problem 7 - career management Flashcards
career forms
bureaucratic career
views careers in the narrow sense of predictable moves to jobs of increasing states, usually within a single occupation or organization
career forms
professional career
growth occurs through development of competence to take on complex tasks rather than through promotion to another job
status depends more on their reputation with other professionals or clients
career forms
entrepreneurial careeer
rests on the capacity to spot opportunities to create valued outputs and builds up one’s own organization or operation
objective vs subjective career success
earnings & promotions → objective career success
attitudes & feelings → subjective career success - e.g.measures of job satisfactions
many other factors as criteria of career success - e.g. personal infuence, recognition for achievements & working w intergrity
career forms
boundaryless career
proposed due to changing context - a range of career forms that defy traditional employment assumptions
* careers are boundaryless in that, whether by choice or necessity, people move across boundaries between organizations, departments, hierarchical levels, function & sets of skills
* such movement is necessary for individuals to maintain employability & orgs to maintain effectiveness
* boundary between work & non-work is also broken down → bcuz people are more likely to consider job impacts on home life + bcuz more work done at home
model of career success
shows the range of factors that might influence the objective & subjective career success a person experiences - factors can be divided into 3 types:
1. structural/social context - includes impersonal factors e.g. labor market + more personal factors e.g. bias & prejudice
2. features of the individual (aka human capital) - sig & meaning of these characteristics depends on how they are interpreted by others + how they influence the individual’s behavior
3. behavioral/event - concerns the individual’s behavior e.g. how much they network with other & how much effort they put into work
role of social networks on career success
found 2 main influencing features:
1. structural holes → extent to which an individual’s contacts did not know each other
2. weak ties → extent to which the person had many contact they knew slightly, rather than a few they knew well
effective networks have both of these properties bcuz they allow the person access to many diff perspectives without getting attached to any of them
found that number of weak ties & structural holes predicted the number of contacts at higher levels → in turn influenced their career satisfaction but not salary or promotions
what is a psychological contract
an individual’s belief regarding the terms & conditions of a reciprocal exchange agreement between that focal person & another party:
a belief that some form of a promise has been made & that the terms & conditions of the contract have been accepted by both parties
context of careers: psychological contract represents informal, unwritten understandings between employer & employee
psychological contracts
relational vs transactional contracts
relational = a long-term relationship based on trust & mutual respect - due to global competition, new tech, downsizing, etc. many employers are not keeping their side of the bargain
→ causes a new deal to be imposed rather than agreed - is transactional rather than relational
transactional = not based on long-term relationship: much more like a short-term economic exchange - employer gives much less than what they would in a relational contract
psychological contract
contract breach vs contact violation
breach → often thought of as the realization that what has been promised has not materialized
violation → the belief that a breach was deliberate, or neg emotional reaction to a breach
contract breach does not necessarily lead to reduced employee loyalty & commitment
approaches to lifelong career development
4 career stages
- exploration: of both self and world of work in order to clarify the self-concept and identify occupations which fit it - typical ages: 15-24
- establishment: person finds a career field, and makes efforts to prove their worth in it - typical ages: 25-44
- maintenance: concern now is to hold onto the niche one has carved for oneself - typical ages: 45-64
- disengagement: characterized by decreasing involvement in work and a tendency to become an observer rather than a participant - typical ages: 65+
approaches to lifelong career development
levinsons eras of adulthood - early adulthood
- early adult transition (17-22): person seeks a niche in the adult world
- stable phase entering the adult world (22-28): task is to explore various roles while keeping one’s options open
- age 30 transition (28-33): person appraises his or her experiences, and searches for a satisfactory lifestyle
- stable settling down phase (33-40): when that lifestyle is implemented
- midlife transition (40-45): lifestyle is reappraised, often with considerable urgency and emotion
approaches to lifelong career development
levinsons eras of adulthood - middle & late adulthood
middle adulthood:
* age 50 transition (50-55): concern implementing and living with midlife decisions
* culmination of middle adulthood (55-60): concern implementing and living with midlife decisions
* late adult transition (ages 60-65)
late adulthood (ages 65-70)
approaches to lifelong career development
levinsons eras of adulthood - implication for career management in organizations
if people are going to work effectively, the needs and concerns of their life stage should be taken into account
in early adulthood - ppl must be given the opportunity to integrate themselves into an organization and/or career + demonstrate their worth to themselves and others
in mid-career - may be necessary to provide opportunities for some people to retrain, perhaps in the light of a midlife reappraisal
approaches to lifelong career development
nicholson’s transition cycle model of job change
proposed a transition cycle model of job change; four stages undergone by a person making a job change:
1. preparation
2. encounter
3. adjustment
4. stabilization
there is disjunction between stages; each stage has its own characteristics that differentiate it from the others
the stages are interdependent; what happens in one stage has implications for the next
approaches to lifelong career development
nicholson’s transition cycle model of job change: preparation
the first stage - concerns what both individual and future employer can do before the individual starts the job
* both sides will try to make themselves seem as attractive as possible
* realistic job preview (RJP) - technique for helping an applicant have accurate expectations of the job, attempt to describe the job and organization as seen by those in it - includes bad points as well as good ones
* RJPs occur at preparation stage but benefits of RJPs are seen at the encounter and adjustment stages
approaches to lifelong career development
nicholson’s transition cycle model of job change: encounter
second stage - task at this stage is for the newcomer to establish a ‘mental map’ of their new environment
* 6 types of info a newcomer needs to obtain: performance proficiency, people, politics, language, organizational goals & values & history
* active attempts by newcomers to find this information tend to be successful, → leads to better satisfaction, performance and commitment
approaches to lifelong career development
nicholson’s transition cycle model of job change: adjustment
third stage - when the person has already developed an understanding of the work env → now seeks to use it to establish how to go about doing the job
* 3 orientations a person may adopt in a job: custodianship, content innovation & role innovation
* in the long run → role innovators are probably vital for societal advance
* in the short term → many work organizations claim to value content innovators
* but probably in truth they reward custodians more highly because they conform to the existing organizational culture
* extent to which the newcomer’s socialization was institutionalized or individualized influence whether a person became a custodian or an innovator
approaches to lifelong career development
nicholson’s transition cycle model of job change: stabilization
the last stage - much of work psychology seems to be built on the assumption that people are in the stabilization stage
* yet the pace of change in the early twenty-first century is that many people spend little or no time in this stage before moving on
* those who do reach it and experience it for any length of time are presumably both sufficiently satisfied with their job and satisfactory to the organization in terms of their performance in it
* career plateau: the point in a person’s career where the likelihood of additional increases in responsibility is very low
approaches to lifelong career development
transitions into work
tendency to assume that this transition is likely to be difficult for young people
* because they are entering an unfamiliar world, making important decisions about their future, and simultaneously making the transition from childhood to adulthood
* but most do this without undue stress
* role of wider factors that can influence the way they were brought up, and the opportunities available to them
* their task is to find work which suits them for the present and to continue their learning and expand their interests and abilities for the sake of their futures
approaches to lifelong career development
transitions out of work
retirement is often a gradual disengagement from the labour force rather than a sudden change in status
* there is sometimes a gap between subjective and objective retirement
* retirement is often experienced quite positively, though not always
stability of interests
study examined longitudinal data from age 12 to age 40 - found compelling evidence for the invariance of interests across time
the stability of interests increased with time, peaking at the age of 25-30 years, and dropping thereafter (slightly)
gender differences in vocational interests
- women have significantly lower interest levels than men for technical and scientific jobs - opposite for design and socio educational jobs
- women preferred less structured, more creative, less task-oriented, and more permissive types of jobs, artistically or emotionally involving jobs
person-environment fit
is the congruence between a person’s individual attributes and those of the environment - determines the level of job satisfaction and performance
people tend to search for environments that will let them exercise their skills and abilities and express their personality
holland’s RIASEC model
posits that there are 6 types of interests for classifying both individuals & environments: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising & conventional
central aspect underlying interests is not the env or the individual’s personality disposition, but the level of congruence between the 2
prediger’s 3 factor model
argued that RIASEC model could be reduced to a 3 factor model incorporating 2 dimensions for work tasks: ideas-data & people-things + 1 general factor of response bias
holland’s theory → circumplex model: each point defines the variable completely
prediger’s theory → structure conceptualizes more than one level per variable
prediger’s 3 factor model
what are the 4 dimensions of work tasks?
- people = encompasses interests & tasks characterized by high interpersonal contact (enterprising, social & artistic)
- things = interests & jobs characterized by low interpersonal contact & typically impersonal in nature (conventional, realistic & investigative)
- data = defined by concreteness and practicality (conventional & enterprising)
- ideas = thinking, creativity & knowledge (investigative & artistics)
gottfredson’s circumscriptions & compromise theory
argues that career choices are determined by a complex interaction between individuals’ self-perceptions & beliefs about jobs & their abilities, traits & available opportunities
theory enables one to make specific predictions about vocational choices:
* individuals will compromise jobs (and even fields) rather than move outside their circumscribed social status space
* individuals will compromise social status rather than move outside their circumscribed sexual space
trait complex theory
attempts to integrate different constructs in differential psychology (personality, intelligence & interests) to better understand & predict learning outcomes like academic performance & knowledge acquisition
4 main trait complexes
trait complex theory
what are the 4 main trait complexes
- social: combination of extraversion & both enterprising & social interests - not coupled with any cog ability but represents individual differences in interpersonal skills
- clerical / conventional: conscientiousness, high perceptual speed & traditional/conventional interests
- science / mathematical: realistic interests, mathematical reasoning & visual perception ability
- intellectual / cultural: crystalized abilities, creativity, openness & artistic interests
types of careers
steady-state careers
a lifetime commitment to a single job
people who have steady-state careers are generally very satisfied with what they do
work at job for so long = become highly skilled experts
types of careers
linear careers
sticking with a certain field & working your way up the occupational ladder - taking on greater challenges
the traditional path
types of careers
spiral careers
where people evolve through a series of occupations, each of which requires new skills & that builds upon existing knowledge & skills
people w spiral careers are constantly growing & improving as they explore different facets of the same profession
typically spend about 7-10 years in each position → become pretty good at what they do
types of careers
transitory careers
moving between many different unrelated positions, spending about 1-4 years in each
many people in transitory careers are those who have not discovered the kind of work that allows them to derive satisfaction
some people don’t find work the major source of fulfillment in their lives → make a career out of their hobbies
what are career anchors
a person’s occupational self-concept based on their self-perceived talents, abilities, values, needs & motives
develop as you spend time working
what are the 5 major career anchors
- technical or functional → concentration on jobs focusing on specific content areas
- managerial competence → focus on jobs that allow for analyzing business problems & dealing with people
- security & stability → attraction to jobs that are likely to continue into the future
- creativity or entrepreneurship → interest in starting new companies from visions of unique products or services, but not necessarily running them
- autonomy & independence → attraction to jobs that allow for freedom from constraints & working at one’s own pace
managing established careers
career plateau
is the point at which one’s career has peaked and is unlikely to develop further
* been in a particular job for 5+ years → considered immobile and to have reached a plateau
* assumption - employees whose careers have plateaued are no longer motivated or effective at their current jobs HOWEVER this isn’t always so
* can be a source of dissatisfaction for individuals who believe that the only path to contentment is via upward movement in the company
managing established careers
career development interventions
used to avoid the problems associated with career plateaus and other career-related issues
systematic efforts to help manage people’s careers while simultaneously helping the organizations in which they work
examples:
* employees counseled to seek outside hobbies during periods in which their jobs offer little gratification
* encouraged to make lateral moves within the company in order to keep their work lives stimulating
* job posting systems and career resource centers through which employees can learn about new career options within their company
managing established careers
making career changes
major reasons why people make sig career changes:
* either don’t like, or can’t succeed, at their chosen profession
* prospects are poor for future employment in their current occupation
* their needs or interests have shifted, requiring a life change
traditional way of making a major career change is by starting completely anew → can be difficult, both emotionally and financially
managing established careers
advised way to make a career change
career experts advise making the changes in two steps to minimise disruption:
changing your occupation THEN changing your field of expertise
or vice versa
