CAREERS

Careers



Strategic Human Resource Management

Introduction

A career in its most basic sense refers to the temporal progression of an individual through life or a distinct portion of life such as an educational career. A career can also be thought of more narrowly as an individual's progression through a specific occupational sequence such as a medical career or a teaching career. Sociologists have been particularly interested in the work careers of individuals. An early study of the bureaucratic career was done by sociological theorist Max Weber. Within a bureaucracy's hierarchy are a set pattern of positions distinguished by tasks, importance, status, and salary. In ideal bureaucratic careers, people enter the bureaucracy at a low position in the hierarchy, and then as they attain skill and experience, they move up the bureaucratic ladder. However, a career can consist of both vertical and horizontal movements (Cappelli, 1999, 146-67).

A career can be thought of as the record of an individual's vertical moves through positions within a work organization, such as an insurance company or a university, or through an occupation niche, such as medicine or law. For example, a lawyer may after gaining skill and expertise move up from being an associate to being a partner. The lawyer may move up within a single firm or may find a new job in a different firm in order to advance. Workers can also move down the career hierarchy by being demoted.

A career can also include horizontal movements. Individuals can move among positions at the same occupational level. Although the positions may be of the same rank and similar in terms of responsibility, prestige, and income, the actual duties may be very different in positions at a single level. For example, first and fifth grade teaching positions may be similar in terms of rank, social prestige and compensation but will differ greatly in grade content. A teacher may switch from one grade to another not necessarily to increase status, but to increase personal job satisfaction (Elloy, 2003, 55-66).

Each position entails duties, specific compensation, and benefits. Moreover, changing positions within an occupational sequence influences worker identity. Howard Becker, a sociologist, theorized that career movements within work organizations and occupations heavily influence adult identity. As individuals move up or down the career tracks, they internalize both the image and responsibilities of new positions. Workers begin to look at themselves in terms of their newly acquired status. Thus, position within the career hierarchy is central to adult personality and identity (Doogan, 2001, 419-41).

Actually individual careers are not necessarily as rigid as the above discussion implies. Careers may be multidirectional, encompassing both horizontal and vertical movements. In addition, workers may have several occupations throughout their lives. Also, not all occupations have a clear hierarchy of positions and expected career trajectories. For example, a printer may be expected to complete a rigid apprenticeship, while a lucky actor may land a starring role on a television show without having experience.

Regarding research on work careers, sociologists often compare the career trajectories of different groups, for ...