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Berne University of Applied Sciences
Media&ng with intersected career boundaries. Career poli&cs of professionals in the energy supply industry in Switzerland.
Dr. Peter Kels Berne University of Applied Sciences Competence Centre for Corporate & Business Development
Berne University of Applied Sciences
Aim and subject of the ar@cle
Focusing on the interplay between career self-‐management strategies and career boundaries by
1. Presen@ng a theore@cal framework (“career poli@cs”) & reinven@ng some basis assump@ons of career theory
2. An explora@on of the complex rela@onship of career self-‐management and career boundaries based on an company case study located in the Swiss energy supply industry
3. Drawing a conclusion for the debate on “boundaryless” careers and career boundaries
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Berne University of Applied Sciences
Theore@cal Framework: The concept of “career poli@cs”
- Basic assump&ons:
1. Context-‐dependency: The acquisi@on of career capital is bounded to different work-‐related contexts and the cri@cal role of gatekeepers (in organiza@ons, occupa@ons, industries, social networks)
2. Social embeddedness: Careers and career poli@cs relate to social rela@onships, roles and iden@@es in work/outside the world of work.
- Careers poli&cs can be understood as reflexive modes coping with and media&ng constraints and boundaries individuals are faced with in their career field and life situa@on
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Berne University of Applied Sciences
Methodology - Interim results taken from the ongoing research project MAPCA, located at the Berne
University of Applied Sciences (Managing Professionals Careers in knowledge-‐based companies)
- MAPCA is aimed at the occupa@onal, company-‐specific opportuni@es for career advancement as well as the career concepts and strategies of professional employees in knowledge and technology-‐intensive companies (www.mapca.ch)
- 3 areas of knowledge-‐based work examined: engineering, project management and energy trading
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Organiza(onal career opportuni(es and boundaries
Career poli(cs media(ng with organiza(onal career boundaries
11 expert interviews with HR and line managers 15 problem-‐centric interviews (Witzel 2000) with professionals with family responsibili@es
Document of related firm-‐specific documents
Berne University of Applied Sciences
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS Case Study
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Berne University of Applied Sciences
Career opportuni@es and boundaries at “Energy”
- Absence of alterna@ve, officially valued career tracks beside the management track
- Hierarchical progression, leadership responsibili@es and pres@ge as prevalent no@ons of an organiza@onal career
- “Post-‐bureaucra@c”, subjec@ve career concepts play a vital role for direc@ng professional biographies, but are not recognized in the corporate culture
- Careers progression s@ll seem subject to informal, poli@cized powerplays and intransparent decisions of an elite of male execu@ves
- The influence of HR strategies and suppor@ng infrastructure on individual career progression seems rela@vely marginal
- Ques@on: How do talents in knowledge-‐intense fields cope with these boundaries? Are they able to trangress them?
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Berne University of Applied Sciences
Career poli@cs media@ng with intersected career boundaries. Type 1: Technical Professionals
- Career ra@onality focused on gaining and expanding their professional skills and experiences in technical fields
- Professional self-‐concept: being an engineer, ideals of professional communi@es
- Conflict: cogni@ve dissonance between career progression (management) and preserving their achieved career iden@ty as an Technical Professional:
“If I would achieve a career step, then I will automa@cally take away my own technical work.”
- Two different coping strategies:
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1. Refusing leadership responsibili@es and acquiring a cross-‐company reputa@on as a Technical expert in a specific professional domain.
2. Moving into leadership posi@ons on lower levels and stay near to their “community of prac@ce”
Berne University of Applied Sciences
Career poli@cs media@ng with intersected career boundaries. Type 2: Versa@lists
- Career ra@onality focused on developing a polyvalent porfolio of competencies
- Professional self-‐concept: Intellectual flexibility, networking competencies, a business orienta@on and a strong affinity to conceptual, entrepreneurial tasks
- Career orienta@on: expansion of responsibili@es in the field of project management and business development
- Career Strategy: nego@a@ng career opportuni@es customized to individual needs:
“If energy wants to retain me, they have to plan step for me and have to say, okay, we will support you on your way”.
- In the case of family responsibili@es: finding a good compromise between own career ambi@ons, career opportuni@es and work-‐life-‐balance.
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Berne University of Applied Sciences
Career poli@cs media@ng with intersected career boundaries. Type 3: Autonomy-‐Seekers
- Career ra@onality focused self-‐determina@on in their work
- Professional self-‐concept: being a top-‐talent with a broad range of capabili@es, performing in an excellent way, collaborate with other high-‐performers
- Career ambi@ons are not bound to specific professions, occupa@ons or organiza@ons
- Concept of subjec@ve career success: using opportuni@es to prove themselves in changing roles, knowledge areas, and working iden@@es (in the life course)
- Career strategy: crea@ng “privileged rela@onships” to supervisors:
“I’m in a posi@on where I can choose which problems I would like to work on and which of them not. I have a rela@vely privileged rela@onship with my boss, because he knows that I’m good at things I like. Therefore, he gives me a lot of freedom to perform well, and that is in his and my interest.”
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Berne University of Applied Sciences
Conclusion
- Evidence of a coexistence of bounded and boundaryless career concepts within the workforce of single organiza@ons
- The tradi&onal culture/structures of corporate careers (hierarchical progression, undisrupted career moves, gendered careers, posi@onal power of management elites) persist
- No&ons of subjec&ve career success (fulfilling work, professional autonomy, integra@on of work and life) are central career orienta&ons in the field of knowledge-‐based work
- “Loose coupling” (Mayrhofer et al 2004) between organiza&onal and individual career poli&cs
- Transferable career competencies don’t lead necessarily to “boundaryless careers”: they are ojen@mes used to nego&ate or create career opportuni&es within the organiza&onal context
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