The following section presents the combined R2
value for regression model summary, F
statistics for regression ANOVA and t statistics for regression coefficient for the linear
relationship between leadership role and career plateau.
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4.7.1.1 Regression Model Summary
The regression analysis findings presented in the model summary Table 4.41 indicates
that leadership role explained 13.3% of the variability in employees’ career plateau in
telecommunications organizations in Kenya (R2 = .133). This means that the contribution
of leadership role on the relationship with career plateau is 13.3%.
Table 4.41: Model Summary for Linear Relationship between Employee Mentoring
Role and Career Plateau
4.7.1.2 Regression ANOVA
The linear regression F statistics value presented in Table 4.42 indicates that there was no
statistical and significant linear relationship between leadership roles and career plateau
(F (3, 97) = 4.975, p > 0.05).
Table 4.42: ANOVA for Linear Relationship between Employee Mentoring Role
and Career Plateau
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error
of the Estimate
1 .365a 0.133 0.107 0.30568
a. Predictors: (Constant), Employee Mentoring, Job Redesign, Employee Engagement
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 1.395 3 0.465 4.975 .003b
Residual 9.064 97 0.093
Total 10.458 100
b. Predictors: (Constant), Employee Mentoring, Job Redesign, Employee Engagement
Model
a. Dependent Variable: Career Plateau
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4.7.1.3 Regression Coefficient
The regression coefficient findings were presented in Table 4.43. The results revealed
that Employee engagement and employee mentoring roles are statistically and
significantly predicted career plateau (β = 0.212, t = 2.964, and β = -0.090, t = -1.761, p >
.05) while job redesign insignificantly predicted career plateau (β = 0.083, t = 1.249, p >
.05)
The estimated regression model explaining the results in Table 4.30 is given by:
Career Plateau = 2.421 + (0.212 x employee engagement) + (0.083 x job redesign) -
(0.090 x employee mentoring)
The model shows that leadership role positively affects career plateau, i.e. a unit mean
index increase in employee engagement role applied will result into a positive increase in
career plateau by 0.212, while a unit mean index increase in job redesign role applied will
result into a positive increase in career plateau by 0.083 and a unit mean index increase in
employee mentoring role applied will result into a negative increase in career plateau by
0.090.
Table 4.43: Regression Coefficient for Linear Relationship between Employee
Mentoring Role and Career Plateau
4.7 Chapter Summary
This section outlined the summary of the major findings for each research question. For
the effect of employee engagement role among telecommunication organization
Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig. 95.0% Confidence
Interval for B
B Std. Error Beta Lower
Bound
Upper
Bound
1 (Constant) 2.421 0.157 15.456 0.000 2.110 2.731
Employee Engagement 0.212 0.071 0.386 2.964 0.004 0.070 0.354
Job Redesign 0.083 0.067 0.146 1.249 0.215 -0.049 0.216
Employee Mentoring -0.090 0.051 -0.228 -1.761 0.081 -0.191 0.011
a. Dependent Variable: Career Plateau
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employees’ in Kenya, the descriptive statistics revealed that most of the respondents who
participated in this study agreed that they are act in ways that support the success of their
organizations and that they are committed to succeed in whatever they do in their
organizations. The variables for employee engagement that stood out across all the
respondents surveyed with the closet mean of 1.79 and 1.99 out of a possible maximum
of 1 point (M = 1.79, SD = 0.983 and M = 1.99, D = 1.212). Correlation analysis results
showed that there was a statistically significant but moderate and positive
association/relationship between employee engagement role and career plateauing, r
(101) = 0.316, p < .05. One-Way ANOVA test results showed that there was no
statistically significant difference on the effect of employee engagement role on career
plateau by age F = 1.315, p > .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F
=0.792, p > .05 and duration of employment F = 1.402, p > .05. Linear regression
analysis findings revealed that employee engagement role explained 10% of the
variability in employees’ career plateau in telecommunications organizations in Kenya
(R2 = .100).
The effect of job redesign role on telecommunications organization employees’ in Kenya,
the descriptive statistics results revealed that most of the respondents who participated in
this study were not sure whether they were appreciated by their organizations when they
think of what they are paid or whether the job structure in their organizations stimulate
personal growth, development and learning. The variables for job redesign that stood out
across all the respondents surveyed with the closet mean of 3.12 and 3.00 out of a
possible maximum of 3 point (M = 3.12, SD = 1.291 and M = 3.00, D = 1.181). Others
reported that they were not sure whether tasks and responsibilities at their organization
are structured to be more encouraging and inspiring (M = 2.88, SD = 1.116). Correlation
analysis results showed that there was a statistically significant but weak and positive
association/relationship between job redesign role and career plateauing, r (101) = 0.233,
p < .05. One-Way ANOVA test results showed that there was no statistically significant
difference on the effect of job redesign role on career plateau by age F = 1.315, p > .05,
gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p > .05 and duration of
123
employment F = 1.402, p > .05. Linear regression analysis findings revealed that job
redesign explained 5.4% of the variability in employees’ career plateau in
telecommunications organizations in Kenya (R2 = .054).
In terms of the effect of employee mentoring role on career plateau on
telecommunications organization employees’ in Kenya, the descriptive statistics results
revealed that most of the respondents who participated in this study agreed that employee
mentoring is a useful way of building skills in organizations (M = 1.76, SD = 1.124) and
that development opportunities for elected members are important (M = 1.93, SD =
1.160). However, the study revealed that majority of the respondents aren’t sure whether
their supervisor’s has more time for them (M = 2.87, SD = 1.246). Correlation analysis
results showed that the weak and positive association/relationship between employee
mentoring role and career plateauing is statistically not significant, r (101) = 0.100, p >
.05. One-Way ANOVA test results showed that there was no statistically significant
difference on the effect of employee mentoring role on career plateau by age F = 1.459, p
> .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p > .05 and duration
of employment F = 1.402, p > .05. Linear regression analysis findings revealed that
indicates that employee mentoring role explained 1% of the variability in employees’
career plateau in telecommunications organizations in Kenya (R2 = .100). The following
chapter outlines the summary, discussions, conclusions and recommendations.
Combined linear regression analysis revealed that leadership role positively affects career
plateau, i.e. a unit mean index increase in employee engagement role applied will result
into a positive increase in career plateau by 0.212, while a unit mean index increase in job
redesign role applied will result into a positive increase in career plateau by 0.083 and a
unit mean index increase in employee mentoring role applied will result into a negative
increase in career plateau by 0.090. The next chapter 5 outlines the summary,
discussions, conclusions and recommendations.
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CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction
This chapter presents the summary of findings, discussions, conclusion,
recommendations and suggestions for further study.
5.2 Summary of Findings
The purpose of this study was to explore the role of leadership on career plateau in the
telecommunication organizations in Kenya. The study was guided by the following
research questions: How does employee engagement affect career situations in the
telecommunications industry in Kenya? Why is job redesign important in addressing
career plateau situations in telecommunications industry in Kenya? Finally, how does
mentoring impact employee coping with career plateau situations in telecommunications
industry in Kenya?
The study employed a descriptive correlational research design. The target population for
this study was made up of 126 employees of the telecommunication organizations in
Kenya who have stayed in their current role for over three years. The sampling frame was
the official list of employees from the telecommunication organizations in Kenya who
have served in the same role for over three years as obtained from the human resources of
those organizations. The sample of the study comprised of 182 employees who were
selected using purposive sampling technique. Data was collected using online
questionnaires (Google forms) and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) data analysis tool. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to
analyze the data. The descriptive statistical analysis included frequencies and percentage
distributions, mean and standard deviation. Inferential statistical analysis included
correlation and linear regression analyses techniques that were used to determine the
relationship and effect of employee engagement, job redesign and employee mentoring
125
roles on employee career plateau in their organizations. The findings were presented
using tables, figures and supported by the researcher’s interpretation.
Findings from the basic information revealed that about 64% of the respondents were
male. The dominant age bracket of the respondents was between 35 – 44 years which
accounted for 61% of all the respondents. The results also revealed that majority of
respondents had attained Bachelors level of academic qualification signifying that most
of the respondents are highly skilled and are assumed to possess required skills for their
work challenges. In terms of organization hierarchy, about 45% of the respondents were
in mid-level management showing that they had grown in their organizations over time to
overcome career plateau challenges. The research also revealed that most of the
respondents had either not worked in their organizations for long or had not served in the
current role for long with about 44% of those who responded having worked for their
organizations for between 3 – 4 years, the least being between 15 – 19 years. It can
therefore be deduced that telecommunication industry comprises of young workers
probably due to the changing nature of technology and technological innovation over
time.
Starting with the findings on the dependent variable how leadership role influenced
career plateau among employees in the telecommunications organizations in Kenya. This
section outlined the summary of the major findings for each research question. For the
effect of career plateau on employee, the variable for career plateau role that stood out
across all the respondents surveyed with the closet mean of 3.93 out of a possible
maximum of 4 point (M = 3.93, SD = 1.329). Majority of the respondents disagreed that
they don’t have the required skills and abilities to take up the next challenges and that
their jobs are meaningless, have no challenge and offer no skill variety (M = 3.93, SD =
1.321). On the variable for job satisfaction, the findings indicated that the variable that
stood out across all the respondents surveyed with the closet mean of 3.45 out of a
possible maximum of 4 point (M = 3.45, SD = 1.330 and M = 3.04, SD = 1.280)
126
respectively. On the variable for job commitment, the findings indicated that the variable
that stood out across most respondents who participated in this study agreed that their
personal values fit with those of their organizations with a mean of 2.47 The variable for
job satisfaction that stood out across all the respondents surveyed is that the respondents
feel that their personal values fit with those of their organizations (M = 2.47, SD =
1.064).
On the first question of this study which was to determine to what extent employee
engagement as a leadership role influenced career plateau among employees in the
telecommunications organizations in Kenya. This section outlined the summary of the
major findings for each research question. For the effect of employee engagement role,
the descriptive statistics revealed that most of the respondents who participated in this
study agreed that they act in ways that support the success of their organizations and that
they are committed to succeed in whatever they do in their organizations. The variables
for employee engagement that stood out across all the respondents surveyed with the
closet mean of 1.79 and 1.99 out of a possible maximum of 2 point (M = 1.79, SD =
0.983 and M = 1.99, D = 1.212). Correlation analysis results showed that there was a
statistically significant but moderate and positive association/relationship between
employee engagement role and career plateauing, r (101) = 0.316, p < .05. One-Way
ANOVA test results showed that there was no statistically significant difference on the
effect of employee engagement role on career plateau by age F = 1.315, p > .05, gender F
= 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p > .05 and duration of employment F
= 1.402, p > .05. Linear regression analysis findings revealed that employee engagement
role explained 10% of the variability in employees’ career plateau (R2 = .100).
The effect of job redesign as a leadership role on telecommunications organization
employees’ in Kenya, the descriptive statistics results revealed that most of the
respondents who participated in this study were not sure whether they were appreciated
by their organizations when they think of what they are paid or whether the job structure
127
in their organizations stimulate personal growth, development and learning. The variables
for job redesign that stood out across all the respondents surveyed with the closet mean of
3.12 and 3.00 out of a possible maximum of 3 point (M = 3.12, SD = 1.291 and M = 3.00,
D = 1.181). Others reported that they were not sure whether tasks and responsibilities at
their organization are structured to be more encouraging and inspiring (M = 2.88, SD =
1.116). Correlation analysis results revealed that there was a statistically significant but
weak and positive association/relationship between job redesign role and career
plateauing, r (101) = 0.233, p < .05. One-Way ANOVA test results showed that there was
no statistically significant difference on the effect of job redesign role on career plateau
by age F = 1.315, p > .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p
> .05 and duration of employment F = 1.402, p > .05. Linear regression analysis findings
however, revealed that job redesign explained 5.4% of the variability in employees’
career plateau in telecommunications organizations in Kenya (R2 = .054).
In terms of the effect of employee mentoring as a leadership role, the descriptive statistics
results revealed that most of the respondents who participated in this study agreed that
employee mentoring is a useful way of building skills in organizations (M = 1.76, SD =
1.124) and that development opportunities for elected members are important (M = 1.93,
SD = 1.160). However, the study revealed that the majority of the respondents were not
sure whether their supervisors have more time for them (M = 2.87, SD = 1.246).
Correlation analysis results showed that the weak and positive association/relationship
between employee mentoring role and career plateauing is statistically not significant, r
(101) = 0.100, p > .05. One-Way ANOVA test results showed that there was no
statistically significant difference on the effect of employee mentoring role on career
plateau by age F = 1.459, p > .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F
=0.792, p > .05 and duration of employment F = 1.402, p > .05. Linear regression
analysis findings revealed that indicates that employee mentoring role explained 1% of
the variability in employees’ career plateau in the telecommunications organizations in
Kenya (R2 = .100).
128
Combined linear regression analysis revealed that leadership role positively affects career
plateau, i.e. a unit mean index increase in employee engagement role applied will result
into a positive increase in career plateau by 0.212, while a unit mean index increase in job
redesign role applied will result into a positive increase in career plateau by 0.083 and a
unit mean index increase in employee mentoring role applied will result into a negative
increase in career plateau by 0.090. The next section outlines the summary, discussions,
conclusions and recommendations.
5.3 Discussions
This section discusses the results of the study based on the research questions. The key
findings for each research question are discussed in relation with the literature review.
5.3.1 Career Plateau
The findings indicated that most respondents who participated in this study demonstrated
a stronger agreement that they have plateaued in their careers. The results are consistent
with Zi tong, Juan (2011) who found that low satisfaction, low motivation, high stress,
poor performance and high turnover are caused by counterproductive behaviors such as
plateauing. The variable for career plateau role that stood out across all the respondents
surveyed with the closet mean of 3.93 out of a possible maximum of 4 point (M = 3.93,
SD = 1.329). Majority of the respondents disagreed that they don’t have the required
skills and abilities to take up the next challenges and that their jobs are meaningless, have
no challenge and offer no skill variety (M = 3.93, SD = 1.321). This finding agrees with
Choudhary, Riaz, (2013), who found that employees who experience career stagnation in
own career perceive their supervisors as less supportive and thus experience negative
work outcomes such as lack of job satisfaction and turnover intentions. On the point
about my position in current organization is unduly prolonged, 15.8% strongly agreed,
22.8% agreed as 26.7% remained neutral. However, 26.7% disagreed with the statement
as 7.9% strongly disagreed with it giving a mean of 2.88. This finding is consistent with
Badiane, (2016) who found that careers are person-centered; they exist only because
people pursue them. People entering the organization aim at developing their aspirations,
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but unfortunately after working for five years or even more some of them would be
unable to reach their career goals and plan, thus plateau ensures.
The findings indicated that the variable for job satisfaction that stood out across all the
respondents surveyed with the closet mean of 3.45 out of a possible maximum of 4 point
(M = 3.45, SD = 1.330 and M = 3.04, SD = 1.280) respectively. On the item on the
respondent’s opinion on whether they like the people they work with, 34.7% strongly
agreed with the statement, 45.5% agreed while 6.9% of those who gave their responses
remained neutral. However, 5.9% disagreed with the statement as 6.9% strongly
disagreed with a mean of 2.05. This finding is consistent with Drucker-Godard, Fouque
and Flanchec, (2017) employers should give more attention to the well-being and job
satisfaction of their employees, for happiness is critical to organizational success and
management of career plateau. This satisfaction results from the congruence between
employees’ personal values and those of the organization which makes for greater
meaningfulness and psychological safety. The findings indicated that most respondents
who participated in this study agreed that their personal values fit with those of their
organizations with a mean of 2.47. The variable for job satisfaction that stood out across
all the respondents surveyed is that the respondents feel that their personal values fit with
those of their organizations (M = 2.47, SD = 1.064). The finding agree with Khan and
Jan, (2015), observed that when personal values don’t fit those of organizations, loss of
valuable knowledge and experience happens.
5.3.2 Employee Engagement as a Leadership Role and Career Plateau
The study findings from the descriptive analysis revealed that most of the employees
agreed that they act in ways that support the success of their organizations and that they
are committed to succeed in whatever they do in their organizations (M = 1.79, SD =
0.983 and M = 1.99, D = 1.212). The results are consistent with Sange (2015) who found
that employee engagement is about attitude, behavior, and outcomes. This may be true
because employees like working where they feel proud, and loyal towards the
130
organization, and so they become an advocate of the company and go an extra mile to
accomplish their tasks. The result concurs with the findings from Lee, et al (2016) which
showed that employee engagement is closely tied to employees’ career, and it has a
positive influence on organization and employees. This result is also consistent with the
findings by Eljaaidi, (2016) who found that it contributes to feelings of pride and loyalty
working, for the organization, a great advocate of the organization to its customers, users
and partners. These employees are exhibiting commitment to their work, give company’s
crucial competitive advantages—including higher productivity. On his part Mastekaasa
(2009), found that it is about utilizing staff’s opinions and knowledge to develop
products, and services produced by their organization.
The findings from the descriptive analysis also showed that employees always act in
ways that support the success of their organizations (M = 1.79, SD = 0.983). The
employee engagement also describes the connection with the organization; a construct
which contributes to the effectiveness, efficiency, productivity and growth of the
organization (Chutke, 2016). Arriaga, et al, (2001) in his findings showed that this
engagement brings satisfaction and pride in the employer, the extent which brings joy and
belief in what they do for work. Shuck, et al, (2011) in his findings showed that
engagement promotes motivation by reducing plateaus in organizations. This findings
also agrees with Eljaaidi (2016) who found that engagement causes workplace
attitudinal-behavioral concept that makes employees exert their best efforts each day, be
committed to the organization’s goals and values and motivated to contribute to
organizational effectiveness. Employee engagement role is also based on mutual
commitment, organizational trust, integrity, and effective system of communication
inside and outside the organization. Employee engagement is also driven by the
relationship with direct manager, belief in senior leadership and support from the
organization at large to overcome plateaus.
Correlation analysis results showed that there was a statistically significant but moderate
and positive association/relationship between employee engagement role and career
131
plateauing, r (101) = 0.316, p < .05. This finding is consistent with Kamau et al, (2016),
who in his findings shown that when employees are cognitively committed, their
productivity increases. While Gikonyo (2013) observed unpredictable and unsatisfactory
performance in public service and state corporations in Kenya with results indicating that
traits such as psychological state and behavioral commitments significantly influence
career plateaus. According to Kumari et al, (2013), engagement contributes to
employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with and involvement in an
organization and it influences personal characteristics, structural characteristics, and work
experiences. However, Saygan (2011) disagrees with these findings and observed lack of
alternatives as leading employees to have a strong continuance commitment in their
organizations even if they have plateaued. On the other hand, personal reasons have been
cited by employees not to seek additional responsibilities, a finding which disagrees with
this research result (Shakila et al, 2017). Other findings show that positive attitude by
employees lead to increased satisfaction and commitment implying that even if an
employee is in a plateau, he will still be satisfied because they will radiate positive self-
energy (Ongori et al., 2009).
The study findings on One-Way ANOVA showed that there was no statistically
significant difference on the effect of employee engagement role on career plateau by age
F = 1.315, p > .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p > .05
and duration of employment F = 1.402, p > .05. This finding agrees with Gikonyo (2013)
who noted that committed employees take greater initiative and generate their own
positive feedback so as to avoid career plateau situations. Thus such employees may be
plateaued especially due to personal reasons when they perceive that there is little support
and hence create perception of plateauing. Verheijen, (2015) in his finding observed that
individual behaviors predict work variables such as turnover, organizational citizenship
behavior and career plateau situations, therefore in concurrence with the findings of this
study that employee behaviors as opposed to how they are engaged may lead to
incidences of plateau. Eljaaidi, (2016) in his findings observed that employees are
assumed to know exactly how much they value different job characteristics and to use
132
these values as weights when performing their jobs. This finding makes relatively good
sense with regards to phenomena like job fulfillment, as a strong cognitive component of
reducing incidences of career plateaus (Mastekaasa, 2009).
The study findings on regression analysis established that employee engagement role
explained 10% of the variability in employees’ career plateau in telecommunications
organizations in Kenya (R2 = .100). The findings of Lee, et al, (2016) acknowledged that
the connection construct of employee engagement contributes to the effectiveness,
efficiency, productivity and growth of the organization. This may be true due to the fact
that the emotional aspect determines how employees feel about the company, their
leaders, their colleagues and their work. The behavioral factor however, is the value
added component reflected in the amount of effort employees put into their work. Eljaaidi
(2016) found that when employees are committed, their career plateau situations decrease
and so their chances of prosperity are high, and this contributes to higher individual
performance and their well-being at work improves. Other findings showed that
commitment arose with the shift in focus in psychology from weaknesses, malfunctioning
and damage towards happiness, human strengths and optimal functioning Bailey, et al,
(2015). Such factors make employees experience positive organizational feelings which
leads to improved commitment levels. This therefore is regarded to promote happiness as
an important goal of psychology, namely pleasure, engagement and meaning.
Commitment as a component of happiness, entails that individuals pursue gratification by
applying their strengths. The next section discusses finding job redesign as a leadership
role and career plateau.
5.3.3 Job Redesign as a Leadership Role and Career Plateau
The study findings from descriptive analysis on the effect of job redesign role on the
telecommunications organization employees’ in Kenya, revealed that most of the
respondents who participated in this study were not sure whether they were appreciated
by their organizations when they think of what they are paid or whether the job structure
in their organizations stimulate personal growth, development and learning (M = 3.12,
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SD = 1.291 and M = 3.00, D = 1.181). Others reported that they were not sure whether
tasks and responsibilities at their organization are structured to be more encouraging and
inspiring (M = 2.88, SD = 1.116). This finding agrees with Tremblay et al, (2007) who
also found that greater decision-making power can substantially increase the feeling of
success in the organization and reduce plateaus. In other similar findings, Mugo et al.,
(2014) found that job redesign can prove particularly useful when career plateau is
reached by changing the level of responsibilities to introduce challenge thereby
significantly influencing job behaviors in organizations. Similar findings also revealed
that organizations may change the attitudes of their employees towards career through job
description interventions, a concept that is meant to improve positive organizational
behaviors achieved through analysis of tasks that make up the jobs and skills, abilities
and responsibilities required for the job holder. Nduta, (2017) in her findings also agrees
with this finding that career plateau is inevitable especially when employee jobs are
unchallenging, provide fewer development opportunities and limited future employability
and that the same can be enhanced by revamping job descriptions to rejuvenate work
challenges. However, Eisenberger et al., (1990) disagreed with this finding as they
observed that employee perception of organizational support affects attitude commitment
and performance. Job redesign role has been found to solve problems related to skills,
work overload, repetitiveness, and that strict adherence to old job descriptions no matter
what would be counterproductive to the organizational wellbeing.
The findings from descriptive analysis also showed that role ambiguity has a direct
impact on attitudes and behaviors that make individuals react differently as a
consequence of reaching ineffective career stage in their organizations (M = 2.13, SD =
1.002). Foster, (2011) agreed with this finding that employees use different strategies to
cope with such career changes, among them defense, reevaluation and transition, without
which employees may remain in the same position and become less productive as plateau
ensures. Achieng et al, (2014) while studying the effect of job redesign on employee
performance among commercial bank employees in Kisumu established that
organizations can improve work characteristics of their employees who exhibit career
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stagnation symptoms through work redesign. In other studies, Mugo et al., (2014) found
that limited promotional opportunities is now forcing managers in organizations to
rethink strategies to improve work experience through job redesign initiatives. These
findings concur with the results obtained from this study. When individuals cannot finish
a job, they experience negative emotion and anxiety in the work place; Alam et al.,
(2015) found out that role ambiguity is not easy to avoid due to overlapping roles in
many organizations; this is experienced due to lack of role clarity (June et al., 2011);
inadequacy and insufficient information about the process of completing the tasks and
responsibilities (Salami, 2010). Bako, (2014) in his findings in Nigeria observed roles to
be key aspects of employees working function and comprises what they expect of one
another and such expectations lead to negative consequences associated with career
success factors such as job dissatisfaction, lack of organization commitment and plateau.
Correlation analysis results showed that there was a statistically significant but weak and
positive association/relationship between job redesign role and career plateauing, r (101)
= 0.233, p < .05. Kariuki, (2012) agrees that organizations are facing greater potential for
role conflict than ever before in history, that personality conflicts are realities in
organizations and a contributor to negative work interactions. Isaac, (2011) also agreed
that role ambiguity tends to cause people to move to other jobs perceived to be more
rewarding and reassuring so as to avoid incidence of career stagnation. The other findings
consistent with this study are participative decision making which improve their
organizational commitment. Beheshtifar, et al, (2013) also found out that employees with
higher levels of job participation are less likely to quit and that organizations can reap
significant benefits from them. These employees provide the extra energy and mental
space which they can easily put towards developing the organization through
participative decision making and involvement and so participation is great for their life
in the organization. Bidwell et al., (2015) also agreed with the finding that organizations’
participative decision making is a managerial tool to promote organizational
commitment, aimed to reduce career plateau situations and the overall well-being of the
organization.
135
One-Way ANOVA test results showed that there was no statistically significant
difference on the effect of job redesign role on career plateau by age F = 1.315, p > .05,
gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p > .05 and duration of
employment F = 1.402, p > .05. The study findings differ from Raju et al, (2017) who
found that organizations may change the attitudes of their employees towards career
through job description interventions, a concept that is meant to improve positive
organizational behaviors. Taufik (2014), in his findings also disagreed with the study
findings as observed that job description is crucial for efficient work performance in any
institution, and that in many organizations employees complain of having ineffective or
non-existence job descriptions. And that these problems lead to poor performance, poor
involvement and underutilization. However, Eisenberger et al., (1990) supports the
findings and that the effect depends on employee’s own perception of the organization,
support required and effects on attitude, commitment and performance.
Linear regression analysis findings revealed that job redesign explained 5.4% of the
variability in employees’ career plateau (R2 = .054). The study findings supported the
theory advanced by Oldham’s (1974) that emphasized on the job experiences. That
employee will be motivated to work as a result of the experiences he gets from his
workplace. This motivation may come from variety of tasks that an individual partakes,
and that if an employee is not properly motivated, chances of them exhibiting high levels
of plateau are very high. Therefore, a good job description should help mitigate plateau
situations in organizations by focusing on the core values of skill variety, task identity,
task significance and autonomy (Henson, 2011). It is then imperative for managers to use
performance feedback to discover and intervene in instances of employees experiencing
plateaus in their career development (Ali et al, 2014). Employers can also implement
interventions to solve problems such as those related to skills, work overload,
repetitiveness, and increase in working hours (Siengthai and Pila-Ngarm, 2015).
Employers therefore can use the changing job functions in organizations to alleviate the
136
feeling of frustrations in employees due to lack of career growth. The next section
discusses employee mentoring as a leadership role and career plateau.
5.3.4 Employee Mentoring as a Leadership Role and Career Plateau
The study findings from descriptive analysis on the effect of employee mentoring role in
career plateau agreed that employee mentoring is a useful way of building skills in
organizations (M = 1.76, SD = 1.124) and that development opportunities for elected
members are important (M = 1.93, SD = 1.160). However, the study revealed that
majority of the respondents are not sure whether their supervisors have more time for
them (M = 2.87, SD = 1.246). Marinescu, (2010) in his findings agreed with this finding
and revealed that it is an efficient and effective method of shortening the learning curve
of new employees and providing more knowledgeable employees with broader
perspectives. That an employee with a mentor has a sounding board, as well as the
benefit of their mentor’s experience as they navigate through situations that may be
unfamiliar to them. Gozukara, (2017) findings also concurred with the study findings that
employee mentoring is synonymous to coaching or advising, it focuses on the long term
relationships, long term goals, and personal and career development. Therefore,
organization managers need to ensure that mentoring gets to where it is needed most by
ultimately helping move our mentoring relationships from the ordinary to the
extraordinary. This finding also agrees with Fester (2010) that mentoring relationships
are strongly correlated to career success, that the protégés tend to advance more quickly
in their careers, feel more satisfied in their careers and express positive psychological
coping skills. Lentz et al., (2011) also found out that organizations with a mentoring
culture had better career outcomes from both career-related psychological mentoring and
are more satisfied with their careers and believe they would advance in their careers.
The study findings from descriptive analysis also found that successful mentoring in
organizations involve such traits as flexibility, ownership, clarity and feedback (M =
1.91, SD = 1.090). The findings are consistent with the findings for Ragins, (2016) who
137
found out that when employees know their roles and are adequately trained, they tend to
feel more accomplished and in turn employee career plateau rates are reduced. These
employees tend to engage more with one another, both same and higher-level positions.
This finding is also consistent with Foster et al., (2011), who found that effectively
managing plateaued employees includes changing the employees’ environment using
positive work opportunities. This is where development of effective feedback and people
development skills as a positive outcome of the mentor/mentee relationship in
organizations becomes important. Also Nyamori (2015) agreed that mentorships allow
new practitioners to set and achieve goals for their job role. It also improves a pool of
talent for management and technical jobs and help shape future careers of employees in
the organization. Mentors may also use practices such as assisting individual career
problem solving, and redefinition of career success to significantly facilitate their career
adaptation processes.
The findings from correlation analysis revealed an insignificantly weak and positive
association/relationship between employee mentoring role and career plateauing, r (101)
= 0.100, p > .05. The study findings are similar to Manson, (2016) who found that
mentoring is a learning process where helpful, personal, and reciprocal relationships are
built while focusing on achievement, emotional support in organizations. That mentoring
empowers the mentor with communicating network, training and administrating skills to
promote mentoring relationships. Zachary (2005) highlighted four traits to successfully
implement mentoring culture in an organization, namely, flexibility, ownership, clarity
and feedback. Sawatsky, et al, (2016), while doing their studies in the University Of
Malawi College Of Medicine, observed the strengths and challenges imposed by culture
towards provisioning of mentoring relationships at the institution.
One-Way ANOVA test results showed that there was no statistically significant
difference on the effect of employee mentoring role on career plateau by age F = 1.459, p
> .05, gender F = 1.598, p > .05, duration in current role F =0.792, p > .05 and duration
of employment F = 1.402, p > .05. Ongori et al, (2009) found that other factors contribute
138
to career plateau in organizations including inappropriate abilities and skills, low need for
career mobility and slow company growth. This supports the weak and insignificant
relationship found in this study findings between employee mentoring and career plateau.
Wangechi (2008) in her findings agreed with this study finding that teachers can
overcome plateauing by seeking external support systems, which increases their
enthusiasm by reducing career frustrations.
The findings from linear regression analysis revealed that employee mentoring role
explained 1% of the variability in employees’ career plateau in telecommunications
organizations in Kenya (R2 = .100). The study findings are in agreement with Marinescu,
(2010), who found out that mentoring is an efficient and effective method of shortening
the learning curve of new employees and providing more knowledgeable employees with
broader perspectives. Nachbagauer, (2002), also found that mentoring offer opportunities
for organizations to address the absence of new, challenging and varied tasks without
possibilities so as to eliminate learning stagnation. This finding is consistent with the
study findings and that in such cases, protégés gain leadership knowledge and skills
through dialogue with mentors and opportunities to enact best practice (Clayton, et al,
2013). Jannsen, et al (2018) found out that mentoring relationships deliver exceptional
outcomes that develop employees, improve their performance, and propel their careers.
That when employees are well equipped, they are more motivated to do their job because
they see rewards at the end. The next section presents conclusions of the study.
5.4 Conclusions
The following conclusions were made from the discussion of major findings.
5.4.1 Employee Engagement as a Leadership Role and Career Plateau
On the effect of employee engagement role on career plateau situations, this study
revealed that employee engagement role had a positive but moderately significant effect
on employee career plateau in the telecommunication organizations in Kenya. This means
that when employees are willing and ready to offer support to their fellows and peers in
139
the organization, their career plateau tendencies are reduced. It can also be concluded
from the findings that when employees act in ways that support the success of their
organizations, their engagement levels improve and so career plateau situations becomes
very low in those organizations.
5.4.1.1 Cognitive Commitment
On the effect of employee cognitive commitment role on career plateau situations, this
study revealed that most employees feel their organizations don’t really care about their
opinions and that the organization would not forgive a honest mistake on their part. This
means that these employees don’t feel their future is in these organization making plateau
situations to be very high.
5.4.1.2 Affective Commitment
On the effect of employee affective commitment role on career plateau situations, this
study revealed that most employees are not happy to work at their current organization
until they retire and that they don’t feel personally attached to their organizations. This
means these employees were not sure whether they were attached to their organizations.
5.4.1.3 Behavioral Commitment
On the effect of employee affective commitment role on career plateau situations, this
study revealed that most employees are always willing to give a helping hand to those
around them and they do their jobs without constant request from the boss. This implies
that these employees are always ready and willing to give a helping hand to those around
them.
5.4.2 Job Redesign as a Leadership Role and Career Plateau
140
On the importance of job redesign and how it addresses career plateau situations, this
study revealed that job redesign role had a significant but weak positive
association/relationship with employee career plateau situations in telecommunications
organizations in Kenya. This means that when decision sharing strategies are adopted in
organizations, overall organizational acceptability is enhanced by their employees and in
turn addresses career plateau situations in those organizations. It can be concluded that
when employees experience role ambiguity in their organizations, their attitudes and
behaviors are directly affected making them to react differently and consequently reach
career plateau in their organizations.
5.4.2.1 Job Descriptions
On the effect of employee affective commitment role on career plateau situations, this
study revealed that most employees believe that skill variety is among the many
characteristics that can influence the attitudes of individuals towards work and that
employee skills and knowledge is a necessary condition for moving to a more
challenging career task. This implies that these employees believe that job descriptions
assist in making sure that duties are aligned with organization vision and organizations
can use job descriptions to identify and develop talent.
5.4.2.2 Role Ambiguity
On the effect of role ambiguity on career plateau situations, this study revealed that role
ambiguity has a direct impact on attitudes and behaviors that make individuals react
differently as a consequence of reaching ineffective career stage. The findings do not
reveal that these employees don’t comprehend the expectation of their role in their
organizations. This implies that role ambiguity is associated with anxiety, burnout,
depression, and physical illness which results to negative attitudes and ineffective job
behaviors like career plateau.
141
5.4.2.3 Participative Decision Making
On the effect of participative decision-making on career plateau situations, this study
revealed that supervisors and subordinates in organizations do not share decision-making
influence but the findings support that decision sharing in organizations enhances overall
acceptability by employees. The findings implies that participative decision-making
process in organizations enable employees to have opportunity to share their
perspectives, voice their ideas and tap their skills to improve organization effectiveness
and efficiency while benefiting their career mobility situations.
5.4.3 Employee Mentoring as a Leadership Role and Career Plateau
On the impact of mentoring on employee coping with career plateau situations, the study
revealed that employee mentoring role had a weak and positive association/relationship
with employee career plateau situations in the telecommunications organizations in
Kenya. This means that employees’ view mentoring in their organizations as a useful way
of building skills and this in a way help them cope with plateau situations. Organization
managers therefore ought to institute policies that promote positive traits such as
flexibility, ownership, clarity and feedback in the mentoring process so as to successfully
impact their employees. The next section presents research recommendations.
5.4.3.1 Mentoring Relationships
On the effect of mentoring relationships on career plateau situations, this study revealed
that most employees don’t entirely believe that their supervisors provide them with
developmental opportunities for their work. They also don’t agree that their supervisors
always provide clear targeted arears of intervention in their career. The findings implies
that mentoring relationships are very important and so leveraging years of experience,
knowledge, and wisdom is a great mentors contribute to the workplace.
142
5.4.3.2 Mentoring as an Organization Strategy
On the effect of mentoring relationships on career plateau situations, this study revealed
that employees believe that their organizations have a well-structured plan for their won
learning over the next 12 months. The results also reveal that most organizations don’t
have policies that allow employees to get direct feedback from other people which can be
used for personal development. The findings implies that when organizations incorporate
mentoring in their strategy, can have positive impact by improving employee retention,
engagement and shaping culture. It can also serve as a strategic purpose when linked to
talent strategy, leadership development, workforce planning, and organization goals.
5.4.3.3 Technical Skills and Knowledge
On the effect of technical skills and knowledge on career plateau situations, this study
revealed that mentoring is about learning and growing. The results also reveal that
successful mentoring in organizations involve such traits as flexibility, ownership, clarity
and feedback. The findings implies that technical skills are very important as they can
help one work more efficiently, boost ones confidence and make one more valuable in
the organization. They can also come in handy in executing complex and challenging
tasks thus making the work process exciting. These reduces boredom due to repeated
tasks and thus reduces chances of plateau in organizations.
5.5 Recommendations
The following recommendations for improvement and further studies are proposed based
on the findings and conclusions presented above.
5.5.1 Recommendations for Organization HR Practice Improvement
5.5.1.1 Employee Engagement as a Leadership Role and Career Plateau
143
This study recommends that telecommunication organization managers and human
resource practitioners should adopt employee engagement role especially on those
employees who have served in the same role, function, or department for more than three
years by improving their work experience in the organization so as to minimize
consequences of career plateau. This can be done through stimulating work conditions
like establishment of feedback loops in their organizations on matters affecting
employees work. This will make the employees go beyond what is expected of them and
persist on the face of difficulty.
5.5.1.2 Job Redesign as a Leadership Role and Career Plateau
Even though the research findings revealed a weak but positive relationship, applying job
redesign roles to employee tasks and roles through job enrichment and job enlargement
interventions in the organizations by telecommunication HR practitioners would result to
a reduction of task monotony and introduce challenge thereby improving employee’s
satisfaction with their jobs and this would help improve plateau situations.
5.5.1.3 Employee Mentoring as a Leadership Role and Career Plateau
This study recommends that telecommunications managers and human practitioners
adopt mentoring roles in their organizations as a way of building skills for their
employees and how they can cope with the changing organizational environment.
5.5.2 Recommendations Policy Makers
The government through labor union and Communication Authority of Kenya can
therefore also share from the findings by undertaking to explore job redesign, employee
engagement policies in the telecommunication industry. These policies should also seek
144
to address contemporary trends in employee career plateaus to provide a realistic and
contextual solutions to these employee as articulated by these findings.
5.5.3 Recommendations for Further Studies
The primary focus of this study was on the role leadership plays in addressing career
plateau situations in telecommunication organizations in Kenya. This study recommends
that similar studies be carried out in other industries in Kenya to determine the overall
effect leadership roles on employee career plateau in those organizations.
145
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APPENDIX I: AUTHORIZATION LETTER
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APPENDIX II: NACOSTI RSEARCH PERMIT
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APPENDIX III: COVER LETTER
July 11, 2020
Dear Respondent,
Many thanks for accepting to complete this questionnaire. I am a graduate student at the
United States International University - Africa. In partial fulfillment of the requirement
for the degree of Masters of Science in Organization Development (MOD), I am carrying
out a research on “The Role of Leadership On Employee Career Plateau in
Telecommunications Organizations in Kenya”. To help me conduct this study
successfully, I would be very grateful if you kindly complete the enclosed questionnaire
which will be used on aggregate basis. You have been randomly selected among many to
participate in this study and information provided will be treated with utmost confidence.
It is estimated that it will take less than seven (7) minutes of your time to complete the
questionnaire. Please respond as honestly and objectively as possible.
Your support in responding to the questions is highly appreciated. I look forward to
receiving filled up questionnaires.
In case of any questions, please feel free to write me an email ([email protected] )
or call / SMS on 0780-100-001.
Yours Sincerely,
Olal Wilfred (Masters Student)
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APPENDIX IV: QUESTIONNAIRE
SECTION ONE: General Information
This section, seeks general information about yourself. Several questions have been
provided most of which have sets of answer choices while others have blank space
provisions for their answers. You are therefore required to select the answer from the
choices provided by placing a tick (√) or cross mark (x) and to provide answer
statements to the blank spaces provided in the respective questions.
1. Please indicate your sex
a. Female [ ]
b. Male [ ]
2. What is your age in years?
a. Below 24 years [ ]
b. 25 to 34 years [ ]
c. 35 to 44 years [ ]
d. 45 to 54 years [ ]
e. Above 55 years [ ]
3. Please indicate your level of education
a. Diploma [ ]
b. Bachelor [ ]
c. Masters [ ]
d. Doctorate [ ]
e. Others (Please specify)……………………………………..
4. What is your position in your company?
a. General Staff [ ]
b. Specialist Role [ ]
c. Middle Management [ ]
d. Senior Management [ ]
5. How long have you worked for this organization?
a. Between 3 – 4 years [ ]
b. Between 5 – 9 years [ ]
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c. Between 10 – 14 years [ ]
d. Between 15 – 19 years [ ]
e. Over 20 years [ ]
6. How long have you worked in your current role?
a. Between 3 – 4 years [ ]
b. Between 5 – 9 years [ ]
c. Between 10 – 14 years [ ]
d. Between 15 – 19 years [ ]
e. Over 20 years [ ]
7. Kindly indicate the name of your organization.
a. Airtel Kenya [ ]
b. Safaricom PLC [ ]
c. Telkom Kenya [ ]
SECTION TWO: Career Plateauing in the Telecommunications Industry
This section focusses on the role of leadership on employee career plateau in
telecommunications organizations in Kenya. This section is divided in to four parts: the
first part focusses on the effect of career plateau on employees, the second part focusses
on the effect of employee engagement on career plateau, the third part focusses on the
effect of job redesign on career plateau and the fourth part focusses on the effect of
employee mentoring on career plateau.
Part One: Career Plateauing in the Telecommunications Industry
This section contains statements that assess your Perceptions of employee career plateau.
Career Plateau in this case is about a point in time in a professional’s career, where the
possibility of a vertical promotion is less, and the position of the employee becomes
stagnant with same and repetitive work and responsibilities. Please respond to the items
below by placing a tick (√) in the box that represents your perception on each of the
following statements. Your choices are on a Likert scale ranging from: 1- Strongly Agree,
(SA) 2-Agree (A), 3- Not Sure (NS),4-Disagree(D) and 5-Strongly Disagree(DA).
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NO. Statement
Levels of agreement
1 2 3 4 5 Career plateau
1.1.1. My position in the current organization is unduly prolonged
1.1.2. I can develop my career aspirations in my current
organization
1.1.3. I get satisfaction and psychological well-being from my
current job
1.1.4. I experience low level of commitment from my current job
1.1.5. I don’t have the required skills and abilities to take up the
next challenges
1.1.6. My job is meaningless, have no challenge and offer no skill
variety
1.1.7. There is really too little chance for promotion on my job
1.1.8. My job is highly connected with my identities, interests and
life goals
Job Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction refers to a measure of worker’s
contentedness with their job, whether or not they like the job
or individual aspects or facets of jobs, such as nature of work
or supervision.
1.2.1. I like the people I work with
1.2.2. I sometimes feel my job is meaningless
1.2.3. I do not feel that the work I do is appreciated
1.2.4. I like doing the things I do at work
1.2.5. I feel a sense of pride in doing my job
Job Commitment
Job commitment refers to the extent to which an individual
employee identifies with organization s/he works for and
therefore s/he intends to continue working for that
organization because the goals of the organization fit with
those of the employee.
1.3.1. I would do any job within this organization
1.3.2. I feel that my personal values fit with those of the
organization
1.3.3. I do not feel emotionally attached to my organization
1.3.4. My organization means a lot to me personally
1.3.5. I would have feelings of guilt if I were leave the organization
now
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Part Two: Employee Engagement in the Telecommunications Industry
This section contains statements that assess your Perceptions of employee engagement.
Career Engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all
members of an organization to give of their best each day, committed to their
organization’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success, with
an enhanced sense of their own well-being. Please respond to the items below by placing
a tick (√) in the box that represents your perception on each of the following statements.
Your choices are on a Likert scale ranging from: 1- Strongly Agree, (SA) 2-Agree (A), 3-
Not Sure (NS),4-Disagree(D) and 5-Strongly Disagree(DA).
NO. Statement
Level of
agreement
1 2 3 4 5 Employee Engagement
2.1.1. I am loyal, devoted, proud and have positive feelings about my
work
2.1.2. I act in ways that support the success of the organization
2.1.3. I am committed to succeed in whatever I do in my organization
2.1.4. I always react emotionally to the work and organization on
matters touching my job
2.1.5. I lack value congruence with my organization and its goals
2.1.6. I always feel my needs are taken care of in my organization
2.1.7. In my organization, I always find meaning in what I do
2.1.8. I feel empowered to do my work
Cognitive Commitment
Cognitive Commitment refers to understanding and describing
general principles of human cognitive processes of meaning
making in the organization.
2.2.1. My organization really cares about my well-being
2.2.2. My organization cares about my opinions
2.2.3. If given the opportunity, my organization take advantage of me
2.2.4. Help is available from my organization when I have a problem
2.2.5. My organization would forgive an honest mistake on my part
Affective Commitment
Affective Commitment refers to an employee’s emotional
attachment to, identification with and involvement in an
organization, it influences personal characteristics, structural
characteristics and work experience.
2.3.1. I feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization
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2.3.2. I feel personally attached to my organization
2.3.3. I am proud to tell others I work at my organization
2.3.4. Working at my organization has a great deal of personal meaning
to me
2.3.5. I would be happy to work at my organization until I retire
Behavioral Commitment
Cognitive Commitment refers to the employee’s perceived
alignment of the manager’s words, deeds and the relationship
between them that defines employee’s job satisfaction,
organization commitment, and satisfaction with the leader and
affect towards the organization.
2.4.1. My morale about my current job is good
2.4.2. I am always ready to give a helping hand to those around me
2.4.3. I help others who have heavy work load
2.4.4. I keep abreast of changes in my organization
2.4.5. I do my job without constant request from my boss
Part Three: Job Redesign in the Telecommunications Industry
This section contains statements that assess your Perceptions of job redesign. Job
redesign refers to an effort where job responsibilities and tasks are reviewed, and possibly
re-allocated among staff, to improve output. Please respond to the items below by placing
a tick (√) in the box that represents your perception on each of the following statements.
Your choices are on a Likert scale ranging from: 1- Strongly Agree, (SA) 2-Agree (A), 3-
Not Sure (NS),4-Disagree(D) and 5-Strongly Disagree(DA).
NO. Statement
Levels of
agreement
1 2 3 4 5 Job Redesign
3.1.1. Task and responsibilities at my workplace are restructured to be
more encouraging and inspiring
3.1.2. Job structure in my organization stimulate personal growth,
development and learning
3.1.3. Jobs in my organization introduce challenge to influence
positive job behaviors
3.1.4. Greater decision-making power increases feelings of success
even if no promotion is offered
3.1.5. I like doing the things I do at work
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3.1.6. I feel unappreciated by the organization when I think about what
they pay me
3.1.7. Job description defines accountability in organizations
3.1.8. Poor performance are related with absence of or unclear job
descriptions
Job Descriptions
Job Description refers to a written narrative that describes the
general tasks, or other related duties, and responsibilities of a
position, the analysis considers the areas of knowledge, skills
and abilities needed to perform the job.
3.2.1. Jobs with high scope generate more satisfaction, better work
performance, greater effort and more involvement
3.2.2. Employees skills and knowledge is a necessary condition for
moving to a more challenging career tasks
3.2.3.
Absence or unclear job descriptions lead to poor performance
among workers
3.2.4. Organization structure provides the necessary motivation for
employees to gauge their career progress
3.2.5.
Skills variety is among the many task characteristics that can
influence the attitudes of individuals towards their work
Role Ambiguity
Role Ambiguity refers to when people are unclear or uncertain
about their expectations within a certain role, typically their role
in the job or workplace.
3.3.1. I do not fully comprehend the expectation of my role in the
organization
3.3.2. An employee’s position in the social system is reflected by the
right’s and obligation in the organization
3.3.3. Each role requires different behavior in the same job
environment and an individual may play more than one role
3.3.4. Performing more than one role may potentially lead to conflict
among employees
3.3.5.
Role ambiguity has a direct impact on attitudes and behaviors
that make individuals react differently as a consequence of
reaching ineffective career stage
Participative Decision Making
Participative Decision Making refers to the extent to which
employers allow or encourage employees to share or participate
in organizational decision-making.
3.4.1.
Decision sharing in organization enhances overall acceptability
by employees
3.4.2 Decisions are made by top leadership in my organization, the
rest of employees are supposed to follow
3.4.3. Supervisors and subordinates share decision making influence in
my organization
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3.4.4. I feel that the act of decision making by employees is an act of
trustworthiness by my organization
3.4.5. Decision sharing in organization eliminates some frustrations
linked with career on employees
Part Four: Employee Mentoring in the Telecommunications Industry
This section contains statements that assess your Perceptions of employee mentoring.
Employee mentoring refers to providing guidance to a less-experienced employee, the
mentee, where the mentor can be an employee of the same company or perhaps a
professional from an outside company. Please respond to the items below by placing a
tick (√) in the box that represents your perception on each of the following statements.
Your choices are on a Likert scale ranging from: 1- Strongly Agree, (SA) 2-Agree (A), 3-
Not Sure (NS),4-Disagree(D) and 5-Strongly Disagree(DA).
NO. Statement
Levels of
agreement
1 2 3 4 5 Employee Mentoring
4.1.1. I have been involved in mentoring activity in my organization
4.1.2. Development opportunities for elected members are important
4.1.3. Most employees learn best by doing their work
4.1.4. Mentoring is a useful way of building skills
4.1.5. Training provides valuable support for employees in my
organization
4.1.6. Employees learn more from each other than from their
supervisors
4.1.7. When something concerns me, my supervisor listens patiently
4.1.8. My supervisor has more time for me
Mentoring Relationships
Mentoring Relationships refers to as a professional relationship
in which an experienced person (the mentor) assists another
(the mentee) in developing specific skills and knowledge that
will enhance the less-experienced person’s professional and
personal growth.
4.2.1. My supervisor always provide me with developmental
opportunities for my work
4.2.2. My supervisor always has greater relevant work knowledge and
experiences
4.2.3. My supervisor always willing to positively influence my career
work experiences
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4.2.4. My supervisor always provides clear targeted areas of
intervention in my career
4.2.5. My supervisor always encourages me in my work
Mentoring as Organizational Strategy
Mentoring strategy refers to elements of both informal and
formal mentoring that defines the relationship and how the
mentor and mentee will work together to achieve identified
goals.
4.3.1. My organization endeavor to change employees’ environment
using positive work opportunities
4.3.2.
My organization has developed a proper communication
strategy for employees’ development
4.3.3.
My organization has policies that allows employees to get
direct feedback from other people which can be used for
personal development
4.3.4. My organization has a well-structured plan for my own learning
over the next 12 months
4.3.5. My organization allows me to participate in mentoring
activities as opportunity for my own learning
Technical Skills and Knowledge
Technical Skills and Knowledge refers to technology-based
hard skills, which includes (but not limited to) computer skills,
abilities and knowledge required to accomplish tasks or use
certain tools.
4.4.1. I endeavor to develop and demonstrate specific and identifiable
skills in my work
4.4.2. Mentoring is about learning and growing
4.4.3. Successful mentoring in organization involves such traits as
flexibility, ownership, clarity and feedback
4.4.4. Better implementation of mentoring cultures requires executive
assistance, flexible environment and proper incentives
4.4.5. Inappropriate abilities and skills cause career stagnation in
organizations
