Careers, organizations and environment

Date
1990
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Abstract
Research investigating careers has given only passing interest to external environmental constraints influencing career patterns. This study explores the relationship between individual career patterns of managers and the environment. he environment is conceived as comprising of four dimensions: economic, polilegal, technological and sociocultural. career outcomes or is mediated through the organization in which the career is embedded to form constraints on the career of a manager. To enhance this perspective basic assumptions of career theory were called into question and discarded for assumptions more reflective of todays reality. These assumpt ions were used to construct a theoretical and research model for exploring career patterns of managers. This study attempts to shed some 1 ight on any prevailing characteristics of careers by analyzing the career biographies of managers. Interviews were conducted with thirty-nine managers representing three levels of management: senior management, middle management and supervisors. Their interpretations of events affecting their careers as well as their reaction to key events in their career history provided the bulk of the data for this study. The results from these interviews support previous research on organizational shrinkage and career mobility. More importantly, the results indicate that career theory incorporating assumptions that recognize the importance of environmental constraints may provide for a more complete analysis of careers in today's changing world.
Description
Bibliography: p. 107-116.
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Citation
Montgomery, A. R. (1990). Careers, organizations and environment (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/11961
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