(a)

(b)

(c)

(4)

(a)

(b)

(c)

(a)

E. For each question listed below, check
the one phrase which best describes
your answer.

How much in terms of job duties do
supervisors or crew chiefs expect of
new trainee and developmental controllers

luch more than
hould be

i
fi

in general? ....csccecceeeseecceecreececenceneees

How much in terms of job duties do
supervisors or crew chiefs expect of
new trainee and developmental controllers

who are females?.........seeeeeeeereereeeeeee sees

How much in terms of job duties do
supervisors or crew chiefs expect of
new trainee and developmental controllers

who are from minority groupS?........sssseseeeeeee

How much in terms of job duties do
supervisors or crew chiefs expect of
new trainee and developmental controllers

who are over 35 years of age?.......ccseeseeeeeees

How much in terms of job duties do
journeyman controllers expect of new
trainee and developmental controllers

An general?..... eee ce cece cece eee e reece ce ceeeeeee

How much in terms of job duties do
journeyman controllers expect of new
trainee and developmental controllers
who are females?........ceeeeeeeeeeee

How much in terms of job duties do
journeyman controllers expect of new
trainee and developmental controllers

who are from minority groups?..........eceeeeeeee

How much in terms of job duties do
journeyman controllers expect of new
trainee and developmental controllers

who are over 35 years of age?.......-.ceee se eeee

18

lore than

hould be

bout what

bretie be

Less than
should be

luch less than

should be

[


Perceived discrimination was another major
reason for female attrition and most of the dis-
crimination was attributed to co-workers. Re-
sults from the questionnaire (Section A) provide
an interesting elaboration of this factor, viz, that
approximately one-fourth of the women who had
left ATC work and a comparable proportion of
the female retentions perceived discrimination
from co-workers. About the same proportion of
female attritions felt that both supervisors and
management also evidenced negative discrimina-
tion; however, only about 9% of those women
still in the ATC system felt this to be so. Such
findings differed from those obtained for the
men. More male attritions reported discrimina-
tion from all three sources (management, super-
visors, and co-workers) than did those who
remained as ATCSs. Thus, whether women
leave or remain in ATC work, about one-fourth
of them perceive discrimination from their co-
workers, Whether these perceptions are correct
or not, it seems evident that the influx of women
into a traditionally male occupation (and in an
area associated with “maleness”) might generate
negative feelings, insecurity, and, possibly, nega-
tive behavior on the part of the men. At the
same time, however, women are likely to feel
somewhat insecure in entering a “man’s world”
and their perceptions and behavior may be nega-
tively affected. Related to this is the fact that
the men in this study perceived that less was
expected of female trainees by supervisors and
journeyman controllers than did the women
(Section E of the questionnaire), and tended to
feel that women were better treated than were
other controllers (Figure 2). On the other hand,
women in this study tended to feel that more,
not less, was expected of them by supervisors
and journeymen and that they were less well
accepted and less well treated by journeyman
controllers than were trainees in general. Al-
though one might anticipate the development of
these reactions of men and women under the
conditions described, the tensions produced
thereby are likely to result in perceptions and
behavior which, for a while at least, will tend
to cause some tensions in the work situations,

Vv. Implications.

The data obtained in this study have some
significant implications in terms of ATC attri-
tions and ATC job satisfaction. Most workers

in other occupations, irrespective of sex, rate
interesting and challenging work above all other
job factors (e.g., Herzberg, 1968)—ATC train-
ees are no exception. The trainees also have
high regard for the skills and dedication of their
co-workers, enjoy most aspects of the ATC job,
and generally have positive attitudes toward the
air traffic control work situation.

However, occupational studies have also re-
ported that good co-workers, supervision, and
work hours are generally more important to
women than to men (eg., Jurgensen, 1947),
while men prefer good promotional opportuni-
ties, pay, and job security (eg., Hardin, Reif,
and Heneman, 1951). If these are valid aspects
of job satisfaction and if they are important to
an employee in deciding whether to leave or to
continue in a job, the present data are suggestive
of areas for improvement in the ATC environ-
ment. For example, over 40% of the female
attritions reported that shift work upset their
family lives and that shift rotations were too
frequent. About one-fourth of the female at-
tritions perceived discrimination against them
by co-workers, supervisors, and facility manage-
ment; they saw their co-workers as vulgar,
supervisors as annoying, and management as
setting different standards for them. With re-
gard to men’s preferences, 30% or more of male
trainees agreed that the work provided no chance
for personal growth, that. transfer opportunities
were not good, and that entry-level pay was not
better than most jobs they could get. These
latter attitudes could well account for the fact
that, aside from training difficulties, the major
reason for male attrition from ATC work was
another job opportunity.

Results of this study indicate that ATC reten-
tion rates might be improved (particularly for
women) and job satisfaction increased by:

(a) improving the orientation of prospec-
tive hirees regarding nature, demands,
and rewards of ATC work,

(b) modifying the pace of training so that
increased attention is given to the more
difficult aspects of the training course,

(c) basing assignments on ability wherever
possible,

(d) improving the opportunities for trans-
fer,

(e) implementing regular shifts whenever
possible,

12


In male-female comparisons, “work itself”
correlated highly with other aspects of the ATC
job for the males, cight of the nine r’s being
significant at the .05 level compared to four for
the females. Only the correlation between work
itself and shift work (.53 for males and .16 for
females) significantly differed for the sex groups.
The higher r’s for men between “work itself”
and other aspects of work are consistent with
reports which indicate that occupation is psycho-
logically more critical to men than women. For
example, Kuhlen (1963) obtained higher r’s be-
tween need deficiency and job satisfaction for
male teachers, and Centers and Bugental (1966)
found males valued self-expression in work more
than did females. Hulin (1969) obtained greater
r’s for males between job and life satisfaction.

22

In another study, Kuhlen (1952) concluded that
occupation is a secondary role for many women.
The greater proportion of non-job-related reasons
(ie. family reasons) for attrition of women
from ATC work (Mathews, Collins, and Cobb,
1974) and similar findings reported by others
for different occupational groups supports the
latter conclusion.

In comparing male retentions and attritions,
five r’s were significantly larger for retentions;
these differences involved intercorrelations (a)
of shift work with facility management, super-
vision, and facility training and (b) of co-
workers with facility management and super-
vision. . Female retentions differed significantly
from attritions only in that attitudes toward pay
and promotions correlated higher for retentions.

35708


four trainee groups; the five response alterna-
tives ranged from “completely accept” to “com-
pletely reject.” The final part questioned
treatment of each of the four trainee groups by
journeymen, providing five choices from “very
good” to “very bad.” For analysis purposes,
responses to items of the third and fourth parts
were assigned codes of 1 to 5, with the lowest
code, in each instance, pertaining to the most
negative view and the highest code to the most
positive view.

F. Section F. Section F, provided for attri-
tions only, consisted of a list of possible reasons
for leaving ATC work with space allocated be-
side most items for giving more detailed infor-
mation or examples. These data are reported
elsewhere (Mathews, Collins, and Cobb, 1974).

Return Rate

Completed or partly completed questionnaires
were returned by 40 of 56 female attritions and
52 of the 56 male attritions, and by 55 of 63
female retentions and 59 of 63 male retentions.
The relatively high percentage of questionnaires
returned was achieved, at least partially, through
use of air mail letters and follow-up telephone
reminders. This high return rate attests to the
absence of any appreciable self-selection bias.

Demographic Characteristics of Samples

As a result of the matching technique, the sex
groups (retentions and attritions) were quite
comparable in background characteristics. The
mean ages in years and standard deviations (SD)
for men and women were 28.9 (SD: 5.7) and
29.3 (SD: 7.1), respectively. Two or more years
of college education were possessed by 33% of
the men and 28% of the women. Pre-FAA ATC
certificates (usually in military control) were
held by 28% of the men and 24% of the women.
For the attritions, the length of FAA-ATC
tenure in months was 12.3 (SD: 10.3) for males
and 12.0 (SD: 9.9) for females.

III. Results.
Section A of the Questionnaire

A. General Findings. To assess the degree of
“favorableness toward” or “satisfaction with”
each aspect of work, the percentage of subjects
agreeing to positively worded items and dis-
agreeing to negatively worded items was cal-
culated. Based on these calculations, the per-
centage of subjects who expressed favorable

attitudes ranged from 30 to 99% for individual
items; the average for all 107 items was 70%
(Table 1).

Eleven items received positive answers by
more than 90% of the subjects. Subjects agreed
that ATC work was useful, respected, challeng-
ing, and gave them a sense of accomplishment.
Co-workers were seen as responsible, intelligent,
not excessively friendly, and not excessively pro-
tective. Similarly, neither facility management
nor supervisors were seen as excessively protec-
tive. Finally, subjects did not perceive promo-
tions as being too fast.

Only eight items were answered negatively by
more than half the subjects. The most unfavor-
able response involved working conditions, which
70% of respondents indicated needed improve-
ment, while almost as many subjects (69%)
agreed that there were not good opportunities
to transfer in ATC assignments. Facility man-
agement provided two sources of dissatisfaction
as a majority of subjects agreed that it was both
regimented and too bureaucratic, while promo-
tional opportunities were considered to be lim-
ited and not fair to all options. Most subjects
felt that entry-level ATCSs were not “highly
paid” and 53% did not perceive co-workers as
having interests the same as theirs. This latter
finding may reflect, at least partly, the back-
ground characteristics of the present sample.
Recent female trainees have had more college
education and less pre-FAA ATC experience
than the vast majority of male trainees in gen-
eral (Cobb, Mathews, and Lay, 1972) and the
matching procedures for the present samples
would emphasize these factors.

B. Sew Comparisons. Women expressed sig-
nificantly more favorable attitudes (p<.05 or
better) than men on three of the 107 items and
had significantly less favorable attitudes on 10
items. With respect to the former, more women
than men (88% vs. 66%) agreed that ATC pay
was better than the pay for most jobs they could
get; fewer women than men indicated that the
pay was less than they deserved (7% vs. 19%)
and that the work provided “no chance for per-
sonal growth” (17% vs. 30%).

Of the 10 items answered significantly less
favorably by women than by men, four concerned
co-workers, who were more frequently seen as
too friendly (11% vs. 3%), vulgar (27% vs.



3.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(4)

(a)

(b)

(ec)

(4)

>
a
2
s
a8
e8
Q
oe
How do journeyman controllers accept
new trainee and developmental controllers
in general?.......... doce cee eeeeeeereeeees
How do journeyman controllers accept
new trainee and developmental controllers
who _are_ females? . Senco eeeeeeeeere Oo

How do journeyman controllers accept
new trainee and developmental controllers

who are from minority groups?.......-ssseeeseeeee

How do journeyman controllers accept
new trainee and developmental controllers

who are over 35 years of age?......-seeeeseceeeee

Ps
£8
What kind of treatment do journeyman
controllers give new trainee and
developmental controllers in general?........+.+.

What kind of treatment do journeyman
controllers give new trainee and
developmental controllers who are
females?...

What kind of treatment do journeyman
controllers give new trainee and
developmental controllers who are

from minority groupS?......sceseeeeeeeseeeeeveses

What kind of treatment do journeyman
controllers give new trainee and
developmental controllers who are

over 35 years of age?.... see ceseseeeeeeeeeceeeee

19

Partly
laccept

Petther accept
lor reject

[Netther good
nor bad

art;
Fe ject

| sea

Fonpletery
‘eject



Appendix C

Additional analyses of data from Section A
of the Questionnaire.

Discrimination. An inspection of the differ-
ences between the “agree” responses of men and
women on the three items dealing with discrimi-
nation was made separately for attritions and
retentions. That is, sex differences were obtained
by subtracting the percentage of men from the
percentage of women who agreed that they were
discriminated against by management, super-
visors, or co-workers. For attritions, the per-
centage differences so obtained are 11%, 14%,
and 17% respectively; for attritions on the same
items, the differences are 6%, 7%, and 21%. In
both cases, only the difference pertaining to per-
ceived co-worker discrimination is statistically
significant (p<.05). Thus, although women con-
sistently reported more discrimination than did
men, no statistically significant sex differences
were obtained in perceived discrimination by
management or by supervisors among either attri-
tions or retentions. However, among both attri-
tions and retentions, women perceive significantly
more negative discrimination by co-workers than
do men. No significant inter-item differences for
any of the groups were detected for responses to
“set, different standards of achievement for me”
or “tried to protect me too much.”

Interaction Between Sex and Retention-Attri-
tion Status. Interactions between sex and re-
tention-attrition status were tested using critical
ratios. For example, for the item “desirable”
under shift work (see Appendix B), the per-
centages agreeing are 60% and 699%, respectively,
for male retentions and attritions and 82% and
62%, respectively, for female retentions and at-
tritions, While the proportion of men agreeing
to “desirable” went up 9% from retention to
attrition status, the proportion of women went
down 20%, resulting in a net change of 29%
(¢=2.09, p<.05). This implies that “relative to
those who stay, women who leave ATC think
shift work is less desirable than do men who
leave ATC.” Testing all items in this manner
revealed only two more differences significant at
the .05 level; the female attritions were relatively
more negative concerning “night work pleasant”
while the male attritions were more inclined to
report the work itself as being “routine.”

21

Two differences which did not quite reach the
.05 level (the usually accepted level of statistical
significance) are consistent with the high pro-
portion of family-related reasons given by women
for leaving ATC work (Mathews, Collins, and
Cobb, 1974). At the .10 level, female attritions
agreed more often that shift work “upset family
life” and made it “difficult to manage outside
responsibilities.” Only one other difference was
significant at the .10 level: the male attritions
were relatively more negative concerning pro-
motional opportunities. This may be one reason
why more men than women said they left for
another job (Mathews, Collins, and Cobb, 1974).

Intercorrelations Among the Ten Areas of
Section A of the Questionnaire. An assessment
of the degree of intercorrelation among the ten
areas (e.g., work itself, co-workers, etc.) sampled
in Section A was accomplished by assigning a
yalue of “one” for each positive answer and
summing those scores for all items within a
given area for each subject; a variety of product
moment correlations could then be computed.
For all subjects combined, 33 of the 45 intercor-
relations were significant at the .05 level; the
exceptions were all nine correlations involving
entry-level pay (ie. there were no significant
relationships between attitudes toward pay and
attitudes toward any of the other work areas)
and three concerning shift work (i.e., those with
co-workers, facility training, and promotions).
The highest r (.70) was between management
and supervision, ie, favorable (or unfavorable)
responses to management items were associated
with similar attitudinal responses to supervision
items, The lowest correlation (.00) was between
pay and shift work, and the median r was .31.
Five correlation values were .50 or greater, in-
cluding all intercorrelations of the matrix of
management, supervision, and facility training,
and the r’s for co-workers with management and
with supervision; these correlations indicate a
substantial relationship between positive (or
negative) attitudes toward an area of work and
positive (or negative) attitudes toward the
paired area of work.



ENTRY-LEVEL PAY

Too low..
Highly paid.. seeeeee
Less than I deserved......
Better than most other
jobs I might get........

FACILITY TRAINING

Good...
Much too hard.............
Harassed me more than
most....
Different standards
for me..
Timely....
Adequate.
Too hurried. oe .
Should come after Academy
training..............05

WORKING CONDITIONS

Location good.
Comfortable....
Surroundings unpleasant...
Hours advantageous...
Marginal...
Insecure..
Equipment up-to-date......
Adequate work space.......
Needed improvements.......
Isolated...........

| | | Agree

| Disagree

| Agree

ASSIGNMENTS

Facility I wanted
Based on ability.
Option I wanted........
Good opportunity to
transfer..........-.-.++

|
|

PROMOTIONS

Poor opportunity for
advancement............-
Opportunity somewhat
limited. tee
Promotion on ability......
Fair for all ATC
options.......
Infrequent.
Too fast.. .
Reflect greater
responsibility..........

SHIFT WORK

Unhealthy..........
Rotations too frequent....
Shift length o.k...
Night work pleasant.
Desirable........
Busy shift best....,
Upset family life.......
Difficulty to manage out-

side responsibilities...
Family adjusted o.k.
Fatiguing..........

B. Please complete the following statements. If there is not sufficient
space for your response, you may continue on the reverse side of this

sheet.

The best feature of being an FAA air traffic controller is

| Disagree

The worst feature of being an FAA air traffic controller is



Expectations held by supervisors
as perceived by trainees

Expectations held by journeyman controllers
as perceived by trainees

4.0
? 35 Female Trainees Mele Trainees
3 a ‘ateritions
4 \
i retentions 9 Ay aterttions = aa.
4 . .
0-740, “ ‘ “ So
3.0 = Sy oe
eg a retentions
aceeteiShe ‘etentions
retentions
T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
iodoad:i: Bait ¢ Hadi: £Ba dé
z 3 £68 : 3 i
a, 42 $2 3 as $2 2 tf $i: iy $f 3
£3 ES Pos Pos ES Pos Es ae
zg a 2 8 r 2 3 BF z 8 s z OR
ao: $ % s =
3 3 3 &
Trainee Groups
Retentions
Mean 3.00 2.75 2.70 2.98 2.98 3.20 3.04 3,06 3.17 2.96 2.96 3.02 3.223.300 3.15 3.22
S.D. 62 69 82 49 37 881.97 47 65 73 +81 49 60 +96 97 67
Aterittons
Mean 3.36 2.89 2.78 3.23 3.16 3616 2.89 3.25 3.46 2,98 3.06 3.27 3:19 3.38 3.09 3.15
S.D. 56 78 719 63 49 93 90 77 73 85 86 64 «58 89 92 62
Combined
Hean 316 2.81 2.73 3.10 3.06 3.419 2.98 3.6 3.3L 2.96 32.01 3.16.21 3.33 3.33.19
S.D. ‘ol 738k S768 HL 0788S S93 9K
Figure 1, Mean ratings by male and female retentions and attritions of their perceptions of supervisory and jour-

neyman controllers’ expectations of trainees.

pared to male retentions indicated that they felt
more was expected of all new trainees in general
and of older trainees by both supervisory and
journeyman personnel (p<.05).

B. Perceived Acceptance and Treatment of
Trainee Groups by Journeyman Controllers.
The mean rating for all subjects with respect to
perceived acceptance by journeyman controllers
of “all trainees in general” is 3.68, indicating
that the majority of subjects felt they were ac-
cepted to some degree by journeymen (a neutral
situation “neither accepted nor rejected” was
coded 3; “partially accepted” was coded 4).
Mean ratings of the acceptance by journeymen
of the other trainee groups are: female trainees,
3.20; minority trainees, 3.17; and trainees over
age 35, 3.39. With regard to the treatment of
trainees by journeymen, the mean ratings from
all subjects are: trainees in general, 3.61; female
trainees, 3.52; minority trainees, 3.40; and older
trainees, 3.47 (ie., all ratings are about midway
between “neither good nor bad”—coded 3--and
“good”—coded 4). While mean rated acceptance

by journeymen of female and minority trainees
is about one-half point lower than that for
trainees in general, the average treatment rating
was only .21 lower.

Comparisons of ratings between items yielded
no significant effects for the male groups, but
both female attritions and retentions tended to
rate acceptance by journeymen of female, minor-
ity, and older trainees as significantly lower
(p<.05) than acceptance by journeymen of
trainees in general (see Figure 2). Female at-
tritions and retentions also rated journeymen’s
treatment of both female and minority trainees
significantly lower (p<.05) than that of trainees
in general. Female retentions (but not attri-
tions) rated journeymen’s treatment of older
trainees significantly lower (p<.05) than that
of trainees in general.

Comparisons between sexes yielded some sig-
nificant differences, viz, women rated acceptance
by journeymen of all new trainees in general
higher than did men (p<.01) and also rated
significantly lower (py<.05 in each case) than did


12%), discriminating against them (24% vs.
5%) and not treating them as equals (36% vs.
21%). Relative to men, the women also an-
swered significantly more often that ATC super-
visory personnel discriminated against them
(16% vs. 6%), that management (32% vs. 10%)
and supervisors (40% vs. 21%) treated them
differently, and that management. was not in-
formed (36% vs. 28%). Finally, more women
than men (28% vs. 12%) responded that they
were isolated in their working conditions and
that shift work made it difficult to manage out-
side responsibilities (30% vs. 18%).

No significant sex differences were detected for
any of the items dealing with ATC assignments,
facility training, or promotions.

C. Attrition-Retention Comparisons. Twenty-
five of the 107 items yielded significant differ-
ences (p<.05 or better) between attrition-reten-
tion groups; attritions were more negative than
retentions on 18 of them. Of the 25 differentiat-
ing items, five yielded significant attrition-reten-
tion differences for both sexes, 12 other items
showed differences between male retentions and
attritions, and eight items yielded differences
between female retentions and attritions.

For both sexes, more attritions than retentions
agreed that training was too hurried (females
61% vs. 30%; males 53% vs. 26%) and not ade-
quate (females 56% vs. 31%; males 49% vs.
26%), that facility management discriminated
against them (females 29% vs. 9%; males 18%
vs. 3%), that promotions were fair to all options
(females 58% vs. 33%; males 53% vs. 29%),
and that ATC equipment was up-to-date (fe-
males 65% vs. 32%; males 67% vs. 41%).

Among women only, more attritions than re-
tentions reported that working conditions were
insecure (29% vs. 13%), and that supervisory
personnel were annoying (399% vs. 19%), did not
treat them the same as others (54% vs. 31%),
and discriminated against them (26% vs. 9%).
Female retentions more often than female attri-
tions agreed that shift work was desirable (82%
vs. 62%), that ATC work provided good job
security (83% vs. 61%), but that promotions
were infrequent (46% vs. 229), and opportuni-
ties were somewhat limited (59% vs. 27%).

Of the 12 items which differentiated only
among the men, attritions more often than re-

tentions agreed that training was much too hard
(18% vs. 5%) that they were “harassed more
than most” during facility training (22% vs.
7%), that supervisors were hard to please (39%
vs. 19%) and quick-tempered (28% vs. 10%),
that facility management was inflexible (53%
vs. 24%) but that co-workers had interests the
same as theirs (63% vs. 41%). Also, male attri-
tions exceeded retentions in agreeing that ATC
work was routine (31% vs. 14%) and bad for
their health (40% vs. 24%), and that shift work
made the management of outside responsibilities
difficult (26% vs. 10%). On the other hand,
male retentions more frequently than attritions
reported that supervisory personnel were helpful
(88% vs. 63%), that ATC work was pleasant
(88% vs. 67%), but that -entry-level pay was
less than they deserved (26% vs. 10%).

D. Discrimination. Differences in ‘percentages
of agreement for each experimental group on
three similarly worded items which involved
perceived discrimination by facility manage-
ment, by supervisors, or by co-workers were
examined and tested for statistical significance
at the .05 level. Among male attritions, 18%
agreed to “discriminated against me” concerning
facility management, 12% for supervision, and
6% for co-workers; the difference in responses
between perceived discrimination by manage-
ment and co-workers was statistically significant.
However, no more than 3% of the male reten-
tions agreed to any of these discrimination items.
Thus, while few male retentions perceived dis-
crimination, male attritions perceived more dis-
crimination in general and significantly more
from management than from co-workers.

On the other hand, female attritions reported
uniformly more perceptions of discrimination
than did males: 29%, 26%, and 25% with re-
spect. to management, supervisors, and co-work-
ers, respectively (differences between manage-
ment, supervision, and co-workers were not
significant), while the female retentions agreed
significantly more often to discrimination by co-
workers (24%) than they did with respect to
facility management or supervision (each 9%).
Thus, while approximately one-fourth of female
attritions and about one-fourth of female reten-
tions perceived discrimination from co-workers,
the retentions perceived much less discrimination
from management than did the attritions, ~



76 = SE 'VE ITS = 6p "WH f9Gm 25 SU 185 = CS WR HEN dnoutgne yous 10) 98ues aux °z0z = 225s o1dues uaTER »

wm i eo Cr a rs!
& 6 ob ete oe 9 mo
so" some we xe x eB
[ar a a rd 10 10" os 9 «x
oe ow 6 oo 1B so" a oe a ow
50° nr ee ec) Car rT
so ee w 6 6s
(68 68k sts att
rn ed 98 OG
wm ow wR of « a we ou woe
2aION LATHS
69 ee
uw ew oO me om Aapisqyauodses 92003 to 10" oy 19 oes
t 8 8 ad so: 20 we om 68 oS
20 a a nn eS ws 7 oF
20 20" rn rr rd a soot
we so [rs a 4
so 6s U8 $0 uo om 9 cf
10 [| Sr wc om bw
Ww & som se 100° To a
uw on Mm oF Oe 20" so 06 tls kk OL
oS oo wm of ss 6s oy ge
o Dp » wo ae ost ott
20° " cea 0 rr a
or 9 mo uw 6 st
a en ard co 8 9 °
3 zw ot on so 9 a 6 °
* oo ow 9 so a rr)
u a om 6 o «mn
26 8 6 %w st ow
oe wm wow uw ow
1% Cn an’ 06 6h
so oe 6 9 oe 10" ok
“ ok Se sew ee
C3 % = oor % 9%
“wb % ost
so sz woe om wow 6 ot
” soot a
20° se woo # 100" a oe mw 8
a a oo om Cr en
to" 0" 1% 6 ste 100" oz oy tot
s ry o 6 rn a? °
so" 20" u ‘6 uk 10" so nm 8 6 on
ca woe ote rd
“ oe Sk 10 e ow ow os
i eo 9 9 w 6 6S oD
50 a st tor ot tat
a set 6c * wm 8
w wo 98 BL a a:
“ ty oe wz sy
$0" id cr ars! us houuy % & 8S
” uy pw oO
“6 6s wD so" ui ow 8 68
wot we 6 Ot St
wo eo @ ieadton, eo uw uw om pevss2u0)
worstaxaans, KIM AITTIOVE
RO Wa OW OT Oo RoW Va We oT OT Oy
a ee OT THRO ATURE, oSGNTTTTNTSS LIV “wed “meg orm _ army
euoeyavdecg exenbs eg aTT GUS OF HOODIE 1053 Tod wuceyimdecg sends 49 SST SNS OT WUYSSING GUST Tad

*perusessé ox” sousosrushe 18 pouzves y2syn svoessedece seo42 Ayu Jo e1eAsT 942 !persnpuer oxen (¥-¥ 4) 001

1m *(a-K) wotmmey pur soqee ueenreq exoue195;1p WHIT; FURFE 30) #2He2 SAEs FyD “Bz; RUVOSrENND 942 JOY UOS2290 BF usaoste ev0y35223¥ pur evossusaes otmees PUR ome

1 eras


3
3°
2 bas a
C. Check the adjective which best describes 2 33 Z
your FAA-ATC experience. 3 3 s &
2 3 gs 3 8
4 & 22 48 5
a. When I accepted appointment as an ATC, my
information about ATC job duties was.....eeeseeeerees ee
b. When I accepted appointment as an ATC, my
information about how and when I might be
eliminated from training Was......ssseeeseeeeerereres ee —

c. When I accepted appointment as an ATC, my
information about ATC career progression Wa8.....---- 0

d. When I accepted appointment as an ATC, ay
information about opportunities for transfer
to non-ATC Job8 WA8....cecerercceccecencseeereeeee es om me

e. The training at the FAA Academy Wa8.....++--+seeeeree —_— —

f. The training at my facility was

g. The training ability of FAA Academy instructors was... 0»
h. The training ability of my facility instructors was..§ © 0 4

4. The ability of FAA Academy instructors to determine

which trainees were likely to be good, and which
were likely to be poor, at ATC work way.

j. As a result of FAA Academy training, my under-
standing of ATC work and my ability to apply
that understanding was

k. As a result of facility training, my under-
standing of ATC work and my ability to apply
that understanding wa: denen cence eeeneee — — —

D. Please complete the following statements. If there is not sufficient
space for your response, you may continue on the reverse side of this
sheet,

If I could make two changes in the total ATC system, I would recommend:

a)

(2)

1



reflecting a relative response rate of 71.3%.
Corresponding rates were 78.2% for the female
retentions, 87.5% for the male attritions, and
89.8% for the male retentions.

Of the total of 340 changes suggested for the
ATC system (Table 2), most concerned ATC
training (28% of all recommendations) and
management (19%). Aspects of the work itself
were the object of 10% of the recommendations,
followed by promotions (8%), ATCS selection
standards (7%), transfers (7%), equipment
(6%), and work schedule (5%).

Of the 95 suggestions specifically mentioning
training, 24% pertained to improving facility
training, 22% were general in nature, 15% criti-
cized the pace of training, and 13% suggested
changes concerning the selection and training of
facility instructors. Fifty-two percent of the 64
recommendations directed at management. criti-
cized a perceived “up or out” or “feast or famine”
policy. These comments apparently referred to
a practice whereby trainees either advanced to
journeyman level after a specified amount of
training or were attrited from the air traffic
system due to very limited opportunities ‘for
transfers to other types or levels of facilities or
to other FAA job series. Many of these state-
ments alleged a negative attitude on the part of
ATC management and a lack of concern for
people by management.

Discrimination is seldom an area recommended
for change by any of the groups. [ven among
the women who offered suggestions dealing with
discrimination (five retentions and three attri-
tions) sex discrimination against women was
mentioned less than special favors granted to
“minority” groups, which include women.

No overall sex differences exist in the frequen-
cies of any of the categorized recommendations.
When retentions and attritions are compared,
both male and female attritions each gave sig-
nificantly more responses (46% to 39%, respec-
tively) concerning ATC training than did their
counterpart retention groups (10% and 23%,
respectively). Other significant differences in-
volve only males, among whom attritions recom-
mended fewer changes regarding promotions
than did retentions (1% vs. 14%) and also gave
fewer recommendations (1% vs. 13%) concern-
ing aspects of ATCS selection (such as raising

or lowering educational, experience, and age re-
quirements).
Section E of the Questionnaire

A. Perceived Expectations of Trainee Groups.
The mean rating by all subjects regarding what
they perceived to be the expectations held by
supervisors (or crew chiefs) toward all new
trainees in general was 3.11, or slightly higher
than “about what should be” (i.e, code 3, or the
neutral point on the response continuum). Con-
sidering separately the women, minority groups,
and trainees over 35 years of age, the mean rat-
ings of supervisory expectations are 2.99, 2.84,
and 3,13, respectively; all are very close to
“about what should be.”

For the item dealing with what the subjects
perceived to be the expectations held by journey-
man controllers toward trainees, the overall mean
scores are: all trainees, 3.27; female trainees,
3.14; minority trainees, 3,06; and trainees over
age 35, 3.16. With the exception of ratings of
journeymen’s expectations of trainees in general,
all the means varied only .16 of a point from 3
(i.e, from “about what should be”), indicating
that most subjects felt that being a female, a
minority group member, or an older trainee did
not have a negative effect on the expectations of
supervisors or journeyman controllers regarding
job duties of trainees.

However, some differences reached the .05
level of statistical significance when ratings were
compared between items and between groups of
subjects. Thus, when “all new trainees in gen-
eral” is used as a standard for comparison, some
significant mean differences (paired sample ¢
tests) in ratings were obtained between items
(see Figure 1). Specifically, there was a signifi-
cant trend (p<.05) for men to rate the expecta-
tions held by supervisors and journeymen of the
job performance of female trainees and of mi-
nority trainees as less than expectations of ‘all
trainees in general. Correspondingly, in sex-
group comparisons, men tended to rate the ex-
pectations held by both supervisors and journey-
man controllers toward the job performance of
female trainees lower than did the women
(p<.03). Although no significant differences
were detected between the female retentions and
attritions on any of the items concerning job
duty expectations, the male attritions as com-



Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No.
FAA-AM-74-7

4, Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date
JOB-RELATED ATTITUDES OF NON-JOURNEYMAN FAA AIR August _1974
TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS AND FORMER CONTROLLERS: A 5. Performing Organization Code

SEX COMPARISON

[8. Performing Organization Report No.

7. Author's) John J, Mathews, M.S., William E. Collins,
Ph.D., and Bart B. Cobb, M.S.

9. Performing Organization Nome and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)

FAA Civil Aeromedical Institute
P. 0. Box 25082 Ti. Contract or Grant No.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73125

13. Type of Report and Period Covered

12. Sponsoring Agency Nome and Address
Office of Aviation Medicine OAM Report
Federal Aviation Administration
800 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D. C. 20591

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

15. Supplementary Notes

This research was conducted under Tasks AM-B~73-PSY-43 and AM-C-74~PSY-43.

16. Abstract
Recent ATC attrition rates showed no sex differences in the proportion of trainees
completing FAA Academy training; however, the percentage of women who subsequently
left ATC work was twice that of men, In the present comparison, questionnaires
concerning aspects of job-related attitudes were given to 56 male and 56 female
former trainees (attritions) who were matched on several variables, and also to a
sample of controllers (63 women and 63 matched men) who entered training at the
same time as the attritions, but who were still in ATC work (retentions).

The return rate for the questionnaires was 87%. Over 93% of the subjects said ATC
work was challenging, useful, and respected. More women (88%) than men (66%)
indicated entry-level pay was better than that for most jobs they could get. More
women (24%) than men (5%) felt that co-workers discriminated against them; however,
as many female retentions as attritions agreed to this item, Regarding facility
management and supervisors, over one-fourth of female attritions and only 9% of
retentions agreed to discrimination. Among males, 18% and 12% respectively of male
attritions and just 3% of male retentions agreed management and supervisors
discriminated against them. Attritions of both sexes were more negative toward
facility training than retentions. Over half the attritions and less than a third
of the retentions thought training was too hurried and not adequate. Among women,
more attritions (38%) than retentions (18%) felt shift work was not desirable.
About one-third of male attritions but less than one-sixth of male retentions
viewed the work as routine and not pleasant.

17. Key Words 18, Distribution Statement

Air Traffic Control Work Availability is unlimited. Document may
be released to the National Technical
Information Service, Springfield, Virginia
22151, for sale to the public.

Employee Attrition
Sex Differences

19. Security Clossif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page) 21. No. of Pages | 22. Price

Unclassified Unclassified $3.00

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized



Section F of the Questionnaire

This section, comprising reasons for leaving
ATC work, was administered only to attritions;
the findings have been detailed elsewhere (Math-
ews, Collins, and Cobb, 1974). Briefly, over 80%
of the major reasons for attrition were accounted
for by training difficulties, family factors, other
employment, and perceived discrimination
(mostly from co-workers). Aside from training
difficulties, the primary reasons for attrition were
family factors for women and other job oppor-
tunities for men; perceived bias of one form or
another was next in rank for both sexes. How-
ever, 88% of the women and 92% of the men
indicated they might possibly seek reemployment
with the FAA, and 76% and 58%, respectively,
said they would consider reapplying for FAA
air traffic control work.

IV. Overview.

To provide a summarized picture of the re-
sponses of subjects to Section A of the question-
naire, an overall attitude profile was constructed
by calculating a mean “favorable attitude” score
for each of the 10 areas in Section A, by sex and
attrition-retention status, Specifically, for each
group of subjects, the proportion of favorable
responses to each item in a given area (e.g., four
items on entry-level pay) was summed and a
mean was calculated to provide a rough indica-
tion of overall attitude toward each of the 10
work areas. A band of favorable attitudes be-
tween 65-75% was arbitrarily selected as a ref-
erence and only scores above or below that range
were plotted (see Figure 3). In no case was
there a mean “favorable attitude score” below
50%, although assignments uniformly elicited
the least favorable attitudes (51-59%) from all
four groups of trainees. Other mean scores be-
low 65% favorable were those by female attri-
tions and retentions for facility management,
by female attritions for facility training, by
male and female retentions for promotions, and
by male retentions for entry-level pay. The
areas of co-workers and of work itself received
“favorable attitude scores” of 75% or more from
all four groups of trainees. In addition, the
retentions had highly favorable attitudes toward
supervision, male retentions were highly positive
toward facility training, women viewed entry-
level pay very positively, and female retentions

10

and male attritions had high scores for shift
work,

Although the overall profile of work attitudes
is a positive one for retentions and attritions of
both sexes, there were some specific differences
between the groups. For example, in general
more women than men were inclined to perceive
that they were treated differently than men by
both management and supervision, that facility
management was not informed, and that super-
visors and co-workers discriminated against
them. Women also tended more than men to
report vulgarity and overly-friendly behavior on
the part of co-workers, isolation of their work
place, and difficulty in managing outside respon-
sibilities due to shift work; however, they saw
more chance for personal growth in their work
and had more positive attitudes toward entry-
level pay.

In comparing those trainees who left the FAA
with those still in ATC work, it was found that,
irrespective of sex, attritions tended to perceive
more discrimination from facility management
than did retentions, and they were also more
inclined than the latter to view facility training
as being too hurried and not adequate. How-
ever, more attritions were inclined to perceive
fairness in promotions and better quality in the
equipment than did retentions.

Some of these differences appear directly re-
lated to reasons for attrition; others may have
more to do with job satisfaction. With respect
to the former, both men and women cited train-
ing difficulty as the primary reason for leaving
ATC work (Section F of the questionnaire) and
substantial proportions (i.e., 43% to 61%) of the
attritions (Section A of the questionnaire) felt
that facility training was too hurried and was
neither adequate nor good. Related to these
attitudes was the finding that the most frequent
types of suggestions for improving the ATC
system (Section D of the questionnaire) involved
training improvements and criticism of perceived
“up or out” policies on the part of management.

Other than training difficulty, only one other
category concerning reasons for attrition (Sec-
tion F of the questionnaire) reached significant
proportions for men, i.e, another job oppor-
tunity. A major basis for it may lie in the fact
that about one-third of the men felt that ATC
entry-level pay was not better than that which
they could obtain elsewhere, only one-third felt


‘Acceptance by Journeyman controllers
as perceived by trainees

Treatment by journeyman controllers
as perceived by trainees

40 Male Trainees Male Trainees Female Trainees
retentions
retentions as retentions
H
a oo3s
3 oye A
a L. aterittons . p.
Hy tay -
i B...n..--O %O--ge”
ateritions \ ” ateritions
3.0 0-2
aceritions
T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
bo: § 22 8 £ Bf 2 2 & GEE £ £
§ 3 2 2 2 8 2 2 8
7 2 8 Fi qa = 8 it ag 8 gig: 3
£ eo #8 € 3% o #s £ F 2 FS £ F «
i 8 24 z 8 # 2 & 4 = a
i i
Retentions
Mean 3.70 3.41 3.38 3.66 4.2300 3.17) 3,13 3.37 3.79 3.84 3.68 3.72 3.720 3.52 3.37 3.35
$.D. 93 +98 1,02 94 95 1,24 1,22 1,10 75 +82 8S 274 1% 7 7 88
Attri tions
Mean 3.30 3.23 3,18 3.25 3.36 2.95 3.00 3.25 3.42, 3.50 3.38 3.46 3.51 3.19 3.16 3,32
S.D. 2.22 1,10 1.05 1.18 94 1,08 1.16 1,00 +99 +82 83 85 n” 1 93 82
Combined .
Mean 3.51 3.33 3.293.467 3.92 3.08 3.08 3.32 3.62 3.70 3.56 3.58 3.66 3.38 3.27) 3.36
$.D. 1.08 1.06 1,06 1.07 1.00 1.17 1.19 1.06 189818580 17595968

Fieure 2, Mean ratings by male and female retentions

and attritions of their perceptions of journeyman control-

lers’ acceptance and treatment of trainees.

men the treatment accorded females, minorities,
and older trainees by journeyman controllers.
Sex differences by attrition-retention status
yielded only three significant effects: female re-
tentions rated the acceptance by journeymen of
trainees in general higher than did female attri-
tions, and male retentions rated higher than did
male attritions the treatment by journeymen of
(a) trainees in general (p<.05), and (b) female
trainees (p<.05).

To examine possible age effects, both sexes
were combined and the attritions and retentions
were separately divided into age groups of
“younger than 35” and “35 and older.” Con-
cerning journeymen’s acceptance of older train-
ees, the older attritions (N=19) gave signifi-
cantly lower ratings (mean=2.74) than did the
younger (N=73) attritions (mean=3.40). In
contrast, older retentions (N=16) gave higher
ratings (mean=3.88), but not significantly so,
than the younger (N=98) retentions (mean=

3.45). An analysis of means for journeymen’s
treatment of older trainees yielded similar re-
sults. The mean for older attritions (3.00) was
significantly lower than that of younger attri-
tions (3.50) and the mean for older retentions
(3.81) was higher (but not significantly) than
that of younger retentions (3.48). In addition,
for both items, the ratings submitted by the
older attritions were significantly lower than
those rendered by older retentions. No signifi-
cant differences were detected between age groups
in responses to either of the items dealing with
expectations in terms of job duties. With re-
spect to the attritions, it appears that belonging
to a group different from the majority of con-
trollers (e.g., female or older trainees) is asso-
cated with negative perceptions of acceptance
and treatment of that identity group by the
majority. This does not, however, explain the
relatively negative ratings by female retentions
of journeyman controllers’ expectations, accept-
ance, and treatment of female trainees.



(Results of other analyses conducted on the
response data for items of Section A are pre-
sented and discussed in Appendix C.)

Section B of the Questionnaire

As may be recalled, the subjects were asked,
in Section B of the questionnaire, to state the
“best feature of being an ATC” and the “worst
feature of being an ATC.” Using Herzberg’s
(1966) categories, work itself (28%), salary
(22%), achievement (21%), and job security
(9%) accounted for 80% of the features cited
as best about ATC work. Company policies and
administration (38%), working conditions (in-
cluding shift work) (22%), and responsibility
(10%) accounted for 70% of the worst features.
No other categories comprised as much as 7% of
the responses and no differences in best or worst
features between sex groups or between retention-
attrition groups were significant at the .05 level.
Two of the three most frequently cited “best”
features (work itself and achievement) are the
same ones Herzberg reported and classified as
top motivator factors, and two of the three most
frequently cited “worst” features (company poli-

cies and working conditions) are identical with
Herzberg’s top hygiene factors. Salary is men-
tioned as a best feature more often by FAA
controllers than by many other occupational
groups (see also Smith, Cobb, and Collins, 1971;
Smith, 1973), and is probably based on the fact
that pay is relatively high for the ATC entry-
level experience and education requirements.
Responsibility, usually a motivating factor, was
the third most common “worst” feature for this
sample. However, this was mostly the case for
attritions, but not significantly so.

Section C of the Questionnaire
Data from this part of the questionnaire were
collected for purposes outside the scope of the
present paper.

Section D of the Questionnaire
The majority of the 206 respondents to the
questionnaire complied with the request in Sec-
tion D for fwo suggested changes in the ATC
system; however, several submitted none and a
few only one. The 40 attrited females submitted
a total of 57 recommendations, rather than 80,

Table 2

Percentages of categorised recoumendations concerning changes in the ATC system suggested by

male and female retentions and attritions in section D of the questionnaire.

Male Retentions

Recoumendat ions

concerning: N 2 N
Training i 10.4 20
Management 22 20.8 18
Work Itself 7 6.6 7
ATCS Selection 4 13.2 5
Transfers 8 7.5 9
Promotions 15 14.2 10
Equipment 9 8.5 3
Work Schedule 8 7.5 6
Discrimination 4 3.8 5
Miscellaneous 8 7.5 3
Total 106 100.0 86

Female Retentions

Male Attrition: Female Attritions

z N a N a
23.3 42 46.2 22 38.6
20.9 16 17.6 8 4.1

8.2 12 13,2 7 12.3

5.8 1 1.1 6 10.5
10.5 6 6.6 2 3.5
11.6 1 1.1 2 3.5

3.5 5 5.5 3 5.3
7.0 2 2,2 2 3.5
5.8 1 V1 3 5.3
3.5 5 5.5 2 3.5
100.0 91 100.0 57 100.0


Appendix B

Methods used in analyzing data from the
questionnaire for Sections A, D, and E.

Section A. Responses to the 107 agree-dis-
agree items were treated with the chi square
statistic. First, a total 2x4 chi square value
was obtained based on agree-disagree frequen-
cies for the four groups of male and female
retentions and attritions. Then, this summary
value was partitioned (Fleiss, 1973) into values
based independently on a sex comparison and
then on retention-attrition comparisons within
each sex group.

Possible interaction effects were measured by
summing the changes in proportions for the four
subgroups and using a critical ratio to test the
significance of interaction between sex and re-
tention-attrition status (Snedecor and Cochran,
1967). An assessment of the degree of intercor-
relation of the ten factors or areas of Section A
was accomplished, for the retentions and attri-
tions separately, by assigning a value of “one”
for each positive answer and summing the items
for each area. Then, the scores for all possible

20

pairs of areas were correlated across all subjects
in the group. This was done separately for
male and for female retentions and attritions,
and for retentions and attritions of each sex.

Section D. Each subject was asked to suggest
two changes for the ATC system. The sugges-
tions were sorted into several empirically derived
categories (e.g., training suggestions). The per-
centages of all suggestions which were assigned
to the various categories were then computed.
Where appropriate, subdivisions within general
categories were established and within-category
percentages were computed.

Section EF. The mean response scores for male
and female retentions and attritions were com-
puted and ¢ tests were used to make comparisons.
For intergroup comparisons, independent sample
tests were used while inter-item differences for
each group were tested by dependent (paired)
sample ¢ tests.


quently left the field. Each female was matched
with a male of the same attrition-retention
status. In addition, each male was chosen to
match a female counterpart as closely as possible
with respect to age, type of training option
(En Route, Terminal, or Flight Service), size
and geographical location of facility of assign-
ment, possession of previous certified ATC ex-
perience (usually from military service), date
of-entry into ATC Academy training, duration
of employment, job level, and salary.

Procedure

Biographical data concerning the subjects and
their work setting were obtained from several
sources with overlapping data providing reliabil-
ity checks. First, each subject completed a
“personal background and data sheet” upon
entry into Academy training, providing birth-
date, education, previous work experience, date
of employment, type of training option, and fa-
cility to which initially assigned. Personnel
records maintained at FAA Headquarters were
used to determine whether a subject was still in
ATC work, to verify type and facility of assign-
ment, and to obtain dates of separation of those
Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCSs) no
longer with the FAA.

Attritions were contacted by telephone and
interviewed concerning their reasons for leaving
ATC work; these findings are presented else-
where (Mathews, Collins, and Cobb, 1974).
They were then asked if they might be sent a
questionnaire (Appendix A) about some aspects
of their ATC experience. Retentions were sent
a copy of the questionnaire with an explanatory
letter asking for their help and cooperation.

The Questionnaire

A. Section A. Section A of the questionnaire
concerned seven factors in the work environment
(work itself, supervision, co-workers, pay, pro-
motions, management, and working conditions)
which have often been reported as related to job
satisfaction and motivation (Hoppock, 1935;
Herzberg, 1968; Smith, 1969), and three addi-
tional sources of attitudinal differences which
might exist in ATC work, viz, assignments
(geographical and type of control work), facility
training, and shift work. Each of the 10 factors
included from 4-16 agree-disagree items; the
total number of items was 107. Approximately
the same numbers of positively and negatively

worded items were devised to minimize set re-
sponse tendencies.

B. Section B. Section B consisted of two
free-response, or open-ended, questions for elici-
tation of what each subject regarded as the best
and worst features of being an FAA air traffic
controller. The responses were sorted into 16
categories, corresponding to those specified by
Herzberg (1966). Six of the factors, designated
by Herzberg as “motivators,” and primarily as-
sociated with job satisfaction are: work itself,
achievement, responsibility, recognition, advance-
ment opportunity, and possibility of growth.
The remaining 10 factors, concerning hygiene
(i.e, work situations) and usually associated
with job dissatisfaction, are: company policy and
administration, working conditions, technical
supervision, interpersonal relations with peers,
factors in personal life, salary, interpersonal
relations with superiors, job security, status, and
interpersonal relations with subordinates.

C. Section C. Section C measured, on a five-
point scale, how well informed the subjects felt
they were about the job upon accepting appoint-
ment to ATC work and also how they viewed
ATC training. The data were obtained for pur-
poses of comparing present groups with groups
which began FAA-ATC training during more
recent time periods under different training con-
ditions and will be presented in a future report.

D. Section D. Each subject was asked to sug-
gest two changes for the ATC system. The
suggestions were sorted into several empirically
derived categories (e.g., training suggestions) on
the basis of frequencies.

E. Section E. Responses involving perceived
attitudes of management, supervisors, and jour-
neyman controllers toward trainees based on sex,
age, minority membership, and trainee status in
general were elicited in Section E of the ques-
tionnaire. The first two sets of questions in this
section asked how much, in terms of job duties,
was expected of each of four trainee groups
(females, minority members, older trainees, and
all new ATCSs), by supervisors or crew chiefs,
and by journeyman controllers. The five choices
ranged from “much more than should be” (coded
5) to “much less than should be” (coded 1). In
the third part of Section E, the subjects were
aske] about their conception of the journeyman
controllers’ acceptance-rejection of each of the


(£) modifying those practices at facility
management levels which appear dis-
criminatory,

(g) training ATC instructors with regard
to fair treatment of all trainees, moti-
vational techniques in instruction, and

18

the psychology of both the teaching and
learning process,

(h) assuring fairness in promotions for all
options,

(i) educating all new employees with regard
to the phychology of discrimination
(eg, by training films).



Appendix A

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL ATTRITION STUDY: QUESTIONNAIRE

Name

Birth Date

A. In terms of your job as an FAA-ATC, please indicate whether you "Agree"
or "Disagree" with each statement listed below by placing an "X" in the

appropriate column. Be sure to check either an "Agree" or "Disagree"
response for each statement.

FACILITY MANAGEMENT

Concerned-+++++-+++
Cold....
Informed. .
Regimented
Impartial......
Good planning...
Sufficiently capable.
Too bureaucratic..
Gave too few benefits..
Provided good training.
Inflexible...
Sympathetic...
Discriminated against me..
Tried to protect me

too much.......-e66+ sees
Treated me as different...
Set different standards

of achievement for me...

TELTET TTT ETT Pesree
FELT EL TELL TTT [etssscee

|
|

CO-WORKERS

Discriminated against me..

Talk too much.
Responsible...
Easy to meet.
Vulgar...
Pleasant... .
Easy to make enemies.
Intelligent.....
No privacy...
Interests same as mine
Too friendly..
Tried to protect me

too much........-.-++ eee
Treated me as equal.......
Set different standards

of achievement for me...

PETTITT

1

15

SUPERVISION

Helpful.....
Hard to please..
Praised good work....
Tactful........ssseseeeeee
Annoying......
Stubborn......
Intelligent.....
Too little supervision....
Quick tempered........
Told me where I stood.
Knew job well.........
Unsympathetic.......+.
Discriminated against me
Tried to protect me

too much.........
Treated me the same ai

others.........
Set different standards

of achievement for me...

PET ET TTT TET TT Tastee
TELTET LETT TTT [otesscee

WORK ITSELF

Good job security
Fascinating......
Routine....
Respected...
Useful......
Frustrating...
Pleasant......
Challenging.
Bad for health.
Sense of accomplis see
Boring.....-+++ eerrrry
Fatiguing........ssseee
Harder than I expected..
Easier than I expected.
Responsibility too great.
No chance for personal
BLOW... cc cece eeeeeeeee



JOB-RELATED ATTITUDES OF NON-JOURNEYMAN FAA AIR TRAFFIC
CONTROLLERS AND FORMER CONTROLLERS: A SEX COMPARISON

I. Introduction.

Recent studies of attrition in the Federal
Aviation Administration’s air traffic control
(ATC) occupation have indicated that:

(1) The annual attrition rate of all FAA
controllers has been approximately 5% in recent
years (Farrell, 1972) but has averaged about
12% for trainees (ie., for controllers who have
not yet reached journeyman status, a process
requiring about three years).

(2) Most of that trainee attrition resulted
from failure to pass the FAA Academy initial
training courses or the subsequent training re-
quirements at the facility to which the trainees
were assigned (Mathews, Collins, and Cobb,
1974).

(3) Although ATC is a predominantly (97%)
male occupation, there have been no significant
sex differences in recent Academy attrition rates
(Cobb, Mathews, and Lay, 1972).

(4) Over twice the proportion of women as
men recently left ATC work after completing
the two months of Academy training, but before
reaching journeyman status (Cobb, Mathews,
and Lay, 1972).

(5) The major reason for that sex difference
in post-Academy attrition rates was associated
with family responsibilities of women, i.e., mar-
riage, relocation, child care, and the like (Math-
ews, Collins, and Cobb, 1974).

Sex differences in job tenure have been noted
in studies of other occupations (e.g., Lunden,
1968) and motivational and attitudinal differ-
ences have been reported between males and fe-
males in different work settings. For example,
when asked to rate various job characteristics in
terms of importance or preference, females gen-
erally rate good co-workers (Jurgensen, 1947;

We gratefully acknowledge assistance by Phyllis Reed
in formulating some items in the questionnaire and by
Steve Greer, Peter Nelson, and Barbara Rizzuti for
assistance in data analysis.

Hardin, Reif, and Heneman, 1951; Centers and
Bugental, 1966; Hilgert, 1971), supervision
(Blum and Russ, 1942; Jurgensen, 1947; Hardin,
Reif, and Heneman, 1951; Burke, 1966), and
work hours (Jurgensen, 1947; Nealey and Good-
ale, 1967) higher than do males; male workers
indicate higher preference for good promotional
opportunities (Jurgensen, 1947; Hardin, Reif,
and Heneman, 1951; Burke, 1966), pay (Blum
and Russ, 1942; Hardin, Reif, and Heneman,
1951; Nealey and Goodale, 1967), and job secur-
ity (Jurgensen, 1947; Hardin, Reif, and Hene-
man, 1951; Burke, 1966). However, both men
and women usually value interesting and chal-
lenging work more than the above-mentioned
factors (Hardin, Reif, and Heneman, 1951;
Burke, 1966; Centers and Bugental, 1966; Herz-
berg, 1968).

None of the above reports assessed sex differ-
ences as factors in leaving or staying on the jobs
under investigation. The present study was
undertaken to assess possible sex differences and
attrition-retention differences (1) in a variety
of job-related attitudes about air traffic control;
(2) in aspects of ATC work which are viewed
by trainees as most favorable and least favor-
able; and (8) in perceptions by trainees of how
certain groups (e.g., minorities, women, older
trainees) are treated and accepted, and what is
expected of them by instructors, supervisors, and
co-workers.

Il. Method.
Subjects

All 119 females who entered initial ATC
training at the FAA Academy from December
1968 to November 1970 were included in the
study. The subjects were classified into three
groups depending on whether they were still in
ATC work as of December 1972, had completed
Academy training but left ATC work, or had
failed to pass Academy training and conse-





Facility a
Management
Supervision —F a
FEMALE
Co-workers F 9 attritions aa
e@ Retentions
Work Itself > MALE ace
4 Attritions
. 4 Retentions
Shift Work =F
Working L
Conditions
Facility a °
Training
Promotions -F
Assignments - oA eo.
Pay - eo
Lat | 1 | ! \ N !
50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90

Mean Percentage of Favorable Attitudes

Ficure 3. Mean favorable responses by subgroups on 10 job attitude areas. Only those group means are shown.
which deviated from the arbitrarily selected range of 65-75% favorable responses; all other mean scores fell

within the stippled area.

that they were highly paid, and almost as many
saw no chance for personal growth in ATC work.

It was noted earlier that the post-Academy
attrition rate of female trainees was about twice
that of males (Cobb, Mathews, and Lay, 1972).
In general, women experienced higher attrition
rates than men in a variety of occupations and
family-type reasons are a major underlying

il

factor (cf., Mathews, Collins, and Cobb, 1974) ;
the ATC job is no exception. Almost half of
the female attritions agreed that ATC work up-
set their family lives and 30% or more reported
that shift rotations were too frequent, that their
families did not make a satisfactory adjustment
to shift changes, and that it was difficult to man-,.
age their outside responsibilities.



-

a

e

10.

1

13.

14.

16.

17.

18.

i

References

Blum, M. L,, and J. J. Russ: A Study of Employee
Attitudes Toward Various Incentives, PERSONNEL,
19:438-444, 1942.

. Burke, Ronald J.: Are Herzberg’s Motivators and

Hygienes Unidimensional? JOURNAL OF AP-
PLIED PSYCHOLOGY, 50:317-321, 1966.

Centers, R., and D. E. Bugental: Intrinsic and Ex-
trinsic Job Motivations Among Different Segments
of the Working Population, JOURNAL OF AP-
PLIED PSYCHOLOGY, 50:193-197, 1966.

Cobb, B. B., J. J. Mathews, and C. D, Lay: A Com-
parative Study of Female and Male Air Traffic
Controller Trainees. FAA Office of Aviation Medi-
cine Report No. AM-72-22, 1972.

. Cobb, B, B., J. J. Mathews, and Peter L. Nelson:

Attrition-Retention Rates of Air Traffic Control
Trainees Recruited During 1960-1963 and 1968-
1970, FAA Office of Aviation Medicine Report No.
AM-72-33, 1972.

Dunnette, M. D., and J. Maetzold: Use of a Weighted
Application Blank in Hiring Seasonal Employees,
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, 39:308-
310, 1955.

Farrell, R. A.: Air Traffic Control Specialist Attri-
tion, Official FAA Memorandum from AMN-23 to
AAC-118, March 31, 1972.

Fleiss, Joseph L,: Statistical Methods for Rates and
Proportions, New York, Wiley, 1973.

. Hardin, E., H. G. Reif, and H. G. Heneman: Stabil-

ity of Job Preferences of Department Store Em-
ployees, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY,
35 :256-259, 195:
Herzberg, F.: Work and the Nature of Man, New
York, World Publishing Company, 1966.

Herzberg, F.: One More Time: How Do You Moti-
vate Employees? HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW,
46 :53-62, 1968.

. Hilgert, Raymond L.: Satisfaction and Dissatisfac-

tion in a Plant Setting, PERSONNEL ADMINIS-
TRATION, 34:21-27, 1971.

Hoppock, R.: Job Satisfaction, New York, Harper
& Bros., 1935.

Hulin, Charles L.: Job Satisfaction and Turnover
in a Female Clerical Population, JOURNAL OF
APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, 50 :280-285, 1966.

. Hulin, Charles L.: Effects of Changes in Job-Satis-

faction Levels on Employee Turnover, JOURNAL
OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, 52:122-126, 1968.
Hulin, Charles L.: Sources of Variation in Job and
Life Satisfaction: The Role of Community and Job-
Related Variables, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSY-
CHOLOGY, 53:279-291, 1969.

Jurgensen, Clifford E.: In E. S$. Ellman, Managing
Women in Business, Waterford, Connecticut, Pren-
tice Hall, 22, 1963,

Jurgensen, Clifford E.: Selected Factors Which In-
fluence Job Preferences, JOURNAL OF APPLIED
PSYCHOLOGY, 31 :558-564, 1947,

19.

20.

21,

29.

30.

32,

33,

34.

14

Kaley, Maureen M.: Attitudes Toward the Dual
Role of the Married Professional Woman, AMERI-
CAN PSYCHOLOGIST, 26:301-306, 1971.

Katzell, Mildred E.: Expectations and Dropouts in
Schools of Nursing, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSY-
CHOLOGY, 52:154-157, 1968.

Kuhlen, R. G., and G. H. Johnson: Changes in Goals
With Adult Increasing Age, JOURNAL OF CON-
SULTING PSYCHOLOGY, 16:1-4, 1952.

. Kuhlen, Raymond G.: Needs, Perceived Need Satis-

faction Opportunities, and Satisfaction With Occu-
pation, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY,
47 :56-64, 1963.

. Lodahl, T. M., and M. Kejner: The Definition and

Measurement of Job Involvement, JOURNAL OF
APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, 49:24-33, 1965.

. Lunden, Walter A.: Men of New Scotland Yard,
POLICE, v.-Der, :6-16, 1968.
. Mathews, J. J., W. E. Collins, and B. B. Cobb: A

Sex Comparison of Reasons for Attrition of Non-
Journeyman FAA Air Traffic Controllers. FAA
Office of Aviation Medicine Report No, AM-74-2,
1974.

. Mead, Margaret: The Life Cycle and Its Variations:

The Division of Roles, DAEDALUS, 96:871-875,

1967.

. Nealey, S. M. and J. G. Goodale: Worker Prefer-

ences Among Time-Off Benefits and Pay, JOURNAL
OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, 51 361, 1967.

. Saleh; S. E., R. J. Lee, and E, P. Prien: Why Nurses

Leave Their Jobs: An Analysis of Female Turnover,
PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION, 28 :25-28, 1965.
Schuh, Allen J.: The Predictability of Employee
Tenure: A Review of the Literature: PERSONNEL
PSYCHOLOGY, 20 :133-152, 1967.

Smith, P. C.: The Development of a Method of
Measuring Job Satisfaction: The Cornell Studies,
In E, A. Fleishman (Ed.), Studies in Personnel and
Industrial Psychology, Homewood, Mlinois, Dorsey,
1969.

. Smith, R. C., B. B, Cobb, and W. E. Collins: Atti-

tudes and Motivational Factors in Terminal Area
Air Traffic Control Work. FAA Office of Aviation
Medicine Report No. AM-71-30, 1971.

Smith, R. C.: Job Attitudes of Air Traffic Control-
lers: A Comparison of Three Air Traffic Control
Specialties. FAA Office of Aviation Medicine Re-
port No. AM-73-2, 1973.

Snedecor, G. W., and W. G. Cochran: Statistical
Methods, Ames, Iowa, Iowa State University Press,
1967.

Tiffin, J., B. T. Parker, and R. W. Habersat: The
Analysis of Personnel Data in Relation to Turnover
on a Factory Job, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSY-
CHOLOGY, 31:615-616, 1947.

. Waters, L. K., and D. Roach: Relationship Between

Job Attitudes and Two Forms of Withdrawal From
the Work Situation, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSY-
CHOLOGY, 55 :92-94, 1971.