MSc in Human Resource Management
University of Manchester, Manchester
Academic Year 2001/2002

Career Management in Times of Rapid Change

von: Marco Köster

Contents

1. Introduction

2. The ‘new’ shape of careers

3. Who should manage careers?

3.1 The individual: holding the red thread
3.2 The organisation: issues to be addressed

4. Conclusion

References

1. Introduction

Today’s organisational demand for high flexibility can mainly be attributed to the rapidly changing global economic and social landscape. Organisations find themselves confronted with the need for ongoing transformation as environmental discontinuity requires permanent and accelerated adaptation. Worral and Cooper evaluated the extend of transformation in UK-based businesses in the 1990s and found a “significant amount of restructuring” (1997: 27). There is little doubt that these processes of change have considerable impact on the nature of work and pattern of employment (Mayo 1991: 7; Heritage 2001: 18). In this essay, the ‘new’ shape of careers in rapidly changing environments is examined. As not only economic but also social environments of organisations change, newly emerging career expectations of today’s individuals cannot be neglected. It is essential to briefly review these changes to understand arising necessities in career management. Having established the major features of present careers, the essay proceeds to discussing the responisbility for managing careers. It raises the question, if the individual or the organisation is responsible for career management and outlines issues to be addressed. In a conclusion the main results are briefly summarized.

2. The ‘new’ shape of careers The ‘new’ organisation

Rapid environmental change entails future insecurity. The dynamic situation organisations find themselves in limits the timespan and precision of forecasting (Mayo 1991: 100). Decentralization, empowerment and subsequent “delayering” (IPD 1998: 5) account for the dissolution of middle management layers and result in flatter structures with fewer hierarchical levels (Mayo 1991: 8). Hierarchical complexity is being further reduced by outsourcing (IPD 1998: 5), the general tendency towards downsizing (Herriot and Pemberton 1996: 757), and the increasing amount of team- or project-based work (IPD 1998: 5). Jobs are being enriched, work roles are becoming more flexible and, consequently, organisations are providing fewer job classifications (IPD 1998: 5). At the same time, the labour market as a whole is becoming more diverse through the emergence of new types of jobs (Heritage 2001: 18).

The ‘new’ individual

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