A tripartite approach to career

I was thinking that in many ways, Hall (2004) was a seer. In 1976, he described the protean career, "a career orientation in which the person, not the organization, is in charge, where the person’s core values are driving career decisions, and where the main success criteria are subjective (psychological success)" (Hall, 2004, p. 1). Protean careerists have two key drivers: being self-directed, and being values-driven (Inkson et al., 2015).

In our ever-changing world of work, there is a great need for proactivity - self-directed - due to factors such as globalisation and technological advancements (Arthur et al., 2002; Kundi et al., 2024). A protean career attitude allows us to take charge of our career, to adapt, and to hopefully find career satisfaction.

Hall could see that we were going to move away from jobs for life into life-long development (2004), which today leads us to skill clustering. By gaining mastery in a range of skills which interest us, we can apply our particular skill set to any field.

And it is this act of applying our existing skills to any field which reminded me of a tripartite research approach: the dimensions of business research (Veal, 2005). This model has us consider three dimensions of approaches from our central idea in order to refine our ideas, using: contexts/domains; themes/issues; and approaches/methodology (Veal, 2005, p. 20; see diagram accompanying this post):

• Contexts & domains: Human Resources; Industrial Relations; Succession; On-boarding; Retention; Training and Development; Information Technology; International Management; Event management; Project Management; Strategic Management; Governance; Operations Management; Supply Chain; Logistics; Company law; Commercial law; Consumer law; Private sector; Public sector; Not-for-profit; Marketing; Economics; Financial Management; Accounting; Management Accounting; Marketing; Buyer Behaviour.
• Themes & Issues: Communication; Conflict; Culture; Entrepreneurship; Environment; Ethics; Gender; Ethnicity; Age; Stage; Leadership; Learning organisations; Managerial effectiveness; Motivation; Organisation development and change; Organisational behaviour; Climate change; Corporate Social Responsibility; AI; Digitisation; Technology convergence; career management; decentralisation versus centralisation; globalisation versus localisation; local versus national versus international.
• Approaches & methodologies: Subjective versus Objective; Positivist versus Critical/interpretive; Qualitative versus quantitative; Inductive versus deductive; Experimental versus non-experimental; Theory-building versus theory-confirming; Primary data versus secondary data; Self-reported versus Observed; Questionnaire-based surveys versus interviews versus Case study methods versus observations versus Focus groups; Exploratory versus descriptive versus explanatory.

We can consider our approach to our own career as a context (e.g. being people oriented, task-oriented, or values-oriented) or a domain (e.g. organisational development, private practice, career educator); in line with a theme (e.g. sustainability, refugee resettlement, or rehabilitation) or an issue (e.g. green energy, DEI, or access to services); using an approach (e.g. Rogerian client-centred practice or Eganian skilled helping) (Egan, 1975; Rogers, 1942) or a methodology (e.g. choosing tools and techniques). 

Now, while methodologies (Veal, 2005) might be a bit obscure, we could consider this as "The science of method, ‘methodics’; a treatise or dissertation on method; Nat[ural] Hist[ory], systematic classification. Also, the study of the direction and implications of empirical research, or of the suitability of the techniques employed in it" (Simpson & Weiner, 1989, p. 693). Determining the most suitable tools for the our issues - the work which is about us - makes perfect sense in this instance.

All this makes even more sense when we are considering our clients - the work which is before us - within our practice. We could consider our client's approach; taking a client-centred approach to our practice; working out the best tools to enable our client to meet their goals in our sessions.

I need to do more thinking on this, but I am quite liking this as a tool to frame options.

Sam

References:

Arthur, M. B., Khapova, S. N., & Wilderom, C. P. (2005). Career success in a boundaryless career world. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 26(2), 177-202. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.290

Egan, G. (1975). The Skilled Helper: A Model for Systematic Helping and Interpersonal Relating (7th ed., Instructor's ed.). Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.

Hall, D. T. (2004). The Protean Career: A quarter-century journey. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.10.006

Kundi, Y. M., Presti, A. L. & Khan, H. (2024). Designing your own job: how protean mindset and adaptability resources shape the modern workplace. Career Development International, 30(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/cdi-05-2024-0223

Inkson, K., Dries, N., & Arnold, J. (2015). Understanding Careers (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Rogers, C. R. (1942). Counseling and psychotherapy: newer concepts in practice. Houghton Mifflin.

Veal, A. J. (2005). Business Research Methods – A Managerial Approach (2nd ed.). Pearson Education Australia.