Does the environment cause personnel turnover in the Royal Navy?

1. Does the environment cause personnel turnover in the Royal Navy? Sarah Cudmore & Professor David Uzzell

2. Presentation structure • Context of study • Environment • The study - approach and methods • Findings- life at sea on deployed ship • Conclusions

3. Context of study • The problem - retention of OMs • “Culture shock”? • Breaking psychological contracts?

4. Environment • The RN, OMs and their ships • Who are they • Why they join • Their lives in the RN • Type 42s • Deployed ships as ICE

5. Physical environment - Type 42

7. The study – theoretical approach • Psychological contracts • Environmental psychology perspectives? • Affordances • Theory of planned behaviour • Affect heuristic • Isolated and Confined Environments • “home”, territoriality, privacy, personalisation….. • Grounded theory approach • Qualitative • Which theory fits data?

8. The study - methodology • Focus on males and Type 42 ships • In-depth interviews with OMs with different levels of sea experience • Measured perceptions/experience of physical and social environment over time • Questionnaires • Word association • Structured Multiple Sort Procedure • Critical incident • Structured and semi-structured discussions

9. PRE FIRST SEVERAL POST Sea experience None One deployment On second or more deployment Post one or more deployment Interview location Training base At sea after 5 ½ months deployed UK port Number interview- ees 5 3 3 5 Time in RN 8 months 2-2 ½ years 4-5 years 2-4 ½ years The study - participants

10. The study – research question • How do participants feel and behave with respect to the ship as a combined living and work area?

11. Mess deck - Sleeping area

12. Bunk “It’s the one place on board where no one can get you. No one can poke fun at you, …no one can touch you at all. It’s a rule that you don’t mess. It’s sacred. Your pit is your own personal private space. “ FIRST

13. Mess deck – social area

14. Messdeck – “Squished. Soggy. Stinky. Good blokes, though”. FIRST

15. Toilets “in the toilets you get like sad cases writing stuff like how much they hate other people on the ship…. what wrens they’d like to shag and everything like that…….it’s like a newspaper.” POST

16. ++ + / + ++ + / + ++ + / + ++ + / + PRE FIRST SEVERAL POST Feelings - places Living spaces Work spaces Type 42 Bunk Ops Room Messdeck

17. ++ + / + ++ + / + ++ + / + ++ + / + PRE FIRST SEVERAL POST Feelings – people and RN Officers Operator Mechanics Divisional Officers Royal Navy

18. Scale 1 = ++ ßà 5 = Top factors (Av score <= 1.5) Worst factors (Av score >=3) Good social life (1.2) Sep. from family and friends (4.6) Control over own life (4.3) Long hours (4.3) Away from home/local environment (4.0) Living and working conditionss (3.9) Privacy (3.9) Get good qualifications (3.8) Discipline (3.7) Personal freedom (3.5) AB(OM) view of their job

19. Difference between ship & “home” • “Then you’ll go down the mess and you can’t sit down and, you know, have a cup and tea and just sit there and cool down because the mess is just as hot and you’ve got no space to just sit down and relax or – the mess square is just packed. You can’t, you know, watch TV, you can’t … potter round your house, you can’t do your bits and pieces or anything like that.” SEVERAL

20. Conclusions – theoretical basis • Findings fit previous psychological contract work • Theories can explain findings: Environment / Organisation / Organisational agents Information from environment – state of psychological contract Information from environment – state of psychological contract Choices / actions – psychological contract Affordances Affect heuristic Theory of planned behaviour

21. Conclusions – why leaving? • Not culture shock • Broken psychological contracts • Increased dissatisfaction over time • Changing needs • “The bad outweighs the good”