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The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impact on the Worker-Organization Relationship
Helena MartinsTeresa Rebelo
Inés Tomás
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impact on the Worker-
Organization Relationship
Helena MartinsTeresa RebeloInés Tomás1
SummaryThe process of Competences Recognition, Validation and Certification2, also known as
Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL), is an innovative means of attaining school certificates for
individuals without an academic background. The main objective of this process is to validate what
people have learned in informal contexts, in order to attribute academic certificates.
With the increasing interest of the qualification of workers and governmental support, more and
more Portuguese organizations promote this process within their facilities and their work hours. In fact,
nowadays, various Portuguese firms reveal a special concern about learning issues as a key factor in their
competitiveness. Consequently, they tend to invest in strategies oriented towards the enhancement of
human resource competences to improve their learning ability and their performance.
This study explores the relationship between the promotion of this Human Resource
Development measure and employee’s attitudes (Job Satisfaction and Organizational Comitment) and
behaviours (Extra-role Organizational Citizenship Behaviours) towards the organization they work for.
Results of a cross-sectional survey of Portuguese Industrial Workers (N=135) showed that statistical
significant results are in the higher levels of Voice Behaviours in the groups of workers who were
involved or had graduated from the firm promoted APL process, although all the other variables suffered
slight, but not significant, increases. The goal of this paper is to spur future research in this area.
Keywords: APL, Life Long Learning, Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction,
Organizational Citizenship Behaviours.
Introduction
In an era where the learner’s earlier educational experiences do not always fit
with the reality of a rapidly changing employment market, and jobs are not “for life”,
accompanied by high rates of experience and knowledge redundancy, along with other
1Participation ander the “Programa Investigación en Psicología de las Organizaciones y del Trabajo: Unidades de trabajo y calidad de vida laboral” (CONSOLIDER-C, Ref: SEJ2006-14086/PSIC), of the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia.2 In Portuguese, Reconhecimento, Validação e Certificação de Competências (RVCC).
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The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
contributory discontinuities in career patterns (Dealtry, 2003), the importance of
lifelong learning is stressed, conveying to the pertinence of a competence-based
approach to learning.
That is to say that the knowledge-based economy, new technologies, the
growing speed of technological changes and globalisation all influence the needs to
improve the population’s skills and competences (Colardyn & Bjornavold, 2004), as
well as the recognition and the validation of the ones they already have, acquired in
non-formal and informal contexts.
The term “competence” assumes in this context a primary role, as has become a
more and more used term. It can be defined in several ways, taking in account two main
components: savoir-mobiliser3 (Perrenoud, 1996), and reflexive attitude, because the
validated experiences in this kind of processes are characterized by the knowledge
acquired by a long practice together with observation and reflexion (Fredy-Pinchot,
2004).
Learning is therefore no longer a preparing exercise from which to launch into a
career but an essential activity of career sustaining and growth (Dealtry, 2003).
The Accreditation of Prior Learning is a process that strives to assess and
recognize the non-formally4 attained knowledge. Usually, the subjects are asked to
demonstrate a set of competences referenced as core to the specific qualification they
are aiming at. This demonstration can have practical elements (such as the french bilan
de compétences) but it usually consists of a portfolio of activities in which the adults
demonstrate certain set of competences (e.g. correct use of language, mathematical
competences, etc.).
In Europe, despite the differences among the countries that have adopted
accreditation and validation of prior learning systems, there are connecting common
basis and common features, along with an apparent trend to the further promotion of
this kind of validation in other countries as a key point of life-long learning. There is
still, however, a long way to go in terms of European cohesion in order ‘to develop a set of
common principles regarding validation of non-formal and informal learning with the aim of
3 As opposed to the traditional savoir-faire, pointing to the integration and even synergy of the resources a competence weighs upon, in the sense that it means mobilising a group of resources – knowledge, attitudes, personal traits, etc. to a certain purpose.4 By “non formal” we mean both the informal experience-based learning and the non-formal courses that one may attend that are not accredited.
3
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
ensuring greater comparability between approaches in different countries and at different level ’
(Colardyn & Bjornavold, 2004, pp.87)5.
The role of learning validation and accreditation systems is related to the
demand for more co-creative quality assurance solutions in corporate and organizational
learning management (Dealtry, 2003), including the need for a more holistic vision of
human resources management perspective. As we have already said, nowadays, firms
reveal a special concern about learning issues as a key factor in their competitiveness.
Consequently, they tend to invest in strategies oriented towards the enhancement of
human resource competences to improve their learning ability and their performance.
Supporting this investment, a study conducted by Rebelo (2006) reveals that workers’
qualification is a strong facilitator of the existence of a learning culture in organizations,
the type of culture that a leaning organization must have. The results of this study also
support that a learning culture has a positive impact on organizational performance.
The Process of Accreditation of Prior Learning can be developed in a number of
contexts, like refugee camps, centres for the general population, enterprises and
organizations, etc.
In Portugal, the Accreditation of Prior Learning is designed only to attribute
school qualifications (4th, 6 th, 9th and more recently 12th year of education equivalences)
through a process that involves the attendance of APL sessions where candidates show
some oral communication and citizenship competencies, as well as the completion of a
Personal and Professional File, where the candidates report significant past experiences
and informally acquired competencies. No previous level of school attendance is
required for any of the levels of accreditation, as long as the adults prove to possess the
competencies defined by the Portuguese Education Ministry in the law.
This process is carried out by institutions accredited by the same Ministry, called
New Opportunities Centres6, in their own facilities or in organizations that require them
to itinerate there.
5 In Europe, there are APL processes in countries such as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the UK, but the process is not exclusively European, existing also in other Continents, in countries like, Chile, Canada, Malasya, Korea, USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc., although having different acronyms such as APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning), RPEL (Recognition of Prior Experiential Learning), PLAR (Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition), etc.6 “Centros de Novas Oportunidades”, in Portuguese.
4
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
In particular, firms have been interested in this kind of validation of their Human
Resources within different schemes and organizational philosophies, cultures and
strategies, as can be seen in the following table.
Table 1 – Factors that impact on the operationalization of the APL process
[Adapted from MEFI (2004) and Pette & Devin (2005)]
Corporate Choice Dominant Aspect Aimed Main Impact
Individual logic
(case by case)
Social/motivational Social acknowledgement of the offer to the
workers by the company;
Individual Motivation
Individualized HR
management
Ability to evolve and manage competences;
Evolution Ability
Collective Logic
(profession,
function,
position…)
Collective mise en
ouvre of the APL
Accompany the professional evolutions;
Professionalization.
Organizational To operationalize choices and reconfigure
the structure
Revalidating of the job/function.
Economic Developing an image in the competitors
landscape (enhancing a brand image of
quality).
Employability Improving the positioning in the labour
market
Thus, there are several motives for a company to engage in an APL process
depending on different variables such as:
foci (individual or collective);
purposes/intentions (social recognition, competences management,
professional evolutions, economic positioning, organizational change,
employability promotion, etc.);
5
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
objectives (social dialogue, assessing/accompanying worker evolution, re-
levelling, reinforcing the corporate image, adequating the qualifications to
the functions, internal and external employability, etc);
implementation strategies (systematically or not, long term or punctually, as
an Human Resource Development instrument, etc.);
expected impact (worker motivation, corporate mobility, worker
qualification, organizational performance, corporate social responsibility,
management by values, organizational learning management, etc),
issues faced by the companies at the time;
corporate strategy.
However, the APL process in companies does not necessarily entail a formalised
strategic plan, the possible consequences on the workers’ careers are not a fruit of the
validation per se (but of the acquisition of competences implied by it) and most of the
involved companies don’t even acknowledge that are managing by competences (Layec
& Legui, 2006). In fact, this seems to be much more a de facto rather than de jure
process, in the sense that it brings about a serious of issues (like Corporate Social
Responsibility, Management by Competences, Management by Values, Organizational
Learning Management, etc.) that are not always recognized by the actors of the process
themselves.
Nonetheless, it is evident that this process intended as a Human Resources
Development (HRD) instrument or not, impacts on the workers that submit to it. Studies
have shown that the APL impacts mainly on the candidates self-representation (cf.
Layec & Legui, 2006, François & Botteman, n.d., Prodercom, 2004, etc), but also on
their representation of the company and it’s proximity towards them (Layec & Legui,
2006, pp.131).
In our study, we intend to investigate the relationship of this process with Job
Attitudes, particularly Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction and Behavours,
namely Extra-Role Organizational Citizenship Behaviours
Job Satisfaction
6
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
Job Satisfaction has been the focus of thousands of studies and published articles
in industrial-organizational psychology (Resnick & Bond, 2001).
In general, Job Satisfaction is defined as a positive emotional state resulting
from the appraisal of one’s job and is linked to the characteristics of one’s work
(Dressel, 1982; Butler, 1990; Arches, 1991, cit in Sari, 2004), that is to say Job
Satisfaction is usually treated as a collection of feelings or affective responses
associated with the job situation (Imparato, 1972), or “simply how people feel about
different aspects of their jobs” (Spector, 1997, pp.2).
Research has positively associated Job Satisfaction with the specific attributes
and occupations of the job, positive attitudes, motivation and life-happiness, leisure and
non-work environment (Tennison, 1996). We hypothesize that Job Satisfaction will
increase with the valuing of the workers competences by the APL process, given the
likelihood of improvement of the positive attitudes, motivation and life-happiness
(associated with a better self-concept (CIDEC, 2004)). However, we are particularly
curious about this variable since it seems also reasonable to formulate that an employee
that finds his or her competences above the job requirements will be less satisfied with
it (Person-Job Fit Theory7 [Brkich, Jeffs & Carless, 2002]).
We chose, however to propose a positive relation between the APL Process and
Job Satisfaction, because we believe that although being plausible, the negative
relationship among the variables will be less common than the one we advocate.
Hypotheses 1a: Workers that have concluded the APL process promoted
by their firms reveal higher Job Satisfaction compared to those workers
who are not engaged in this process.
Hypotheses 1b: Workers that are doing the APL processes promoted by
their firms reveal higher Job Satisfaction compared to those workers who
are not engaged in this process.
Organizational Commitment
7 Person-Job fit has been conceptualized as the degree to which an individual’s preferences, knowledge, skills, abilities (KSA), needs, and values match job requirements (Brkich, Jeffs & Carless, 2002). Person-Job Fit is an important determinant of Job Satisfaction (Arvey, Carter, & Buerkley, 1991 cit in Brkich, Jeffs & Carless, 2002).
7
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
In the last decades, the concept of Organizational Commitment (OC) has grown
in popularity in the literatures of industrial/organizational psychology and
organizational behavior (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990).
Mowday, Porter and Steers (1982, cit in Fields, 2002) who did much of the
original research about Organizational Commitment characterized it as a strong belief in
and acceptance of the organization’s goals and values, a willingness to exert
considerable effort on behalf of the organization, and a strong desire to maintain
membership in an organization. Despite the different definitions and measurements of
OC, there is some agreement that it can be considered as a bond that links the individual
to the organization (Mathew & Zajac, 1990). The multidimensionality of the construct
also seems to be unanimous (Meyer & Allen, 1997), in spite of the existence of various
models in the literature.
For present purposes, and albeit the different existing OC models, we adopted
Meyer and Allen’s (1991) three component model because, of the multidimensional
conceptualizations, this model and measures associated with it have undergone the most
extensive empirical evaluation to date (see Allen & Meyer, 1996, for a review) and were
the most mentioned in the revised literature.
Meyer and Allen (1991, cit in Bartlett, 2001) conceptualize OC divided in three
components (rather than types, since they can co-exist).
Affective Organizational Commitment can be defined as the emotional
attachment with the organization and is related with the worker-organization
identification; Normative Organizational Commitment is the perceived obligation
(ethical or moral) to remain in the organization and, finally, the Continuance
Organizational Commitment is defined as the perceived costs of leaving the
organization (such as lost of seniority).
In our research, considering the nature and characteristics of the three
components of OC, we chose to formulate our hypotheses only with the Affective and
Normative dimensions of Organizational Commitment.
Literally hundreds of studies have examined the correlations between affective
Organizational Commitment (AOC) and variables hypothesized to be its antecedents
(Meyer & Allen, 1997). In terms of Organizational Variables, AOC seems to be
positively related to the way organizational-level policies are designed, communicated
and perceived as fair. Person Characteristics investigation in this area has focused on
8
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
two types of variables: demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, tenure) and
dispositional variables (e.g., personality, values).
Overall, the relationship between demographic variables and affective
commitment are neither strong nor consistent (Meyer & Allen, 1997). Dispositional
variables, however, have shown different results, in particular, there is some evidence
that suggests that people’s perceptions of their own competence might play an important
role in the development of AOC (Meyer and Allen, 1997). Of the several person
characteristics that they examined, Mathieu and Zajac (1990) reported the strongest link
between perceived competence and affective commitment, which leads us to our first
hypotheses:
Hypotheses 2a: Workers that have concluded the APL process promoted
by their firms reveal higher Affective Organizational Commitment
compared to those workers who are not engaged in this process.
Hypotheses 2b: Workers that are doing the APL processes promoted by
their firms reveal higher Affective Organizational Commitment
compared to those workers who are not engaged in this process.
Normative Organizational Commitment (NOC) has been conceptualized to
develop upon several processes. A collection of pressures that individuals feel during
their socialization as newcomers to the organization plays an important role to the
emergence of this kind of OC, as well as the “psychological contract” between an
employee and the organization (Argyris, 1960; Rousseau, 1989, 1995; Schein, 1980, cit
in Meyer & Allen, 1997). A particular kind of investment that the organization makes in
the employee – specifically, investments that seem difficult for employees to reciprocate
(Meyer & Allen, 1991; Scholl, 1981, cit in Allen, 1997) also appears highly correlated
with the advent of NOC, which leads us to the following hypotheses:
Hypotheses 2c: Workers that have concluded the APL process promoted
by their firms reveal higher Normative Organizational Commitment
compared to those workers who are not engaged in this process.
Hypotheses 2d: Workers that are doing the APL processes promoted by
their firms reveal higher Normative Organizational Commitment
compared to those workers who are not engaged in this process.
9
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
Extra-Role Organizational Citizenship Behaviour
Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) can be defined as an individual
behaviour that is discretionary, not contractually guaranteed and that in the aggregate
promotes the effective functioning of the organization (Organ, 1997; Smith, Organ and
Near, 1983).
Organizational Citizenship Behaviour is discretionary in the sense that it is not
an enforceable requirement of the role or the job description, but a matter of personal
choice (such that its omission is generally not understood as punishable) and by “not
contractually guaranteed” we mean that an OCB is not directly or explicitly recognized
by the formal reward system (Organ, 1997).
This construct, however fashionable at the moment, has been much debated over
time due to the concepts of in-role and extra-role behaviour. Although some of the
original articles referred to OCB as extra-role behaviours, further research verified that
much of the OCB’s were perceived by the workers as in-role, rather than extra-role (cf.
Morrison, 1994, cit in Organ, 1997), a question that inheres the very fuzziness of the
concepts “role” and “job” themselves (Organ, 1997).
In order to avoid the discussion between what employees could consider in-role
or extra-role and to distance ourselves from a discussion that is not the focus of this
study, we chose to approach this subject by restricting our research to the impact of the
APL process to Extra-role Behaviour, using Van Dyne and LePine’s (1998) model,
“Helping and Voice Behaviors”.
Helping is defined as the proactive behavior that emphasizes small acts of
consideration and Voice Behaviors are the proactive behaviors that challenge the status
quo in order to improve Organizational Performance. Both are seen as extra role
behaviors that the employees may undertake at their own time (Fields, 2002).
Ng and Van Dyne (2005) refer that the psycho-social antecedents of Help
Behaviors are essentially group cohesion (defined as “the result of all the forces acting
on the members to remain in the group” (Festinger, 1950, cit in Ng & Van Dyne, 2005)
and cooperative group norms (norms can be defined as regular behavior patterns that
are relatively stable over time and expected by group members [Bettenhausen &
Murnigham, 1991, cit in Ng & Van Dyne, 2005]). Since training as well as the APL
process (given the unquestionability of the contextual similarities) provides a
10
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
socialization context, promoting further socialization opportunities and even solidarity
among its subjects (cf. Geerthuis et al, 2002; Bartlett, 2001; Kontoghiorghes & Bryant,
2004), we propose the following hypotheses:
Hypotheses 3a: Workers that have concluded the APL process promoted by
their firms report higher Help Behaviours compared to those workers who
are not engaged in this process.
Hypotheses 3b: Workers that are doing the APL processes promoted by
their firms report higher Help Behaviours compared to those workers who
are not engaged in this process.
Relatively to Voice Behaviours, LePine and Van Dyne (1998) stress the
relevance of Satisfaction with the Group and Global Self Esteem as antecedents of this
variable.
In most organizations, the most proximal work-related source of affect for
employees is their group: when employees must interact with others in their work group
to perform their jobs, their affective response to this interdependence can be a major
source of low and/or high satisfaction (Hackman, 1992, cit in LePine & Van Dyne,
1998). Global Self Esteem, on the other hand, (the degree of positive self-worth that an
individual ascribes to him or herself (Brockner, 1998, cit in LePine & Van Dyne, 1998))
is an important predictor of attitudes and behaviour in work and nonwork contexts
(Brockner, 1988, cit in LePine & Van Dyne, 1998). It can also be thought of in terms of
self-confidence and generalized self-competence (Tharenou, 1979 cit in LePine & Van
Dyne, 1998).
If we consider that one of the main findings on the CIDEC (2004) study on the
impact of the APL process in the Portuguese population was the increase of the global
self esteem, we are led to formulate the following hypotheses:
Hypotheses 3c: Workers that have concluded the APL process promoted by their
firms report higher Voice Behaviours compared to those workers who are not
engaged in this process.
Hypotheses 3d: Workers that are doing the APL processes promoted by
their firms report higher Voice Behaviours compared to those workers
who are not engaged in this process.
11
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
Method
Subjects and data collection procedures
Data was collected from employees in two industrial organizations. About
150 questionnaires were distributed to employees in production (60,7%), clerical (5,2%)
and supervisory (17%) positions; 17,1% of the subjects did not respond this item. Of the
150 questionnaires, about 90% (N=135) were completed and returned. Females
comprised 30,2% of the sample, and subjects were between 27 and 59 years old with a
mean age of 42,5 years and a standard deviation of 6,95. The sample was divided in
three groups according to the level of involvement in the APL process: not involved
(31,1%), currently involved (40%) and graduated from it (28,9%).
Questionnaires were mainly distributed to employees by one of the authors,
but in the cases where no external personnel were allowed in the premises, a member of
the personnel department in the participating organization collected the data.
The two firms we did our research in are major industrial companies of the
automobile and contract manufacturing business.
Operating since 1946 in Portugal, the firm in the automobile business has
currently about 600 workers and operates in almost all areas of the country, although the
subjects we inquired operate in the Centre and North of Portugal.
The contract manufacturing firm was founded in 1965 in Portugal and merged
with in 2004 with another European Company, expanding throughout Europe ever
since. In Portugal, the company has about 1000 workers and operates in the centre of
Portugal.
Measures
Job Satisfaction was assessed using the short version of the MSQ - Minnesota
Satisfaction Questionnaire (Weiss, Dawis, England & Lofquist, 1967), with 20 items. A
5-point Likert-type scale was answered in which choices range from “very dissatisfied
with this aspect of my job” (1) to “very satisfied with this aspect of my job” (5).
12
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
Fields (2002, pp.7) mentions that over the years, and in several different
investigations where the MSQ was used, different factor solutions were found and refers
to Mathieu’s (1991) and Moorman’s (1993) work, as examples.
Mathieu (1991, cit in Fields, 2002) conducted an EFA of this instrument,
yelding four factors: satisfaction with working conditions, satisfaction with leardership,
satisfaction with responsibility and satisfaction with extrinsic rewards. Moorman (1993,
cit in Fields, 2002) found two factors: one assessing satisfaction with intrinsic aspects of
the job and the other assessing satisfaction with extrinsic aspects.
Intrinsic Job Satisfaction refers to the work itself, responsibility, and growth or
achievement whereas Extrinsic Job Satisfaction includes organizational policy, status,
pay, benefits, and overall work conditions (Herzberg, 1987).
Employees’ levels of commitment to their organization were measured using
the revised version of Meyer and Allen’s (1997) 19 item scale: Affective, Normative
and Continuance Commitment Scale (Meyer & Allen, 1997). A 7-point Likert-type
scale was used for measuring respondents’ level of agreement with each statement
(from 1—strongly disagree to 7—strongly agree). In the author’s version, the Affective
Commitment Subscale contains 6 items, such as “I would be very happy to spend the
rest of my career in this organization”, the Normative Commitment Subscale integrates
6 items, such as “I’d feel guilty if I left my organization now” and the Continuance
Commitment Subscale integrates 7 items, such as “I believe I have too few options to
consider leaving this organization”.
Extra-Role Organizational Citizenship Behaviour was assessed by the 13-item
Helping and Voice Behaviours Scale (Van Dyne & LePine, 1998). Responses to all
items were assessed on 7-point scales (1 -strongly disagree to 7 - strongly agree). The
Helping Behaviours original subscale contains 7 items such as “I volunteer to do things
for this work group” and the Voice Behaviours subscale integrates 6 items, such as “I
develop and make recommendations concerning issues that affect this work group”.
The scales were translated from the original version to Portuguese, and later
back-translated by an English language native speaker with extensive knowledge of the
Portuguese language and who was not familiar with this scales, which lead to small
13
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
changes. Later on, a talked reflexion was conducted with a small group of Portuguese
Industrial Workers and final adaptations resulted from this procedure. The final version
of the questionnaire that was used in the study is included as an annex of this paper.
Analysis
Construct validity estimates the ability of an instrument to measure the
underlying construct of interest (Ellenbecker & Byleckie, 2005). Exploratory factor
analysis (EFA) has traditionally been employed by researchers as a tool to determine the
number of underlying dimensions in a data set (Hinkin, 1995, cit in Brkich, Jeffs &
Carless, 2002) by grouping together variables that are correlated (Tabachnik & Fidell,
2007). Since none of the three questionnaires had been validated for the Portuguese
Industrial Workers Population, we chose to perform an exploratory factor analysis.
To test our hypotheses, we used a multivariate analysis of variance
(MANOVA) design to analyse the data. The independent variables were the three
different levels of APL Process Development (not involved, currently involved and
graduated from it). The dependent variables were Job Satisfaction (2 levels: internal and
external satisfaction), Organizational Commitment (3 levels: affective, normative and
continuance commitment) and Helping and Voice Behaviours (2 levels: helping
behaviours and voice behaviours). Our primary interest in the MANOVA design was to
test for the overall statistical difference of the main effect and interaction terms. We
subsequently used Games-Howell as a post hoc procedure to examine the substantive
nature of main effect differences when they were found to be statistically significant,
given the fact that Levene’s test did not reveal equality of variances between the groups
(Pestana & Gageiro, 2005).
Results and Discussion
Construct Validity
In our study, principal factors extraction with varimax rotation was performed
on the 20 items from the MSQ (Weiss, Dawis, England & Lofquist, 1967), and on the
19 items of the Affective, Normative and Continuance Commitment Scale (Meyer &
Allen, 1997). Oblique rotation was used on the 13 items of the Helping and Voice
14
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
Behaviours Scale (Van Dyne & LePine, 1998). Because theory suggests that good
citizenship is demonstrated by high levels of both substantive categories (Van Dyne,
1994). Thus, Helping and Voice Behaviours should be positively correlated rather than
orthogonally related, as is the present case.
Table 2. Correlation Matrix between Helping and Voice Behaviours. Help Behaviours Voice Behaviours
Help Behaviours Pearson Correlation 1 ,737(**)
Sig. (2-tailed) ,000 N 129 129
Voice Behaviours Pearson Correlation ,737(**) 1
Sig. (2-tailed) ,000 N 129 129
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Missing Values Analysis above 15% led us to eliminate some cases prior to
factorial analysis (4 for the MSQ, 9 for the Commitment Scale and 6 for the Helping
and Voice Behaviours Scale).
Principal components extraction was used prior to principal factors extraction
to estimate number of factors, presence of outliers, absence of multicollinearity and
factorability of the correlation matrices (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007).
Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ)
Regarding the MSQ, two factors were extracted, accounting for 43,2% of the
variance. Communality values tended to be high, with a cut off point of 0.32
(Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007) for inclusion of a variable in interpretation of a factor. Six
of the twenty variables loaded in both factors, which led us to eliminate them from the
analysis. Loadings of variables on factors and communalities are shown in Table 3.
Variables are ordered and grouped by size of loading to facilitate interpretation.
15
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
In sum, the two factors of the MSQ for this group are intrinsic satisfaction
(e.g. “the chance to be somebody in the community”) and extrinsic satisfaction (e.g.
“The way company policies are put into practice.”) (Moorman, 1993, cit in Fields,
2002).
Table 3 - Varimax rotated factor matrix based on correlations among the items of the MSQ and communalities (h2).
Intrinsic Job Satisfaction
Intrinsic Job Satisfaction h2
The working conditions. ,719 ,047 ,519The way company policies are put into practice. ,685 ,259 ,537Competence of my supervisor in making decisions. ,683 ,168 ,495The way my boss handles his men. ,610 ,387 ,522The chance for advancement on this job. ,603 ,346 ,483The pay and the amount of work I do. ,603 ,214 ,409Being able to keep busy all the time. ,599 ,234 ,414The freedom to use my own judgement. ,534 ,368 ,421The chance to be “somebody” in the community. ,109 ,754 ,580The chance to do something that makes use of my abilities. ,290 ,675 ,540
The chance to do things for other people. ,150 ,531 ,305The chance to work alone in the job. ,146 ,530 ,302The chance to tell people what to do. ,234 ,457 ,264The chance to try my own methods of doing the job. ,309 ,402 ,257% of Variance accounted for 24,9% 18,2%
Affective, Normative and Continuance Commitment Scale
The 19 items comprising the scale were subjected to a factor analysis, with
principal axis factoring. Three factors, accounting for 50,4% of the total variance were
extracted and rotated to a varimax criterion. The items and their factor loadings are
reported in Table 4. Grouping of the reverse score items and dissonance with the
remaining scale (given by values of corrected item-total statistics, ranging between
0,187 and -0,149) led us to eliminate all the reverse score items as well as one of the
16
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
items in the continuance scale (“If I hadn’t given so much of myself to this company, I
would consider working for another company”).
Table 4 - Varimax rotated factor matrix based on correlations among the items of the affective, continuance and normative commitment scales and respective communlities (h2).
Continuance Commitment
Normative Commitment
Affective Commitment h2
I believe that I have too few options to consider leaving this organization. ,716 ,083 ,080 ,526
One of the few negative consequences of leaving this organization would be the scarcity of available alternatives.
,671 ,098 ,112 ,472
It would be very difficult to leave this organization now, even if I wanted to. ,609 ,336 ,284 ,564
Too much of my life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted to leave my organization now.
,606 ,263 ,152 ,459
One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is that leaving would require a considerable personal sacrifice; another organization may not match the overall benefits I have here.
,590 ,194 ,128 ,402
Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of necessity as much as desire.
,578 ,154 ,356 ,484
I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own ,024 ,740 ,397 ,706
I would not leave my organization right now because I have a sense of obligation to the people in it
,266 ,625 ,315 ,561
I would feel guilty if I left my organization now ,185 ,623 ,104 ,434
Even if it were to my advantage, I do not feel it would be right to leave my organization now.
,295 ,612 ,139 ,481
I owe a great deal to this organization. ,112 ,239 ,726 ,597
17
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
This organization deserves my loyalty. ,239 ,179 ,725 ,615I would be very happy to spend the rest of my carreer in this organization. ,257 ,280 ,480 ,375
% of variance accounted for 20,9% 16,4% 14,1%
Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that each of the
psychological states identified in the literature as “commitment” to the organization can
be reliably measured. The independence of Continuance Organizational Commitment
scores from scores on the other two measures was expected. Not expected, however,
was the significant relationship between the Affective Organizational Commitment and
the Normative Organizational Commitment. In the Portuguese Industrial Workers
population, items from both scales appeared mixed, suggesting that feelings of
obligation to maintain membership in the organization, although not identical to
feelings of desire, may be meaningfully linked, as had already been suggested by Allen
& Meyer (1990) and Herrbach (2006).
Extra-Role Organizational Citizenship Behaviours: Helping and Voice
Behaviours Scale
Self-report responses of employees (N=129) to the 13 item-scale were factor-
analysed using principal axis factoring. We specified oblique rotation for the analysis,
for the reasons mentioned before.
A two factor solution was found, after deleting two items that loaded in both
factors simultaneously. Table 5 lists the 11 items and their factor loadings. Factor 1
contains nine helping items, representing the proactive behavior that emphasizes small
acts of consideration; Factor 2 contains two items, representing Voice Behaviors, the
proactive behaviors that express a challenge the status quo in order to improve
Organizational Performance.
Table 5 - Oblimin rotated pattern matrix based on correlations among the items of the helping and voice behaviour scale and communalities (h2)
Help
BehavioursVoice
Behaviours h2
I help others in this group with their work responsibilities.
,910 -,129 ,731
I attend functions that help the work group ,909 -,084 ,767I assist others in this group with their work for the benefit the work group. ,832 ,050 ,743
18
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
I help others in this group to learn about the work ,798 -,038 ,613I get involved to benefit this work group ,771 -,015 ,585I communicate my opinions about work issues to others in this group, even if my opinion is different and others disagree with me.
,740 -,034 ,527
I help to orientate new employees in this group ,719 ,176 ,657I volunteer to do things for my work group. ,703 ,081 ,551I speak up in this group with ideas for new projects or changes in procedures. ,637 ,238 ,594
I get involved in matters which affect the quality of life in this group -,085 ,982 ,899
I keep myself well informed about issues where my opinion might be useful to this work group. ,252 ,522 ,450
% of Variance accounted for 55,5% 9,2%
In summary, the results of the exploratory factor analysis generally support the
two substantive categories originally predicted by the authors of the scale.
Reliability of the Scales
All three scales proved high levels of reliability, with values of 0,88 for the
MSQ (0,87 for the internal satisfaction factor and 0,77 for the external satisfaction
factor), 0,81 for the Affective, Normative and Continuance Scale (0,75 for the Affective
Commitment Scale, 0,81 for the Normative Commitment Scale and 0,84 for the
Continuance Commitment Scale) and 0,93 fir the Helping and Voice Behaviours Scale
(0,75 for the Voice Behaviours Scale and 0,94 for the Helping Behaviours Scale).
Hypotheses testing
MANOVA was used for the analysis with the sequential adjustment for
nonorthogonality. The total N was reduced from 135 to 134 for Job Satisfaction, 132 for
Organizational Commitment and 133 for Helping and Voice Behaviours, due to the
deletion of severe outlier cases.
With the use of Wilk’s criterion, we found Helping and Voice Behaviours to
be significantly affected by the participation on the APL Process (F(4 ,240)=3,943, p=0,04)
and Games-Howell post hoc procedure revealed significant differences to be
specifically in Voice Behaviours, between the workers who had already graduated and
the workers not involved in the process (mean difference = ,79 for p= 0,006), as well as
19
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
the workers currently involved versus the workers not involved in the APL process
(mean difference = ,67 for p= 0,03).
There was no statistically significant multivariate effect for Job Satisfaction
(F(4, 252)= 0,405; p=0,805) or Organizational Commitment (F(6 , 240)= 0,555; p=0,766).
Table 6 - Results of the MANOVA proceduresValue F Hypothesis df Error df Sig.
Job SatisfactionAPL status Wilks' Lambda ,987 ,405 4,000 252,000 ,805
Organizational Commitment
APL status Wilks' lambda ,973 ,555 6,000 240,000 ,766Helping and
Voice BehaviorsAPL status Wilks' lambda ,880 3,943 4,000 240,000 ,004
Hence, workers who are currently undergoing the APL process as well as
workers who have graduated from the APL process display higher levels of proactive
behaviors that challenge the status quo in order to improve Organizational Performance
(Voice Behaviors).
Table 7 – Averages and Standard Deviations
VariableIntrinsic Job Satisfaction
N=134
Extrinsic Job Satisfaction
N=134
Affective Organizational Commitment
N=132
Normative Organizational Commitment
N=132
Continuance Organizational Commitment
N=132
Help Behaviours
N=133
Voice Behaviours
N=133
M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD M SDNot involved 4,00 ,643 3,61 ,844 5,39 1,44 4,63 1,332 4,97 1,452 5,93 ,773 5,21 1,354
Involved 3,94 ,695 3,49 ,778 5,50 1,10 4,35 1,538 4,97 1,302 5,99 ,825 5,88 ,904Graduated from it 4,04 ,496 3,62 ,590 5,63 ,87 4,51 1,144 4,89 ,874 6,20 ,572 6,00 ,677
Although .the Multivariate Analysis of Variance yelled statistical significance
only in terms of Voice Behaviours, the studied variables seem to follow the tendency
predicted in the introduction as one can observe in the following graphics.
20
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
Figure 1 - Graphical depiction of the differences between the three levels of APL process situation in terms of the two
levels of Job Satisfaction
situation of respondent towards the APL processgraduated from itcurrently involvednot involved
Mean
5
4
3
2
1
0
Extrinsic Job Satisfaction
Intrinsic Job Satisfaction
Figure 2 - Graphical depiction of the differences between the three levels of APL process situation in terms of the
three levels of Organizational Commitment
21
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
situation of respondent towards the APL processgraduated from itcurretly involvednot involved
Mean
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Affective Organizational Commitment Average Score
Normative Organizational Commitment Average Score
Continuance Organizational Commitment Average Score
Figure 3 - Graphical depiction of the differences between the three levels of APL process situation in terms of the two
levels of Helping and Voice Behaviours
situation of respondent towards the APL processgraduated from itcurrently involvednot involved
Mean
6
4
2
0
Help Behaviour Average Score
Voice Behaviour Average Score
22
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
Discussion
Although Accreditation of Prior Learning has existed in Portugal since 2003,
and there are increasingly more studies about the impact of the process, there was a void
in the investigation of this process effects in companies. The research that does exist
focuses on the individual and on educational features that APL implies. Our research
presents a first effort to understand the implications of this Human Resource
Development instrument in the functioning of companies, having a clearly exploratory
character.
Drawing from Social Exchange Theory (Blau, 1953 cit in Rousseau, 1995) and
Psychological Contracts (Rousseau, 1995) to propose that employees would most likely
want to reciprocate the companies’ interest in their development with higher levels of
Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Organizational Citizenship
Behaviour, we verified that although all the variables (except for the Normative
Organizational Commitment) reported the expected tendency, as is visible in the
graphics in the Results section, statistical significance was only found in Voice
behaviours, the proactive behaviors that challenge the status quo in order to improve
Organizational Performance.
This finding, although slightly different from what we had predicted, makes
perfect sense in view of the fact that all the studies that we consulted (Coladryn &
Bjornavold, 2004, Layec & Leguy, 2006, Fredy-Pinchot, 2004, CIDEC, 2004, MEFI,
2004, etc.) point out that the absolute main effect of the APL process in the individual is
the boost in self confidence, self-concept and self esteem, witch in it’s turn is the major
antecedent of Voice Behaviours (Van Dyne & LePine, 1998).
Although our original propositions make sense, there can be covariates that we
hadn’t accounted for. The well known demand of the modern labour market that
workers practice lifelong learning may be seen as a demand with a direct enforcement
by the companies, e.g., workers who don’t keep evolving don’t progress in their careers
and are more likely to be fired. This may bring a sense of necessity rather than
opportunity to initiatives like promoting the APL Process in the company, bringing a
certain pressure and sense of obligation to it. Currently, in both companies although the
APL sessions are done on the workers after work hours, sessions are held in company
23
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
premises, making it visible to administration and colleagues whether or not workers are
developing this qualification effort.
In this sense, workers might not consider the APL process as something the
company is offering, so that they feel that they need to reciprocate in terms of job
attitudes (Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment), although interestingly
enough, they modify their behaviour (Voice Behaviours, in this case) in a way that is
positive for the firm.
It is also important to mark that both firms registered very high levels of Job
Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment a priori making it, on the one hand, less
probable that those variables increased significantly and on the other hand, suggesting
that the companies promote other Human Resource Management measures that due to
temporal antecedence or other reasons may account for that variance.
Conclusions
It is commonly accepted in the management literature that organizations need
employees who are willing to exceed their formal job requirements (Barnard, 1938;
Katz, 1964; Katz & Kahn, 1978; cit in Morrison, 1994).
This exploratory study has shown that firm promoted Accreditation of Prior
Learning has a clear impact in the workers pro-active behaviour towards Organizational
Performance. Workers who have had their competences validated and workers involved
in APL tend to display a higher involvement in matters which affect the quality of life
in their group, and make a larger effort to keep themselves well informed about issues
where their opinion might be useful to their work group.
Theoretical and Practical Implications of the Research Project
24
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
This study represents an important effort in the job of adapting the three scales
to the Portuguese Industrial workers population, since a good part of the work
(translation, back-translation, talked reflection and an Exploratory Factor Analysis
procedure) is done, although having relatively small N for this task, since we have
below 300 respondents (Tabachnik & Fidell, 2007).
We believe that the clues provided by the present study will contribute to the
research of APL as a blooming new valid approach to life-long learning, organizational
learning management and human resource development practice.
In practical terms we hope our contribution will aid the improvement of the use
and implementation of APL processes in Portuguese firms, since it has become clear
that there are some positive changes in the Worker-Organization relationship.
Limitations and Directions for future investigation
One of the limitations of the present study is its cross-sectional design. So, for
future research, we think it would be interesting to make a longitudinal study, with this
population in order to understand the evolutions of these and other dependent variables
that could be relevant (such as the innovations of workers in their work context). Also,
it could be very interesting to explore what happens to the workers that give up the
process in terms variables in study.
We also think it would be very interesting to understand how the reverse
relationship (Organization-Worker) is affected by the APL process, e.g., since we found
that workers increase their Voice Behaviours, does that mean that companies tend to
empower their workers more, after they validated their informal and non-formal
competencies?
25
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
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The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
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Author Contacts
Helena Martins ([email protected]) e Teresa Rebelo ([email protected])
NEFOG – Núcleo de Estudo e Formação em Organização e Gestão Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da Universidade de CoimbraRua do Colégio NovoApartado 61533001-802 COIMBRA
Inés Tomás8
Dpto. de MetodologiaFacultad de PsicologiaUniversitat de ValènciaAv. Blasco Ibáñez, 21 [email protected]
8 Colaboração ao abrigo do “Programa Investigación en Psicología de las Organizaciones y del Trabajo: Unidades de trabajo y calidad de vida laboral” (CONSOLIDER-C, Ref: SEJ2006-14086/PSIC), financiado pelo Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia.
29
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
FACULDADE DE PSICOLOGIA E CIÊNCIAS DA EDUCAÇÃOUNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA
NEFOG – Núcleo de Estudos e Formação em Organização e Gestão
O presente questionário insere-se num estudo sobre o impacto do processo de
Reconhecimento, Validação e Certificação de Competências (RVCC) nas Empresas.
Todas as respostas que lhe solicitamos são rigorosamente anónimas e confidenciais.
Leia com atenção as instruções que lhe são dadas, certificando-se de que compreendeu
correctamente o modo como deverá responder. Responda sempre de acordo com aquilo
que faz, sente ou pensa, pois não existem respostas correctas ou incorrectas, nem boas
ou más respostas.
Muito obrigado pela sua colaboração!
30
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
Caracterização 1 Sexo: Masculino…. Feminino….2 Idade: ____ anos
3 Tipo de Contrato Temporário Efectivo Contrato a
termo Outro Qual?___________________
4 Onde desempenha funções (Departamento e/ou Secção):5 Função que actualmente desempenha6 Há quanto tempo está na empresa:
Se não está nem nunca esteve envolvido no processo de RVCC, responda à secção 1;
Se está de momento a frequentar o processo, passe para a secção 2;
Se já concluiu o processo, preencha a secção 3.
1 Responda a esta secção apenas se não frequenta nem nunca frequentou o processo de RVCC
Qual é a sua habilitação escolar?a) inferior ao 1.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (antiga 4.ª classe)b) 1.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (antiga 4.ª classe)c) 2.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (antigo Ciclo Preparatório)d) Frequência do 3.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (7.º ao 9.º ano), embora incompleto
Considera importante para si vir a frequentar o processo de RVCC?
Nada importante
Pouco importante
Mais ou menos
importanteImportante Muito
importante
31
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
2 Responda a esta secção apenas se está actualmente a frequentar o processo de RVCCAntes de ingressar no processo de Reconhecimento, Validação e Certificação de Competências (RVCC), qual era a sua habilitação escolar?
a) inferior ao 1.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (antiga 4.ª classe)b) 1.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (antiga 4.ª classe)c) 2.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (antigo Ciclo Preparatório)d) Frequência do 3.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (7.º ao 9.º ano), embora incompleto
Quando começou o processo (mês e ano) ? _______________
Considera importante para si frequentar o processo de RVCC?
Nada importante
Pouco importante
Mais ou menos
importanteImportante Muito
importante
3 Responda a esta secção apenas se já concluiu o processo de RVCCAntes de ingressar no processo de Reconhecimento, Validação e Certificação de Competências (RVCC), qual era a sua habilitação escolar?
a) inferior ao 1.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (antiga 4.ª classe)b) 1.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (antiga 4.ª classe)c) 2.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (antigo Ciclo Preparatório)d) Frequência do 3.º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (7.º ao 9.º ano), embora incompleto
Qual é a sua actual situação escolar?Há quanto tempo concluiu o processo (mês e ano) ? _______________Desde que concluiu, mudou de funções? Não Sim Se respondeu que sim, qual a sua função anterior?Desde que concluiu, mudou de categoria profissional? Não Sim Se respondeu que sim, que outros benefícios trouxe?Considera que foi importante para si frequentar o processo de RVCC?
Nada importante
Pouco importante
Mais ou menos
importanteImportante Muito
importante
32
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
Responda às seguintes questões, indicando a sua opinião de 1 (muito insatisfeito com este
aspecto do meu trabalho) a 5 (muito satisfeito com este aspecto do meu trabalho)
Mui
to In
satis
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pect
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ho
1. A forma como o meu trabalho me permite estar ocupado o tempo todo. 1 2 3 4 5
2. A sensação de realização pessoal que o meu trabalho me dá. 1 2 3 4 5
3. A oportunidade de fazer coisas pelos outros. 1 2 3 4 5
4. A oportunidade de trabalhar de forma autónoma na minha função. 1 2 3 4 5
5. A oportunidade de ser alguém na comunidade. 1 2 3 4 5
6. A forma como o meu chefe lida com os seus subordinados. 1 2 3 4 5
7. A competência do meu supervisor em termos de tomada de decisão. 1 2 3 4 5
8. A forma como a minha função me permite ter um emprego seguro. 1 2 3 4 5
9. A forma como as políticas da empresa são postas em prática. 1 2 3 4 5
10. A oportunidade de fazer coisas diferentes de tempos a tempos. 1 2 3 4 5
11. O reconhecimento que tenho por fazer um bom trabalho. 1 2 3 4 5
12. A oportunidade de dizer aos outros o que fazer. 1 2 3 4 5
13. A oportunidade de fazer algo que me permite utilizar as minhas capacidades.
1 2 3 4 5
14. Poder fazer coisas que não vão contra a minha consciência. 1 2 3 4 5
15. A forma como os colegas se dão uns com os outros. 1 2 3 4 5
16. A liberdade para tomar algumas decisões. 1 2 3 4 5
17. As condições de trabalho. 1 2 3 4 5
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The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
18. A oportunidade de progressão neste trabalho. 1 2 3 4 5
19. A relação entre o pagamento e a quantidade de trabalho que faço. 1 2 3 4 5
20. A oportunidade de usar os meus próprios métodos para fazer o meu trabalho.
1 2 3 4 5
Responda às seguintes questões, indicando a sua opinião de 1 (discordo completamente) a 7
(concordo completamente).
Dis
cord
o C
ompl
etam
ente
Dis
cord
o B
asta
nte
Dis
cord
o Li
geira
men
te
Não
Con
cord
o ne
m D
isco
rdo
Con
cord
o Li
geira
men
te
Con
cord
o B
asta
nte
Con
cord
o C
ompl
etam
ente
1. Esta empresa tem muito significado pessoal para mim. 1 2 3 4 5 6 72. Não tenho um grande sentimento de pertença para com esta empresa. 1 2 3 4 5 6 73. Gostaria muito de desenvolver o resto da minha carreira nesta empresa 1 2 3 4 5 6 74. Mesmo sendo vantajoso para mim, não acho que fosse correcto deixar a
minha empresa agora. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5. Não deixaria a minha empresa neste momento porque me sinto obrigado/a para com as pessoas que nela trabalham. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6. Sinto mesmo os problemas desta empresa como meus. 1 2 3 4 5 6 77. Uma das poucas consequências negativas de deixar esta empresa seria a
falta de alternativas disponíveis. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8. Uma das maiores razões para eu continuar a trabalhar nesta empresa é que sair iria requerer um sacrifício pessoal muito considerável (outra empresa poderia não oferecer todos os benefícios que tenho aqui).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
9. Não me sinto ligado emocionalmente a esta empresa. 1 2 3 4 5 6 710. Devo muito a esta empresa. 1 2 3 4 5 6 711. Esta empresa merece a minha lealdade. 1 2 3 4 5 6 712. Não sinto qualquer obrigação de permanecer com o meu empregador
actual. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
13. Seria muito difícil deixar esta empresa agora, mesmo se eu quisesse. 1 2 3 4 5 6 714. Sinto que tenho muito poucas opções para considerar sair desta
empresa. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
15. Se já não tivesse dado tanto de mim a esta empresa, consideraria trabalhar noutro sítio. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
16. Não me sinto como fazendo “parte da família” nesta empresa. 1 2 3 4 5 6 717. Sentir-me-ia culpado/a se deixasse a minha empresa agora. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
34
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
18. Neste momento, permanecer na minha empresa é uma questão tanto de necessidade, como de vontade. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
19. Demasiadas coisas na minha vida seriam “abaladas” se eu decidisse sair da minha empresa agora. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
35
The Promotion of Accreditation of Prior Learning Processes by Firms: It’s Impacto n the Worker-Organization Relationship
Responda às seguintes questões, indicando a sua opinião de 1 (discordo completamente) a 7
(concordo completamente).
Dis
cord
o C
ompl
etam
ente
Dis
cord
o B
asta
nte
Dis
cord
o Li
geira
men
te
Não
Con
cord
o ne
m D
isco
rdo
Con
cord
o Li
geira
men
te
Con
cord
o B
asta
nte
Con
cord
o C
ompl
etam
ente
1. Ajudo a orientar novos empregados no meu grupo de trabalho. 1 2 3 4 5 6 72. Falo no meu grupo sobre ideias para novos projectos e mudanças
nos procedimentos. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3. Ajudo outros no grupo a aprender sobre o trabalho. 1 2 3 4 5 6 74. Desempenho algumas funções para ajudar o grupo de trabalho. 1 2 3 4 5 6 75. Ajudo outros colegas do grupo no seu trabalho de forma a
beneficiar todo grupo. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6. Comunico as minhas opiniões acerca do trabalho a outras pessoas do grupo, mesmo que as minhas opiniões sejam diferentes ou se discordarem de mim.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7. Falo e encorajo outros colegas a envolver-se em assuntos que dizem respeito a este grupo. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8. Ajudo outras pessoas no grupo nas suas responsabilidades no trabalho. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
9. Envolvo-me para beneficiar o grupo de trabalho. 1 2 3 4 5 6 710. Ofereço-me para fazer coisas pelo meu grupo de trabalho. 1 2 3 4 5 6 711. Desenvolvo e faço recomendações sobre assuntos que dizem
respeito ao meu grupo de trabalho. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
12. Mantenho-me bem informado acerca de assuntos em que a minha opinião possa ser útil a este grupo de trabalho. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
13. Envolvo-me em assuntos que dizem respeito à qualidade de vida deste grupo. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Muito Obrigada pela sua Colaboração!
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