M.Ing. / The loss of skills and knowledge of technical professionals experienced by many organizations in South Africa has serious implications on the competitiveness of these organizations in the local and international markets. Organizations should come to realize that they should find creative ways to retain critical skills and knowledge and ensure continuity in terms of succession management. Technical professionals play a crucial role in society. They are responsible for maintaining the technologies that they developed — technologies that are used extensively everyday. The extent of society's reliance on technical professionals is staggering. They ensure that people have clean water, transportation, communication, and countless other necessities. Organizations cannot afford to lose their technical professionals and must find ways to retain them. Research was done on the retention of technical professionals and the research indicated that there are fundamental differences between technical professionals and the other staff in organizations. The characteristics of technical professionals require that they be treated differently from other employees. Separate reward systems should be designed for technical professionals because they have different motives for joining and staying with organizations than other employees. Rewarding and compensating technical professionals, with retention as the objective, require that more attention be given to non-financial rewards. Technical professionals require opportunities to develop themselves and to keep abreast of the latest developments in their fields. Very importantly, they have to be assured proper career development. Performance management of technical professionals is a contentious issue because many of the outputs of technical professionals are intangible and difficult to measure. Performance appraisal systems have to be very well designed and alternatives to conventional performance appraisals should be considered. Some alternatives are peer control, selfevaluation, and evaluation by subordinates. Structural accommodations should be made to accommodate technical professionals because of the cultural differences between professionals and non-professionals. Various accommodations could be effective depending on the nature of the business and the level of dependence the organization has on technical professionals. Some options are dual ladders, triple hierarchies, and broadbanding amongst others. These structural accommodations can ensure that technical professionals do not have to make the transition to management in order to obtain more responsibility, recognition and status in an organization. The transition to management, of a technical professional, might in some cases have detrimental effects on the organization and the individual. For example, the best engineer in a project team is promoted to manage the team. The consequence may be that the team loses their best engineer and the organization gains a manager with little or no management skills. The success of retention strategies are organization-dependant, however, the strategies discussed in this dissertation can help ensure that organizations retain their competitive advantage by effectively managing and retaining their technical professionals.

Thesis.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-134). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR29515

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2005. / Title from title screen. Laura O. Taylor, committee chair; Paula E. Stephan, Paul M. Jakus, Erdal Tekin, committee members. Electronic text (170 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 24, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-169).

This study focused on the experience of involuntary job loss for managers and professionals. Fifteen males and females provided details of their experience through in-depth interviews. The critical incident technique was used as the approach to identify the high points and low points during their term of unemployment. The most frequently reported positive incidents included interviews, positive feedback from others, support of friends, family and counselling, and lack of financial pressures. The negative incidents most frequently reported included leaving the previous employer, rejection, lost role, interviews and lost career opportunities. In addition, the research participants reported shock and relief as the two most frequent responses to the termination. When asked about whether a change in attitude to work had occurred 11 reported some change following termination. The most prominent result of this research points to the experience of unemployment as largely an individual experience, only four categories of critical incidents included incidents reported by more than 50% of the participants interviewed. Counsellors may benefit from this research which provides information particular to this group and which will assist them in determining appropriate counselling techniques and interventions. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

While research focusing on the retirement intentions of individuals within the general population has been undertaken, only two empirical studies have examined the retirement intentions of professional workers. This study expands the small, existing body of literature focusing on this topic by presenting eighteen hypotheses, grouped into five categories of factors, and testing them with the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience.

Abstract not available

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration