What do police academy instructors and STEM teachers have in common? The Mission Paradox

This article presents the Mission Paradox, shared by two public sector organizations in Israel: the police training system and the post-primary STEM education system. The Mission Paradox was identified in data analysis of two doctoral studies, which implemented a qualitative methodology. The study’s purpose was to analyze the perceptions of police training personnel and the perceptions of STEM teachers regarding the system in which they train or teach. The findings describe two poles of the Mission Paradox, which represent the meaning that teachers and instructors ascribe to their everyday training and teaching interactions at work: the formal mission at one extreme and the personal mission at the other. The paradox highlights the importance that organizations should ascribe to the existence of a personal mission. Naturally, employees should be enabled to realize their personal purpose as part of the realization of the organization’s formal purpose. Subjects: Continuing Professional Development; Education; Education Policy & Politics; School Leadership, Management & Administration


ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Anat Even Zahav holds a PhD in Science Education, MBA in Business Administration, and a BSc in Applied Mathematics. Her dissertation research implements a Risk Management process to STEM Education in Israel. She engages in entrepreneurship in STEM education and works as a lecturer of Mathematics at the Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology & Arts, Israel.
Sigalit Shahar is a PhD student of Science Education. She holds an MA in Organizational Psychology and a BA in Psychology and Education. Her dissertation research examines complex responsive processes in Israel's police training system. She served as an organizational psychologist for 25 years in the Israeli Police.
Orit Hazzan's research focuses on Computer Science and Software Engineering education and policy of STEM education. She published about 100 refereed papers in journals and conference proceedings and five books. She was the dean of the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology between 2011 and 2015.

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
This paper is relevant for any citizen since it deals with two organizations that each citizen meets in his or her daily life: the education system and the state police. Though it seems that these two organizations do not share similar characteristics, our analysis from the organizational perspective revealed that their employees experience the Mission Paradox. The findings, which were found in two doctoral studies, that implemented a qualitative methodology, describe two poles of the Mission Paradox. This paradox represents the meaning that teachers and instructors in these organizations ascribe to their everyday training and teaching interactions at work: the formal mission at one extreme and the personal mission at the other. The paradox highlights the importance that organizations should ascribe to the existence of a personal mission. Naturally, employees should be enabled to realize their personal purpose as part of the realization of the organization's formal purpose.

Introduction
This paper presents the perceptions of teachers and instructors in two public sector organizations in Israel: the police training system and the post-primary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education system. Specifically, a Mission Paradox 1 in the perceptions of both these groups of educators is presented, and it refers to the purpose practitioners attribute to the teaching and training interactions in their systems.
The paradox represents two poles in these educators' mission perception. One pole of the paradox is the formal mission. In the police organization, it refers to the training of policemen 2 to fulfill their role in society, while in the STEM education system, it refers to the quality of the teaching of scientific subjects. The other pole presents the instructors' and education professionals' personal mission. This side of the paradox represents the unique personal significance the educators attribute to the purpose of the training and teaching interactions as individuals in a system. Specifically, the personal purpose of police instructors 3 focuses on expanding interpersonal skills so to improve their performance as commanders, trainers, and colleagues in the organization, while STEM educators strive for professional advancement in their teaching career (see Figure 1).
Although the two poles of the paradox exist simultaneously, they often clash in work-life reality and thus represent an organizational paradox: each side pulls in its own direction and neither can be cancelled (Gratz-Shmueli, 2005;Smith & Lewis, 2011;Stacey, 2003) (Figure 1). This paper is based on findings from two studies on teaching and training that have been conducted as part of the two first authors' doctoral studies at the Technion's Faculty of Education for Science and Technology, under the supervision of the third author. The first study aims to analyze the perceptions of police instructors, officers, and trainees with respect to the training offered by the organization. The purpose of the second study is to examine the perceptions of STEM teachers in Israeli high schools regarding the system in which they teach and the way in which the system perceives them and their professionalism. The paradox identified in the two researches-between perceptions of the formal purpose and of the personal purpose of the training and teaching interactions-will be described through three attributes. The first attribute describes what the perceptions of the formal and personal purposes of the teaching and training processes are. The second attribute explains why these are the purposes of the interactions. The third attribute describes how those engaged in training and education try to achieve their objectives through the training and teaching interactions. This paper shows that while the expression of the paradox pole referring to the formal purpose is similar in the two organizations, the expression of the personal purpose pole is different. This finding will be discussed in the Summary and Discussion section.
The main research tool in the two researches was in-depth interviews with the research participants. In the police organization, participants were policemen in training roles, trainees in the various training programs and courses, and police force commanders, while in the education system, they were high school STEM teachers and principals. Research tools included also observations that were conducted in the schools and training courses, questionnaires, and various relevant documents. The paper consists of the following chapters: the Theoretical Background presents the creation of the paradox using complex responsive processes of interpersonal relations (Stacey, 2005). The expression of the paradox in the two organizations is examined using the terms personal well-being and well-being at work; in the Researches Approach chapter, we describe the research method, the research tools, and the research participants; the Findings chapter presents the attributes of the paradox and the manifestation of both its poles in the two organizations. In the Summary and Discussion chapter, we describe the possible implications of the findings and discuss the importance of identifying the paradoxical nature of the perceptions of the training and teaching purposes in the two organizations.

Complex responsive processes
Organizational action patterns emerge in a process of self-organization as a result of the repeated performance of processes and actions by employees of the organization (Mowels, Stacey, & Griffin, 2008).
Action patterns have the potential for change and, simultaneously, for stability. Stability in the plans and intentions of participants will maintain the stability of the patterns, and vice versa; when plans and intentions change in the course of mutual interaction (as a result of changes in motivation, connections, relations, and so on), the chance of a new pattern emerging increases (van der Krogt, 1997). Examples of stable patterns in organizations are organizational structure and organizational culture, whose stability ensures long-term occurrence of organizational processes, such as training and instruction. Knowledge or control is not, however, sufficient in order to maintain stable patterns since the mutual dependence of each participant on others in order to execute these processes enables the pattern to be changed. Tension between stability and change manifests also at the individual level in the organization. Employees strive for excitement that is inherent in freedom and uncertainty but also fear the unknown and desire order and discipline. The perception that it is impossible to solve paradoxes but rather only live with them reflects the fact that organizational dynamics are at the same time both stable and unstable, both foreseen and unforeseen. This description demonstrates the essence of the approach that regards organizational dynamics as driven by paradoxical complex responsive processes, in that they shape the mutual interactions but at the same time are themselves shaped by them (Mowels et al., 2008;Stacey, 2003Stacey, , 2011. This theoretical approach has been used as a framework for viewing the joint findings of the two studies. Examining the similarities and differences in perceptions of participants in both organizations led to the identification of similar patterns existing in both of them.

Well-being
The term well-being at work is used to explain the individual's behavior within the organization. The way in which the research participants refer to the two poles of the paradox (formal mission vs. personal mission) emphasizes the centrality of the concept of well-being in the interpretation attributed by the participants of both studies to training and teaching interactions.
Models introduced by Warr (1994) and Deci and Ryan (2008) address similar attributes of well-being and focus on four main dimensions: (1) Emotional well-being is the emotional experience of the individual. Evidence reveals that the pleasure-displeasure measure-e.g. anxiety as opposed to comfort, pleasure as opposed to displeasure, boredom as opposed to excitement, fatigue as opposed to vigor, and anger as opposed to tranquility-is highly relevant in the context of occupational emotional well-being.
In the research findings presented here, the expression of well-being is evident among police instructors and trainees, who noted that pleasure that accompanies social activities that take place during the course contributes and is important to them on a personal level.
(2) Aspiration refers to the interest that people show in their surroundings and to their level of motivation to advance themselves. In the context of the workplace, aspiration is the degree to which a person is motivated to realize challenging objectives at work and it is based on inner motivation and growth-need strength. Growth-need strength is expressed as a desire to develop and experience new experiences (Ryff & Keyes, 1995), to realize internal needs such as growth, relationships, community living, and health, as opposed to the realization of external needs such as wealth, fame, image, and power. Participants in the two researches presented here described their aspirations for personal growth within social and professional relationships at work.
(3) Autonomy refers to the feelings and actions of an individual that relate to the extent to which he or she is able to exhibit independent, willful, and consensual behavior that is driven by a sense of free choice rather than by control and authority. Independent behavior is expressed by a person's ability to resist external demands from the surroundings and follow one's own opinions. Autonomy is a universal psychological need that is important for the individual's psychological well-being and feeds one's inner motivation. In the context of well-being at work, autonomy is manifested in the person's participation in decision-making, in organizational justice, and in relations with superiors (Koivu, 2013). This component was found to be significant among teachers, who viewed the education system as being rigid and imposing strict dictations, as an organization in which teachers have little academic freedom. Interviewees in the police organization described a tension between the formal-public discourse, in which, as one of the police trainees said, "you are captive in the political game … [in group and other discussions]", and the non-formal discourse, in which more open interpersonal communication is possible.
(4) Ability and competence refer to the individual's ability to influence and manage his or her internal and external environments, cope efficiently with problems, act in unfamiliar surroundings, and achieve achievements. Instructors and trainees in the police organization expressed their desire to hone their professionalism in terms of their skills in managing interactions in various situations, such as developing the instructor's ability to provide a response to personal problems of a distressed police trainee.
These four components foster the individual's sense of well-being and provide necessary conditions for growth and well-being in various areas of life in general and at work in particular (Koivu, 2013).
The model presented by Ryff and Keyes (1995) includes the following components, in addition to those described above: self-acceptance, which is the positive self-appreciation a person has and positive relations with others, e.g. caring for the well-being of others. Emphasis is, in fact, placed on the role of the work environment. The research participants indicated the importance of positive relations and manifestations of caring in their interpersonal relations with colleagues, managers, and subordinates.
Well-being at work is created when employees experience their work as being meaningful and rewarding, and perceive it as a supportive component of their life. In this spirit, well-being at work is defined by the Finnish Occupational Health Institute as follows (Koivu, 2013, p. 5

):
Well-being at work means safe, healthy, and productive work in a well-led organization by competent workers and work communities who experience their job as meaningful and rewarding and see work as an element that supports their life management.

Research methodology
The two studies were conducted using the qualitative research approach according to which data were gathered on the perspectives of the people in the research field and present their explanations of their experiences (Shkedi, 2003;Stacey, 2011). The basic premise of qualitative research is that "all entities are in a state of simultaneous mutual shaping, so it is impossible to distinguish between cause and outcome" (Guba & Lincoln, 1985). This premise is in line with the theory of complex responsive processes. According to the qualitative method, the meanings individuals attribute to interactions in which they participate are studied using the interviewees' reflections on their daily experiences involving interactions within the organization (in our case, training and teaching interactions). Thus, the meaning attributed to such interactions is the participants' explanations of their thoughts and feelings throughout the mutual interactions they conduct (Stacey, 2011).

Research tools
Interviews were the main research tool used in both studies. Structured in-depth interviews were conducted in which the participants also verbally clarified the meanings that they attribute to the events and experiences they described (Shkedi, 2003).
Observations were conducted in both education system schools and police training centers. Teachers were observed at the schools in which aforementioned interviews were conducted, and random conversations were held with colleagues. In the police organizations, observations were conducted at various training centers as well as participant observations 4 were conducted throughout a course attended by one of the researchers.
Online questionnaires were distributed. In the teachers' study, the questionnaire was administered with the objective of discovering why science teachers tend only seldom to take on management roles in the schools, while in the police instructors' study, a questionnaire was administered to trainees in a staff and command course 5 in order to learn about their perceptions regarding the police training system, in light of their personal experiences.

Research participants
Participants in the research that examined the STEM education system included 24 STEM teachers, specifically mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science teachers. 6 These subjects were chosen since they are STEM subjects that are part of the group of core science subjects 7 (except for computer science). To ensure teachers' seniority and professionalism, they were chosen according to the following characteristics: • at least 10 years of teaching experience; • teaching experience at the highest levels of study (including preparing students for the highest level matriculation exams); • hold either the position of subject matter coordinator in their schools or an administrative position in the education system or outside of it.
(These teachers will be referred to as "STEM teachers").
The research population in the police training system included 64 training personnel, trainees in senior commanding training program, and commanding officers. 8 Participants were selected as a purposeful sample and constituted a good representation of the training system and field in the Israel police (Shkedi, 2003). The two perspectives-that of trainers as providers of training (including training design, development and execution of training) on the one hand, and that of commanders, as consumers of the service of training policemen to execute their jobs in the field, on the other hand-are significant for understanding the perception of the training system in the police organization, in general, and as part of the complex mutual interactions, in particular.

Findings: the three attributes of the Mission Paradox
The Mission Paradox, on its two poles regarding the purpose of training and teaching interactionsformal mission vs. personal mission-shared by the two organizations studied: the Israeli high school STEM education system and the Israeli police training system. The manifestation of the paradox will be demonstrated by answering the three following questions: What contents and meanings do the research participants attribute to the purpose? Why are these meanings important to them? and How do they intend to realize the purpose of the interactions in their work ( Table 1). Each of these three questions constitutes a subsection heading under which the perceptions of the participants are presented regarding the two poles of the paradox, whereby each pole of the paradox is described according to the perceptions of the participants in the two studied organizations. The perceptions of the participants will be supported by excerpts from the data collected in the two research works with emphases added by the researchers.

"What?": what is the purpose of the training and teaching interactions?
The answer to this question reflects the participants' expectations from mutual training and teaching interactions to achieve the formal mission and the personal mission.

The formal mission pole: professional skills and knowledge for achieving the purpose of the role
The formal purpose of the training system in the police organization focuses on training police officers to fulfill their jobs. The police officer's function in the State of Israel is defined in Section 5 of the Police Ordinance [new version], 1971, which describes functions that involve promoting order, preventing disruption of routine life, and handling transgressions, including the authority to arrest, detain, and search (Israel Police, 2012). The expectations of the commanders, the instructors, and the trainees themselves are that the trainee will acquire the professional information and tools that are relevant for field work (such as authority, questioning, arresting skills, issuing reports, and handling events) and will practice them during the training course.
A senior officer in one of the police districts expressed in these words: There is a gap between the course knowledge and the ability to go out and handle an event independently. In the unit, there is no time and so the police officer is quickly sucked up into missions and it's even frustrating-they have expectations from you, but you don't actually know enough.
The STEM teachers of the educational organization expressed the need for pedagogical skills and class management skills, which they lack.

Table 1. The three attributes of the Mission Paradox
Participants' perception of the three paradox attributes There are frameworks for professional development in the educational organization whose purpose is to introduce pedagogical tools for improving teaching and promoting students' achievements. This trend has been emphasized in the recent reforms of Ofek Hadash and Oz Latmura. 9 Nevertheless, STEM teachers have reported encountering pedagogical difficulties, such as the need for a variety of teaching approaches and the need to expand their pedagogical knowledge. They note that this lack of knowledge has a detrimental effect on the quality of teaching and that the students are those affected the most.

The personal mission pole: personal perceptions of the purpose of the role
Alongside perceptions of the formal purpose of the job, police officers and teachers have personal perceptions of the purpose of their jobs. These perceptions are formed in light of the personal and professional backgrounds and the past and present experiences of the teachers and police officers throughout their organizational and personal lives. The perceptions include positions, norms, values, aspirations, and needs.
The expression of this pole of the paradox in the police organization is an aspiration to develop and improve the management skill of police officers both in their interpersonal interactions in training situations and in command processes involving people and units. The research participants frequently noted the importance of this contribution.
One middle management-level training officer indicated the need to impart instructors with the ability to help their trainees which, in his opinion, is part of the instructor's job:

Development [is] the development on the skills side [of the instructors] … For instance, when you [as an instructor] see a trainee for instance in distress, how you approach him and how you umm
… not only get him out from this distress, but use it as leverage. In other words, we undergo the same processes with the instructors as they are supposed to do later with their trainees.
At the same time, there is an expectation that trainees participate in social interactions during the training course, not necessarily as part of the process of developing professional skills but as a contribution to the individual's well-being as a result of interpersonal social activities that are not necessarily planned by the organization (Deci & Ryan, 2008;Warr, 1994). A trainee in a senior police course described it as follows: I think … [that] I have succeeded … in touching almost each and every one of the people [her course peers] on a personal level… It was something else … comfort, humor and it enhanced the enjoyment I derived from the course by several degrees … the social part added so much more … and we could not have received them anywhere else … In the educational organization, the expression of the personal purpose focused on the teachers' expectation for professional advancement in their teaching career. In recent years, two reforms have offered development paths for teachers in a professional and managerial track. Nevertheless, an examination of the reform documents reveals a lack of attention to the personal needs of STEM teachers, the desire to advance in the educational organization into new roles, such as research and curricula development roles and teacher counselors roles. When teachers were asked about opportunities on a personal level, they reported a lack of professional opportunities. The only options for advancement are in the school management track (coordinating a subject, pedagogical management, and/or school management). These roles do not enable the implementation of the personal purpose as these teachers interpret it. A, physics teacher, describes his desire for personal advancement: The development horizon for teachers is very limited … there's a big problem of development … [it is] a critical point: the professional horizon. There's a difference between a math, physics, advanced chemistry teacher and the other teachers, no offence intended … [but] those math and physics teachers are a kind of people who don't go into management roles ... a different way must be found. Things like Hemda, 10 doing some research, experiments.
These words demonstrate the STEM teachers' aspiration for personal growth as a component of the individual's well-being (Deci & Ryan, 2008;Ryff & Keyes, 1995;Warr, 1994).

"Why?": why is this the purpose of the training and teaching interactions?
The research participants expressed the significance they attribute to the acquisition of knowledge, content, and skills mentioned in their response to the "What?" question.

The formal mission pole: enhanced knowledge and professionalism
In the police organization, the formal purpose of the training interactions is reflected in the description of the training system as supporting "the independence of the policeman and the complexity of his missions, and acting to build capability and provide high-quality, accessible and relevant response to the needs of the policeman, the organization and the public" (Israel Police, 2012). Senior officers in the Border Police training system noted that the tools and contents they use in their ongoing work are the same tools and contents that they learned in advance command courses such as the Staff and Command course.
Regarding the formal purpose in the educational organization, according to the STEM teachers, the objective in improving the professional skills and pedagogical tools (presented in response to the "What?" question) is to improve teaching quality. Specifically, these teachers described characteristics that refer to the question "Who is a good STEM teacher?". M, a chemistry teacher, said: A teacher should be a polymath … I should be a person who knows a lot and learns a lot … I should also be an intellectual … To do so I must see different worlds, draw from them, and make syntheses.

The personal mission pole: realization of personal perceptions
In the police organization, the personal purpose of the training interactions is to develop and improve the individual's ability to participate in interpersonal interactions during training, and to improve such interactions in command processes involving individuals and teams as well. Moreover, participating in interpersonal interactions is important in order to form and maintain friendships with colleagues and instructors.
A unique combination of the two poles of the Mission Paradox is evident in the words of a police training staff member. An expectation exists that the instructor train the police trainee for his or her job as a police officer (formal purpose) and at the same time provide a response to that individual's personal problems (personal purpose), which are not perceived as part of the task of training the police officer for field work. The instructor describes it as follows: … in order to teach theoretical material well, you need a lesson plan … and you have to give them [the trainees] good answers … in a representative manner a commander and a mentor, or a course commander he has to be … a figure that the policeman will say "I want to emulate" … and that's why they have to be both: exhibit professionalism in the course material but also be representative, and have good values, and be someone who is willing to give and invest above and beyond in terms of time … because there is a strong element of caring for the individual, The personal purpose in the educational organization, as perceived by the STEM teachers, is the professional identity of the teacher as a continuously developing individual who achieves personal growth, which manifests in the experiencing of new opportunities in the teacher's teaching career (Deci & Ryan, 2008;Ryff & Keyes, 1995). Realizing this aspiration contributes to a feeling of gratification and work satisfaction, which manifests in positive feelings and enjoyment at work (Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012). T, a high school mathematics teacher, described it as follows: When I was accepted into the doctoral program, one of my supervisors asked me what I hoped to gain by it … because I was a 52 year old woman … So he was surprised like What? Are you looking for a career? So I told him, It's simply for myself. I enjoy it. I enjoy investigating things. I find advantages to it, as a teacher in the classroom, it advances me, makes me think, renew myself.

"How?": how can the purpose of the training and teaching interactions be achieved?
The participants described the manner, the means, and the way to achieve the knowledge and skills that are the formal purpose of the training and teaching interactions, and to realize the personal purpose of those interactions.

The formal mission pole: occupation-related development and training
In the police organization, participants expect to learn the professional, police-related knowledge and tools, specifically by practicing, experiencing, and receiving feedback on their performance. A senior instructor explain: [He says that he remembers from this course …] The practical experiencing and the feedback. Learning should be experiential and personal experiencing contributes to that … training should be much more practical, experiential, experiencing. A connection [should be made] between theory and practice.
In the context of the educational organization, STEM teachers need advanced professional study opportunities, which should be arranged by the education system with the objective of realizing the formal purpose of the instructional interactions: improving the quality of teaching of scientific subjects. They have expectations for relevant advanced study programs and wish to be integrated into science-related projects.

The personal mission pole: awareness of the personal perception and its inclusion in the training and teaching purpose
In the police organization, the participants' expectation that their perception regarding the purpose of the training interactions would be realized was prominent. The two main means for realizing the personal purpose of developing and enhancing management skills and participation in interpersonal interactions are (a) personal feedback from course commanders and instructors as well as from colleagues and (b) participating in personal conversations with colleagues and in skills development workshops (outdoor/wilderness leadership workshops and so on). The trainee's desire to receive feedback throughout the course stems from the perception that such training interaction will help him or her develop as a person and as a senior commander in the organization.
In the education organization, the way to realize the unique aspirations of the STEM teachers for personal and professional advancement in their teaching careers focused on providing academic freedom and reducing pedagogical supervision over the teacher.
T, a math teacher, said about the need for academic freedom: More freedom should be given. I think it's very depressing that you're told exactly what to do every day. Even on the level of which exercise to do in class and which to do at home … it really doesn't let you develop any creativity … first of all, give the teacher more freedom in structuring his own teaching and professionalism.
Academic freedom is attained through autonomy, which constitutes a central component in an individual's feeling of well-being and refers to the way in which independent, willful behavior is enabled, from a sense of free choice as opposed to control and authority (Deci & Ryan, 2008).

Discussion and summary
The paper described a common paradox in the perceptions of participants in two studies: one conducted on the Israeli STEM education system and the other conducted on the Israel's Police training system. Despite the difference in the objectives of the two organizations and in the types of roles and jobs they offer, similar perceptions were found regarding the purpose of the training and teaching interactions as perceived by the research participants. Specifically, an analysis of the purpose of the training and teaching interactions revealed two main perceptions regarding (a) the realization of the purpose of the formal organizational role (instructor in the police force and teacher in the scientific technological education) and (b) the personal perception of purpose, including each participant's unique job expectations. As is evident from the findings, the formal purpose is not necessarily identical to the personal purpose, and as such they constitute the Mission Paradox, expressing two poles of the perception of the purpose of training and teaching interactions in the organization. In the Findings section, we showed how each of the two poles of the paradox is manifested in the two organizations on three levels: What is the purpose of the training and teaching interactions (content and meaning)? Why is this the purpose of the interactions (their significance for the participant)? and How can the purpose of the interactions be realized (through execution)? (See Appendix 1, Table A1, for a Summary of these findings).
An analysis of the findings reveals that while the expression of the formal mission pole of the paradox is similar in the two organizations, the expression of the personal mission pole is different.
The similarity in the perception of the formal mission is reflected as the need for knowledge and professional skills. In the police training system, the focus is on training the police officers to fulfill their role in the State of Israel by adapting the contents and experiences in the training interactions to the interactions they are expected to encounter in the field. In the educational organization, the need is for pedagogical and management tools. This need indicates a desire to improve the competence and capability of the individual to perform his or her respective job in a worthy manner. In this context, competence and capability are components of well-being that shape the employees' performance (Deci & Ryan, 2008;Koivu, 2013).
The difference between the two organizations is in the essence of the personal mission perception of the paradox.
In the police organization, participants mentioned the need to enhance their management skills and participation in interpersonal interactions in training and command, and to develop friendships with colleagues. This need is not integrated in the organizational formal training documents/perceptions (Training Division, 2014). The ability to form positive relations with others, including awareness of one's surrounding and caring for others, imparts job satisfaction and improves the ability to perform it (Deci & Ryan, 2008;Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012). In the STEM education system, on the other hand, the STEM teachers' aspiration for professional and personal advancement in the teaching career is emphasized. In fact, a different component of well-being was found to be significant for the two groups of research participants in the two organizations: for the police training professional, it was the component that emphasized the work environment while for the STEM teachers, it was the realization of the personal aspirations. In both organizations, a supportive work environment is of importance and constitutes a component of well-being in the individual's job (Deci & Ryan, 2008;Koivu, 2013).

Conclusions
Organization has become an entity that is based on the existence of interactions between employees; the significance that employees attribute to such interactions is highly important (Stacey, 2011). This significance evolves into perceptions whose outcome is the employees' behavior.
As this paper integrates common findings from studies conducted on two different organizational systems-police training system and STEM education system-it emphasizes the importance that organizations should attribute to the existence of a personal purpose of employees regarding their role and to an examination of the impact of the personal purpose on employees' performance. Naturally, employees should be enabled to realize their personal purpose in addition to the realization of the formal purpose; inability to simultaneously satisfy both purposes will charge a toll on well-being at work in the form of frustration.
Since a paradox, per definition, describes a situation of frustration in that the tension cannot be relieved, the daily reality of the organization should be examined and sensed, and decisions should be made, according to the emphases that should be placed. Thus, sometimes, it is the needs of the employee that stem from the formal purpose of the training and teaching interactions that should be satisfied, and other times, it is those that relate to the personal purpose.