Career Choice In Management pdf

Career Choice In Management

 

Introduction

Mustafa F. Özbilgin and Ayala Malach-Pines

 
The choice of a career is a complex and multifaceted process that includes
all the spheres of a person’s life (Hall, 1996). For one hundred years attempts
have been made to classify the factors that in fluence this process. Most of
these attempts include such factors as aptitudes, interests, resources, lim-itations, requirements and opportunities. Parsons (1909/1989, p. 5), for
example, stated that ‘in the wise choice of a vocation there are three broad
factors: 1. A clear understanding of yourself, your aptitudes, abilities, inter-ests, ambitions, resources, limitations and their causes. 2. Knowledge of the
requirements and conditions of success, advantages and disadvantages, com-pensations, opportunities and prospects in different lines of work. 3. True
reasoning on the relations of these groups of facts’. Parsons’s work served
as the cornerstone in the development of modern counseling theories that
center on the person–environment fit (e.g. Edwards et al., 1998; Kristof,
1996; Swanson, 1996).
In the 1950s, Ginzberg (1951) classified the factors that in fluence career
choices into: self, reality and key people, while Super (1953, 1957) classi fied
them into: (1) Role factors – the self and the role; (2) Personality factors –
intelligence, special abilities, preferences, values, approaches to work, ‘per-sonality’ and general adaptability, and (3) Situational factors – social and
economic status of the parents, religious background, home atmosphere,
parents’ approach, the general economic situation, a state of war or peace,
and training opportunities. It is common today to view vocational choice
as a process, the way Ginzberg did, and as an ongoing process that contin-ues throughout the person’s life, the way Super did. The modern perspec-tive of ‘life career development’ is broad and holistic (Gysbers et al., 1998).
It ‘encompasses all spheres of activity and all corresponding facets of per-sonal identity’ (Hall, 1996, p. 7).
Despite their strengths, modern theories of vocational choice also have
some serious weaknesses (Tang, 2003). One such weakness, which has been
the focus of repeated criticism, is that they are not sophisticated enough in
terms of their theoretical underpinnings and rarely extend to other countries
outside the USA. It has been noted, for example, that they do not include the
in fluence of contextual factors (such as educational and socioeconomic

background, and the environment in which one grows up) (Tang, 2003).
Growing globalization of the workforce increases the need to understand the
cultural context of their work. The conclusion of nine analyses of modern
career theories is that there is need for advance theory that is more contex-
tual and multicultural (Savicas, 2003).
One response to this criticism has been the postmodern perspective.
Postmodernism broadens career theories by focusing on plurality of per-
spectives, on the different social constructions of reality represented by
di fferent cultural perspectives and on the importance of the meaning indi-
viduals give to their experiences (Thorngren and Feit, 2001). Multiple
points of view and cultural influences are central to postmodernism, a
theoretical perspective that has already influenced our understanding of
careers (e.g. Peavy, 1997; Richardson, 1993). The book sheds light on
various antecedents, correlates and consequences of career choice in
two very special professions – management and entrepreneurship – from
di fferent cultural, disciplinary and theoretical perspectives.

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