Finding a satisfactory niche: An investigation of functional roles and career strategies for federal nondefense scientists and engineer

This dissertation investigates the roles for federal scientists and engineers to determine if and how they are linked to career management strategies. The major question examined was: Are functional roles significantly related to the "satisfactory niche" for federal scientists and engineers?;For this study, the "satisfactory niche" is conceptualized as those common characteristics which contribute to an individual's contentment with her or his physical space or environment, as well as with her or his role within the occupational community within an organization. Specific measures used for this dissertation include individual and occupational community attitudes toward job acceptance, job change, job satisfaction, and work completion which then contribute to the development of career management strategies within an organization for recruitment, retention, and utilization.;The research approach involved an investigation of major literature related to the key question and analysis of available data sources. Kahn's (1964) finding that role ambiguity results in low satisfaction was used to establish the research strategy. Schein's conceptual model for organizations (1971) and concepts of career dynamics (1975), along with Van Maanen's and Barley's (1984) concept of the occupational community were applied to the Federal nondefense science and engineering workforce.;The dissertation used secondary data analysis of a survey from 6,259 scientists and 2,694 engineers employed in 1990 to provide information from the individual. Interviewing techniques used at the Office of Personnel Management provided information from the organization. The National Science Foundation provided the data needed to profile all demographics for 1993 and 1990.;For the individual, the results indicate that there are apparent relationships between roles and the satisfactory niche concept. Differences between roles and attitudes are more significant for scientists than for engineers, especially for job acceptance, job satisfaction, and work completion. Differences were not as significant for job change factors. For the organization, the results appear to conclude that career management is a low priority.;The findings suggest the need to build upon the satisfactory niche model concept and to pursue the development of career management strategies for the technical workforce. For streamlining efforts, these results can provide guidance in helping maintain satisfaction while undergoing change in employee roles and reductions in size.