UMI/ProQuest URL

 

http://80-wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3166416

PUBLICATION NUMBER

 

AAT 3166416

TITLE

 

The transition experience of retired professionals from for-profit organizations to employment in non-profit organizations

AUTHOR

 

Camp, Ruth Ann

DEGREE

 

PhD

SCHOOL

 

FIELDING GRADUATE INSTITUTE

DATE

 

2003

PAGES

 

151

ADVISER

 

Silverman, Robert

ISBN

 

0-542-01940-X

SOURCE

 

DAI-A 66/03, p. 1181, Sep 2005

SUBJECT

 

 SOCIOLOGY, INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY STUDIES (0628)

 

ABSTRACT

 

This research focuses on the transition of persons retiring from for-profit firms and becoming reemployed in non-profit organizations. In response to the research question, “How do individuals who retire from a for-profit organization and move to employment in a non-profit organization describe and understand their transition experience?” this qualitative study focuses on distinct stages of the transition: the pre-transition stage of role exit from the for-profit environment; the transition stage of between role movement; the post-transition stage of role entry into the non-profit organization; and the adaptation stage of reflective assessment of the transition. The data were collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with 10 persons employed as Executive Director, Chief Executive Officer, or Director of a staff function in non-profit community agencies. Analysis of the data indicates that the post-transition entry into the non-profit organizations entailed discoveries of tenuous business systems and an unexpected number of simultaneous demands from multiple constituencies both inside and outside of the agencies. This study suggests: community agency leadership requires an integration of for-profit and non-profit skills and experience that emerges as a new hybrid model; learning to engage and shape the new non-profit environment was key to development as midlife professionals; and the popular social discourses on midlife as prelude to decline in professional activity were not relevant. While the results pertain to the studied respondents, they have potential transferability for further research. (UMI abstract ends here)