Chapter 4

Career Management in
the 21 Century
st
Objectives
1. Review traditional approaches to career development
2. Describe the changes that have impacted on careers
3. Explain the newer perspectives of protean, boundaryless and
kaleidoscope career model (KCM) and perspectives of career
development
4. Examine HRM responses to career management challenges

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Traditional perspectives
• Traditional career perspectives developed between the 1950s
and 1970s
• Careers choices were seen as decisions undertaken in early
adulthood, conceived as unfolding in a lockstep, stable-state,
predictable and linear fashion
• Organisations were largely paternalistic and assumed much
of the responsibility for managing the careers of their
employees
• Workers were correspondingly dependent on opportunities
provided by their organisation

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Traditional perspectives
• Training was focused on developing firm-specific skills

• Heavy reliance on the relational psychological contract

• Loyalty and continued organisational membership were offered in exchange for
job security

4
Environmental &
individual changes
• Downsizing and re-structuring of organisations
• Increase in the participation of women
• Outsourcing
• Greater use of part-time and casual labour
• Rise of the ‘gig-economy’
• Increase in incidence of workers seeking job and career change
• Shift in expectations, goals and values of employees

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Contemporary career
perspectives
• Boundaryless careers
• Arthur and Rousseau (1996) applied the term to describe the
notion that workers no longer consider themselves bound to a
single organisation
• An individual’s career will be comprised of lateral moves,
occasional career plateauing and stagnation, periods outside of the
labour market for familial reasons or to acquire human capital and
radical career change
• Workers acting as free agents, will need to demonstrate agency,
have strong internal and external marketability, be motivated by
skill development and be willing to take risks

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Contemporary career
perspectives
• Protean career perspectives
• Adaptable, flexible and independent workers, capable of reinvention in order
to redirect one’s career.
• Protean workers are motivated by psychological success, continuous self-
directed learning, autonomy, flexibility and self-fulfilment
• Protean careers are not attached to one organisation or occupational field

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Contemporary career
perspectives

• Kaleidoscope career model (KCM) perspective

• Takes into account the influence of gender, identity and cultural
influences on one’s career development over life span
• Individual’s career decisions are shaped by 3 parameters –
authenticity (decisions that allow one to be true to oneself), balance
(decisions that allow the achievement of equilibrium work and
nonwork) and challenge (opportunities of autonomy, responsibility,
growth)
• Individuals alter the patterns of their careers by considering the
relative and changing needs for authenticity, challenge and balance
given their current life context, obligations and opportunities

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Contemporary career
perspectives
• Cautionary issues
• Contemporary approaches to careers raise concerns about
• organisational commitment,
• turnover,
• absenteeism,
• job performance, and,
• organisational citizenship behaviour

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HRM Responses

• Succession planning
• Evaluating promotion potential and having a replacement plan
• Lateral moves and secondments
• Cross-functional experience to improve skill development
• Outplacement
• Specialist career counselling to employees who have been
terminated
• Executive coaching

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HRM Responses
• Dual ladders
• Parallel promotion opportunities that allow professional employees to
advance without moving into managerial positions
• Mentoring
• Guidance from a senior, more experienced employee
• Close links between performance management and career
management
• Facilitating career self-management

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HRM Responses

• Integration
• To be effective HRM practices should not be introduced in isolation but rather
as an integrated career system

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Summary

• Traditional approaches to careers have struggled to cope with

the significant changes to the work environment and
individual needs.

• Boundaryless and protean career choices have emerged to

provide horizontal job moves, a response to uncertainty,
transactional psychological contracts, networking and
personal satisfaction.

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Summary

• The Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) provides a

framework in understanding the changing career needs of
individuals across the working life span, taking into
consideration influences of gender, culture, and identity.
• HR can assist with an integrated career management system
that includes succession planning, lateral moves and
secondments, outplacement, executive coaching, dual
ladders, mentoring, performance management and explicit
career training

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