Challenges of Professional Development: Balancing the Demands of Employers and Professions in Federal Natural Resource Agencies

Abstract

Effectiveness of government natural resource agencies depends on the capabilities of their employees. These capabilities may be maintained or enhanced through professional development activities, including involvement in scientific societies. The authors studied factors that influence whether U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey biologists participate in a variety of professional development activities. Previous research has indicated that a tension sometimes exists between employees’ commitment to their professions (professional commitment) and their commitment to their employing organizations (organizational commitment). The authors explored how these two orientations related to professional development. The authors found that increases in engagement in a number of types of professional development activities were associated with increases in professional commitment and education. Decreases in engagement in some types of professional development were associated with increases in organizational commitment, however, suggesting that engaging in professional development may involve a trade-off between meeting one’s professional needs and satisfying obligations to one’s agency.