Metaphors and Career Dynamics

Metaphors and Career Dynamics

Objectives Understand the etymological background of the term “career”. Awareness of the three different career streams/approaches. Understand the meaning of “metaphor” and to understand the possibilities but also risks of a metaphorical approach to career studies. Be able to differentiate and explain a select number of metaphors. To be able to think creatively and to generate new metaphors.

Etymological Explanation
The term ‘career’ originates from the latin term “carraria” meaning “a road” or “carriageway”.

Etymological Approach
At the same time the expressions “car” or “Carriage” are also connected to the latin stem. These are the vehicles used to make the trip on the road.

Defining “Career” A career is “the evolving sequence of a person’s work experiences over time.” (Arthur, Hall, & Lawrence, 1989, Handbook of Career Theory, p.8)

Internal vs. External Career
The term “internal career” refers to the subjective experience of work life while the term “external career” refers to the intersubjective (objective) observable part of a career.

Perspectives Three separate research literatures on the topic of careers. Career development movement Sociological view Career Management view

Career Development Views the career as a set of personal psychologically-based issues. This movement tends to understand well the processes of career decision making such as initial educational and occupational choices made by high-school students and college graduates.

Sociological View Strongly influenced by evidence of the way in which careers are determined by social structural variables such as social class, education and gender. Less attention is payed to individual differences and individual action in pursuit of careers. It recommends policy and legislative interventions designed to reduce inequalities

Career Management View
Emphasizes the role of employing organizations in career behaviour through the organizational contexts they provide for individuals to pursue their careers, and their management of human resources. Underestimates both the limiting effects if the wider context and the extent of individuals’ responsibility for, and control over, their own careers. In terms of practice, it favours direct intervention by management.

What is a Metaphor? “A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a point is made about one thing by substituting something else that demonstrates a particular quality of the first in a dramatic way” (Inkson 2007, p. 13)

Metaphor and Epistomology
“Metaphors are being central to human discourse and understanding. Metaphors connect realms of human experience and imagination. They guide our perceptions and interpretations of reality and help us formulate our Visions and goals. In doing these things, metaphors facilitate and further our understanding of the world. (Cornellissen 2008, 8).

Deduced vs. Induced Metaphors
Metaphors can be imposed or projected onto an organizational reality or they can naturally surface within the talk and sensemaking of individuals and can be identified or elicited. Deductive metaphors are imposed on and applied to organizational situations and metaphors that are inductively derived from the in situ natural talk and discursive interactions of people within organizations.

Exactness of Correspondence
Source: Bandl/Schmit (2010): From ‘GlassCeilings’ to ‘Firewalls’, in: Gender, Work and Organization 17 (5), p. 618

El-Sawad Study asking people to tell something about their career. It turned out that all people used metaphors to express their perception of their career. Distinction between old, established and new metaphors. Most people used more than one Metaphor.

Discipline and Punishment
Many metaphors highlight the disciplinary aspect and possibility to punish people as their career can be hindered or fostered by others.

Discipline and Punishment
“Foucauldian analyses urge us to consider how management control is secured via disciplinary power, the exercise of which Foucault (1977) saw to be achieved through the use of various panoptical surveillance techniques which promote self-surveillance and self-managed self-discipline” (El-Sawad , p. 37)

Ancient Regime Punishment
Brutal torture and executions in public in order to repress the population. Punishment has the purpose to pay back and to terrify.

Modern Punishment Professionals like parole officers, psychologists etc. have power over prisoners and leads to self-policing of the individual and the population. Punishment has the purpose to correct and to discipline.

Career as School-like-Surveillance
This metaphor highlights the role of people considered children or students by superiors and their behaviour is constantly being watched and evaluated. People are constantly examined and evaluated as good or bad performers. Only the good ones progress in their career.

Career as Horticultural Activities
Description of the career as being dependent on others nurturing it. It highlights issues like grow out own people, mentoring, foster or hinder growth, make selection into whom to invest limited resources.

Characteristics of the Horticultural Metaphor
Source: Baruch, Y. (2004): Managing Careers, p. 163.

Career as a Battlefield
Career is seen as a battle including fighting, wearing armour, being drilled, regimented, tending wounds, digging in, waving flags of surrender, parachuting to safety, hierarchy, conformity, senior officers hold power to select for promotion

Career as Wild West There are good and bad guys and not the just are the good ones but those who are successful and top-performers. But one has to watch the back, be careful about not shooting oneself in the foot.

Career as Sheep-Dipping
“Sheep-dipping involves washing away dirt and infectious material from animals. All sheep are put through the sheep wash since if one remained infected there would be a strong risk of it infecting all the others” (El-Sawad , p. 34.) The metaphor highlights medical quarantine, and ensuring fit and conformity.

Career as a Journey Reference is made to: career ladders, fast paths, nice paths, flying, driving and steering, paths, tracks, roads, and avenues, crossroads and turning points, maps and charts, meeting dead ends and getting lost, change gear.” (El-Sawad , p. 27 p.)

Career as a Competition
References include winners, losers, cheats, injuries, fair or unfair promotion, fears other may outperform, pressure to progress quickly, career rat race.

Career as Life Imprisonment
This refers to the perception of being trapped in an organization or a position and serving a sentence as a (voluntary/involuntary) prisoner. People start to intertwine their personal identity with their life job or/and organization they are working for. Often they express little desire to escape.

Career as a Nautical Maneuver
It is about controlling, mapping the progress and charting territory, not rocking the boat, risk of drowning, treading water, being channeled by others etc. “ To stay on course directions must be followed and rules obeyed”. (El-Sawad , p. 34.)

Problems with Metaphors
1. Errors of commission (when irrelevant material is forced onto the object being described) 2. Errors of omission (when key aspects of the object are left out of account) 3. Errors of inappropriateness (when the correspondences are trivial or non existing) 4. Errors of redundancy (when a metaphor adds nothing to existing metaphors)

Conclusion Each metaphor provided a different lens to view the same phenomenon. Each appear valid , and there is some overlap between them. In order to understand what careers we need to facilitate various metaphors.

References Cornelissen et al. (2008): Metaphor in Organizational Research, in: Organization Studies 29 (1):7-22. Bandl/Schmit (2010): From ‘GlassCeilings’ to ‘Firewalls’, in: Gender, Work and Organization 17 (5), p. 618

Psychological Contracts

Objectives Be able to understand the concept of the psychological contract and distinguish it from other types. To be able to distinguish types of contracts governing exchange relationships and types of psychological contracts Understand contract violation and reactions Perceive careers as ongoing contract making processes

Tacit Contract Individual psychological contract as interpreted by a third person who is trying to understand the terms of the exchange relationship.

Normative Contract Terms of exchange relationships which develop when a particular group of people believe they have (as a group) particular terms concerning their exchange with another group or an individual.

Social Contract General belief about the acceptable terms of exchange relationships in a society as third parties perceive it.

Psychological Contract
Terms of an exchange relationship between an individual and another individual (or a collective, i.e. an organization) as seen from the perspective of the involved partners.

“Psychological Contracts are beliefs, based upon promises expressed or implied, regarding an exchange agreement between an individual and, in organizations, the employing firm and its agents”. Rousseau, 2004, p. 120.

Psychological contracts require perceived (assumed) mutual recognition, negotiation and agreement about the resources the parties do exchange and the exchange must be voluntary.

Types of Psychological Contracts
Rousseau (1995): Psychological Contracts in Organizations, p. 9, modified.

Transactional Contract
Collaboration/exchange involve a clear project within a specified time frame while performance terms (expectancies) are clear and explicit.

Transitional Contract
This collaboration/exchange relationship does not have a specific time frame or performance requirements specified by the exchange partners.

Balanced Contract The time frame for the duration of the relationship is understood to be long-term but there are clear performance expectations which must be met and clear task behaviour. Poor performance will not be tolerated even though exchange partners go personally along quite well.

Relational Contract The time frame for the exchange is open-ended and the performance standards are implict. Important part of this contract is the aspect that there is more than just a task oriented exchange but both partners show concerns about their well-being beyond and above task oriented exchange. Poor performance is tolerated (at least for a while) if personal relationships are fine.

Balanced vs. Unbalanced Exchanges
Coyle-Shapiro et al (2008): Human Resource Management, p. 47

Economic Exchange There is a balance between the understanding between the employee and the employer but the exchange relationship is a transactional (economic) type.

Mutual Exchange There is a balance between the understanding between the employee and the employer and the exchange relationship is of a relational type.

Under-Investment The exchange relationship is characterized by the employee adopting a relational social exchange view while the employer adopts a transactional exchange view.

Over-Investment Employees are taking a transactional point of view of the exchange relationship while the employer sees the exchange relationship governed by a relational contract.

Violation Process Source: Peyrat-Guillard (2008), Union Discourse and Perceived Violation of Contract, in: Industrial Relations/Relations Industrielles, 63 (3): p. 483.

Reneging Either the organization (or) employee does not fulfill its promises (obligations) because it is unable or unwilling to do so.

Incongruence Occurred because the parties acted in good intent but the organization and the individual did not have the same understanding of the terms for the exchange relationship.

Salience Degree of difference between what has been promised and what has been received.

Vigilance The vigilance demonstrated by the exchange partners in that psychological contract depends on the importance of the contractual terms to them.

Comparison In the comparison process each party compares how the other party has fulfilled their promises and obligations to one another. There is also a threshold which determines the perception of a contractual breach.

Interpretation Process
The discrepancy between the promised and delivered contractual responsibilities will be interpreted, i.e. the involved partners try to understand what exactly happened and why it happened.

Types of Reactions to Breaches
Source: Peyrat-Guillard (2008), p. 485.

Exit This is the simplest form of reaction to a contract breach or violation. Either partner of the contractual relationship can terminate (exit) the relationship.

Loyalty Even though a breach or violation of the contractual terms have been perceived the partners may decide to accept this violation and remain passively and just go on with the relationship.

Voice Either party in the relationship can express its concerns and demand reification of the situation, i.e. the breach of the contract should be rectified.

Neglect This may include default or dereliction of a duty by either partners, reduction of the services offered to the other partner (punishment) including destructive behaviour as theft or physical aggression and damage.

Psychological Contracts
Careers are continuous sequences of renegotiations of psychological contracts between employees (individuals) and employers (organizations).

Career Capitalism

Human Capital Theory - Becker
Human capital is a key explanatory variable for competitive advantages of nations. Human capital is measured in the level of education (skills) in a population.

Human Capital and Productivity
output Human Capital

Human Capital and Income
wage Capital

Economic System “Under the dictum of making profits and working cost effectively, the company generally wants this (individual) contribution at the best possible price in order to improve its efficiency (…) The organization (company) therefore acts as a buyer acquiring a resource (human resource)” (Ielltatchich, p. 736)

Economic System “…if skilled work is scarce, the agents of the career field will increasingly be able to impose their own conditions on companies, thus gaining relative importance in the exchange process” (Illetatchich, p. 737)

Economic System “Being hired by a company also includes a signal to the individual and the career field about the perceived worth of a specific combination of career capitals” (Illetatchich, p. 736)

Signaling Theory - Spence
costs capabilities

Signaling Theory - Spence
good signal good experiences

The Intelligent Career Model
Source: Inkson/Arthur (2001): How to be a successful career capitalist, p. 52

Principles of Career Capitalism
1. Improvise your part 2. Enhance the script: 3. Keep good company: 4. Champion your industry: 5. Invest to maximize your ROI: 6: Key individual capital is knowledge: 7: Individuals own/are responsible for their career:

Symbolic Capital Luhman stresses that certificates represent an institutionalized legitimation of a person’s knowledge/capabilities (e.g. a University Degree). Employers largely rely on that, i.e. must trust that an issued certificate reliably mirrors a persons knowledge (symbolic capital). Hence, system trust is important for career chances.

Social Capital Only such relationships can be considered to be social capital which can be used in order to gain personal support. Bourdieu elaborates on personal indebtedness and favors. Based on studies in the Berber society the role of “presents” are highlighted.

Cultural Capital This refers to the capability to know, be able to make sense, and use cultural expressions of the wider general social context. This refers to not directly job or occupation specific but nevertheless important knowledge.

Economic Capital Any material thing a person can draw on in order to exchange that for some other good (material thing) is economic capital (e.g. money, real estate, royalties etc.)

A Typology of Capital Forms
Cultural capital Social Capital Symbolic Economic Transformability high low Reliability Source: Litz (2012): Career Management,: Approaches, Concepts, Examples.

Social Inequality Bourdieu emphasizes the different “start up” conditions for people when it comes to the stock of capital they can draw on in a society for their career.

Career Habitus and Fields
“..an individual ‘born’ into a field has more chance of succeeding than another who would first have to learn (or to try to change) the rules of the game (…) Capitals are also inheritable, and habitus is incorporated capital” (Illetatchich, p. 730)

Structure & Structuration
Social Structure objective Practices Habitus subjective

Career Field Is a patterned set of practice which suggest competent action in conformity with rules and roles. Is a playground or battlefield in which agents, endowed with a certain set of field-relevant capital, try to acquire, advance or maintain a position.

Career Fields There are different levels or types of career fields (each field is made up of a particular set of rules, positions and actors) or systems. The Economic field can be subdivided into industries and then companies constituting each career fields on different levels.

A Typology of Career-Sub Fields
Company world Chronical unstability Self employment Free-floating professionalism stable unstable Actor configuration tight loose coupling Relationship between actors Source: Ielltatchich et al. , p. 736

Company World entry from the bottom Well defined career ladders
Career is (usually) linked to seniority High job security and loyalty -> key resource: hierarchical position

Self-employment Individuals working outside of organizations
Comparable stable set of actors they are dealing with Coupling is loose as autonomy and independence is highly valued Dependence on a small number of actors (or only one actor) is avoided. ->key resource: professional or role ethos

Free-Floating Professionalism
Specialists working for different customers Have relations with only one customer at a time Customer is very often an organization Short term relation but the link is tight (interdependence is high) ->key resource: knowledge and reputation

Chronic Flexibility Frequent job changes
Job change implies change not only from job to job, but organization to organization, industry to industry Configuration is highly unstable and coupling is loose since there is little interdependence -> key resource: capacity for and speed in conquering a new domain

References Iellatchitch, A./Mayrhofer W./Meyer M (2003): Career Fields: A small step towards a grand career theory? In: International Journal of Human Resource Management 14 (5):

Knowledge and Careers

Knowledge and Organizations
Socialization Externalization tacit From Internalization Combination explicit tacit explicit To Source: Nonaka 1994): A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation, in: Organization Science,

Tacit & Tacit (Socialization)
Newcomer experiences consist primarily of tacit-to-tacit knowledge transmissal. They may have a richer knowledge base due to their previous experiences. But on the other hand as they may stay shortly they may discourage experienced employees in a firm to share their knowledge with them.

Explicit to Explicit (Combination)
This kind of knowledge is relatively easily accessible and while boundaryless careers may also enhance an individual’s repository of explicit knowledge this is not particularly bond to an individual and his or her career. A firm may relatively independently from individuals acquire this kind of knowledge.

Tacit to Explicit (Articulation)
Individuals who make their tacit knowledge, the knowledge they have acquired in other organisations explicit in a new firm help this firm to develop new knowledge. It is also a feature of an individual’s career experience (and human capital value) what kind of tacit knowledge he or she brings to the new employer and accumulates over time.

Explicit to Tacit (Internalization)
With frequent moves and short stays in organisations the internalization of new knowledge by the individual my become problematic.

Hypertext Organisation

Knowledge and Human Capital
Expertise Routines/ Relationships Systems Experience Individual Collective codified tacit Knowledge form Focus of knowledge Source: Morris, T. (2000): Promotion Policies and Knowledge Bases, 144, in: Peiperl et al: Career Frontiers. Oxford University Press

Knowledge Levels

Boundaryless Career and Knowledge
Excentric Organization Man Commoner Professional high low Accumulation of Knowledge Role of Personal Identity Baker/Aldrich (1996): Prometheus Stretches, in: Arthur, M.B./D. Rousseau (eds.) Boundaryless Career, p. 134., mod.

Careers as Inheritance

Structure versus Individual Action
Some inheritances we are born with, while others are developed as a result of family influence like values beliefs etc.. Some inheritances are constructed around society’s structures – for example rules or hierarchies determining how much wealth or education you need in order to receive certain opportunities.

By the time we commence our careers, perhaps in our early twenties, we are mostly already predisposed and prepared to conduct them along predictable lines Social structure includes divisions by social class, gender and race, as well as institutional structures such as government rules and regulations, centralized authority, and bureaucratic organization.

According to this view you may find your career progress barred because you were born “on the wrong side of the tracks” The “structure” principle suggests that careers are mostly predetermined by larger forces beyond individual control.

Alternative view is that individuals can transcend social structures through their own energy.

Field and Habitus Field
“Social spaces” in which people live their lives, and are characterized by internal complexity and hierarchy. Fields arise in education, religion, economic life… others….? Fields contain institutions and individuals who occupy dominant or less dominant positions.

Field and Habitus Habitus
System of internal, personal, enduring dispositions through which we perceive the world. Acquired through exposure to social conditions around us, which we typically receive from, and share with, others in our predominant social groups, including family. Habitus is the vehicle in which much of our inheritance of values, interests, ideas, motivations and social connections are incorporated.

Field and Habitus Gender provides an example; gender is a source of many constraints, rules and norms, in different career fields. A woman seeking to become a commando will face formal and informal barriers tending to keep her out of these occupations. At the same time, her habitus, informed by a lifetime of indoctrination from family, school, community and popular media, may be giving her the messages that she should “stay away”

Occupations and Social Inequality
Based on the fact that in society there are structured inequalities – in wealth, earnings, power, prestige, and in access to medical care etc… – which systematically favour some individuals more than others

Social Class Max Weber Karl Marx prestige/education/skills
wealth/income/ownership

Social Mobility The change of social class made by family members from one generation to the next. Society become more meritocratic, social class will become less important than before = intergenerational mobility will increase.

Labour Market Segregation
Horizontal segregation: divides work into men’s jobs and women’s job. Vertical segregation: divides work hierarchically into the senior and the junior.

Class and Occupations

Inheritance and Social Structure

Gottfredson’s Theory Gottfredson shows that occupations can be mapped according to prestige. For example, “librarian” is a high-prestige/feminine job whereas “construction worker” is a relatively low-prestige/masculine job.

Self Concept The major elements determining the developing self-concept are gender, social class background, intelligence vocational interests, competencies, and values. All these elements are incorporated into one’s self-concept at different stages of growing up.

Self Concept Development
Stage 1 Stage orientation to size and power (ages 3-5 years) Stage 2 Orientation to sex roles (ages 6-8 years) Stage 1: Children at this age grasp the idea if being an adult Children become aware that adults have roles in the world. They realize that they will eventually become adults and take on roles for themselves. Stage 2: Children begin to categories the world around them with simple concrete distinctions. They become aware of the more recognizable job roles and begin to assign them to particular sexes.

Self Concept Development
Stage 3 Orientation to social valuation ( ages years) Stage 4 Orientation to the internal, unique self (beginning around age 14) Stage 3: By now children have encountered a wider range of job roles and are capable of more abstract distinctions. They begin to classify jobs in terms of social status (income, education level, lifestyle, etc.) along with sex-type. Based on the social environment in which they develop they will begin to designate some jobs as unacceptable because they fall below a minimum status level (tolerable level boundary) and some higher status jobs as unacceptable because they represent too much effort or risk of failure (tolerable effort boundary). Stage 4: As entry into the adult world Approaches young people engage in a conscious search of the roles still remaining in their social space. In this process they use increasingly complex concepts such as interests, abilities, values, work-life balance and personality to exclude options which do not fit with their self image and identify an appropriate field of work.

Careers and Family Perhaps more important than the influence of parents’ occupations on their children’s habitus and thereby their career attitudes. Parents’ supportiveness in parent-child relationships also appear to facilitate self-confidence in children.

Occupational Image prestige gender

Inheritance and Social Structure

Gottfredson’s Theory

Job Categorization Consensus
Although there is some consensus concerning the ranking of occupations according to prestige and sextype, there are systematic differences in ratings people assign depending on their social class belonging.

Existentialism Heidegger analyzed being and what it means to be being-in-time. “Sein” (being) may be best studied by focusing on one particular type of being (“Dasein”) that is, Human Being.

Existentialism Authentic life vs. Inauthentic Life
Freedom vs. Determination

Modes of Human Existence
Past (Facticity) Present (Forefuture) Future (Existentionality)

Time and Being The experience and conciousness of our ultimate death is the element which is setting us free from our structural chains.

Adjustment and Match

Work Adjustment Theory

Both individuals and jobs are complex, however this complexity can be reduced to a finite set of variables. Abilities – person’s capacities and aptitudes relevant to specific skills that may be required to do a job. Values – express outcomes that the individual might seek to obtain from the job.

Dawis and Lofquist (1984) mention active modes of adjustment where the individual adjusts by changing the ability requirement and reinforcement patterns of the environment. In reactive modes of adjustment, the individual alters the person rather than the environment.

Occupational Choice Measurement of both individual and occupational characteristics can be used to assess congruence or correspondence. Particular attention was given to the measurement of apparently directly applicable “vocational interest”.

John Holland: Vocational Personality Theory

Personality Types Most people are one of six personality types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. People of the same personality tend to get attrackted by a certain work place and job.

Consistency Consistency: Some pairs of types are more similar than others. The types which are in an adjacent line are more consistent, e.g. realistic-investigative and the types which lie in a opposite linie are most inconsistent.

Differentiation Differentiation: Difference between a person‘s highest and lowest scores of the six personality types. A high value means that a person has a narrow range of interests and has dominant interests. His/her personality pattern is very predictable and attention is focused.

Identity Identity: A high personal identity means a clear and stable profile of a person‘s goals, interest and talents.

Work Environment Types
One should choose an occupation/job which type is similar to ones personality type. But most people are rather a combination of types. Therefore, jobs in more than one category may be suitable.

Example: Realistic Work Environment
People having a realistic personality type dominate this environment. They create a realistic environment and value people who are practical and mechanical. Occupations: Farmer, Fire Fighter, Police Officer, Pilot, Carpenter, Electrician, Truck Driver, Locksmith

Environment Assessment Technique
Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional 35 10 20 50 60 25 17,5% 5% 10% 25% 30% 12,5% ESRCAI

Edgar Schein: Career Anchors
Definition: “enduring constellations of self-perceived, career relevant talents, motives and values.” “Anchors” provide another obvious metaphor, with connotations of heaviness and stability, apparently implying that like a ship held fast by its anchor, a career must have a means of being held in place

Schein’s interest in “organizational fit”, suggested that good matching could be facilitated by organizational management, where systems of employee development, transfer, promotion and rewards could take anchors into account. In changing times people perhaps need a solid anchor to provide them with a clear sense of identity and direction

Organizational Choice
It may well be important for individuals to achieve congruence not just with their jobs and occupations but also with their organizations. The ‘fit’ metaphor can be applied to the notion of ‘organizational fit’.

Organizational Culture Archetypes
Mercenary Networked Fragemented Communal

Congruency Congruency: refers to the degree of resemblance between a person‘s personality type and environment types. The more congruent the interaction between the personality and the environment the better.

Career Decision Making
If you can accurately assess both yourself and the job or occupation in terms of goodness of fit, then, following work adjustment theory, you are able to predict satisfaction and satisfactoriness. Basic limitations in human psychology mean that each of us has limited capability to judge with full logic the wide ranging factors and contingencies inherent in complex decisions.

Development and Roles

Development Stages There are patterns of usual developments and researchers have undertaken steps to reveal patterns. This is, they have identified intervals and stages and the main challenges people have to deal with in the course of their development.

Daniel Levinson: The Seasons of a Life
Adulthood is composed of alternating relatively stable periods in which the individual works at building a desired life structure, and shorter transitional periods of questioning, reappraisal, and often change.

Daniel Levinson: The Seasons of a Life

Women’s Career Stages Levinson reported a second study, on women but besides him other researchers considering women’s career cycles have claimed that women’s careers have totally different dynamics from men’s partly due to their role of child bearing and rearing. Many studies of specific occupations show major disruptions to women’s careers compared with men’s due to family commitments

Women’s Career Stages Explore Focus Rebalance Revive

Social Role Theory People are occupying positions in a network of positions. For each position there are expectancies how to behave appropriately. Expectations are set by significant others (i.e. individuals, groups) and moderated by the institutional environment.

Social Role A social role is a bundle of behavioural expectations related to a particular position in a network (hierarchy) of social positions intended to trigger functional behaviour.

Role Expectations Each member of the role set has role expectations, regarding how the focal person will discharge his or her role, and communicates these expectations directly and indirectly to the focal person. From this the focal person receives a perception of what the required role behavior is, and complies or resists in his or her behavior.

Role Set Role set: is a set of other people who attempt to define parts of the role of a “focal person.”

Super’s Life Role-Space Theory
Life unfolds in several arenas, in which people will have to play roles. An important arena is the workplace, others are family and other “arenas” in which we have to play roles.

Life Role Development

Exploration and Learning
The exploration stage is critical for a person’s life career and (early) learning is of major importance. Bandura’s social-cognitive learning theory explains why an individual should EXPERIENCE a job/organization of interest and how this exploration should be structured.

Life-Role Theory & Self Concept
In the context of one’s career people develop a self-concept. They become more and more aware of their own person, the roles they play within a given framework of expectancies.

Role Conflict Role ambiguity Person-Role conflict Intra-role conflict
Inter-role conflict Role overload

Work Roles and Expectations
Supervisor/Boss Peers/Coworker Customers Subordinates

Dahrendorf’s Types of Sanctions
Must-expectations Should-expectations Can-expectations

New Careers Modern careers are much more mobile, disrupted, discontinuous, zigzag, improvisational and anarchical than age/stage theory predicts. Careers may be less predictable, and more at the mercy of chance, individual change and whim, and the unstable economic system and labour market, than maxi-cyclic theories, even with built-in “mini-cycles”, make them appear.

Work Role Transitions

Role Transitions If careers are considered as sequences of roles, then an important feature of careers may be the process of transition between roles: for example, entering one’s first job, moving between education and employment

Role Transitions Preparation: the change is anticipated and expected, and the individual seeks to be ready for it. Part of this process is “saying goodbye.” Encounter: is the initial experience of a new role, in which the individual encounters and come to terms with the requirements and expectations of the new situation. Employers often provide a range of information to assist newcomers to learn their roles quickly.

Role Transitions Adjustment: the individual adapts his or her behaviour and perhaps even identity to accommodate to the new role, or attempts to enact or alter the role in such a way as to accommodate it to his or her own identity and motivation. Stabilization: the adjustment becomes stable, the individual is in balance with the organization. There are many forces that may disturb this state

Modes of Adjustment Determination Absorption Replication Exploration
high low Personal Development Role Development Source: Nicholson, N. (1984): A Theory of Work Role Transition, in: Administrative Science Quarterly 29: (modif.)

Affective Reaction “Positive feelings in the mode of replication, for example, would be associated with favorable perceptions of preservation and stability … Negative feelings from replication would carry associations of restriction, helplessness, and obsolescence, as when the person feels trapped ‘in a rut’” (Nicholson, p. 177)

Assumed Relationships
Low discretion + low novelty -> Replication Low discretion + high novelty -> absorption High discretion + low novelty -> determination High discretion + high novelty -> Exploration

Assumed Relationship Upward discretionary shift + low novelty -> replication Upward discretionary shift + high novelty -> absorption Downward discretionary shift + low novelty -> determination Downward discretionary shift + high novelty -> exploration

Assumed Relationships
Low desire for control + low desire for feedback -> replication Low desire for control + high desire for feedback -> absorption High desire for control + low desire for feedback -> determination High desire for control + high desire for feedback -> exploration

Matching or Fit Think about the fact that organizations (supervisors) may have a preferred mode of role adjustment when they hire a new person. If there is a match/fit between an individual’s preferred adjustment mode and the organization’s mode (supply and demand) it is less likely that people will experience problems (i.e., violation of the psychological contract).

Uncertainty and Coping
Taking a new job or working on a redesigned job always includes a big portion of uncertainty how to deal with this changes. Lazarus/Folkman (1984) have proposed a general model which is helpful in order to become aware how people deal with this uncertainty and try to cope if they experience inequity between task requirements and resources.

Lazarus/Folkman’s Model of Uncertainty and Coping
Primary evaluation Secondary Requirements Resources Non equity situation personality coping Equity reevaluation Problem oriented Affective oriented

Uncertainty and Coping
The larger uncertainty the more emotional stress the role change will cause and less problem focused action will be observed. The challenge will be less likely tackled successfully since stress means that the problem will be either denied or the person tends to escape (exit).

References Nicholson, N. (1984): A Theory of Work Role Transition, in: Administrative Science Quarterly 29: Lazarus, R. S./S. Folkman (1984): Stress, Appraising, and Coping.

Human Capital

Transaction Cost Theory
“…according to transaction cost economics, internalization of employment is appropriate when it allows organizations to more effectively monitor employee performance and ensure that their skills are deployed correctly and efficiently” (P. 33)

Resource Based View of the Firm
“This theory suggests that core employee skills (central to the firm’s competitiveness) should be developed and maintained internally, whereas those of limited or peripheral value are candidates for outsourcing” (p. 34).

Human Capital Theory “… human capital theorists suggest that organizations develop resources internally only when investments in employee skills are justifiable in terms of future productivity” (p. 34)

Resource Based Theory – Human Capital
(in)valueable (un)imitability (non-)rareness (non)-substitution

Uniqueness of Human Capital
How available human capital is - since skills include accumulated explicit and tacit knowledge and a unique configuration of capital forms – is more or less unique for each organization.

Value of Human Capital “…we define value as the ratio of strategic benefits to customers derived from skills relative to the costs incurred…. Thus, employees can add value if they can help firms offer lower costs or provide increased benefits to customers” (p. 35).

Shortage of Talent Due to the law of normal distribution (bell curve) there are only a limited number of people who are very talented in something. There is therefore always a relative shortage for such people. However, there are some “public skills” who are not rare while some skills are very rare.

Insourcing vs. Outsourcing
It is argued in the article that the discussion about insourcing vs. oursourcing should not be reduced to an “either/or” distinction of employment modes. Firms often buy and make their human capital at the same time. But in making the decision HRM must consider some important variables.

Typology of HRM Architecture
Lepak/Gowan (2010): Human Resource Management, p. 421

Complexity and Contingency
“…firms engaging in multiple sourcing modes are likely to require distinct configurations of HRM practices that facilitate the utilization and deployment of human capital for each separate employment mode” (p. 43)

HRM Architecture & Dynamics
Lepak/Snell (1999): The Human Resource Architecture, p. 44

Investment in Human Captial
“As competition becomes more dynamic, firms may not have enough time to fully recoup their human capital investments. At the same time, without these investments, firms are likely to fall behind as barriers to imitation are challenged and overcome” (p. 45)

Tobin’s q & Human Capital Market Value
Q = Market Value – Book Value HCMV= Market Value – Book Value/ FTE Fitz-Entz (2008): The ROI of Human Capital, p. 52

Human Capital Value Added & Human Capital Return on Investment
HCVA = Revenue – (Expenses – Pay and Benefits) / FTE HCROI = Revenue – (Expenses – Pay and Benefits)/ Pay and Benefits Fitz-Entz (2008): The ROI of Human Capital, p

References Lepak,D./S. Snell (1999): The Human Resource Architecture, in: Academy of Management Review 24 (1): Fitz-Enz, J. (2009): The ROI of Human Capital. American Management Association.

HRM Portfolio Analysis

Portfolio Analysis “Portfolio analysis strategy is a developmental tool where performance categorization is primarily to guide training and development efforts as well as to suggest management styles appropriate for each category of employee” (p. 16)

HRM and Portfolio Analysis
“Management should adapt the following portfolio matrix model as the basis for analyzing and managing its human resources” (p. 17)

A Portfolio Approach to HRM
Consistent Achievers (workhorses) Stars high Job Performance Underachievers/ Underperformers (deadwood) Problem Employees low low high Development Potential Source: Shonhiwa/Gilmore (1996):, p. 17, modif.

Portfolio and Investment Decision
B C D Performance 90 60 40 90 Potential 40 40 80 90 80 70 Costs 60 55 (Hypothetical values on a scale of up to 100%)

Employee Life-Cycle Employees tend to move from problem employee over star and constant performer to underperformer position during their working life.

Risk Reduction “Risk reduction through diversification of the portfolio, which can be done through balanced recruitment of mixed talents” (p. 17)

Efficient HR portfolio
“Translated into human resources terms, such an attractive portfolio will produce a workforce with high potential for contribution, versatility in skills, stability of tenure, and high-quality performance in relation to the goals of the firm” (p. 17)

Stability and Flexibility
Some types of employees contribute stability to an organization while others do contribute flexibility potential.

Contingency Keep in mind that the allocation of individuals to a category is dependent on the job content and job context (i.e. situational setting) and can change if the situational setting is changed.

HRM Portfolio and Career System
“The objective is to systematically integrate an individual’s performance appraisal information with their career objectives. The collated information will produce a comprehensive manpower plan for the entire company” (p. 21).

Evolutionary HRM The existing portfolio of human resources is constantly changing in time. Hence it must be considered from the perspective of balancing flexibility and stability needs of a corporation.

HRM as Evolution Management
Deliberate Process Enactment Selection Retention Variation Selection Retention Emergent Process Source: Klimecki/Litz (2005): HRM as Intervention into the Evolution of Human Resources, p. 16, modified.

Variation/Enactment New skills are emerging/created for a company during the recruitment process.

Selection Not all possible available skills (human capital) recruited will be suitable for the prevailing organizational purposes. Hence, those individuals should be selected (entry & promotion) who have the appropriate skills and ability to adapt.

Retention Those individuals with necessary skills should be retained in the organization. The retained set of all individuals with their individual skills are the portfolio of skills available to a corporation at a certain point in time.

References Shonhiwa, S. (1996): Development of Human Resources: A Portfolio Strategy, in: SAM Advanced Management Journal, p Odiorne, G.S. (1984): Strategic Management of Human Resources. Klimecki, R./S. Litz (2005): HRM as Intervention in the Evolution of Human Resources, in: Proceedings of the VII th IFSAM (International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management) Meeting, Gothenburg (Sweden).

Career Systems and Strategy

Mapping out Career Possibilities
Career maps provide a representation to career travellers of topography, terrain and direction. They include formal, written information such as lists of occupations and industries, job advertisements and descriptions etc…

Career Maps Frequently travellers set out with inadequate maps or no maps at all. Learning where to find, or how to draw, accurate maps of career landscapes is an important skill of the career traveller. Big problem with maps is that the information on them tends to become obsolete quickly.

Driver’s Career Patterns
linear Steady state Spiral transitory

Kanter’s Career Patterns
Professional careers Bureaucratic careers Entrepreneurial careers

A Typology of Career Systems
Fortress Baseball Team Academy Club Assignment Flow (Hiring/Promotion Criteria) Individual contribution Group Contribution (Staffing Source) Supply Flow External internal Source: Sonnenfeld/Peiperl (1988), p. 591

Academy Development and retaining own talent (professional growth is important). There are lateral career paths and possibility of early career progress).

Club “A club or fraternal order focuses on fair treatment for all members and values loyalty proven by seniority (i.e. job tenure)” (p. 590).

Basketball Team “Baseball teams are open to external labor markets at all levels, and they assign and promote their members on the basis of individual merit.” (p. 590)

Fortress “A fortress is an institution under siege, and it has low commitment to individuals. It neither limits its labor supply channels nor makes assignments based on individual contributions; the primary goal is institutional survival, even at the cost of individual members” (p. 590).

Corporate Strategy Firms require different means of staffing their organizations. Miles/Snow (1978) distinguished between four different types of strategies.

Defender “defenders, are firms that have narrow product/market domains. They often are what researches label core firms. Their leaders seek mastery over a narrowly defined organization.” (p. 594)

Prospector “Prospectors are companies that thrive on product innovation and the creation of new markets. Leaders of these firms pioneer strategies that identify emerging trends in the environment” (p. 594)

Reactor “reactors are those firms that are buffeted by their environment because either they have little control over vital resources or they lack foresight regarding changes in the competitive system” (p. 594). It is all about turnaround or exit (deinvestment).

Analyzers “Analyzers, the third group, contain properties that fall between the innovativeness of the prospectors in new markets and the reliability of defenders in stable markets. They do not take the risks of prospectors, but they do excel in the delivery of newer products and services.” (p. 594).

Strategy and Career System Match
“Each of the four strategic types corresponds to a different set of career system practices that provide the requisite degree of skill and continuity in the work force.” (p. 594)

Matching Career Systems and Strategy
Analyzers Defenders Prospectors Reactors X Academies Clubs X Baseball Teams X Fortress X Source: own figure

References Sonnenfeld, J. A./M. A. Peiperl (1988): Staffing Policy as a Strategic Response: A Typology of Career Systems, in: Academy of Management Review 13 (4):

Career Systems and Strategy

Career Climbing Frames
Topography replaces the traditional career metaphor of “career ladder” with that of “career climbing frame.” A climbing frame allows for a variety of different types of career move.

Career Logics - Patterns
Command Centered Constructional Logic Evolutionary Logic Source: Gunz et al. (1998): New Strategy, wrong Managers?, in: Academy of Management Executive,

Strategy and Career Logic - Patterns
Flexibility Efficiency Domain Broad Narrow Prospector (evolutionary OCL) Analyser (Constructional OCL) Defender (Command Centered OCL) Change Orientation Source: Gunz et al. (1998): New Strategy, wrong Managers?, in;Academy of Management Executive, p. 27, modif.

Strategy and Career Logic
o.k. not o.k. No change change Strategy Career Logic Source: Gunz et al. (1998): New Strategy, wrong Managers?, in;Academy of Management Executive, p. 28, modif.

A Typology of Promotion Models
Tournament Bureaucracy Relationship Seniority Specified career path sequences low high Systematic of Selection Source: Litz, S. (2009): Career Management, Forthcoming, Workingpaper

Bureaucracy Job tenure is only the necessary but not the sufficient criteria for promotion. Job incumbents will have to go through a specified selection procedure and have to show their expertise and suitability for higher level ranks before being promoted. Selection and promotion based on competence is key (compare Max Weber’s concept of bureaucracy).

Tournament “In the tournament mobility model, careers are conceptualized as a sequence of competitions, each of which has implications for an individual’s mobility chances in all subsequent selections” (Rosenbaum 1979, p. 222).

Tournament Model Source: Rosenbaum (1979): Tournament Mobility, p. 230

Tournament The mobility process is clearly a highly ordered one and not a random process. Employees promoted in the earliest period have a much better chance of being further promoted than employees not promoted in the earliest period.

Tournament Employees promoted in the earliest period have a much better chance of attaining management levels than employees promoted in later periods. Employees promoted in the earliest period have a higher career ceiling and they have a better chance of going high in the organizational hierarchy.

Tournament Employees promoted in the earliest period have a higher career floor (lowest possible position) than employees promoted in later periods. Early promotions do not offer assurances of continued mobility. Employees promoted in the earliest period are not assured of later promotions.

Seniority Promotion depends heavily on job tenure/duration of a membership an individual. There are usually as well clearly specified sequences before promotion can take place (and there are rarely promotions allowing an individual to “jump over” a position in the hierarchy to occupy directly a position way above the previous position).

Relationships Promotion is largely independent from job tenure (duration) and promotion can involve “jumping over” ranks in the hierarchy. Promotion decisions are based on the discretion of superiors in charge (goodwill). Visibility and personal relationships are of key importance for promotion.

References Rosenbaum, J. (1979): Tournament Mobility. Career Patterns in a Corporation, in: Administrative Science Quarterly 24: Guntz, H.G./R. M. Jalland (1998): New Strategy, Wrong Managers? What You Need to know about Career Streams, in: Academy of Management Executive 12 (2):

Careers as Relationships

Small World and Weak Ties
According to a study by Granovetter, the majority of jobs are found via networking (56%). Milgram and the “six degrees of separation” principle.

Careers as Relationships
A career can be seen not a succession of jobs, but a succession of people who we have worked with and who made a big difference, for good or bad.

Networks and Networking
Social Encounters: lowest level, chance meetings with individuals whereby they influence each other Relationships: individuals develop a longer-term association enabling them to influence each other and collaborate on a repeated or ongoing basis. Networks: are a combination of many relationships, and it is this notion of networks that provides the greatest potential for careers.

Networks and Networking
“Networking” is seen by many as a key skill for careerists, and has been shown to be related to career success. Networking involves deliberately building contacts and reputation in order to “get the success you want by tapping into the people you know”. Networks can provide reassurance, support, motivation and knowledge relevant to the individual’s career development.

Characteristics of Networks
Connections can be developed purposely. Networking is a continuous process. Networks are reciprocal. That is, network members put energy into the network as well as taking it out, and offer help to others as well as seeking help from them.

Sociogramm of a Network
Source: Andre/Taplin (2012): Organizational Behaviour, p. 226

Power Power: some networks are immensely powerful in terms of potential benefit to one’s career, while others are weak.

Density Density: a “dense” network is one where many of the contacts are also contacts of each other, whereas in a “sparse” network there would be a wider range of contacts with little overlap between them.

Relevancy Relevancy: a “relevant” contact in a network is a contact which can actually contribute to learning and career advancement.

Centrality Individuals may be very central in a network or reside at the periphery or may be even marginal. With increasing centrality in a network the status of an individual participating in a network (community) increases and therefore its potential utility for career purposes.

Career Communities Typically involve the shared development, by members, of meanings and priorities for the working life that will assist them to make sense of their career and undertake new learning related to their careers.

Domain “A community of practice is not merely a club of friends or a network of connections between people. It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Membership therefore implies a commitment to the domain, and therefore a shared competence that distinguishes members from other people”. Source:

Interaction “In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other.” Source:

Focus on Practice and Learning
Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—in short a shared practice. Source:

Career Communities Source: Parker, P. et al. (2004): Career Communities: a preliminary exploration of member-defined career support structures, in: Journal of Organizational Behavior 25:

Mentorship & Career Communities
In the context of careers, a mentor is normally understood as being an older, more experienced person who is able on the basis of that experience to provide help to a younger person in developing his or her career through its early stages.

Mentorship Informal mentorship. Formal mentorship

Types of OCB and Career 1. Helping 2. Sportsmanship 3. Commitment
4. Compliance 5. Initiative 6. Civic Virtue 7. Self-Development Source: Organ et al. (2006): Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, p. 297

Costly Signaling “It proposes that these costly traits or behaviors were selected because they convey a credible signal about the underlying qualities of the signaler that the observer cannot otherwise assess directly or easily.” (Deutsch Salomon, p. 186)

Handicap Principle “In sum, the handicap principle views those who engage in acts of generosity or providing a collective good neither as behaving altruistically in hope of reciprocation, nor as sacrificing for the good of the group. Rather, they are viewed as competing for status and its perquisites.” (Deutsch Salomon, p. 188)

Differentiation “This difference in cost enables employees with superior capabilities to separate themselves from those with inferior capabilities by engaging in OCBs that the latter would find too costly to perform.” (p. 190)

References Deutsch Salomon,S./Y. Deutsch (2006): OCB as a Handicap: An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective, in: Journal of Organizational Behavior 27 (2): Wenger, E. (1998): Communities of Practices. Cambridge University Press. Parker, P. et al. (2004): Career Communities: a preliminary exploration of member-defined career support structures, in: Journal of Organizational Behavior 25:

Game Theory and Networks

Prisoner’s Dilemma Source: Axeldrod (1984): The Evolution of Cooperation, p. 10.

Prisoner’s Dilemma The prisoner’s dilemma is based on the general problem that “what is best for each person individually leads to mutual defection, whereas everyone would have been better off with mutual cooperation” (Axelrod 1984, p. 9)

Conclusion “…two egoists playing the game once will both choose their dominant choice, defection, and each will get less than they both could have gotten if they had cooperated” (Axeldrod 1984, p. 10)

Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma
“This reasoning does not apply if the players will interact an indefinite number of times. And in most realistic settings, the players cannot be sure when the last interaction between them will take place” (Axelrod 1984, p. 10).

Cooperation or Defection?
In the context of being part of career communities what strategy pays off – cooperation or defection? There are various strategies available, like: always cooperation, always defection, random choice etc.

Tit for Tat In the case there is continuing interaction there emerged one particular strategy in computer simulation to be the best strategy, and this one is called “tit for tat”.

Tit for Tat Tit for tat strategy means: “... Avoidance of unncessary conflict by cooperating as long as the other player does, provocability in the face of an uncalled for defection by the other, forgiveness after responding to the provocation, and clarity of behavior so that the other player can adapt to your pattern of action” (Axeldrod 1984, p. 20)

Rule No 1: Don’t be envious:
Comparing your own success with others leads to envy. “And envy leads to attempts to rectify any advantage the other player has attained. In this form of Prisoner’s Dilemma, rectification of the others’ advantage can only be done by defection. But defection leads to more defection and to mutual punishment. So envy is self-destructive” (Axeldrod 1984, p. 111)

Rule No. 2: Don’t be the first to defect!
“Of course, one could try to ‘play safe’ by defecting until the other player cooperates, and only then starting to cooperate. The tournament results show, however, that this is actually a very risky strategy. The reason is that your own initial defection is likely to set off a retaliation by the other player” Axelrod 1984, p. 117)

Rule No. 3: Reciprocate “After cooperating on the first move, tit for tat simply reciprocates whatever the other player did on the previous move. This simple rule is amazingly robust” (Axelrod 1984, p. 118)

Rule Nr. 4: Don’t be too clever!
“If you are using a strategy which appears random, then you also appear unresponsive to the other player. If you are unresponsive, then the other player has no incentive to cooperate with you.” (Axelrod 1984, p. 122).

Enlarge Shadow of the Future
“By binding people together in a long-term, multilevel game, organizations increase the number and importance of future interactions, and thereby promote the emergence of cooperation among groups too large to interact individually” (Axeldrod 1984, p. 131.

Change Payoff “If the punishment for defection is so great that cooperation is the best choice in the short run, no matter what the other player does, then there is no longer a dilemma (…) It is only necessary to make the long-term incentive for mutual cooperation greater than the short-term incentive for defection” (Axelrod 1984, p. 134).

Teach people to care “A selfish individual can receive the benefits of another’s altruism and not pay the welfare costs of being generous in return” (Axelrod 1984, p. 135).

Teach reciprocity! “Reciprocity is certainly not a good basis for a morality of aspiration. Yet it is more than just the morality of egoism. It actually helps not only oneself, but others as well. It helps others by making it hard for exploitative strategies to survive.” (Axelrod 1984, p. 137)

Improve recognition abilities!
“The ability to recognize the other player from past interactions, and to remember the relevant features of those interactions, is necessary to sustain cooperation” (Axelrod 1984, p. 139)

PAVLOV Strategy If both sides have mutually defected in the last round of interaction, the strategy, based on hope and forgiveness would resume the next round of interaction with cooperation.

PAVLOV Strategy “Win-stay, Lose-Shift, by offering cooperation when both parties have lost out through cheating on a previous encounter, seems to be the most effective of all the trigger strategies that have so far been investigated” (Fisher, p. 175)

References Axelrod, R. (1984): The Evolution of Cooperation.
Fisher, L. (2008): Rock, Paper, Scissors. Game Theory in Everyday Life. Basic Books.

International Career Logics

Perlmutter’s Typology of MNCs
Perlmutter has proposed a very influential typologie of MNCs. The assumption is that depending on the “orientation of the top-management team” qualitatively different approaches of conducting business may be chosen.

Heenan/Perlmutter: Staffing Policy
Source: Philips/Fox (2003): Compensation strategy in Transnational Corporations, In: Management Decision,

Typology of OICL Mayerhofer, W. (2001): Organizational International Career Logics (OICLS), p. 139

Official and Inoffical Career Logics
It is important to distinguish between the espoused-theory and the theory-in-use.

Complexity “…MNCs can operate under more than one OICL at the same time. However, for certain areas like specific positions or groups of people or certain regions, one can assume that there is a modal OICL that dominates the assignments.” (Mayerhofer 2001, p. 137)

OICL and Role of Subsidiaries
It is important to align the career logics employed while assigning expatriates with the strategic importance, i.e. role of the subsidiaries, to which they are assigned.

Types of Subsidiaries: Bartlett/Goshal
Subsidiary roles (modified from Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1986).

International Career and Psychological Contract
Source: Yan et al. (2002): International Assignments for Career Building, in: Academy of Management Review 27:

References Mayerhofer, W. (2001): Organizational International Career Logics (OICLS), in: Thunderbird International Business Review 43 (1): Bartlett, C.A./S. Goshal (1989): Managing Across Borders. The Transnational Solution. Harvard Business School Press, Boston.

Career Success

Successs “All men seek one: success or happiness. The only way to achieve true success is to express yourself completely in service to society. First have a definite, clear, practical ideal – a goal, objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your end – wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust your means to that end”. (Aristotle, quoted in Baruch 2004, p. 77)

Objective Success “Objective career success can thus be defined as the quantifiable value that attaches to any social position, in terms of current utilities (such as standard of living) plus the range of values that, actuarially, could be reasonably expected to accrue in the foreseeable future” (p. 138)

Objective Success status and rank (Hierarchical position)
material success (wealth, property, earning capacity) social reputation, prestige, influence knowledge and skills friendships, network connections health and well-being

Subjective & Objective Success
“…the experiential world of the traveler (the subjective career) – set against the identifiable features of the landscape and the traveler’s location within it (the objective career)” (p. 137)

Subjective Success “Success in this context is the retrospective sense making we attach to our past travels, how we feel about our current position on the map, and the nature of the future destinations we can visualize in our minds. We may reconstruct our paths with regret or pride, contemplate the present with dissatisfaction or contentment, and anticipate the future with foreboding or hope” (p. 138)

Derr’s Subjective Career Success Framework
Getting-ahead Getting-secure Getting-high Getting-free Getting-balanced

A Study of Derr’s Career Aspirations
Arthur et al. (1989): Handbook of Career Theory, p. 463

A Typology of Career Success
Dominant/ Gratified Satisficing/ contented high Subjective success Striving/ Unfulfilled Disappointed/ Discontented low low high Objective Success Source: Nicholson/de Waal-Andrews, p. 142, modified.

Autonomy vs. Comparison
When it comes to evaluating objective and subjective career success it is important to see if we judge them based on our own set of success criteria – independently of others – or if we put ourselves into comparison with others.

Autonomy and Comparison
II. self Orientation IV. III. others objective subjective Source: Heslin (2005): modified

Evolutionary Theory and Career
“In former times, and in less developed societies, the notion of a career has less meaning, since one’s path is mapped out at birth, though one’s lifetime achievements continue to be of extreme importance to reproductive fitness” (Nicholson, N./DeWaals A p. 139)

“In our own society the career has become a primary vehicle for the advancement of one’s individual interests and those of one’s kinship group” (Nicholson, N./DeWaals A p. 140)

“…it is not enough merely to reproduce, but it is also important that one can support one’s offsprings’ prospects for survival and prosperity. (…) It is highly desirable to be born into a resource-rich environment where nurturance and parental investment will enhance chances of survival in a potentially dangerous and competitive world” (Nicholson, N./DeWaals A p. 139)

“Reproductive fitness has to be signaled where mate choice operates. Success among social animals is therefore the ability to be recognized as ‘fit’ – a mix of resource richness plus outward signifiers of ‘good’ genes. (…) Many extravagances of human achievement and display are open to a similar interpretation (i.e. the handicap principle, S. L.” (Nicholson, N./DeWaals A p. 139)

Status Seeking and Evolution
“Evolution having implanted us with a status-striving module has done so without an accompanying ‘off’ switch. Without the radical discouragement of major rebuttal and failure, the status drive does no more than decline gradually in most people” (Nicholson, N./DeWaals A p. 144).

References Nicholson, N./DeWaals A. (2005): Playing to Win: Biological Imperatives, Self-Regulation, and Trade-Offs in the Game of Career Success, in: Journal of Organizational Behaviour 26 (2): Heslin, P.A. (2005): Conceptualizing and Evaluating Career Success, in: Journal of Organizational Behaviour 26:

Metaphors and Career Dynamics

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