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Tactful Management Research Journal ISSN :2319-7943

Vol. 1 , Issue. 7 , April 2013 DOI :10.9780/2319-7943/172013/31

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

THE CAUSES OF TURNOVER INTENTION IN THE


EMPLOYEES OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES:
AN OBSERVATION

SURBHI JAIN

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT
RESEARCH SCHOLAR AT JJT UNIVERSITY, CHURELA

Abstract:

A lot of research has been conducted on the Problems caused by high turnover
rate in the corporate world but little has been done on examining the sources of employee
turnover, effects and advising various strategies which can be used by Various
Educational Institutes in India, to ensure that there is employee continuity in their
Institutes to enhance organizational competitiveness. This paper examines the sources
of employee turnover, effects and forwards some strategies on how to minimize employee
turnover in Indian Educational Institutes.

KEYWORDS:

Attrition, Turnover Intention, Indian educational Institutes, Retention, human intellectual,


resource inadequacy.

INTRODUCTION

The role of Educational Institutesto provide for and in the development of manpower required for
the social economic and technological advancement of any nation cannot be over- emphasized. By their
unique nature Educational Institutes are expected to be an inventory of the most specialized and skilled
intellectuals. They serve as storehouses of knowledge for nurturing the manpower needs of the nation and
hence for satisfying the aspirations of the people for a good and humane society. Central to the realization of
University goals and objective are the academic staff whose roles are crucial and their number, quality and
their effectiveness makes the difference in university education production function and to the wider
society (Mwadiani, 2002)No academic institution can really ensure sustainability and quality in thelong
run without a well-qualified and committed academic staff, . Higher education institutions are therefore
very much dependent on the intellectual and creative abilities and commitment of the academic staff than
most other organisations. This therefore makes it critically important to retain this Intellectual staff.

BASE OF THE STUDY

Human Resource unarguably is one of the most valuable asset of any Organization and more so for
the Educational Institutes because they operate on the human intellectual capital. It is therefore penultimate
to retain this educated committed and experienced staff in order to be able to maintain the knowledge
Inventory and decrease the costs of Re-recruitment, selection, orientation, training and development on
new staff. Being able to retain the staff will also ensure knowledge continuity, committed decision making
and smooth and coordinated work flow. Indeed there is a paradigm shift from human resource to human
capital which consists of the knowledge, skills and abilities of the people employed in organization which is
indicative of their value (Armstrong, 2009). When employees leave their jobs, it is often a sign that
something is going wrong. According to Zhou et al, (2004)
In addition to the cost considerations in times of high attrition the Institutes have to face others
Please cite this Article as : SURBHI JAIN , THE CAUSES OF TURNOVER INTENTION IN THE EMPLOYEES OF EDUCATIONAL
INSTITUTES: AN OBSERVATION : Tactful Management Research Journal (April. ; 2013)
THE CAUSES OF TURNOVER INTENTION IN THE EMPLOYEES OF EDUCATIONAL...........

problems too. They have to re-plan or re arrange the course offerings in case the faculty of a certain subject
is unavailable, they might have to reschedule the timetable, the gaps in departments may cause student
planning discontinuities. All these issues together have a huge impact on the quality of education being
delivered and ultimately in the long run a negative effect on the image of the institute.
Tettey (2006) argues that while individuals who move to other organizations may contribute to the
specific activities of that organization, their departure from academia means that the synergies that come
with a group of academics working together is diminished, and the impact and scope of knowledge
production and dissemination is lessened.
Although, there is no standard framework for understanding the employees turnover process as
whole, a wide range of factors have been found useful in interpreting employee turnover Kevin et al.
(2004).
The compounded problem may ultimately be the undoing of an Educational Institute therefore it is
important to understand the employee turnover, more urgently, the sources- that cause the employee
turnover intention, effects and strategies that educational Institutes can use to minimize attrition. With
globalization catching up in the field of education the competition has steepened considerably, Educational
Institutes must continue to provide services which are based on strategies created by employees. These
employees are extremely crucial to the organisation since their value to the Institute is essentially intangible
and not easily replicated Meaghan et al. (2002). Therefore, Institutes must recognize the employees as
major contributors to the efficient achievement of the organization's success Abbasi et al. (2000). Managers
should control employee turnover for the benefit of the organisation success.
This problem is not confined to Indian Educational Institutes. In the United States, for example,
about 7.7% of all full-time academic staff left their institutions for other places within one academic year
from fall 1997 to fall 1998. Of these, only 29% were retirees; the remaining 71% left for a variety of reasons
(National Centre for Educational Statistics, 2001). A 2000 survey of full-time faculty members in the US
showed that more than 40% of them had contemplated changing careers (Sanderson, Phua & Herda, 2000).
In Canada, it has been argued that one of the challenges that universities will face over the next decade or so
is academic recruitment and retention. Similarly, it has been suggested that early in the 21st century there
will be a crisis in Australian higher education with an estimated academic labor shortage of 20,000 if this
trend is not addressed (Mathews, 2003, p. 313). 68% of the academic personnel in a study in
Australian higher education institutions indicated that they wished to leave higher education (Anderson,
Richard & Saha, 2002). This problematic situation is also experienced in South African higher education
institutions, since data indicates that a substantial number (between 5% and 18%) of academics leave
higher education institutions (Tettey, 2006). In 1995, the average monthly resignation rates were 3.4%,
2.9%, and 2.7% in Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, respectively (Barnard and Rodgers, 1998)

PROBLEMS FACED BY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES DUE TO EMPLOYEE TURNOVER

Frequently breaking faculty continuity involves high costs in the induction and training of new
staff. Organizational productivity is also one of the challenges that arise as a consequence of turnover. In
case of higher educational institutions, the cost of employees' turnover is higher as human resources with
knowledge and competences are the key assets and it affects the academic and research activities of the
organizations. Quitting in the mid of semester, the affect is very high as it is difficult for both the university
to arrange the substitute and student to adjust/accept new faculty in the mid of course.
In India in the past year (2012) lot of new developments took place in the education sector. The
University Grants Commission (UGC) decided to give more autonomy to state universities in appointing
the Vice Chancellors. To bring transparency, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) came up
with an email service for people to lodge complaints against institutions. On the other hand, the sector also
witnessed several controversies related to various education bodies like UGC, AICTE, imbroglio between
teachers and Delhi University, student violence in Osmania University. The second half of the year also saw
major change at the policy level with Cabinet reshuffle. Cabinet and State Ministers in the Union Ministry
of Human Resource Development were changed. Keeping in mind all of this and coupled with the ever
increasing attrition rate of skilled and experienced faculty members Indian educational Institutes are facing
a major problem.
High teacher turnover rates lead to decreased performance and decreased consistency across a
variety of indicators, including student achievement. Disruption of a program's continuity and planning,
decreased student learning as measured by standardized tests, and increased costs to Institute districts
related to recruiting and hiring teachers. Student achievement also decreases when there is a shortage of
qualified teachers to fill vacant positions, a problem caused at least in part by teacher turnover. High levels
of turnover can also signal larger, systemic problems in the Institute community.High turnover diminishes

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THE CAUSES OF TURNOVER INTENTION IN THE EMPLOYEES OF EDUCATIONAL...........

the sense of community, continuity, and coherence that is the hallmark of strong Institutes.
Our inability to sustain strong learning communities in high turnover Institutes also undercuts our
ability to implement Institutional reforms. No price tag has yet been placed on this loss, but a substantial
investment in teacher training and Institutional reform implementation is often lost to high rates of teacher
turnover. We never really build our capacity to sustain Institutional improvements because the teachers we
train leave before the reform can become established practice in the Institute. Despite their dreams and best
aspirations, the teachers in these Institutes too often lack the leadership and the collegial opportunities they
need to develop a strong professional community that could support their efforts to improve student
achievement.
The most serious consequence, of course, is that high turnover diminishes teaching quality and
student achievement. Inexperienced teachers (those with less than two to three years of experience) are
often found to be noticeably less effective than more senior teachers. In addition, concentrations of under-
prepared teachers create a drain on Institutes' financial as well as human resources. New teachers thrown
into Institutes with high turnover and limited opportunities for mentoring by accomplished teachers often
feel helpless and lost.
Institutes with high turnover must continually pour money into recruitment efforts and
professional support for new teachers, many of them untrained, without reaping student achievement
dividends from these investments. Other teachers, including the few who could serve as mentors, are
stretched thin and feel overburdened by the needs of their colleagues as well as their students. Instead of
using funds for needed Institutes improvements, monies are spent re-teaching the basics each year to new
teachers who come in with few tools and leave before they become skilled. Teachers who benefit from the
staff-development investments of low-performing Institutes often end up leaving the profession or moving
on to more desirable teaching positions in other communities.

CAUSES OF TURNOVER INTENTION IN THE ACADEMIC STAFF OF THE EDUCATIONAL


INSTITUTES

Occupational stress among university academics especially in the Western countries has been
supported by many studies.Gillespie et al. (2001) focused Australian universities. They reported a
remarkable raise in stress among academic staff over 5 years due to:

insufficient funding and resources,


work overload,
poor management practice,
job insecurity,
Insufficient recognition and reward.
The role erosion,
role overload,
resource inadequacy, and
role ambiguity

Dua (1994) showed academic staff below the senior lecturer level was more stressed at work than
other staff in the University of New England. Brewer and Landers (2003) cited that academics' high work
stress was associated with lower emotional and physical health, and higher job dissatisfaction. Sharpley et
al. (1996) reported that nearly one quarter of the staff in Monash University was also having high level of
job stress. Further, males had significantly lower job stress than females; junior academic staff experienced
the highest job stress than other categories of staff, staff between the ages of 31 and 40 reported the highest
level of job stress than other age groups.
Studies have indicated that the lecturers experienced greater level of stress compared to readers
and professors. There exists a definite relationship between stress- related factors and faculty members'
intentions to leave academia. The most frequent reasons for early retirement of university academic and
academic related staff was dissatisfaction with changes in the universities and financial inducement. The
female academicians in UK experienced more stress at work but lower level of job burnout than their male
counterparts. It was also found that women academicians experience more pressure on the job, but they
experience lower levels of burnout than male academicians.
Within the teaching profession there are several factors that cause turnover. Xaba (2003, p.287)
concluded that the causes of teacher turnover can be attributed to organisational factors. He further asserted
that these could be categorised into commitment to the organisation, long-term prospects, and job

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THE CAUSES OF TURNOVER INTENTION IN THE EMPLOYEES OF EDUCATIONAL...........

satisfaction (Xaba 2003, p. 287). Further analysis was also made by Herbert and Ramsay (2003). Although
the findings by Herbert and Ramsay (2003) related to teacher turnover in Texas in United States they
accurately tallied with findings in several other countries inside and outside Africa. Herbert and Ramsay
(2003, p.2) while acknowledging the fact that decisions about whether to enter and remain in teaching are
ultimately personal according to individuals' needs and circumstances, they attributed turnover among
teachers to several factors such as salaries and incentives, working conditions, induction and professional
development, and assignments. Some of the causal factors cited by Shaw (1999) were similar to those also
raised by Herbert and Ramsay (2003). Shaw (1999,p.3) added that factors such as recruitment and selection
practices, the work itself, compensation, career opportunities and the work environment contributed to
turnover.

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