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Essay on the Benefits from Studying a Masters Degree

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INTRODUCTION

The use of Education by people to further their career prospects has been a major topic of discussion for a very long time. Educational courses are frequently undertaken on a full-time or part-time basis. This enables an individual to achieve a diploma, bachelor or master's degree with a management, science or business label, which eventually leads to a qualification for a professional body. It is considered that such courses provide value for both the employer and the participant (employee), i.e. an MBA study is a popular route to take. However, the reasons why people decide to embark on a master's degree and what they hope to gain out of it is one that is subject to misinterpretation by the very individuals who embark on these courses, companies who recruit them, and organisations as a whole. Embarking on a master's degree course does not necessarily mean that an individual would find themselves the dream job they have always craved for. Reasons for this vary from person to person, company to company, country to country. For example, in the United Kingdom, there are certain jobs whereby you do not need to have any educational qualifications to have and start the job. Rather, greater emphasis is placed on the individuals work experience. Therefore, its use (master's degree) is not wholly clear.

Every year, hundreds of people embark on master's degree courses up and down the country, hoping to utilise its use in the job market. If we want to generalize the reasons for this, one could say that everyone has different expectations on the quality of life they want to have and their future development.

Enrolling on a master's degree course is no easy task on its own. There are huge financial payments to be made in order to start and finish such a course. This leads us to evaluate, why do people embark on such a route? What do they hope to gain out of it at the end? These are questions that need answers.

This paper intends to understand the effects of motivation, career orientation, job satisfaction, the psychological contract, the types of organisations, employability, and learning, so as to identify the reasons behind why people sign up to study a master's degree.

We will look at theoretical concepts and models formulated by various researchers, in which an analysis and comparison will be made between the latter mentioned. This will lead to a conclusion in which we will be able to identify the foundation behind this phenomenon.

ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION

The meaning of Achievement Motivation

The term motivation comes from the Latin verb 'movere' which means to move. Although there is considerable disagreement over the precise definition of motivation, a general definition of motivation that is consistent with a cognitive approach is 'the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained' (Pintrich and Schunk, 1996). Motivation provides an important foundation to directing one's activities including such cognitive actions such as planning, organizing, making decision, learning, and assessing progress (Pintrich and Schunk, 1996).

Achievement is defined as a task oriented behaviour that allows the individual's performance to be evaluated according to some internally imposed criteria that involves some standard of excellence (Spence, 1983).

Because view points from researchers are different, the definitions of increasing ones motivation are not alike. Originally, achievement motivation was defined as any activity where an individual compares his or her performance with some standard or performance (Atkinson, 1964; McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, and Lowell, 1953). Atkinson (1966) suggests that achievement motivation was actually the combination of two personality constructs: the motive to approach success and the motive to avoid failure. Bigge and Hunt (1980) define achievement motivation as 'something inside the organism that arouses the individual to act-to energise, sustain and direct behaviour toward a goal with the expectancy of finding satisfaction in mastering challenging and difficult performance'. This definition includes arousal and energizing of behaviour, as well as the direction and sustaining of that behaviour. In addition, it also includes a belief in satisfaction achieved from mastery.

Theory of Achievement Motivation
The most influential research tradition in motivation began with Henry Murray (1938). Murray's research was further developed by McClelland (1961). Then Atkinson (1966) and Helmreich and Spench (1978) brought up their theory. McClelland theory (1961) argues that the motive interacts with cues from the environment to arouse affective states, typically believed to be pride and shame, which then elicits approach or avoidance behaviour in achievement contexts. He assumed that motive states are the main springs of action. These motive states are termed the motive to achieve success and the motive to avoid failure.

Atkinson (1966) theory suggests that achievement motivation was actually the combination of two personality constructs: the motive to approach success and the motive to avoid failure. The motive to approach success is the ability to experience pride or satisfaction in accomplishment, and the motive to avoid failure is the ability to experience shame or humiliation as a consequence of failure. He also looked at motives in conjunction with personality and situational factors. They include two situational factors, namely the probability to success (task difficulty) and the incentive value of success in their testing.

Helmreich and Spench (1978) also reported gender differences with regard to achievement motivation as a result of their research on the Work and Family orientation questionnaire. They found that gender differences were present across four dimensions (competitiveness, work, mastery, and personal unconcern). 1)

Competitiveness: a desire to win in interpersonal situations; when the individual tries harder when competing with others. 2)

Work Orientation: a positive attitude towards work; gets satisfaction from a job well done. 3)

Mastery: a preference for difficulty, challenging tasks; a desire to master something before moving onto something else. 4)

Personal Unconcern: a lack of concern with the negative reactions of others to personal achievement.

Specifically, males scored higher on mastery and competitiveness than females, whereas females scored higher than males on work.

CAREER ORIENTATION
The meaning of Career Orientation
Career Orientation, is different from work and profession, it emphasizes on one's whole working life. There are several definitions of this concept. Adams (1991) outlines four broad uses of the term career: advancement, being tied to a profession, a life-long sequence of jobs and as a lifelong sequence of role-related experiences. The latter definition is more inclusive, and it allows us to view a career as a life-long process that 'represents a person's movement through a social structure over time' (Hall, 1987).

The subjective sense of where one is going in one's work life is the concept of internal career. As contrasted with 'external career', the formal stages and roles that are defined by organisational policies and societal concepts of what an individual can expect in the occupational structure (Schein, 1978). In studying careers longitudinally, it became evident that most people form a strong self-concept which holds their internal career together even as they experience dramatic changes in their external career. Schein (1978) called this self-concept 'career anchor' and found it helped to illuminate how people made career choices.

Theory of Career Orientation
Everyone has a different career goal and ideal, and that is why everyone's career decision is different. So, even if two people are in the same environment, their career planning's may also be different. Van Maanen and Schein (1977) mentioned that one's self-ability, need and value are important factors in ones career development. According to these factors, people will develop their occupational self-concept. Because few people will change their career orientation, it is very important to understand their career orientation before they plan their career. According to John Holland's theory (1973), most people are one of six personality types, they are: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. The characteristics of each of these are described below:

Realistic: an individual who likes to work with animals, tools, or machines; generally avoids social activities like teaching, healing, and informing others; has good skills in working with tools, mechanical or electrical drawings, machines or plants and animals; values practical things you can see, touch, and use like plants and animals, tools, equipment, or machines; and sees self as practical, mechanical, and realistic.

Conventional: Someone who likes to work with numbers, records, or machines in a set, orderly way; generally avoids ambiguous, unstructured activities; is good at working with written records and numbers in systematic, orderly way; values success in business; and sees self as orderly and good at following a set plan. 3)

Enterprising: Likes to lead and persuade people, and to sell things and ideas; generally avoids activities that require careful observation and scientific, analytical thinking; is good at leading people and selling things or ideas; values success in politics, leadership, or business; and sees self as energetic, ambitious and sociable.

Social: Likes to do things to help people, such as teaching, nursing, or giving first aid, providing information; generally avoids using tools, machines, or animals to achieve a goal; is good at teaching, counselling, nursing, or giving information; values helping people and solving social problems; sees self as helpful, friendly, and trustworthy.

Artistic: Like to do creative activities like art, drama, crafts, dance, music, or creative writing; generally avoids highly ordered or repetitive activities; has good artistic abilities, such as in creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art; values the creative arts such as drama, music, works of creative writers; and sees self as expressive, original, and independent.

Investigative: Likes to study and solve math or Science problems; generally avoids leading, selling, or persuading people; is good at understanding and solving science and math problems; values science; and sees self as precise, scientific, and intellectual.

Because different people have different career orientations, Schein (1978) interviewed forty-four graduated students and found five different kinds of career orientations and called it 'career anchor'.


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