Career Theory and Development - Term Paper Example

Career Theory and Development Introduction There are a wide variety of differing theories regarding the nature of the modern career as well as the measures involved which develop it. These measures typically involve the construct of the career position as well as what is measured by efforts toward personal goal attainment. Far from the notion of merely attaining a job, the career position might likely involve landing that is absolutely congruent with long-term goals for personal lifestyle choices and aspirations. This project identifies three specific theorist notions of career whilst exploring what makes the aforementioned theorists’ arguments so compelling. An evolution Several notable theorists concur that career should be defined as “the evolving sequence of a person’s work experiences over time (Arthur, Hall & Lawrence, 1989: 8). These authors are relating the notion of career as merely a linkage or an outcome of striving for personal aspirations, such as using the job position to enhance personal lifestyle and consumerism. Hence, it might be theorised that defining a career has little to do with the substance of the position but only on the outcomes it can provide to lifestyle. All of the aforementioned are only theoretical positions, however it does stand to reason that a person would strive for a better consumerist lifestyle (as products enhance living). It would be a logical assumption that an individual who moves from job position to job position would not find the type of security and longevity that a career-minded individual would within an organisation where commitment is rewarded with larger salary packages. Perhaps, then, those individuals who measure their career success by compensatory incentives only consider the career position as a catalyst for a more rewarding personal lifestyle. The arguments offered by Arthur et al. are quite compelling in that they shed light into the human condition in Western cultures regarding the linkage between career goals and personal lifestyle improvements. Perhaps this would only be a suitable definition of career in the more progressive, Westernised nations, however it does tend to illustrate that the popular phrase the ends justify the means can best describe what career means to some working individuals. Stay with us Two additional theorists define career as “…advancement within a profession or occupation, made possible within an organisation by the provision of a cradle-to-grave employment philosophy” (Sparrow & Hiltrop, 1994: 27). This definition would tend to suggest that the notion of career is only measured by longevity, both between the employee and the employer, meaning both parties are likely seeking long-term organisational relationships. This definition, too, might be assessed as meaning that a career is a reward outcome of a long-term organisational commitment. Inside today’s organisation, there are a wide variety of demands placed on individuals, especially in competitive environments. One need only read through any business textbook and they will witness numerous professional acknowledgements regarding challenges of internal political struggles, maintaining positive public relations aptitudes, peer relationship-building and organisational flexibility. All of these realities of the modern organisation require a dynamic individual who can handle this multi-complex role and be a legitimate asset to the firm its ambitions. Finding an individual who can fulfil these tasks would lead to reward for commitment and longevity, thus making career an outcome as a tangible business reward. This particular argument, though highly practical and somewhat elementary, does tend to highlight that a potential shift in the nature of an employment situation can create the initial impressions of a career. For instance, a traditional worker who rises through the ranks to a high-profile management position may not have viewed their job as a career position until they reached a particular level in the management hierarchy or received an adequate salary close to their ambitions. Thus, it might be said that under this definition, to accurately label oneself as a career-positioned individual might only be developed in the higher echelon of management tiers upon the receipt of an adequate promotion. This particular theory, too, suggests the cradle-to-grave mentality, which was likely more abundant in the time period where workers maintained longevity with a firm in the pursuit of a retirement or pension-like disbursement. Counsell (1996) offers that this mentality is no longer appropriate in business and that those who believe in this cradle-to-grave notion are outdated in terms of how contemporary organisations are managed and operated. This might suggest that businesses today demand performance and a direct exhibition of their talents and capabilities as a means to secure long-term employment rather than offering long-term incentives based on pension-minded longevity. Thus, a career position is not delivered until the employee has delivered value and improvement. A time-learned response Another group of career theorists describe the career from a more psychologically-minded perspective as “a perceived sequence of attitudes and behaviours associated with work experiences and activities over the span of a person’s life” (Hall & Hall, 1990: 30). The aforementioned professional viewpoint suggests that the notion of career is built around the specific events and situations of a particular job or organisational position over an extended period of time. Thus, it might be said that this definition suggests that the idea of career is created by the tangible benefits of a position in terms of self-gratification once the individual has experienced multiple job positions and can accurately conclude that a particular position is best-suited to their own individual needs. Consider the following scenario: An individual in their early 20’s lands several positions over a 10-year period, conducting odd jobs simply for the sake of sustaining lifestyle. By age 30, this individual may have experience in manufacturing, retail or even the service-oriented industry, realising they prefer the manufacturing environment primarily. This would, from a psychological perspective, make this individual lean more toward production as a long-term jobs path. Hence, manufacturing would be considered this person’s career path, as experiences and attitudes toward this type of working environment act as the motivational catalyst to pursue longevity with a production or manufacturing firm. It was crucial to illustrate the aforementioned scenario in order to fully highlight how the psychological and time-based perspectives of career impact long-term career thinking and planning. This particular view of career is quite convincing as it reflects the elements of human nature which drive society’s long-term decision-making processes in terms of committing to an organisational position over an extended period of time. Issues of motivation, self-gratification, and potentially even job security would all be individual outcomes of jobs experiences in an environment where the job position is congruent with personal ambitions. The individual takes these emotional outcomes, formulates them into a decision about long-term career ambitions, ultimately gearing the individual for more than a job, but a career-oriented position. This viewpoint of career also illustrates how inter-connected our emotions actually are in relation to the work environment. Griffin & Moorhead (2006) describe employee motivational theory to include tangible management practices designed to boost staff morale and create a more rewarding organisational environment for subordinate workers. It might be said that under this assumption, as well as the aforementioned professional definition of career, that the inter-connected roles between management and subordinate may, in some fashion, also dictate the emotional (psychological) responses which assist in determining long-term career goals. In essence, it might be said that the nature of the work environment plays a direct factor in whether the individual pursues new job opportunities or commits to a long-term organisational career role. A discussion of theory This project has thus far illustrated three very distinct viewpoints regarding the nature of career and how contemporary employees view career from a personal perspective. It has been suggested that some individuals seek a long-term career simply in the pursuit of receiving compensatory rewards in order to improve the living or personal environment. In similar accord, career has been suggested to actually be the tangible rewards received by an employee in recognition and appreciation for longevity with a company, giving them a higher profile position in which to label more accurately a career than simply a job position. Finally, several professionals viewed career from a psychological perspective, incorporating personal emotion and levels of fulfillment as the catalyst for making long-term career decisions. All of the aforementioned career theorists have managed to illustrate that career can best be defined, from this researcher’s perspective, as an outcome of either emotional responses to organisational positions or due to changes within a specific work environment. This might tend to suggest that the notion of career is not something that is inherent in every person in society, such as a programmed need or human drive to land a position of increased longevity, but is a learned response through a variety of stimuli. If the individual is driven toward career and a high profile position develops due to their long-term commitment to the firm, then career is merely an outcome of changes in the organisational environment. In this scenario, the worker may not have been initially considering career opportunities but has evolved into something more long-term and sustainable by the actions of a management team. It was also suggested that the cradle-to-grave employment system must exist in order to be able to adequately call a job position a career, indicating that today’s workers may actually require intervention on behalf of organisational leadership in order to create perceptions of career. This notion of longevity appears to fit within virtually all definitions of career, whether the individual lands a long-term promotion into a high profile position or whether attitudes about a particular job or industry have developed through life experiences. The longevity factor tends to illustrate that career orientation is something which must be developed, requiring the passage of time and personal experience to reach this new evolution. Each of the professional assessments of career have their own merits, and in many respects are not really that different from one another. Each career theorist essentially suggested that some environmental or intrinsic/extrinsic factor is directly responsible for building notions of career, offering a sequence of inter-connected feeling and events being utilised as the catalyst for categorising a jobs position as a viable career. Conclusion Whether an individual measures career based on tangible rewards, emotional triggers or long-term organisational commitment, it is abundantly clear that career means different things to different people; largely dependent on personal ambitions and long-term lifestyle goals. An individual making only £30,000/year, but has been in this job position for the past two decades, may not consider this position a career, despite the longevity, based solely on the small compensatory package associated with the position. Another individual, under the theory of career as an outcome of lifestyle choices, may have set their own personal ambitions lower, thus a £30,000/year job position affords what is needed and is labeled a career based solely on longevity and contentment with a less-than-stellar pay package. Whether management intervention or the receipt of higher compensation make the notion of career, it is clear that career theorists are somewhat divided regarding their perception of what drives an individual to consider themselves career-minded or career-oriented. Future research into this phenomenon is surely warranted in order to accurately gauge the viewpoints of a wider cross-section of society in the United Kingdom, however each theorist perspective labels career from a different angle suggesting that there really is no definitive label for career. Time, too, appears to be an important thread in the proverbial fabric of career, as it would seem that many individuals measure career based solely on long-term organisational commitment. Of course, landing a position with security and longevity with a firm that is long-term oriented would be required in order for a mutual relationship to be developed and a career position developed subsequently. From this perspective, career entails relationship-building and is focused around reward for productivity and commitment, a definition which appears to most accurately label the contemporary career position. Bibliography Arthur, M., Hall, D., & Lawrence, B. (1989). Handbook of career theory. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Counsell, Doug. ‘Graduate careers in the UK: an examination of undergraduates’ perceptions’. Career Development International. 1(7): 44. Griffin, R. & Moorhead, G. (2006). Organisational Behaviour: Managing People and Organisations. Houghton Mifflin Co. Hall, D.T & Hall, S.H. (1990). Cited in Garavan, T.N. (1990). ‘Promoting strategic career development activities: some Irish experience’. Industrial and Commercial Training. 22(6): 27-30. Sparrow, P. & Hiltrop, J. (1994). European Human Resource Management in Transition. Prentice-Hall, Hemel Hempstead. Read More