Kels egos slides_final

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


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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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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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


DISCUSSION OF RESULTS Case Study

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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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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”


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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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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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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Kels egos slides_final

Career

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