Essay 2 ENG

Lit Review Synthesis Example

Everyone has an increasing need for IT professionals and that includes the state government. State governments are changing their work policies to become more attractive to potential IT employees. In 2005, Pawloski described working IT in the government as “Working for the state once meant long hours, low pay, and lots of red tape.” (p 87). This meant there was little compensation for working under the government so employees often left to work for private companies that offered more benefits and higher pay. Governments now offer new incentives such as paying for an employee’s higher education such as graduate school and scholarships for undergraduates. This encourages employees to keep their skills current which is definitely important in a field that constantly evolves and emphasizes efficiency. Zhang (2012) estimates that about half of the knowledge an IT professional has will be out of date within two years. The two year shelf life for half of our knowledge sounds a little too fast since we still use technology such as apache servers which were introduced in 1995, but on the other hand, Adobe recently retired their Flash program and replaced it with Adobe Animate CC which uses cloud technology. I myself learned how to use Flash my third semester at George Mason University and now it is considered obsolete. However, Pare (2001) cautions that providing an education cannot be the definitive answer to creating and maintaining IT professionals in America: “Education has been found to be negatively related to continuance commitment” (p 3). Continuance commitment is defined by Pare as a factor that keeps someone to continue doing something because if they don’t, something will have to be given up. For example, a relatively low skilled employee will continue to work for a company because they might not be able to get a job anywhere else and may accept whatever benefits they may get. If you became more educated and thus became more desirable to other companies, your options open up. Employers can entice someone to start working for them by paying for their education, but once that part is over they tend to leave for a company that offers even more incentives such as higher pay. The problem just changes from involuntary turnover such as someone getting fired for being incompetent, to voluntary turnover when they are “too smart” for their current company and move somewhere where they have more benefits.

Other incentives employers can use to reduce employee turnover are non-monetary related benefits. Besides higher pay or paying for an education, Pawlowski (2005) says government employers offer employees flexible work schedules, telecommuting, and the opportunity to work on more prestigious projects. All of these benefits increase what both Pare (2001) and Zhang (2012) refer to as affective and normative commitment. Working on a more prestigious project gives the employee a sense of acceptance (affective commitment) in the company because they are given an important responsibility. The flexible hours which Todd (2005) also advocates, show the employees that employers are doing the morally right thing (normative commitment) by not working them to death. These changes are designed to appease an individual’s wants and needs from an employer. Affective, continuance, and normative commitment all add to employee satisfaction which eventually leads to their decision to stay or to leave an employer. Employee satisfaction is probably the biggest factor that affects voluntary turnover rates, although the exact amount the turnover rate is being changed is hard to determine exactly according to Brumley (2014). She points out flaws in how the turnover rate is calculated. A significant portion of IT work falls under contracting where IT professionals jump from short term contract to short term contract making the turnover rate appear higher than it actually is. A large portion of the IT work in Northern Virginia is government contracting at companies like Booz Allen Hamilton and Lockheed Martin.