Examining Job Satisfaction

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THE ORGANIZATION

This edited collection provides a comprehensive introduction to job satisfaction and its wide sweeping impacts for the modern workplace, presenting a wide range of cross-disciplinary research in an organized, clear, and accessible manner. It will be informative to management academics and instructors, while also instructing organizational managers, leaders, and human resource development professionals of all types seeking to understand proven practices and methods to maximize their human capital potential and get the most out of workers that will drive an enhanced competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive global economy.

EXAMINING JOB SATISFACTION

In today’s shifting global economy and with the emergence of the technology and service-driven knowledge organization, requiring enhanced levels of organizational flexibility and innovation, how do we maximize the human capital potential of workers to enhance their ability to perform and add value in a hyper-intensive competitive global marketplace? What are the methods and strategies for effectively motivating employees and increasing the job satisfaction of workers? What are the important drivers of worker satisfaction? What are the important individual, organizational, and social outcomes of various job satisfaction levels? What are the individual, organizational, and societal differences in job satisfaction levels and its determinants? These are just some of the pressing questions facing the organizations of today.

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WESTOVER

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EXAMINING JOB SATISFACTION

CAUSES, OUTCOMES AND COMPARATIVE DIFFERENCES Jonathan H. Westover, Ph.D. Safety Area: All Text, Logos & Barcode should remain inside the Pink Dotted Lines Bleed Area:All Backgrounds should extend to, but not past, the Blue Dotted Lines

First published in Champaign, Illinois in 2011 by Common Ground Publishing LLC at The Organization a series imprint of The University Press Selections and editorial matter copyright © Jonathan H. Westover 2011; Individual chapters copyright © individual contributors 2011 All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the applicable copyright legislation, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Examining job satisfaction : causes, outcomes, and comparative differences / edited by Jonathan H. Westover.

p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-86335-825-5 (pbk : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-86335-826-2 (pdf : alk. paper) 1. Job satisfaction. I. Westover, Jonathan H. II. Title. HF5549.5.J63E885 2011 331.01'2--dc22 2010037285

State Welfare Provisions and Cross-National Differences in Work Quality and Job Satisfaction, Jonathan H. Westover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 Part IV : Additional Job Satisfaction Case Studies Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 Case 1: Financial Planners in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 Job Satisfaction, Bruce Michael Clayton , Barbara Lynch, Michael Kerry 419 Case 2: Industrial Design Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 A Survey of Industrial Design Graduates’ Employment, Ming-Ying Yang , Manlai You , Chun-Yu Guo , Yung-Ping Chou . . . . . 435 Case 3: Flexible Workforce in a Call Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 The Flexible Workforce in the Knowledge Economy, John Annakis , Barbara Lasky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 Case 4: Merger-related Changes/Stresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 Understanding the Dynamics between Role Stress, Commitment and Satisfaction, Mahima S. Thakur , Reema Rajpal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475 Case 5: SWEAT Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495 SWEAT Analysis to Determine Organisational Effectiveness, Prakash Singh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

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A Survey of Industrial Design Graduates’ Employment Ming-Ying Yang, The National United University, Taiwan Manlai You, The National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan Chun-Yu Guo, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan Yung-Ping Chou, National United University, Taiwan Abstract: Even though Industrial Designer have become a popular job title in the manpower market, Industrial Design (ID) education institutions need to review how well their graduates have adapted and developed in the workplace. The purpose of this study is to investigate ID graduates’ employment in Taiwan, including their job findings, job situation and satisfaction. This study was conducted in three stages: literature review, in-depth interview, and questionnaire survey. In total, 328 graduates responded to the questionnaire. The findings are: 1) Over 80% ID graduates find their first jobs within three months after graduation, mostly through a renowned job-hunting web service in Taiwan. 82.2% of the jobs are strongly related to ID, and the graduates usually can get familiar with the design practice within six months. 2) The ID graduates select their jobs mainly based on their interests, and they are inclined to change jobs if prospect of promotion and development is not shown in a short period of time. Most of the ID graduates are working in corporate in-house design departments, and their biggest predicament in current job handling relates to a lack of sufficient training in technology and manufacturing knowhow. 3) In general, the ID graduates are satisfied with their current jobs. The satisfaction ratings are ranked as, from highest to the lowest, relations with the colleagues, the work itself, direct superior, salary, and promotion. This study provides links between student academics and employment; therefore, the outcome is significant to both design education and profession. About the Authors Dr. Ming-Ying Yang Dr. Yang is an assistant professor of Industrial Design at the National United University in Taiwan. She holds a doctoral degree of Design Studies from the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. Her research interests include gender and design, design education, e-portfolio. Prof. Manlai You Dr. You is a professor of Industrial Design at the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. He holds a doctoral degree of System Design from the University Of Waterloo, Canada. He has 435

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published over forty journal papers in national and international journals such as Design Studies, Applied Ergonomics and International Journal of Design. His research interests include ergonomics, e-learning and design education. Chun-Yu Guo Ms. Guo is a freelace designer now. She holds a master degree of Industrial Design from the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. Yung-Ping Chou Dr. Chou with a doctoral degree of Applied Physics, Columbia University, New York, USA. His research area includes design education, intellectual property rights, innovative product design.

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Introduction In recent years, the Taiwan government has taken much effort and resources in promoting the creative and design industries; meanwhile, much has been done in cultivating design talents. Not only small and medium enterprises are setting up their respective design departments and recruiting Industrial Designer, many large corporations, including internationally renowned brands, such as Acer, Asus and BenQ, are also expanding their design departments and thereby upgrading their design competence. Briefly, the government and enterprises in Taiwan are placing great emphasis on design so as to upgrade the quality of products exported to the world. As a consequence, Industrial Designer have become in great demand on the manpower market. While the industry is eagerly in need of ID talents, can the quality of ID graduates from Taiwan institutions satisfy the industry’s need? A study found that 63 percent of respondents acknowledge the existence of a gap existing between the quality of design graduates and the industry’s need in Taiwan [Chang, 1997]. Kaufman [1998] also reports that the quality of ID graduates in the U.S. is less than expected by the industry. This shows a lack of link between what design students have learned in schools and the actual requirements for employment immediately after graduation [Ball, 2002; Yeh, 2003]. Hence, ID education institutions need to review constantly how well their graduates have adapted and developed in the job market. Taiwan established the first department of Industrial Design at collegiate level in 1964, with many others to come later on; therefore, the development of Industrial Design education in Taiwan has a history spanning more than forty years. The number of ID graduates from the years of 1980 to 1990 was less than two hundred annually, and it is about 1,300 annually nowadays [Huang & You, 1985; Ministry of Education Department of Statistics, 2007]. According to the estimation of the Chinese Industrial Design Association, the annual need of the ID talents in Taiwan is about 600-800 people, much less than 1,300 graduates each year; the supply should be more than sufficient. Even though, the design departments in the industry have claimed that it is not easy to find qualified ID talents in the job market [Weng, 2003]. Although the amount of ID graduates in Taiwan has increased annually, however, the ratio of those stay in the design-related professions is less than expected [Yan, 2003]. The reasons behind this paradoxical phenomenon are worth exploring. The authors have conducted a series of studies about career guidance needs of ID students in Taiwan, and published some papers about recruiting qualifications of ID jobs [Yang et al., 2005b], ID students’ career guidance needs [Yang et al., 2005a], career difficulties [You et al., 2007], employment preparation and choices [You et al., 2008]. This article mainly focuses on investigating ID graduates’ employment in Taiwan, including, for example their job findings, job situation and satisfaction. Based on the findings, the authors draw some implications for 437

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design education and further research. This study helps to inspect the ID graduates’ employment and later development in the job market, and therefore the outcomes are significant to not only design education institutions but also the design industry. Research Design The study was conducted in three stages: literature review, in-depth interview, and questionnaire survey. The authors referred to some literature about vocational choices, job finding, and job satisfaction. The job-finding time is defined by the time period between submitting resumes and getting employed; the time spent on preparing job-finding portfolio, usually of significant amounts, is not included. The job-changing history indicates the choices and causes for changing jobs exploited by an ID graduate in the ID-related professions. Degree of job satisfaction is determined by workers’ subjective responses to their respective work content and environments. A scale of Job Descriptive Index (JDI) is used in this study for measuring degree of job satisfaction [Smith et al., 1969]. In the scale, the degree of job satisfaction is further divided into five dimensions, which are the work itself, salary, promotion, direct superior, and relations with the colleagues. The authors then conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with twelve ID graduates in Taiwan who are working in ID-related professions. The objective of the interviews is to identify the problems that ID graduates are facing with when first entering the job market and the subsequent workplaces. The contents of the interviews include: 1) basic personal data; 2) job-changing history; 3) job-finding problems after graduation; 4) current work situation and content; and 5) personal recognition of the matching between curriculum in the school and professional competence in the workplace, and the associated suggestions. In the final stage of this study, the authors developed an instrument called “the survey questionnaire of ID graduates’ employment in Taiwan” for quantitative study, which was based on the literature review and the outcomes from the interviews. The questionnaire is particularly designed for participants graduated from four-year ID-related programs that have college graduates for more than four years. The contents of the questionnaire include: 1) participants’ background data that consist of gender, highest education, school graduated from, academic ranking, type of college entrance channel, optional courses taken, second major, professional certificates, graduation date, marital status, and residential area; 2) job-finding problems immediately after graduation that comprise the data of employment status, first job-seeking time, approach of finding the first job, average time required to be adapted to effective practice of the first job, job opportunities, salary of the first job, history of changing jobs, work-related distress encountered, etc.; 3) current work conditions that comprise the data of reasons for selecting the current job, attribute of the current job, time needed to be adapted to the current job, name of the organization, location 438

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of the workplace, salary of the current job, approach of finding the current job, work-related distress encountered, and further study, etc.; and 4) opinions on the matching between the ID curriculum and the necessary professional competence that are measured by degree of the dependence of current job practice on what was learned at school, relationship of the current job to their major, degree of satisfaction with the courses taken at school, degree of compatibility between the professional courses taken at school and the practice in the workplace, plan of further study, etc. There were a total of 1,798 copies of the questionnaire sent, with 328 responses; therefore, the response rate was about 18.2%. In-Depth Interviews The profile of twelve interviewees is shown in Table 1. Among them, the longest work experience is fourteen years, and the shortest is four months. Only one of them is married. The interviewee labelled UI1 has changed jobs five times; however, with fourteen years of work experience, the rate of changing job still appears reasonable. With regards to the rate of changing job, the interviewee labelled ID1 is the highest, four times in two years five months. In summary, the reasons to choose and change jobs for each of the twelve interviewees were classified into two categories: personal factors and environmental factors. Personal factors include: 1) participating in design competitions and being recruited by the company holding the competition; 2) being attracted by the open-mindedness of the direct superior; 3) becoming interested in specific products or industry, such as telecommunication; 4) interests in job contents; 5) fulfilling duty of the scholarship offered by the company; 6) current job related to research undertaken in the school and also recommended by teachers; 7) interpersonal problems with colleagues; and 8) intending to switch to another industry. Environmental factors include: 1) the new company is larger; 2) a wider variety of design projects executing within design consultancies; 3) inconvenient location of the old company; 4) the old company became financially unstable, closed or merged; 5) design ideas are restricted in the old company; and 6) playing down of design professionalism by the old company.

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The average time taken from sending out resumes to getting employed when the twelve interviewees were newly graduated is 1.6 months; the longest is five months, and the shortest is a case in which the interviewee went to work immediately as a result of a teacher’s recommendation. The major approach to finding a job is through job mediating online services, usually called “manpower banks” in Taiwan. Other approaches include job information posted on online forums associated with design community, job mediating service offered by the armed forces (in Taiwan, every healthy man is obligated to serve in the armed forces for a fixed period of time after graduation), job recruitment advertised in newspapers and teacher’s recommendation. The average monthly salary of the first jobs of the interviewees is ranged between NTD 26,000 and 35,000 (about USD 760 – 1,030). Regarding the first job, the time periods taken by the interviewees to become familiar with the know-how and the design processes in the workplaces vary drastically from one week to one year; it takes longer if the first job is in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. The interviewees claimed that the major difference between their perception of the design profession in the school years and the actual situation in the workplace was a lack of knowledge of product manufacturing. The major distressful situations in the workplaces as recognized by the interviewees are time stress caused by insufficient time to carry out a proper design process and communication problems with colleagues or mechanism design departments in the company. In terms of working hours, three out of the twelve interviewees needed to work overtime regularly to complete job assignments, and the rest needed to work overtime occasionally when a job assignment is behind schedule. Events that contributed the most to their job satisfaction were 440

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acquiring experiences in practicing design and attaining a sense of achievement when a design work is put into mass production. The twelve interviewees were further asked what courses during school benefited their jobs the most; those working in traditional industries thought course related to creative thinking, three dimensional drawing software and product manufacturing were the most beneficial; those working in design consultancies thought courses related to basic design skills and product manufacturing to be the most beneficial; however, those working in the ICT industry showed various opinions, such as sociology, research method, product semantics, creative thinking, three dimensional drawing software as the most relevant courses. Questionnaire Survey The profile of the questionnaire respondents is shown in Table 2. A total of 328 respondents completed a questionnaire and 287 of them with working experience are valid survey subjects. The number and percentage distributions over all choices with each item are analyzed. The correlations between each dimension of employment situation and five variables, i.e. gender, educational level, area of school graduated from, marital status, and years of work experience, are checked by Chi-square test to identify the significant level of the differences. The results from the analysis are specified as follows. The summary of significant differences in the tested items with participant variables is shown in Table 3. 1) Time required for finding the first full-time job after graduation or, for the male, discharge from the armed forces 49.8 % of the survey participants found their first jobs within one month. The percentage rises to 85.9% after three months, and 95% after six months (see Figure 1). Only 5% of the participants spent more than six months to find a job. Compared to graduates in other professional fields, the employment situation for ID graduates in Taiwan is fairly good.

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2) Approach to getting the first job Up to 62.4% of the participants got their first jobs through the mediation of human resources websites (manpower banks). Other major approaches are introductions by relatives, friends and teachers (23.4%). It shows that the approaches to the first jobs vary significantly in location of the graduation 442

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school and work experience. The percentage of participants graduating in the central and southern areas in Taiwan and who obtained their first jobs via Internet job mediating sites is higher than those graduated in northern Taiwan. The percentage of participants who got their first jobs via the Internet decreases with increasing work experience.

Figure 1: Time Required for Finding the First Full-Time Job after Graduation or, for the Male, Discharged from the Armed Forces

3) The content of the first and current jobs related to ID 82.2% of the participants’ first jobs are ID-related; about 76.5% of the participants are still in the ID or design related businesses. This indicates that a high percentage of ID graduates are staying in the ID-related professions. If an ID graduate is still in an ID or design related business depends significantly on the location of his or her graduation school. The graduates from schools located in southern Taiwan have less chance to stay in design (63.3%); this is lower than those from the central and northern schools (77.5% and 79.2% respectively). 4) The initial monthly salary of the first job The average monthly salary of an ID graduate’s first full-time job is NTD 29,120 (about USD 840). The range between NTD 25,001 and 30,000 is mostly selected, with a selection rate of 47% (see Figure 2). The initial monthly salary of the first jobs varies significantly with gender, educational level and location of school of graduation. The average monthly salary of the first job of the males is NTD 29,767, which is appreciably higher than that of the females, NTD 27,980. For those graduated with a master degree from ID graduate schools, the average monthly salary of the first job is NTD 32,630, much higher than that of the bachelor graduates, NTD 27,833. The average monthly salaries of the first job in the northern and central Taiwan are NTD 29,423 and 29,259 respectively, higher than that in the southern Taiwan, NTD 27,500.

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Figure 2: The Initial Monthly Salary of the First Job

5) Time required for getting familiar with the practical affairs of the first job Only 5.7% of the participants can immediately get familiar with the first job after graduation (see Figure 3). The percentage rises to 37.1% within one month, to 71.7% within three months, and to 91.5% within six months. Only 8.6% of the participants need more than six months to be familiar with their first job.

Figure 3: Time Required for Getting Familiar with the Practical Affairs of the First Job

6) The major reasons of job changing in the past This question allows multiple choices and is for further understanding of the causes of changing jobs. There are a total of 198 participants with the experience of changing jobs. The reasons ranked according to pick frequency are: a lack of opportunities for promotion and career development (34.5%), unsatisfactory salary (33.5%), an attempt on a different industry (31.0%), difficulty of getting complete training (24.4%), a lack of challenges (20.8%), unfavorable work environment or location (19.8%), not matching personal interests (18.3%), communication problems with the superiors (17.3%), a divide between the job practice and the available knowledge (11.7%), job instability (11.2%), other reasons (9.6%), shutdown of the original company 444

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(9.1%), too much stress from the workplace (5.1%), and poor colleague relationship (2.5%). 7) Current salary The average monthly salary of the participants is NTD 38,417 (about USD 1,120); most frequently picked range is NTD 30,001-35,000 (24.8%) (see Figure 4). The individual salaries of the participants vary significantly with educational level, location of school of graduation, marital status and work experience. The average monthly salary of the participants with a master degree (NTD 43,908) is significantly higher than that of bachelor graduates (NTD 36,446). The graduates in the southern Taiwan have the lowest average salary, NTD 36,389, whereas that of those in the northern Taiwan is NTD 39,211. The average monthly salary of the married (NTD 47,800) is higher than that of the unmarried (NTD 36,438). Regarding the effect of work experience on salary, the participants with more than eleven years of experience on average have a monthly pay of NTD 56,500, followed by NTD 47,696 for six to ten years, NTD 38,676 for two to five years, and NTD 31,409 for less than two years.

Figure 4: Current Salary

8) The major reasons for choosing the current jobs This question allows multiple choices and is necessary for understanding the major reasons for choosing the current jobs; there are 281 valid responses. The reasons ranked according to pick frequency are: matching personal interests (48.4%), more challenges (34.5%), favorable location and environment of the workplace (29.2%), job stability (27.4%), better salary (26.0%), matching what has been learned in the school (24.6%), better corporation benefits and welfare (21.0%), better opportunities for promotion and career development (17.8%), providing complete professional training (13.9%), and workload (9.3%). 9) Types of the organizations of the current ID-related jobs The participants currently in ID-related professions are mainly working in corporate in-house design departments, making up 76.6% of the participants. The following are design consultancies (10.1%), design education445

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al institutions (5%), personal design studio (3.2%), other institutions (3.2%), and design promotion institutions (1.8%). The types of the organizations vary significantly with the participants’ educational level and marital status. Graduates with a master’s degree are significantly more likely to work in design consultancies or design educational institutions than bachelor graduates are. In design educational institutions, the married are significantly more than the unmarried, whereas, in design consultancies, the situation is reversed. 10) The proportion of female Industrial Designer in the total population of designers in the current organization There are a total of 215 valid responses from the participants. Most frequently picked range is the category of “below 25%” (53%) (see Figure 5), the lowest possible choice; the pick frequency decreases with the choices of higher proportions.

Figure 5: The Proportion of Female Industrial Designer in the Total Population of Designers in the Current Organization

11) Distressful situations in ID-related jobs The most distressful situations as recognized by the participants who are in ID-related jobs are ranked, according to pick frequency, as insufficiency of technology and manufacturing know-how (32.7%), incompetence of foreign language communication (27.6%), insufficient time for proper design processes (18.4%), others (9.7%), communications with other departments within the company (8.8%), lack of personal networks (2.3%), and poor interpersonal relationship (0.5%). It shows that the most distressful situations differ significantly with the participants’ years of work experience. The participants with work experience less than two years are troubled mainly by insufficiency of technology and manufacturing know-how, a situation becoming less significant as the year of work experience increases. 12) The major reasons for working in non-ID related positions This question allows multiple choices and is for understanding the reasons why ID graduates do not continue their careers in the same field. The total number of valid responses is 64. The major reasons are ranked as follows: lack of interest (31.3%), low income (28.1%), high stress (25%), lack of pro446

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motion and career development opportunities (21.9%), others (21.9%), job instability (20.3%), unfavorable workplace location or environment (17.2%), and difficulty of finding an ID job (14.1%). 13) School Curriculum Satisfaction The satisfaction of the curriculum taken in the school is tested by a fivepoint Likert scale, with 5 meaning “very satisfactory,” and 1 “very unsatisfactory.” Among 284 valid responses, the average value is 3.30. The degree of curriculum satisfaction varies significantly with the educational level and location of graduation school. The participants with a master degree are on average more satisfied with their school curricula (3.53), in contrast to that of the bachelor graduates (3.22). The average satisfaction of the graduates in central and northern Taiwan areas is appreciably higher than those in southern Taiwan. 14) Personal recognition of the matching between curriculum in the school and professional competence The matching between them is tested by a five-point Likert scale with 5 meaning “very satisfactory,” and 1 “very unsatisfactory.” Among 284 valid responses, the average value is 2.82. 15) The plan for further studies This question is designed to understand the intention of the participants for further studies. Among 283 valid responses, 72.6% of them are planning for further studies. The percentage varies significantly with educational level, marital status and work experience. The number of graduates with a master degree who are planning further studies is much less than that of bachelor graduates. The number of the married, planning further studies is much less than that of the unmarried. The number of those with more years of work experience is much less than that of the more junior counterparts. 16) The willingness to futher their studies by taking a major in ID again for further studies Among 283 valid responses to this question, 65.7% would like to study ID further. Those with less than two years of work experience have a significantly higher percentage. 17) The willingness to take a major in ID if they were college freshmen again Among 283 valid responses to this question, 82.3% said yes, and 17.7% said no. 18) Degree of job satisfaction The participants are asked to select from a five-point, linear Likert scale according to the perception of their current jobs, with 5 meaning “very satisfactory,” and 1 “very unsatisfactory.” There are a total of 281 valid responses with average degree of job satisfaction of 3.34; among the dimensions defining job satisfaction, the degree of satisfaction is ranked highest in colleague 447

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relationship (3.83), followed by job itself (3.37), direct superior (3.36), salary (3.11), and promotion (3.02). The degree of job satisfaction varies appreciably with gender, marital status and work experience. In the dimension of job itself, the satisfaction of the males is apparently higher than the females. In the dimension of promotion policy, the satisfaction of the married is apparently higher than the unmarried. In the same dimension, the satisfaction of those with experience more than eleven years is apparently higher than those with experience less than two years. Conclusion and Suggestion This study is a survey on ID graduates in Taiwan, which is aimed at understanding their employment situation and the job satisfaction. The results are summarized as follows. Over 80% of ID graduates found their first jobs within three months after graduation, mostly through a renowned job-hunting web service in Taiwan. The majority of the ID graduates can get familiar with practical affairs in the workplace within six months. The monthly salary of the first job is ranged between NTD 25,001 and 30,000 (about USD 730-880). 82.2% of the first jobs are ID-related and 76.5% of the current jobs are ID-related. The majority of which are positions in corporate in-house design departments. The major consideration of job selection by the ID graduates is if the first job matches their interests. The main reason for changing jobs is a lack of opportunities for promotion and career development. For junior designers, the most distressful aspects in the workplace are a lack of technology and manufacturing know-how, and, for senior designers, the major problem becomes the incompetence of foreign language communication. Overall the graduates are satisfied with their current jobs; the highest satisfaction factor is colleague relationship, and the lowest is the promotion system within the company. The percentage of female Industrial Designer in most of the participants’ organizations falls into the category of “below 25%.” Based on the findings of this study, the authors provide the following suggestions for the educational institutions, the industries and the related government units respectively. The result of the survey indicates that 22.3% of the participants are in job positions unrelated to design. 17.7% of them would not have studied ID if they had the chance to choose their college major again. In order to reduce the possibility of ID graduates switching their career after graduation, the schools should do more on guiding the students to explore their own aptitudes and interests as well as to better understand the ID profession during the schooling years. Regarding job finding, although there are effective Internet human resource mediators outside the campus, the schools should still assist their graduates or seniors in resume writing, tips for job interview, portfolio making. It is further suggested that schools establish a mechanism for constant alumni connection by which the employment situation of the graduates can be monitored. Through this mechanism, a school may forecast the future trends of employment and 448

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thereby improve its teaching. The findings also indicate that entry level designers in the workplace are most commonly troubled by the insufficiency in technology and manufacturing knowledge. The industries may improve the problem of ID students’ knowledge gap with the future workplace by offering more opportunities of cooperative education and internships. Since the vocational information in various fields is incompletely and unsystematically provided in Taiwan, the authors suggest the government, as the major information provider, expanding and renewing the vocational and employment information as frequently as possible. In the process of collecting contact information of the graduates from several schools, the authors spent much time on checking and renewing the acquired information. As a result, the return rate of the questionnaire survey was only 18.2%. To improve the situation in the subsequent study, a liaison person in each class may be recruited to facilitate distributing and retrieving the questionnaires. Further, comparisons of employment situation with only gender, educational level, school of graduation, graduation date, and marital status are studied in this study. Other variables, such as the achievements obtained in school and types of personality, can be included to compare the difference of employment situation in future studies. For a complete understanding, the survey of graduates should have covered a much wider range, whereas the current survey covers only the employment situations of the first and current jobs, satisfaction with the current job, and the overall evaluation of the school curriculum. Future studies should be conducted to collect the evaluations and suggestions of ID graduates on each category of courses, thereby providing schools a good reference for curriculum planning. Acknowledgement This study was partly supported by the National Science Council of the Republic of China Government, under Grant No. NSC-97-2221-E-224-026. References Ball, L. (2002), Preparing Graduates in Art and Design to Meet the Challenges of Working in the Creative Industries: a New Model for Work. Art, Design, & Communication in Higher Education, 1(1), 10-24. Chang, W. S. (1997), Cultivation Model of Professional Design Talents - A Professional Competence Oriented Design Education [in Chinese], Final Report for Research Projects of National Science Council. Huang, C. W. and You, M. (1985), The Current Situation of Industrial Design Education in Taiwan [in Chinese], Industrial Design Magazine, 49, 18-24.

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