um.edu.myChemical Education Journal (CEJ),
Vol. 10, No. 2 /Registration No. 10-16/Received May 20, 2008.
URL = http://chem.sci.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp/cejrnlE.html
um.edu.myAbstract
Careers have become less clearly defined within a discipline with
increasing changes at the workplace. More specifically, in a changing
workplace, entry into a profession does not necessarily ensure
an employee the conventional promotions through seniority in his
or her chosen career. Presently, in the labour market, in Malaysia,
as in other countries, employers demand that prospective employees
including chemistry graduates must have the most appropriate skills
to secure jobs and to retain their jobs so as to enable themselves
to advance in their careers. This also highlights innovative careers,
which refer to new work roles that are not found in standard careers
for chemistry graduates but contribute to improve their employability.
The study addresses the issues of innovative careers as complementing
the normal careers of chemists. These careers increase the opportunities
for chemistry graduates to get employment in spite of the changes
in work and the changing workplace. With globalization, it is
recognized that maintaining competitiveness in labour productivity
and improving employability of graduates pose powerful challenges
to Malaysia and other countries. In response to this need, this
case study attempts to find out the priority of career choices
of chemistry graduates and to survey the skills that are important
in improving their employability. Data were collected using the
survey method on a purposive sample of chemistry graduate employees
(n = 30). Findings indicate that most of these graduates have
a limited range of knowledge of innovative careers in chemistry.
Four factors accounting for 59 per cent of the total variance
were extracted pertaining to skills important for improving employability
of these graduates. Notwithstanding their limited range of knowledge
of innovative careers, they were able to indicate the skills needed
to improve their employability. In this regard, more research
is needed in Malaysia so that graduates could be better served
by tertiary education and training that is adapted to lifelong
employability.
Introduction
Chemistry graduates who place a premium upon employability
must develop innovative career choices. The term, 'innovative'
refers to career choices which are not standard for chemistry
graduates. These career choices which are not standard for chemistry
graduates involve new work roles. The new work roles are found
in careers such as banking, capital financing, commerce, computering,
consultancy, fashion-designing, housing, insurance, law, management,
marketing, publishing, sales, trading and transportation. Rephrased,
innovative career choices for chemistry graduates fall outside
the conventional teaching job or doing research and laboratory
work in academic institutions or industrial organizations (Chew, Lee & Quek, 1995; Lee,
Quek & Chew, 2001; Quek, 2003;
2006a; 2008a;
2008b).
In addition, the term, employability refers to a chemistry graduate's ability to enter the labour market at any point of his or her lifetime in order to secure a job and hold on to the job by making work adjustments in accordance with meeting the demands of a changing workplace (International Labour Office, 2003; Quek, 2005; 2006b; 2008a). In short, the graduate's job tenure is secured due to his or her knowledge, skills and attitudes to meet new needs in work performance at the workplace. Notwithstanding this, the graduate's employability also connotes that if he or she were to leave his or her job due to various reasons (such as, the winding up of the employer's business) then he or she could secure easily another job.
Presently, the labour market, in Malaysia as in other countries, demands that prospective employees including chemistry graduates must have the most appropriate skills to secure jobs and to retain their employability. This is pointed out by various career studies (Anderson, McInnis & Hartley, 2003; Chew et al., 1995; Hallmark & Lembo, 2001; Lee et al., 2001; Ostroff & Clark, 2001; Mau, 2001; Quek, 2000; 2001a; 2002; 2003; 2004a; 2008b). In addition, it is reported by the International Labour Organisation (ILO, 2003, p.6), that in the context of globalization, individuals who update their knowledge and skills so as to meet new needs at the workplace are better able to "seize the opportunities to get employed". For example, in Malaysia (Lee et al., 2001; Quek, 2001b; 2005; 2008b), like other countries such as, Australia (McCauley, 2007) and the United States (United States, Department of Labour, 2000), it is reported that globalization has made it inevitable that being in the right 'moment' in job placement takes precedence in getting employed for an individual who also has the 'right' skills needed for a given job. These same studies also reiterated that with globalization, careers have become less clearly defined within a discipline. This means that prospective employees, including chemistry graduates are expected to work under flexible employment conditions against a background of a continuously changing workplace.
Conceptual Framework
This study addresses the term, career as described by Super
(1977; 1994;
Sverko, 2001) which is the sequence
of work-related positions, values and roles that are held by an
individual in his or her lifetime. This is illustrated by taking
the case of an individual who enrolls initially in a science degree
programme and majors in chemistry as an undergraduate in an institution
of higher education. This undergraduate placement is an example
of a work-position. At the same time, the position of an undergraduate
entails a repertoire of roles that is inclusive of values which
shape his or her career behavior. Examples of the roles of chemistry
undergraduate are participating in class, conducting experiments
in the laboratory, attending lectures, writing reports and completing
assignments on time.
Associated with each work-related position are values which guide the undergraduate in performing this repertoire of roles (Super, 1977; 1994; Sverko, 2001). In citing the same example, the undergraduate who values hard work and self-efficacy is more likely to view lecturers as being helpful and he or she tends to be more motivated to work harder towards becoming a chemist. Subsequently, upon successful completion of the said training programme, the graduate who has registered with the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry (Institut Kimia Malaysia), then applies for work and is consequently emplaced as a novice chemist in a pharmaceutical firm. Thus, being a novice chemist in a pharmaceutical firm is another work-position for the chemistry graduate. In addition, occupying the position of a novice chemist also requires the employee to perform a myriad of roles and its associated values at the workplace. In short, a career is operationalised as the progression of work-related placements, together with the roles and values associated with the work-related placements (such as being an undergraduate and as a novice chemist) which are undertaken by the individual in his or her lifetime.
Career and Employability in Malaysian
Context
As explained earlier, with increasing globalization careers
are becoming become less distinctive within a discipline. This
means that chemistry graduate employees who enter the labour market,
with the assumption that they will move up the corporate ladder
automatically with time without updating their knowledge and skills,
are in a state of delusion. In practice, these graduate employees,
though senior in age are losing out in employability, if they
do not participate in learning new knowledge and skills that are
needed for meeting new needs that arise from increasing changes
at the workplace (Ong & Lee, 2007;
Quek 2004a; 2004b;
2008b; 2008c;
Soon & Quek 2003; 2005;
2006). Highlighting this line of thinking,
the International Labour Office (2003) reported that the employability
of individuals is enhanced by educating and training individuals
to command an array of portable high-level skills (p.103)
which complement their area of specialization .These portable
high-level skills include:
"teamwork, problem solving, information and communications
technology (ICT) and communications and language skills, learning-
to-learn skills and competencies to protect themselves against
occupational hazards and diseases Entrepreneurship skills are
requiredto securework."
(International Labour Office , 2003, p.
103)
One may view chemistry graduates in the Malaysian context as improving
their employability when they strive to:
1. master 'portable high-level skills',
2. transfer the learning of the 'portable high-level skills' such
as to solve problems at work , and
3. seek innovative careers in chemistry which is seen as widening
the career choices of chemistry graduates.
Conceptualizing innovative careers in terms of new work roles provides for chemistry graduates a wider range of career opportunities for seeking employment with possibilities for enjoying returns in salaries and also making advancement in their careers. Support for innovative careers is found in the Malaysian economic sectors, such as finance, manufacturing, transport and utilities which registered productivity growth rates ranging from 0.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent, which led to the increase in the growth of the Malaysian Gross Domestic Product to 5.9 per cent in 2006. In accordance with the Productivity Report 2006, manufactured exports also contributed RM 51.7 billion (77 %) to Malaysia's total exports (RM588.9 billion) for the year 2006 (New Straits Times, May 22, 2007). For Malaysia, the year 2006 saw the unprecedented increase in exports of chemicals and chemical-related products which matched the sum of RM 9.1 billion.
The higher demands for basic chemicals, industrial gases, plastic goods and petroleum products led to chemicals and chemical-related products category to account for more than a quarter (28 %) of the total manufactured exports for 2006. In addition, it is reported that increased productivity in chemicals and chemical-related products such as organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, monomers, petroleum, polymers, essential oils, perfumery and toiletries also added up to accord chemical exports the second highest contributor of Malaysia's manufactured exports in 2006.
According to the Productivity Report 2006, the upward growth by 8.9 per cent of sales value per employee which exceeds its labour cost per employee (2.2%) accorded second position in competitiveness in sales value (in manufacturing) to employees of chemicals and chemical-related products. It is also documented by the same report that the Malaysian economy witnessed higher productivity as indicated by the growth rate (1.6%) of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) for the years between 1997 and 2006. Consequently, Malaysia's trade surpluses for the same decade broke a record by attaining a value of RM 1.069 trillion in 2006. Much of this increase in trade surpluses was due to competitiveness in manufacturing (for 2004-2005) which also enabled Malaysia to benchmark ahead of several Asian countries (including Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan) and other developed countries such as Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, United Kingdom, United States of America and Sweden (New Straits Times, May 22, 2007).
Notwithstanding this promising TFP growth, the then Ministry of International Trade and Industry in conjunction with the launching of the Productivity Report 2006, remarked that a greater output per employee is crucial to experience a continual TFP growth rate. This emphasises the need to maintain a greater output per employee vis--vis a lower labour cost per employee. One example is illustrated by encouraging chemistry graduates such as those who are employed in chemicals and chemical-related products to deliver a greater output over labour cost per employee. This would therefore, impact on reaping a positive rate of return per employee. However, the burden of maintaining competitiveness by having a positive rate of return per employee is notoriously difficult to sustain especially against a background of rapid changes in the workplace (Soon & Quek, 2006; Quek 2004a; 2004b).
Aims of the Study
Recognizing the difficulties of maintaining Malaysia's competitiveness
in the global context, by having a positive rate of return per
employee against a background of rapid changes in the nature of
work and also a changing workplace, it is proposed that chemistry
graduates consider innovative careers in seeking employment. In
response to this need, this case study attempts to find out the
priority of career choices of chemistry graduates and to survey
the skills that are important for improving their employability.
The research questions are:
1. What is the priority of career choices of chemistry graduates?
2. What are the skills that are important for improving chemistry
graduates' employability?
Methodology
The Sample
The sample of this case study consisted of 30 chemistry graduate
employees who were attending a professional development programme
in a Malaysian institution of education. Except for four (4) chemists
who were employed as quality control chemists in the manufacturing
sector, the rest were research chemists working in research and
development institutions. Among these graduates, 14 were male
and 16 were female chemists and all of these graduate employees
had worked in their present organisations for at least three years.
The mean age of these graduate employees is 33 years.
According to Fraenkel and Wallen (2006), Isaac and Michael, (1984) and Sekaran (2007) an exploratory case study is an appropriate design for obtaining empirical evidence so as to attain "a good grasp of the phenomena of interest" (Sekaran, 2007, p.120), since "very few studies might have been conducted in that area" (p.119) . Therefore, this research used the case study to explore the priority of career choices of chemistry graduates and to survey the skills that are important for improving their employability. In the Malaysian context, this is also a pioneer study since no such studies were conducted yet in Malaysia.
In exploratory research, according to Isaac and Michael, (1984), it is necessary to "stay close to the data" so as to "find promising leads or alternatives in research" (p.96) for decision making or problem solving purposes. These same research experts recommended that samples of exploratory research containing "between 10 to 30 respondents have many practical advantages" (p.96) and "Samples of this size are large enough to test the null hypothesis, yet small enough to overlook weak treatment effects" (p.96). Viewed this way, this exploratory case study used a sample of 30 chemistry graduate employees.
This sample is also a purposive sample. This is because a purposive sample has the choice of respondents "who are most advantageously placed or in the best position to provide the information required" (Sekaran, 2007, p.277) in the study. In addition, this purposive sample does not involve "whoever is available but rather only those respondents who can "provide the data" ( Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006, p.101) that are needed to answer the research questions in the study.
Instrumentation
In this study a questionnaire with 54 items was designed
to collect data. Four of these items pertained to demographic
information, namely age, gender, type of employment organisation
and tenure in present employment. One other item required the
respondents to state (besides teaching) three career choices in
chemistry that they are likely to take up if they were to leave
their present job. The respondents were requested to rank these
three choices in the order of their importance, namely (1) as
most important, (2) as of second importance and (3) as of third
importance.
As a purposive sample, these 30 chemistry graduate employees were selected to "provide the data" (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006, p.101) that are needed to answer the research questions in the study. In purposive sampling, some prior knowledge about the selected sample is required for choosing the respondents so as to obtain the needed data (Sekaran, 2007). In this case, the researcher found that none of the 30 chemistry graduate employees had a diploma in education or a certificate for teaching. In Malaysia, a teaching certification is required to enter into teaching as a career. Consequently, the expert panel (three human resource experts) who also vetted the questionnaire recommended the insertion of "besides teaching" in parentheses for the item pertaining to three career choices in chemistry that they are likely to take up if they were to leave their present job.
The other 49 items were constructed to measure the 'portable
high-level skills' such as:
"teamwork, problem solving, information and communications
technology (ICT) and communications and language skills, learning-
to-learn skills and competencies to protect themselves against
occupational hazards and diseases Entrepreneurshipskills to securework."
(International Labour Office, 2003, p. 103)
This list of 49 items were designed to survey the skills that are important for improving the respondents' employability through a 5-point a (1 = Not important at all; 2 =Not important; 3 = Fairly important; 4 = Important; 5 = Very important). An example of an item is " How important are oral skills in improving my employability?" Circling only one number indicates the response to each item.
The validity of these 49 items were addressed by conducting Malaysian reviews on 'portable high-level skills' (Chew, et al., 1995; International Labour Office , 2003; Lee et al., 2001; Ong & Lee, 2007; Quek, 2000; 2001a; 2001b; 2004a; 2004b; 2004c; 2005; Soon & Quek, 2005; 2006). These 49 items were then checked and validated by a panel of three human resources experts comprising the President of the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry (Institut Kimia Malaysia), a Malaysian licensed career counsellor and a public relations manager of a private corporation.
The final version of the questionnaire was validated by a pilot test (Isaac and Michael, 1984; Sekaran, 2007) to provide feedback so as to smoothen the administration of the main study. The pilot study was conducted on a separate sample (n = 5) that had similar characteristics as the actual sample. Feedback from the pilot test was used to improve clarity of some items. For instance, the original item referring to "attentiveness to clients" was reported to be ambiguous and was replaced by "attending to clients". In addition, "information and communications technology (ICT)" was found to be unclear and was reworded as "computering skills".
This final draft of the questionnaire was validated by a Cronbach test (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006). This test yielded a reliability coefficient of .80 which is higher than the rule of thumb suggestion of reliability coefficient of .70 (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006, p,161). This indicates that the instrument that is. the questionnaire has high validity and reliability.
This validated draft was printed as the questionnaire which was administrated to the 30 chemistry graduate employees at the venue of their professional development programme on the last day of their course. Frequency counts were done on the item that measured the priority of career choice. In addition, factor analyses were conducted on responses pertaining to the list of items that indicate the employability of these graduates. In this study, factor analyses were used together with other statistical techniques which are the Varimax and Kaiser Normalisation procedures for reducing "a vast number of variables" (49 items) "to a meaningful, interpretable and manageable set of factors" (Sekaran, 2007, p. 408). This set of factors displays the skills that are important for improving the chemistry graduates' employability. In this context, the eigenvalues for a specific factor shows the variance in all the items loaded on that factor (Quek, 2005). When a factor has a high eigenvalue such as more than one, then it is important for accounting more to the variances explained by that factor.
Results
Table I presents (besides teaching) the priorities of career
choice of the 30 chemistry graduate employees if they were to
leave their present job. Notably, a large proportion of the chemistry
graduate employees (40%) indicated that they would become salespersons
if they were to lose their present job. It is found that less
than a quarter (23%) of these graduates would become insurance
agents. In addition, less than one-tenth of them (17%) would become
researchers and still lesser of them (13%) would be chemists in
pharmacy stores. It is observed that only one chemist (3%) would
become a retailer and the other remaining chemist opted to become
a homemaker (3%).
Table II presents the factor analyses of the 43 items that indicate the skills that are important for improving the chemistry graduate employees' employability. Four factors were extracted, accounting for 58.95 per cent of the total variance. Each of these four factors has eigenvalues of more than one. This shows that each of the four factors account importantly for the total variances obtained.
Factor 1 in Table II has high and significant loadings of interpersonal skills with high factor loadings on precision (.86), reporting skills (.78), managing information skills (.77), loyalty (.76), knowledge-acquiring skills (.75), research skills (.72), optimism (.71), cleanliness (.68), self-development skills (.66), lifelong learning skills (.57), teamwork skills (.57), management skills (.54), value adding skills (.44) and consideration for others (.43).
Table I. Priorities in career choice
| Types of career (Besides teaching) |
Ranking | ||
|
|
|
|
|
| Salesperson |
|
|
|
| Insurance agent |
|
|
|
| Researcher |
|
|
|
| Chemist in a pharmacy outlet |
|
|
|
| Retailer |
|
|
|
| Homemaker |
|
|
|
Table II. Varimax rotated factor loadings of importance of
skills for improving employability
| Items |
|
|
|
|
| Precision |
|
|||
| Reporting skills |
|
|||
| Managing information skills |
|
|||
| Loyalty |
|
|||
| Knowledge-acquiring skills |
|
|||
| Research skills |
|
|||
| Optimism |
|
|||
| Cleanliness |
|
|||
| Self-development skills |
|
|||
| Lifelong learning skills |
|
|||
| Teamwork skills |
|
|||
| Management skills |
|
|||
| Value adding skills |
|
|||
| Consideration for others |
|
|||
| Problem-solving skills |
|
|||
| Critical thinking skills |
|
|||
| Innovative skills |
|
|||
| Interest in work |
|
|||
| Computer skills |
|
|||
| Initiative |
|
|||
| Cooperating skills |
|
|||
| Fairness |
|
|||
| Emotional stability |
|
|||
| Global-understanding |
|
|||
| Attending to clients |
|
|||
| Evaluation Skills |
|
|||
| Punctuality |
|
|||
| Good health |
|
|||
| Friendliness |
|
|||
| Diligence |
|
|||
| Honesty |
|
|||
| Decision making skills |
|
|||
| Entrepreneurial skills |
|
|||
| Cheerfulness |
|
|||
| Diversity awareness ability |
|
|||
| Managing resource skills |
|
|||
| Contentment |
|
|||
| Numerical skills |
|
|||
| Firmness |
|
|||
| Flexibility |
|
|||
| Patience |
|
|||
| Pleasant disposition |
|
|||
| Trustworthy |
|
Saturated on Factor 2 in Table II are cognitive skills which are
problem-solving skills (.81), critical thinking skills (.79),
innovative skills (.69), interest in work (.69), computer skills
(.67), initiative (.63), cooperating skills (.62) fairness (.59),
emotional stability (.56), global understanding (.55), attending
to clients (.53), evaluation skills (.53), punctuality (.52),
good health (.51), friendliness (.50), diligence (.49), honesty
(.46) and decision making skills (.43).
In addition, Factor 3 has moderate and significant loadings of management skills comprising entrepreneurial skills (.74), cheerfulness (.69), diversity awareness ability (.68), managing resource skills (.62), contentment (.57), numerical skills (.56) and firmness (.44).
Found on Factor 4 has moderate and significant loadings of affective attributes, which are flexibility (.71), patience (.56), pleasant disposition (.59) and trustworthy (.40).
Discussion and Conclusion
It is observed that besides teaching, if these chemistry graduate
employees were to lose their current job, many of them indicated
their top priority to become salespersons and insurance agents
respectively. This shows that most of these graduates have some
ideas of innovative careers in chemistry. However, their range
of innovative careers in chemistry tended to be limited. This
is evident from their restricted range in choice of careers and
their association with conventional careers in chemistry, such
as preferences for careers as researchers. As reviewed earlier,
the innovative career choices that involve new work roles for
Malaysian chemistry graduates include banking, capital financing,
commerce, computering, consultancy, fashion-designing, housing,
insurance, law, management, publishing, sales, trading and transportation
(Chew, Lee & Quek, 1995; Lee,
Quek & Chew, 1995; Quek, 2003;
2006a ;2006b;
2008a; 2008b).
Despite their limited range of innovative careers which are not standard for chemist graduates, these graduates indicated some understanding of the skills that are important for improving their employability. This study shows that interpersonal skills, cognitive skills, management skills and affective attributes, which are associated with flexibility, are important for these graduates to secure a job and make some advancement in their careers. These findings are congruent with the Malaysian studies reviewed earlier which reported that learning new skills so as to cope with new needs in work performance and changes in the labour market (Ong & Lee, 2007; Quek 2007a; 2007b; 2008b; 2008c; Soon & Quek, 2005; 2006). It is indeed heartening to know that these graduates have some ideas of improving their employability.
In a broad sense, it appears from findings of this study that 'portable high-level skills' are important for enabling the employability of chemistry graduate employees as well as to increase range of innovative career options. In the Malaysian context, education and training in higher institutions probably needs to consider the development of 'portable high-level skills' in students so as to enable them when they graduate to have a wider spectrum of careers from which to choose what they can do to make a living and how to stay employable throughout their lifetime. In this regard more research is needed in Malaysia so that graduates would be better served by tertiary education and training that is adapted to lifelong employability.
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