A REPOR T

ON
PER CE PTION OF
GRA DU ATE S
REG ARDING WORKPLA CE
EXPECT ATION

(AN EXPL ORA TORY STUD Y)

SUBMITTED TO:
Mr. RAJESH SHARMA
(FACULTY OF NIILM CMS)

SUBMITTED BY:
MANOJ AGGARWAL (27120)
AMBIKA GUPTA (27026)
PGDBM 2007-09
SECTION A
 Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge the contribution of the following groups

and individuals to the development of my project:

We would like to give a special thanks to Mr. Rajesh Sharma (Faculty of

NIILM CMS) for giving me this project and explaining the concept of the
project.

The college directed me to a wide range of resources on the web and

in the library stacks.

MANOJ AGGARWAL

AMBIKA GUPTA

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ABSTRACT

This research outlines the results of a study which investigates the perceptions of
graduates regarding workplace expectations. A literature study provides a
theoretical foundation which explains the nature of graduates' workplace
expectations. An empirical survey was conducted, using a self-administered
questionnaire, which was completed by prospective graduates at two tertiary
institutions. This sample was selected in terms of the proposed restructuring of
higher education institutions. Eleven null-hypotheses, investigating relationships
between the dependent and independent variables, are tested by means of specific
statistical methods, such as analysis of variance and correlation coefficients.
The results showed do not showed much differences between workplace
expectations of graduates (dependent variables) and classification data
(independent variables). Specific guidelines are provided to ensure the creation of
more realistic graduate expectations before entering the workplace.

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INTRODUCTION

When individuals join an organization they have certain expectations

about promotion, salary, status, office, decor and amount of
challenging work (things they expect to receive). They also have
expectations about their skills, time, energy and involvement (things
they expect to give). The organization or employer also has certain
expectations of what it will receive from the employee and of what it
can offer the employee. This has been referred to as the 'psychological
contract' between the human being as an employee and the
organization as employer. The focus of this research is, however, on
the first part of this 'psychological contract' – “expectations of
graduates regarding the workplace”.

As per NIEUWENHUIS (ref 2) there is conflicting empirical evidence

regarding learning potential of the work place. Some studies conclude
that work place should be seem as strong learning environment
whereas others shows evidence of the effectiveness of the work place
as a learning environment

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Many researchers are of the opinion that graduate expectations are too
high and also graduates need to be prepared to 'take a step back
before going forward.' They argue that young graduates are finding it
very difficult to enter the job market. Employers currently operate in a
'buyer's market' due to limited work opportunities. Therefore, they can
pick and choose among the best prepared applicants. The
identification of sought after skills, values and attitudes, will help to
build an employable profile. Without adequate workplace skills, values
and attitudes a person may be able to acquire theoretical knowledge
and/or practical experience, however, due to limited career
development potential, unrealistic expectations can be created. This
research sets out to examine the expectations of graduates regarding
the workplace.

Objectives

The primary objective of this research is to investigate the perceptions

of graduates regarding workplace expectations. To help achieve this
main objective, the following secondary objectives are identified:

1. To highlight the nature of graduate workplace expectation.

2. To analyze the factors influencing workplace expectations.

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 3. To empirically investigate the nature and extent of graduate
workplace expectations.

4. To provide guidelines to local industries regarding graduate

expectations about the workplace.

5. To assist graduates in developing realistic workplace

expectations.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Researchers define expectations as the action of mentally looking for

something to take place. It is furthermore stated that expectations are
reflected in both the attitudes and the consequent behaviour of
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employees. (Robinns ref 1) defined that Expectations can also be
described as wishing with confidence of fulfillment, the feeling that
something is about to happen or the sum of the values of a random
variable divided by the number of values. According to him Perception
can be described as a process by which individuals organize and
interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their
environment. A graduate can be defined as a person who has received
a degree from a school, where a school can be classified as a high
school, college or university. The workplace can be an establishment,
job site, or project at one geographical location containing one or more
work areas or merely a place where work is done. There are various
factors which a Graduate look for in a company.

Several factors could influence the graduate's workplace expectations.

Expectations regarding rewards and benefits, personal factors,
education and career, job-related and employer- related factors, ethics
and social responsibility and diversity and culture, were identified.
These factors are stated below.

1. Rewards and benefits expectations

2. Personal expectations
3. Educational expectations
4. Job related expectations
5. Expectations regarding the employer
6. Ethical and social responsibility expectations
7. Diversity and cultural expectations

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Rewards and benefits expectations

A reward system can be defined as the umbrella term for the

different components in performance evaluation and the assignment of
monetary and non-monetary rewards. The remunerative benefits can
be classified into three main categories, namely: financial security
(e.g. pensions, life assurance, and personal accident insurance);
financial assistance (e.g. Subsidized mortgages, company loans and
relocation expenses) and personal benefits (e.g. personal, career
and retirement counseling, compassionate leave and long service
awards)

Personal expectations

Some of the personal factors that could influence graduate work place
expectations are attitudes, personality, values and norms. (Robbins ref
1) describes values as basic convictions that a specific mode of
conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to
an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.
Other personal expectations which graduates might have about the
workplace are the ability to: uphold personal Values; realize personal
career goals and satisfy the need for Job security

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Educational and career expectations

Researchers and academicians are of the opinion that both the

employee and the organization should be committed to each other
throughout the working life of the employee. Lifelong career
commitment implies that job security is guaranteed as long as the
employee is technically qualified and performs satisfactorily. Examples
of career and educational expectations of graduates are: variety of
career opportunities; provisioning of a long-term career plan;
education relevance to the job situation and to receive guidance and
mentoring

Job related expectations

The reason why a graduate join an organization is to do a job. As per

the researchers job analysis is a detailed description of the tasks
involved in a job (job description), indicating its relationship with other
jobs and ascertaining the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for
a graduate to perform the job (job specification). Job characteristics,
such as skill variety, task identity and significance, autonomy and
feedback, play an important role when designing a job. Graduates
looking for a job need to pay attention to these aspects in order to
ensure a proper match. Other job-related expectations that need to be
considered are: location of the workplace; productivity requirements;
job rotation; flexible working hours and performance feedback.

Expectation regarding employer

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Graduates joining an organization have certain expectations of what
they could receive from an organization (employer) and things they
expect to give to the employer. Things they could expect from an
employer are among other, a meaningful and challenging job;
recognition; compensation and promotion; openness and honesty;
support from management; office space; induction training; team spirit
and information on organizational policies and regulations. The second
group of expectations is what an individual expects to offer an
employer, for example: abilities and skills to execute tasks; social
interaction; conforming to organization values and goals and to
maintain a good public image of the organization.

Ethical and social responsibility expectations

Researchers describe business ethics as the application of general

ethical ideas to business behavior. They are of the opinion that social
responsibility is organizational decision-making that is linked to ethical
values and the compliance with legal requirements and respect for
communities and the environment. Specific examples of this
expectation include: fair treatment; safe working environment; respect
for employee rights; influence of affirmative action policies and dealing
with HIV/AIDS in the workplace.

Diversity and cultural expectations

Thomas (ref 3) defines diversity as any mixture of items characterized

by differences and similarities. Considering this definition, it should be
noted that diversity is not synonymous with difference, but it
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encompasses differences and similarities. Workforce diversity can thus
be described as a mixture of people who can vary along an infinite
number of lines, such as, age, tenure, lifestyle, sexual orientation,
education, experience, geographic origin, race and gender. According
to them culture refers to an entire society or any collective within it, an
organization, and a part of it or an occupation. Examples of this
expectation include: cultural differences; diversity training programs
and dealing with various ethnic groups in the workplace.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

To investigate the relationship between the independent variables

(classification data) and dependent variable (graduates expectations),
various null hypotheses were tested. The null hypotheses addressed in
this research were as follows:

H01: Gender of graduates does not differ regarding their

benefit/reward expectations.

H02: Gender of graduates does not differ regarding their personal

workplace expectations.

H03: Religion of graduates does not differ regarding their personal

workplace expectations.

H04: Religion of graduates does not differ regarding career/educational

expectations.

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H05: Religion of graduates does not differ regarding their job related
expectations.

H06: Religion of graduates do not differ regarding their employer

related expectations

H07: Religion of graduates does not differ regarding their

cultural/diversity expectations.

H08: Martial status of graduates does not differ regarding their

career/education expectations.

H09: Marital status of graduates does not differ regarding their

employer-related expectations.

H010: Number of dependants of graduates does not differ regarding

their career/educational expectations.

H011: Expected level of income of graduates does not differ regarding

their benefit/reward expectations.

The alternative hypotheses (H, to Hn) can be stated as the exact

opposite of the above null-hypotheses, indicating that there are
differences/relationships between the variables. The reason for the
inclusion of the above-mentioned hypotheses is that differences only
exist between the following independent variables/classification data

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(gender; ethnic groups; marital status; number of dependants and
level of income) and dependent variables/graduate expectations
(benefit/reward; personal; career/education; job-related; employer-
related and cultural/diversity). No significant differences exist between
the other independent and dependent variables and were, therefore,
not reported.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Approach

The quantitative research method is used in this study. It is a form of

conclusive research which involves a large representative sample
and structured data collection procedures are used. The quantitative
research approaches used, are exploratory research (an area that has
not been studied in order to develop initial ideas) and descriptive
research (describe expectations of graduates).

Testing unit:

Target population consists of third year graduates pursuing different

graduate courses like BBA, and other professional courses from Delhi
University, Rai business school of management AND NSB.

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Questionnaire design:
Based on the size of the sample (100), a survey by means of self-
administered questionnaires was best suited to this project. The
questionnaire consists of two sections:

Section A provides classification data (demographic characteristics) of

respondents and contains a nominal scale of measurement, using
categorical variables. Nine classification data variables were tested.

Section B deals with the variables regarding workplace expectations of

learners. Seven workplace factors are tested, totaling 30 statements.
The type of ordinal scale used is a five-point Likert-type scale. One
open-ended question was asked.

Seven factors and no of question related to it are

Rewards and benefits expectations (Q1-Q5)

Personal expectations (Q6-Q10)
Educational expectations (Q11-Q14)
Job related expectations (Q15-Q17)
Expectations regarding the employer (Q18-Q23)
Ethical and social responsibility expectations (Q24-Q 27)
Diversity and cultural expectations (Q28-Q30)

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Data collection
The type of information required (data specification decisions) for the
study can be classified as follows:

• Type of data - research data is numeric and nonverbal

(Questionnaires).
• Sources of data - both secondary and primary data (survey) were
collected.
• Nature of data - data was collected at a single point in time.
• Form of data - non-overt data by means of questionnaires.

A total of 100 questions were being completed by final year students.

The response rate for this was about 80%. 20% of questionnaires were
not completed.

Data processing and analysis

For processing of the data we have assigned the values on the

following basis:
Strongly disagree (1)
Disagree (2)
Neither agrees nor disagree (3)
Agree (4)
Strongly agree (5)
For analysis purpose we have used descriptive statistics, frequency
distribution correlation and Anova analysis and croanbach alpha.

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DISCUSSION OF RESULT

Descriptive statistics (refer table 1 in annexure)

An in-depth discussion of the descriptive statistics of the individual

variables falls beyond the scope of this article. A few remarks,
however, are made of those factors with significant statistics. In
analyzing the mean values (a measure of central tendency) of these
factors, it appears that most of these values cluster around point four
(agree slightly) on the instrument scale. The lowest mean score (3.52)
is indicated by factor six (ethical and social responsibility factor) and
the highest mean score (4.108) is being shown by factor one (rewards
and benefits expectations). This means maximum number of people
has a common share of thought while think upon the rewards and
benefits expectations. And as we have seen that lowest mean score
has been received by factor 6, this means the next coming generation
is having a least concern about ethical and social responsibility factor.

Measure of dispersion being used standard deviation, in this analysis

we can draw inference that our respondent has a differences in the
opinions. The least standard deviation is being received by factor 5
(expectations regarding the employer), and maximum standard
deviation is being received by factor 4 (job related expectations). This
means in factor 5 most of the respondent varies less in their
responses.

Result of section A
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Following were the observation (refer table 2 in annexure)

As we have collected data from different sources. We have collected

data in which there is more or less perfect proportion of each
attributes. In this we have taken sample in which 57% are male and
43% are female. The sample taken is of mixed age but still it is being
dominated by 20 to 21 and 22 to 23 i.e. 35% and 41%. Since we taken
fresh graduates, this means the sample will automatically will be
unmarried, and the same also can be seen from the sample itself. In
this 96% of people are unmarried. In this about 61% of people have a
dependent between 0-2, and 30% of the people fall in the category of
no response. In our sample 81% of people are from Hindu religion. Our
area of research will also look in that factor that whether a religion will
make a impact on their expectations or not. Since it was a survey
being conducted on the fresh graduates, it was expected that
maximum no of people will have work experience less than 1 year and
same is being represented by the survey also. The sample we are
considering is of the opinion that they should get job in private sector.
After that it is followed by both private sector and public sector at 38%.

Factor analysis
We have calculated cronbach alpha for different factors. (Refer table 3)
In this we are finding that in every factor cronbach alpha is more than
0.5 in every case. So it can be concluded that our data is internally
reliable

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Correlation analysis
correlation analysis

factor
1 factor 2 factor 3 factor 4 factor 5 factor 6 factor 7
factor 0.41559 0.65616 0.53294 0.30686 0.42990
1 - 8 5 1 0.63864 1 9
factor 0.49633 0.55469 0.46289 0.32131
2 - 1 8 8 0.41156 8
factor 0.58527 0.58867 0.41857
3 - 8 2 0.31362 3
factor 0.45114 0.33464
4 - 0.47464 9 1
factor 0.33965 0.51452
5 - 4 9
factor 0.49968
6 - 6
factor
7 -

As in the correlation analysis we can see that there is highly positive

correlation between all the factors. It means all the factors are
interrelated to each other

Anova analysis (refer table 4)

The purpose of this analysis is to investigate the relationship between
the independent variables (classification data) and dependent
variables (graduate expectations) and to test the stated hypotheses.
Inferential statistics are used to make inferences about the population
using sample data and to make decisions about various hypotheses.
Analysis of variance can be used to test for differences among means
and cultivates a structure of simultaneous relationships among two or
more phenomena. With regard to the ANOVA exercise, it reveals that
relationships only exist between the following independent variables
(classification data) and the dependent variables (expectations):

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gender; religion; marital status; number of dependants and level of
income.

Results

Our first hypothesis is that gender of graduates does not differ

regarding their benefit expectations.

So in that case our alternate hypothesis is that they do not differ

regarding this expectation.

But if we see the Anova analysis this hypothesis can be accepted with
a p value of. 0 .19
In this f tabulated value is 3.938. (Refer table 4.1)And our calculated
value is 1.703 this means; mean score of responses fall in the area of
confidence. So with a confidence level of 95% we failed to reject the
null hypothesis. This means both male and female have a common
thought regarding benefits and rewards expectations.

For the second hypothesis i.egender of graduates does not differ

regarding their work place expectations, we can say that it can be
rejected with a confidence level of 95%. In this f calculated is 5.034
(refer table 4.2), and in this f tabulated value is 3.93. This means that
mean score of graduates fall outside the confidence range and we can
reject our null hypothesis that male and female does not differ in their
work place expectations. That means male and females have different

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expectations from their work place. And our alternate hypothesis that
is gender of graduates differs regarding their work place expectations
can be accepted

Our third hypothesis is religion of graduates do not differ regarding

their work place expectations; we can say that it can be rejected with a
confidence level of 95%. In this f calculated is 0.28 (refer table 4.3)
and f tabulated is 2.46. This means that in this also mean score fall
outside the confidence range. And in this also we can reject our null
hypothesis that people from different religion have difference of
opinion regarding their work place expectations. So our alternate
hypothesis that is religion of graduates differ regarding their work
place expectations can be accepted

Our forth hypothesis is saying that religion of graduates do not differ

regarding career educational expectations. And with a confidence level
of 95% we are failing to reject our null hypothesis, as we are findings
that tabulated value is 2.467 (refer table 4.4) and calculated value is
2.04 this means religion does not make any impact on the expectation
of graduates regarding work place. So this means what ever the
religion all of them have same expectations from their work place.

Our 5th hypothesis is religion of graduates does not differ regarding job
related expectations. And with a confidence level of 95% we are failing
to reject our null hypothesis. In this from our calculations we are
getting a tabulated value at 2.467 (refer table 4.5) and calculated
value for this hypothesis is 0.358. So this means that religion does not

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have any impact on the job related expectations. A respondent may
belong to any religion; they follow the same thought regarding job
related expectations.

Our 6th hypothesis is saying that religion of graduates do not differ

regarding their employer related expectations. But if we see the
calculations being made by excel we can analyze that mean score of
all the respondent are their in the confidence range. In this we can see
that calculated value of f is 0.219 (refer table 4.6) which is lying well in
the confidence area of 2.46 (f tabulated value). This means that we are
failing to reject our null hypothesis that religion does not have any
impact on graduates regarding their work place expectations.

Our 7th hypothesis is saying that religion of graduates do not differ

regarding their cultural/diversity expectations. But if we see the
calculations than we can easily find that
Mean score is lying within the confidence interval with a 95%
confidence level. In this f calculated is 0.503 and f tabulated is 2.46
(refer table 4.7). So our null hypothesis will be accepted or we failed to
reject our null hypothesis.

The next assertion that we checked upon is about marital status. Our
null hypothesis is marital status of graduates does not differ regarding
their career/education expectations. This statement is highly being
supported by statistical analysis with f calculated as 0.0007 and f
tabulated as 3.09 (refer table 4.8). So in this case also we fail to reject
our null hypothesis.

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The 9th hypothesis that we checked upon is marital status of graduates
does not differ regarding their employer-related expectations. Again
statistical analysis is showing a figure that enforces us to accept our
null hypothesis. In this we are getting f calculated as 0.08 and f
tabulated as 3.09 (refer table 4.9). And this is falling under the
confidence area with a confidence level of 95 %. So we fail to reject
our null hypothesis.

The 10th hypothesis is saying that number of dependants of graduates

does not differ regarding their career/educational expectations. This
hypothesis also we failed to reject with a confidence level of 95%. In
this tabulated value of f is 2.699 (refer table 4.10) and calculated value
of f is 0.52. So we failed to reject our null hypothesis that number of
dependants of graduates does not differ regarding their
career/educational expectations.

The 11th hypothesis is expected level of income of graduates does not

differ regarding their benefit/reward expectations. In this f calculated is
0.549 (refer table 4.11) which is very well falling under the area of f
tabulated of 2.467. So again we failed to reject our null hypothesis and
we have to accept that expected level of income of graduates does not
differ regarding their benefit reward expectations. This means what
ever be the expected level of income they expect the similar level of
benefits from their work place

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CONCLUSION AND RECOMMEDATIONS

It appears that the psychological contract that exists between the

human being as an employee and the organization as employer plays
an important and fundamental role that directs employment relations
in the organization. Both the employee and employer have certain
expectations about each other - what they can offer and what they

23
want to receive. Secondary research revealed that graduate
expectations about the workplace are often too high and not realistic.
For analysis purposes and the focus of this article, the following
graduate workplace expectations were identified: benefit/reward;
personal; career/educational; job related; employer-related;
cultural/diversity and ethical/social responsibility expectations. These
Expectations were empirically tested. The following conclusions and
recommendations can be drawn, based on the analysis of variance
between the independent variables (classification data) and dependent
variables (graduate expectations):

1. Since we have seen that first hypothesis we are failing to reject,

this means gender of graduate does not have any impact benefit
expectation. So for this our suggestion is that employer should
design their policy in a way that they should give equal amount
of benefits for both male and female. There should not be any
discrepancy on the basis of gender.

2. In the 2nd hypothesis we have seen that gender of graduates

have a great impact on the work place expectations. It means
male have a different work place expectation that to from
females. So females should be given more of the work which
they preferred to do. As interest in the work will improve their
productivity and efficiency and the whole output of the company
will improve.

3. As regarding the religion we have seen maximum of the

hypothesis are being accepted this means it does not have any

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 impact on different expectation that a graduate have from their
workplace.

4. Strategies that could be used to bridge the gap between

graduate expectations and the realities of the workplace are:
vacation employment for undergraduates; high school outreach
programmes by organizations; reality projects for final year
students; workshops, lectures and seminars at schools and
universities on business-related issues.

5. Employability training should be included in student

development programmes.

6. Because of the rapid obsolescence of skills, a capacity of life-long

learning and flexibility should be created.

7. Attempts should be made to improve the earnings-generation

capacity of the graduate and not merely satisfying the quest for
knowledge.

8. Students should gain some practical work-related experience in

the world of work before graduating.

9. Education should not be overly knowledge-based, but rather

competency- and insight-based.

10.Graduate placement strategies should focus on how to: align

graduate strategies with varied business needs for graduates;

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 making best use of e-recruitment; avoid overselling on the
graduate development promise and how to develop graduates
who are not on formal entry schemes

References

1. Organizational behaviour by Robbins 10th edition (Pearson)

2. HRD review by Academy of human resources development
3. Article by Thomas (redefining diversity)

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