Orientations Towards Retirement: A Predictable Transition
| Published date | 01 March 1982 |
| Pages | 33-37 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb055462 |
| Date | 01 March 1982 |
| Author | Graham Kelly |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Orientations Towards Retirement:
A Predictable Transition
by Graham Kelly
Department of Business and Management Studies, City of Birmingham Polytechnic
The article
presents a
conceptual model
which
aims to help
explain the
ways
in
which
people
anticipate
the predictable
transition from work into retirement. The findings of a
research study of over 200 British managers, using the
model, are outlined, and their implications, both for
policy-makers and for
individuals approaching
retirement,
are discussed.
Introduction
With more and more people retiring, and at earlier ages
than in the past, there is a pressing need to understand the
retirement process and what it means to people as they ap-
proach and engage in it. As a significant life event, the
transition into retirement is something that is anticipated
by people in varying ways. If employers, trade unions and
society in general are effectively to fulfil their mutual sense
of responsibility to their members, then conceptual
frameworks which policy formulators can use to develop
relevant responses to this increasingly significant social
concern are needed. This article outlines one such concep-
tual framework and reports on a study of over 200 British
managers that used the framework to explore their
thoughts and feelings regarding their forthcoming transi-
tion into retirement.
Orientation to Predictable Transitions: A Model
Transitions involve moving from one state, position or
status to another; some transitions are predictable, others
are not. The concern here is with the predictable transition,
specifically with the ways in which individuals orientate
themselves towards such experiences.
Hopson and Adams[1] suggest that there have been only
"a few systematic attempts to describe the human ex-
perience of transition". The work that has been carried out
in this area is mainly concerned with the post-transitional
period, the period of time during which the individual
making the transition copes with the problems of adapta-
tion. For example, Fink[2]and Parkes[3] have studied the
adaptation process associated with bereavement;
Adams[4] has studied the stages associated with the train-
ing of applied behavioural scientists; Sofer[5] has studied
the mid-career problems of managers and technical
specialists, and Maizels[6] and Kiel et
al.[7]
have studied
the transition from school to work.
Hayes and
Hough[8],
in
developing their descriptive model
of an individual's relationship with an organisation, sug-
gest that individuals develop a general orientation towards
boundary-crossing. This orientation will be influenced by
many variables, some of which apply to boundary-crossing
in general and some of which apply to specific boundary-
crossing incidents. For example, a person's orientation
towards crossing boundaries within his work organisation
may be influenced by what he looks for from his work and
also by his organisation's attitude towards him. Hayes and
Hough usefully suggest that "whatever the precise reason,
many individuals will have a positive orientation towards
boundary crossing because they evaluate many transitional
opportunities in terms of gain, as a means of closing the
gap between their ideal world and the world as it is". They
also recognise the alternative view when they comment that
"others, however, may be reluctant to see the personal
growth opportunities from transition and be predisposed
to see boundary passage in terms of potential loss".
Parkes[9] has also recognised that transitional situations
can be conceptualised in terms of potential gains and
losses. He suggests that gaps between the ideal world and
the world as it is, can be seen to represent unfulfilled
wishes for the individual. A change in the life of the in-
dividual may have the effect of closing one of these gaps,
and will, therefore, be construed as a gain; such transitions
will, in general, be welcomed. Parkes suggests that when
the person involved has rehearsed in his mind behaviours
and assumptions appropriate to this new, more ideal
world, the transition is likely to take place relatively
smoothly. Where the change is seen as likely to produce a
wider gap between a person's ideal world and the world as
it is, it will be regarded as a loss. In such circumstances,
resistance, on the part of the person involved, can be ex-
pected; the internalisation of a new, less attractive world
may be a difficult and even traumatic process.
The Hayes and Hough model and the ideas put forward
by Parkes are useful in that they focus attention upon the
anticipatory phase of transitional experiences, and it is
possible to build upon their ideas to widen and deepen
understanding of the ways in which people anticipate tran-
sitions, specifically predictable transitions.
Viewing a transition as being the movement from one
state,
with a set of outputs or functions which have mean-
ing for the individual, to another state, with its own set of
outputs, functions, and meanings, an individual's orienta-
tion to a predictable transition can be seen as involving him
looking ahead to this new state. Not only will he anticipate
both cognitively and affectively the likely outputs, but he
will also compare them with the outputs he currently
receives. On a cognitive level, in anticipating the outputs
he is likely to receive in the new state relative to those
received currently, he is faced with a number of possible
conclusions:
(1) He can receive more of the outputs that he is
already receiving;
(2) He can receive some completely new outputs, not
currently received, and
(3) He can receive less of outputs that he is already
receiving, including the total loss of some outputs.
Retirement | 33
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