Corporate culture matters — what kinds of workplaces appeal to highly skilled engineers?
Keywords:
Organisational culture, workplace preferences, gender, STEM, UNITECH alumniAbstract
In Europe, and in Germany in particular, many organisations face increasing skills shortages. By deliberately managing their cultures, organisations can attract and retain highly skilled employees more effectively. Seeking to explore the workplace preferences of highly skilled engineers, we conducted 19 semi-structured interviews and one standardised online survey with 170 graduates of the UNITECH International program. The purpose was to identify their (1) approaches to job search and career development, (2) teamwork and communication strategies, (3) personal traits, (4) motivators and sources of frustration, and (5) attitudes toward an academic career and self-employment. Our findings confirmed that the culture and climate in the workplace largely influenced respondents’ career decisions. In addition, we found a number of statistically significant differences between responses of men and women.Downloads
Published
10-02-2016
Issue
Section
Special Issue: Gendered Motivation and Choice in STEM
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How to Cite
Corporate culture matters — what kinds of workplaces appeal to highly skilled engineers?. (2016). International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology, 8(1), 46-66. https://genderandset.open.ac.uk/index.php/genderandset/article/view/397