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Career and professional development – challenges for employees and modern

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Article · January 2011

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Aleksandra Peplińska Mariusz Lipowski

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 Aleksandra Peplińska
Mariusz Lipowski
Zdzisław Nieckarz

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Career management can be defined in two dimensions: individual and orga-

nizational. On an individual level, career management consists of a conscious
and consistent implementation of one’s vision of career: personal plans of
development, carving out individual career paths and raising one’s skills.
The focus is on the specific professional and personal needs, attitudes and
values, which means that individual employees do not take into account the
goals and plans of the organization. This is associated with the situation in
the modern labor market, where the vision of a career in a single organiza-
tion is becoming increasingly obsolete. A new career paradigm is emerging
– boundaryless, multi-threaded, multi-faceted and in many organizations.
From the perspective of the company, managing employee careers is to
help realize the plans of the organization by the most efficient use of the
workforce, albeit taking into account their individual needs and goals. Well
prepared career management seems vital for securing a  company’s needs,
continuity of operation, a  better match between workers’ skills and their
tasks, and the optimum use of their potential. It can also help attract more
ambitious candidates for vacancies (Kalinowski, 2007) – deliberate, planned
and consistent career management is conducive to a positive image of the
enterprise among potential employees.
34 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

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Discussion on the question of a professional career should start with expla-
nation of the very notion of career, as until recently it has had a  highly
pejorative connotation (at least in Poland). A  career-oriented person was
usually derogatively thought a mere careerist, moving quickly up the suc-
cessive levels of the hierarchy in the organization, not always owing to one’s
skills and competence (Wiernek, 2003). Moreover, the notion of a ’career’
was reserved only for those in senior positions, managers or the highly skil-
led. It was primarily associated with financial success and found much more
often in colloquial language than in the specialist literature. This does not
mean that researchers and theorists lacked interest in a person’s working life,
but they tended to focus on the notions of “occupation”, vocational training,
career development and counseling.
The concept of ‘career’ began to be used in the mid-20th century, but
its biggest rise in popularity has been over the last ten or so years. This is
reflected in the terminology used (e.g. instead of ‘professional counseling’,
we have now ‘career counseling’), theoretical models, empirical research and
praxis of professional development. Although we use the concept of pro-
fession as permanent, and that occupational science is being developed, an
ever greater emphasis is being put on the broader concept of a professional
career which is often not associated with an acquired profession or even
the actual occupation (Ratajczak, 2007). The concept of an occupation is
defined in many ways in literature, according to the current dominant the-
oretical trend. In the words of Z. Ratajczak (2007, p. 48), occupation denotes
“activities in the social division of labor, that an individual performs con-
stantly or relatively constantly, which serve to provide resources and which
require adequate preparation (qualifications)”.
Of course, the notion of profession does not exclude the notion of a ’ca-
reer’. We can often find their mutual influence, for example when one moves
up the career pathway in one’s occupation, it is preceded by years of edu-
cation. However, nowadays professional career is not so much determined
by one’s professed occupation as it was the case 20–30 years ago. It is now
treated more as the “way leading to professional perfection and satisfaction”
(Wiernek, 2003, p. 56); or as “activities of man that are socially organized in
 Career and professional development – challenges for employees … 35

such a way they lead to socially valuable outcome and elevate the individual
quality of life” (Lubrawska, 2008).
According to A. Bańka (2007), there are two approaches to professional
career. The first one concentrates on the structural property of the occu-
pation or organization. The other focuses on the qualities of an individual.
In the former approach, career denotes a sequence of successive positions
taken by a typical representative of a certain profession in a path of develop-
ment within an organization at a certain position or for a given specialty, e.g.
as a  human resources manager, sales manager. This approach emphasizes
the structural actions of the organization concerning the employees’ careers
and establishing the individual pathways of development. According to the
latter approach, career is treated as an individual characteristic of a  wor-
ker, consisting of the successive roles and professional experience acquired
over their entire life (Bańka 2007). It is therefore a unique composition of
individual experience; it determines the activities of an individual and their
investment in education.
A review of literature and terminology associated with the notion of
career leads to the conclusion that all the classifications of career may be
limited to these two major approaches – i.e from the perspective of an in-
dividual and that from the view of an organization. A. Bańka (2007) also
emphasizes that the professional career may include both the objective ele-
ments (such as taken positions, competences, roles) and subjective ones
(aspirations, expectations, values, needs). Both organizations and individual
employees try to realize the subjective elements of their own visions of care-
er using the objective elements. The problem is only to successfully combine
these two visions, and the modern approach to career postulates the com-
bination of individual and organizational actions. Only such an approach
guarantees the realization of goals at minimum costs.

Theories of careers and professional development

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A review of literature on the theory of career and professional development

shows the dominant role of the individual approach. As mentioned abo-
ve, in the beginning research on professional development concentrated
36 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

more on the notion of occupation than career, which was not only due to
the mere terminology but to the perception of professional life. Over the
many years of research and theoretical work, four main theoretical currents
have emerged, associated with the development of psychological theories
– psychotechnics and factor trait model, psychodynamics, developmental
theories and social cognitive theories (Paszowska-Rogacz, 2003). The pre-
sentation of these currents below is not meant to be very detailed, but rather
to show a certain evolution of approach to professional development, chan-
ges in the perception of the choice of occupation and professional career. It
is worth mentioning at this point that all these currents are highly individu-
alistic in nature.
In early periods, the question of professional development was domina-
ted by the trait and factor theory, and the derived psychotechnics, initiated
by F. Parsons (Bajcar, Borkowska, Czerw, Gąsiorowska, Nosal, 2006). In this
approach it was assumed that each person has a  set of unchangeable and
unique predispositions, known as traits. Each occupation and each job co-
uld therefore be characterized by the permanent and constant preferences
concerning the employees. The whole difficulty lay in the adequate recogni-
tion of the individual’s potential and the match between their characteristics
and occupations. A good match is the most crucial factor for the professio-
nal success of an individual (Paszowska-Rogacz, 2003). These assumptions
resulted in the emergence of theoretical models describing the aforementio-
ned traits of individuals; the most known and empirically verified theories
concentrated on professional interests, for example the theories of Holland,
Strong, Pretinger, Kudera (Spotkane, Cruza-Guet, 2005).
The postulates of the trait and factor theory initiated intense work and
research on adequate diagnostic tools (hence the term: psychotechnics). Ho-
wever, despite the amount of work by theoreticians and practitioners, the
theory was widely criticized. Its proponents were accused of overestimating
the rationality of professional choices, not allowing for psychological pro-
cesses and emotional states, and the schematic and inadequate perception of
professional development as the single choice for the rest of one’s life.
The popularity of the model was followed by the domination of psycho-
dynamics, a  modified version of psychoanalytical theory, derived directly
from the concepts of S. Freud (Paszowska-Rogacz, 2003). It focused on links
between the past experiences of an individual and current behavior, e.g.
 Career and professional development – challenges for employees … 37

during work. Unsolved conflicts from the past, e.g. in the family, were tho-
ught to hinder the present relationships with colleagues at work or superiors.
The most coherent and thorough application of the psychodynamic mo-
del can be found in the works of E.S. Bordin, taking into account the series of
factors that condition professional choices, e.g. economic, cultural, ethnic,
geographical, biological and purely accidental. The author focuses on early
childhood experiences, with particular emphasis on links between profes-
sional work and play as the all-embracing experience and need typical for
every person. Another example of a theory in this current is the concept by
A. Roe, who classified parental approaches and sought to find connections
between parental attitudes and their children’s approach to work (Bajcar,
Borkowska, Czerw, Gąsiorowska, Nosal, 2006).
The developmental approach had an immense influence on the modern
understanding of career and professional development. Here, the choice of
occupation is not a single act, but a series of decisions. The characteristic
property of this approach was a distinction of the many stages of professional
development. Some researchers concentrated only on childhood and adole-
scence (Ginzberg, Ginzburg, Axelrad and Herma), while some included the
entire human life (D.  Super). These concepts underlined the processional
character of changes leading to professional maturity; the focus shifted from
the very choice of occupation to a wider notion of professional career, allo-
wing for a wide spectrum of determinants (e.g. D. Super theory, presented
further in this chapter) and themodel of work’s importance, allowing for
a number of other roles in human life which determine involvement in the
professional role (Savickas, 2005).
A relatively recent approach to professional development is the social-
-cognitive approach based foremostly on the theories of social learning by
A.  Bandura, concentrating on the interactions between the environment
and the individual. The focal points of this approach are the processes of ta-
king professional decisions, with the dominant decision-making styles, and
in barriers in the process of decision-making (theories by J.D. Krumboltz,
D.V. Tiedeman, R. O’Hary and A. Miller-Tiedeman). This social-cognitive
current created the fundaments in research on professional decision-making
over the entire human life, allowing for changes occurring in the person and
the environment. Both the developmental and social-cognitive approaches
postulated instability and changeability of preferences of the individual at
38 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

the various stages of individual development. At each of the stages, an indi-

vidual shows a different range of abilities, different personal and professional
maturity, and different needs, which then determines the vision of career
and professional development.

The stages of professional development and employee careers

According to the one of the principle assumptions in the D. Super concept,

an individual shows an instability of preferences and interests in time, and
therefore the process of choosing activities (tasks, professional career) and
that adapting to new or changing conditions is lifelong (Bajcar, Borkowska,
Czerw, Gąsiorowska, Nosal, 2006). That is why in literature we may find many
divisions of human professional life into stages, usually ranging from 3 to 9.
According to the Ginzberg theory, the direction of professional
development goes from a  fantastic vision to ever increasing realism (Pa-
szowska-Rogacz, 2005). Based on their studies, they observed three main
stages of professional development – the fantasy stage, in which children
are oriented mainly at playing during which they realize their first concepts
of occupations; the tentative stage, when adolescents gradually start to take
into account specific individual characteristics and preferences, such as in-
terests, abilities and values. Finally the awareness of young people increases
and their choices become increasingly realistic, hence the realistic stage of
realistic choices, allowing for the real requirements of individual occupa-
tions and professions. However, it must me born in mind that this concept
has a number of practical limitations as it concerns solely the period before
starting professional life and is highly one-dimensional as it concerns youth
studying at universities.
Such limitations are not found in the D. Super theory, which presents
5 main stages of professional career, allowing for the entirety of human life
and reflecting the main periods of human development: the stage of growth,
exploration, establishment, maintenance and decline (Savickas, 2005). The
characteristic quality of moving through the successive stages is the personal
maturation of an individual, also in terms of professional career, realizing
one’s own needs, abilities and the situation in the labor market, looking
for one’s own niche and own career path, in order to find full stability and
 Career and professional development – challenges for employees … 39

security. The limitation of this division consists in its distinctly individual

dimension, not taking into account the organizational dimension – strictly
defined conditions of a given enterprise.
In other publications, one can find four main career stages – prepara-
tion, early career, middle career, and late career. Preparation occurs in the
first years of professional life and is very often a simple reproduction of pre-
viously acquired skills and knowledge. From the view of an organization, the
most important concerns are the individual predispositions of an employee
and any particular abilities, e.g. pace of learning. From an individual per-
spective, experience gained during that time is most important, determining
the further course of the career. Hence each person shows certain abilities
and also limitations which can influence the professional life of an individu-
al and the entire organization.
Nowadays professional career advisers observe two most frequent
approaches to careers at this early stage – building an effective CV, and acqu-
iring professional competences (Suchar, 2003). Building an effective CV is
based on seeking and starting work in large prestigious companies, not ne-
cessarily at a post that is comparable to qualifications or education. It is the
prestige of the company that matters, which, using the halo effect, should
help perception of the individual in the future by potential employers and
the high value of the acquired experience. The strategy of building profes-
sional competence consists in seeking occupations where specific skills can
be acquired. The final effect is a wide range of skills and experience that can
be useful in the future. This strategy of gaining experience is in line with the
modern trends in employment in individual companies, known as building
career capital. However, these initial stages of a career are associated with
certain inconveniences for young employees, reflected in the effectiveness
and productiveness of this work, and hence may be a burden for the orga-
nization. This means the feeling of being incompetent, the discrepancy of
expectations, disillusionment with the performed tasks, limited autonomy
or too low a level of challenge (Wiernek, 2003).
The subsequent early period of a career is sometimes called the period of
actual professional activity, associated with building one’s own professiona-
lism. The advantage and characteristic of this professionalism is a combination
of the acquired (and still relevant) theoretical knowledge and preparation
for work with the increasing professional experience (Pocztowski, 2007). In
40 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

the individual perspective there increases the importance of being promo-

ted, recognition from superiors, financial benefits and power. Similarly to the
previous stage, we may observe two most frequent strategies of professional
development – specialization or universalism (Suchar, 2003).
The strategy of specialization consists of deepening specific knowledge
of a narrow selected domain thanks to which one can gain rare and hence
highly valued competences. The risk of using this strategy is related to ina-
dequate recognition of the market needs and serious problems with finding
demand for one’s services. A narrow specialization gives the advantage of
being a sought-for expert but may lead to serious difficulties in the labour
market and the necessity of acquiring new qualifications.
A career strategy based on universalism stands in opposite to the one
based on specialization. It is based on widening the range of experience and
competence, often beyond occupation or position. This strategy results in
a higher elasticity and relatively better position in the labour market. This
universalist strategy is promoted by modern job advisers, academic teachers,
career offices or society in general. It is being used increasingly often, e.g.
through combining several faculties during studies giving a  unique set of
skills (e.g. psychology and computer science), having several occupations at
the same time (several areas of employment), professional learning beyond
the needs of the current occupation.
The third stage of a professional career, known as the middle period, is
most often associated with sharing professional experience through taking
higher posts in an organization, and having the role of a formal or informal
leader, mentor or coach. The advantage of employees in this period is based
on a rich professional career, and their professional potential depends on the
versatility of competences and acquired skills (Pocztowski, 2007).
The last stage, known as the period of late career, often consists of en-
joying the fruits of the previous professional activity, e.g. through the well
deserved retirement. However, reaching retirement age does not have to
mean the end of professional activity. Despite increasing dynamics in the la-
bour market, propagation of youth, mobility, independence and vitality, the
informal position of wise man still exists (Suchar, 2003) – an elderly person
with rich experience and knowledge.
Unfortunately, the decrease in professional activity and retirement may
be associated with numerous difficulties of a  psychological nature – the
 Career and professional development – challenges for employees … 41

feelings of inadequacy, being rejected, somatic disorders, depression and

fear. In these conditions, one can easily suffer from deteriorating health and
die prematurely. This is much more frequent among men (the stereotypical
division of roles, with a  greater importance of work in men’s life), people
with third-level education (highly developed professional identity) and ma-
nagers (the sense of helplessness and being unnecessary) (Wiernek, 2003).

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The course of a career, during its various stages and throughout the life of
an individual, is simultaneously determined by many factors. In the most
cited and most comprehensive model, career gate determinants by D. Su-
per (Arnold, Cooper, Robertson, 1995) the key element (arch of the gate) is
the self-concept that integrates other factors. These other factors form the
columns supporting the said arch, thereby expressing the underlying deter-
minants of the subjective nature – genetic factors (biological base), needs,
values, interests, achievements, and selected aspects of personality; and so-
cio – economic determinants – geographical base, economics, labor market,
social norms and employment practice (Arnold, Cooper, Robertson, 1995).
Thus, D. Super indicated many aspects of individual career, and undermined
the piecemeal approaches that focused only on selected aspects. Hence in this
review, in order to present all the aforementioned factors, we divided them
into psychological (individual), social and organizational determinants.

Psychological determinants of career and professional development

In literature, psychological or individual factors determining the career usu-

ally include various forms of intelligence, different areas or types of personality,
vocational interests, values, and human needs related to work (Guichard,
Huteau, 2005). Studies on the relationships between different forms of intelli-
gence and professional success performed consistently over the past decades
do not lead to clear conclusions. First of all, no relationship has been unambi-
guously shown between different types of intelligence (referring to the concept
of multiple intelligence) and the various types of occupations or jobs. As some
42 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

studies have shown, e.g. by Ghiselli (Guichard, Huteau, 2005) carried out on
individuals mobilized into the army during the war, and involving compari-
sons of several groups with different professional profiles using such tests as
such GATB, may be due to the fact that the occupations considered in relation
to intellectual abilities cannot be classified into clear and distinct categories.
Although the intellectual level cannot be used to unequivocally pre-
dict membership of particular professional groups, it allows the prediction
of professional success. As reported by Jensen (Guichard, Huteau, 2005),
for the vast majority of the occupations, the results of general intelligence
tests proved to be most predictive, and this predictiveness increased with
the complexity of the pursued professional activity. These postulates. ho-
wever, are not reflected in the practices of organizations in the selection of
candidates, staff evaluation or decisions about their career paths. There is
a widespread belief that the overall level of intelligence may be reflected in
effectively coping with difficulties, a broader spectrum of possible remedies,
skills, logical thinking, but does not necessarily translate into professional
success at a given position.
The connection between intelligence and different aspects of personality
seems to be as obvious as the relationship between intelligence and occupa-
tions (Guichard, Huteau, 2005). For example, there is a  close relationship
between the internal locus of control and professional ambitions and aspi-
rations. People of this type, with conviction about their own impact on life
events and decisions, have a stronger incentive to seek new solutions and
information that may prove useful in action (Karney, 2004). Due to relati-
vely high self-esteem and self-acceptance levels they are less influenced by
social or environmental pressures, and as workers are better in coping with
difficult situations, have more initiative and are more effective at leading and
directing teams of employees (Karney, 2004).
In their search for links between the course of career and personality, re-
searchers often refer to the Costa and MacCrae model, known as the Big-Five
model. Analyses made by Barrica and Mount (Skłodowski, Stawasza, 2007)
on many professional and social groups using the NEO-FFI questionnaire
showed that the dimension of extraversion-introversion is a rather poor pre-
dictor for career. Significance of extraversion occurred only in the case of
a group of managers and salesmen. It was found however, that high extra-
version correlated significantly with the rapid acquisition of professional
 Career and professional development – challenges for employees … 43

skills, e.g. due to the energy and activity level. According to the aforemen-
tioned authors, the highest predictive power in the context of career can be
seen a dimension of conscientiousness. They found that conscientiousness
correlates with a favorable course of careers in all occupations – individuals
with high levels of conscientiousness are independent and have a high level
of autonomy. The survey also showed that results at work are negatively in-
fluenced by neuroticism, for example at managerial positions (Nosal, 2007),
and that there is no connection between the level of openness and professio-
nal results (Skłodowski, Stawasza. 2007).
Professional interests are very often mentioned as an important aspect
of individual personality. One of the most popular and common concepts
that focuses on professional interests, is the theory of J. Holland (Zawadzka,
Szczygieł, 2007) which divides occupational preferences into six types. Each
of them is associated with a specific method of acquiring, collecting, and un-
derstanding information about occupations and career paths. The researcher
postulated the existence of 720 personality patterns that are a combination of
six basic types of preferences, i.e. realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterpri-
sing, and conventional (Bajcar, Borkowska, Czerw, Gąsiorowska, Nosal, 2006).
Similarly, we can distinguish six types of occupational environments
which are dominated by certain types of personalities, styles of behavior and
problem-solving, and that offered opportunities for growth. The basic task
for an individual boils down to seeking a work environment that is relevant
to their personality type, and the degree of interaction between personality
and work environment can influence the behavior of an individual, e.g. in
terms of their effectiveness, level of motivation, engagement and employ-
ment-related decisions.
Values are another important element of human personality that influ-
ences the professional career. Contemporary research on values associated
with work can be reduced to two positions (Carvell, 2002). According to
the first, values are seen in an objective sense and can be viewed in terms
of social norms that contain goals and ideals. According to the second po-
sition, values are considered to be subjective and are treated as permanent
elements of personality, fixed preferences, which may modify individual
attitudes towards work and career.
In the D. Super’s approach (Paszowska-Rogacz, 2009) values are a ful-
ly conscious process of imagining what is worth desiring, what meets the
44 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

needs, and what the individual perceives as important. Values are here
a result of constant beliefs that affect the preferences of an individual. Em-
pirical research on the relationship between the hierarchy of values and
professional career indicates the regulatory functions of values which shape
individual expectations concerning career and work, are a kind of motor for
professional development, influencing the choice of profession and indirec-
tly affecting the level of satisfaction with the work undertaken.
According to the concept of E. Schein (Paszowska-Rogacz, 2009) there
is a close relationship between the value system of an individual, and com-
petence, needs and career path. This author distinguished eight groups of
values that represent the so-called ‘career anchors’: technical / functional com-
petence – the advancement of knowledge in a particular area, striving to be
an expert; managerial competence – striving to attain managerial positions
and financial success; autonomy and independence – seeking to expand one’s
own freedom, decreasing restrictions and increasing independence; security
and stability – the main motor of activity is an emotional relationship with
the company and a sense of loyalty; entrepreneurial creativity – the pursuit
of one’s own ideas, implementing changes and innovation; service / dedica-
tion to a cause – when people are driven more by how they can help other
people than by using their talents; pure challenge – the desire to meet chal-
lenges, difficulties and opposition to take risks; lifestyle – maintaining the
right balance and harmony between different aspects of life. As evidenced by
E. Schein (1985) matching career anchors that dominate in an individual in
the working environment results in greater efficiency, job satisfaction, and
can lead to a sense of stability and confidence in the organization.

Social determinants of career and professional development

The course of individual careers is not only influenced by internal factors

alone that make up the characteristics of an individual. There also exists
a number of external stimuli shaped by society and environment, such as
the national educational system and training programs, labor market, cor-
porate policies, social structures, and the socio-legal system (Volk, 2006).
Also noteworthy are geographical conditions that influence preferences
concerning work and occupations. Yet another very important factor in
determining the course of a career is the influence of the family.
 Career and professional development – challenges for employees … 45

From the earliest age, children observe the actions of their parents and
acquire certain norms and principles which they then often duplicate in the-
ir adult life, for example, they assume a dominant pattern of career – as an
entrepreneur, employee or when following some family traditions that de-
termine the choice of occupation or profession (Paszowska-Cuckold, 2005).
As postulated by A. Paszkowska-Rogacz (2005), based on her many years of
research and advisory practice, every family has not only its own unique hi-
story, but prefers a specific model of working life. By growing up in a specific
system, children often learn through the unconscious imitation of lifestyles
and occupational preferences of their parents.
Preferred career models are also very important, specific types of re-
lationships between work and family which are then reproduced by the
younger generation. Evans and Bartolome (1984) on the basis of their stu-
dies suggested the existence of six models of careers: separate spheres model
– a  complete separation of spheres of personal and professional life, spil-
lover / crossover model – within which both these spheres strongly overlap;
multiple roles model characterized by a conflict between the roles, compen-
sation model – work or family life are a form of compensation for a failed
personal life or professional development; job demands model in which pro-
fessional work is only a means for meeting other more important needs, and
interactive model, in which professional life is inextricably linked with the
personal life, e.g. in a family enterprise.
National culture is another social factor which has been an important
element in research and theories on career development. In this respect
the theory of C.D. Derr is quite interesting, who, referring to the concept
of E.  Schein, distinguishing internal and external careers, attempted to
explain the same phenomenon with regard to cultural frameworks (Bear,
2007). That author understands internal career as the personal and sub-
jective map that any individual has and which is substantially affected by
national culture through the supplied patterns of behavior, norms, cu-
stoms, divisions of roles, e.g. by gender.
External career is understood as a  way of seeing and understanding
facts surrounding the organization, such as the labor market, importance of
workers for the organization, the dominant employment strategy and policy.
In this way national culture affects external career by shaping the culture
of the organization. In a  model proposed by C.D.  Derr, national culture
46 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

influences mostly internal career through an appropriate social commu-

nication (norms, rules, customs). However, it also significantly influences
organizational culture, indicating the dominant norms, values or artifacts,
thereby affecting the careers within the organization (external career).

Organizational determinants of career and professional

development

An organization is another important environment that has an impact on

career and professional development of individuals. In this context, we need
to come back to the aforementioned model by C.D. Derr, highlighting the
role of organizational culture (Miś, 2007). Careers depend on the organi-
zation’s employment strategy, approach to human resource planning, the
essential objectives of the organization, and also the life of an organization,
its size, location, sector etc. It is worth focusing, however, on the system of
careers that is dominant in the organization, which seems most crucial for
the individual career paths.
Literature most often mentions two ways of building careers in an or-
ganization – individualistic and structural (Arnold, Cooper, Robertson,
1995). In line with this particular individualistic approach, the individual
(employee) is responsible for the shape of his own career and professional
development. It is an individual that creates and realizes the career, taking
into account individual interests, abilities, needs, as well as objective factors
such as age or sex. Career is realized outside the framework of the organiza-
tion or independently. However, ignoring the impact of the organization can
create many barriers in the implementation of careers e.g. conflicting ob-
jectives of the organization and an individual. In contrast, in the structural
approach, careers of employees are “a structural aspect of the organization”
(Bear, 2007, p. 107). Career is thus shaped by the internal labor market, em-
ployment policy, company needs, and the established career paths in the
organization. However, this approach also seems to be limited and incom-
plete due to ignoring the needs of individuals, not taking into account their
characteristics, abilities and plans.
After just a  cursory observation of contemporary organizations, one
can conclude the individualistic approach is more frequent, freeing the
 Career and professional development – challenges for employees … 47

organization from responsibility for the careers of its employees and the-
reby reducing its operational costs. This theory remains only speculation
that should be supported by more systematic research. Unfortunately, the
individualistic approach makes it impossible to implement the goals of the
organization in the long term, due to the lack of integration with the objec-
tives of employees, and may generate additional costs, such as those related
to staff turnover. The individualistic approach leaves employees isolated,
shaping their own individual career paths using incomplete or inadequate
information about themselves or their organization.
In another respect, this approach may lead to the rise of individuali-
stic attitudes within the organization or promoting private purposes at the
expense of the organization’s objectives. It therefore seems reasonable to
integrate the individualistic and structural approaches, thereby combining
the needs and objectives of the organization with the needs and objectives
of each individual employee. Attempts at such a connection were made by
J. Rosenbaum (Miś, 2007) who created the concept of human capital in the
economy. According to the author, this approach is a  detailed version of
the individualistic model that simultaneously underlines the importance of
structural factors.
The main aim of the model is a combination of individual investments
made by an employee in order to improve skills and competencies, together
with investment by the organization in its human resources for the sake of
future profits. The practical consequence of this approach consists in the
identification and development of human capital by the organization in
terms of individual needs. The main obstacles to this approach lie in the
limitations of the organization in diagnosing the human capital, the allo-
cation of employees, offering employment and training programs. These
limitations usually stem from a lack of funds, incompetence or lack of inte-
rest by managers, or a lack of appropriate diagnostic tools and evaluation.
In practice, the model is implemented by organizations in its “compe-
tition-oriented” variant (Pocztowski, 2007). In this system, an individual is
subject to continuous evaluation, and is continually involved in permanent
competition with other workers in order to be noticed and invested in. A fa-
ilure, in that competition is irreversible with regards to the implications for
the future career. It is emphasized that this model is based on inequality and
can lead to the short-sighted “rat race” model of work. For example, staying
48 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

too long in the same position, even at a very high one, reduces involvement
in competition and is perceived as evidence of failure. From a psychological
perspective, this model can lead to abnormal development of interpersonal re-
lationships, intensified competition, an atmosphere of hostility, mistrust and
suspicion. Consequently, it adversely affects the organization itself – reducing
effectiveness, resulting in the outflow of qualified personnel, an increase in
the number of conflicts, and is a burden for workers who suffer from elevated
levels of fatigue, emotional tension, psychosomatic disorders and, finally, in
abnormal attitudes to work, such as workaholism and burnout.

 0GYEJCNNGPIGUTGNCVGFVQECTGGTCPFRTQHGUUKQPCN
 FGXGNQROGPVtVJGOQFGTPNCDQTOCTMGV
According to Z. Ratajczak (2007) we are now in a period characterized by
radical changes, transformations of many institutions, including organiza-
tions in the labor market. These transformations include those of a positive
nature, such as privatization of state enterprises, the release of energy and
stimulated activity of enterprises, increased access to education, improved
quality of goods and services, etc., but also those that are negative, such as
massive structural unemployment, restricted access to employment among
graduates and the elderly, an increase in the number of homeless, the impo-
verishment of society, the dispersion of capital from Polish companies and
many others. There are also some additional phenomena such as globaliza-
tion and transnationalization that have a very intense impact on the life of
each employee, including the course and the shape of their careers.

Changes in worker careers in the face of globalization

Observing contemporary transformations and the pace of social chan-

ge, many changes can be seen in the course of careers and career-related
expectations. Changes in the shape of modern careers are explained by the
evolution of organizational forms within which they are implemented. In
literature, the most popular classification shows companies with functional,
divisional and matrix organizations (Miś, 2007).
 Career and professional development – challenges for employees … 49

The functional form of an organization refers to the division of the or-

ganization into multiple cells specialized in a  specific task and requiring
specialist skills and qualifications from their workers. Possible career paths
and promotions only apply to employees within the cells and often solely
mean further development and improvement of qualifications. Only at the
managerial level can workers develop not only specialized skills, but also
skills related to management. Workers in this group are also offered a much
wider repertoire of possible promotions (Pocztowski, 2007).
Organizations with the divisional form are composed of autonomous
cells operating independently in the market. They exhibit a  high level of
internal differentiation, for example in their strategies. Career development
of individuals takes place within these individual companies that constitute
the part of a larger whole. However, in comparison with the previous type
of organizations, they have a broader range of development paths and posi-
tions, and professional development is possible in many directions (Arnold,
Cooper, Robertson, 1995).\
The emergence of matrix forms of organizations was recognized as
a specific response to the internationalization of the market, free movement
of foreign capital and of people (Miś, 2007). A characteristic feature of this
organization is the high degree of specialization, low formalization, high le-
vel of decentralization, and the high volatility of roles and positions played
by individuals. Work is performed within teams, albeit a  single employee
can participate in more than one team. The career development of individu-
als focuses on technical skills closely related to their functions. The novelty
of this approach consists in the division of responsibility for an individual
employee’s career development. The responsibility is divided between the
head of the functional cell, who assesses the employee’s potential, the direct
manager of the team performing the task and the employee himself.
All the aforementioned forms of organization have been defined
by A.  Toffler as “second wave” organizations. In order to illustrate these
forms, he used the metaphor of a slender pyramid with enhanced levels
and clearly defined rules, personnel policies or procedures that determine
decision-making (Miś, 2007).
Globalization and the resulting transformations, including techno-
logical ones, have created the need for higher flexibility of organizations
with regard to their structures and management systems. According to
50 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

Z. Ratajczak (2007, p. 29) globalization encompasses all the changes taking

place in recent years involving the “free and not controlled flow of informa-
tion, goods, services, capital and people”. Unfortunately, access to labor is
uneven, similarly to the disproportionate deployment of capital. The world
faces consumer determinism, a growing divide between wealth and poverty,
rising crime, etc. Globalization is also accompanied by transnationalization
(Bańka, 2004), characterized by the crossing of frontiers which have been
established by national cultures and organizational cultures.
This affects trends in planning and realizing careers in the cross-border,
international and intercultural contexts (Bobek, Robbins, 2005). Achieving
high economic efficiency has become a  core value for modern global or-
ganizations. In response to these transformations, in 1980s new types of
organizations appeared – those with network structures, defined by A. Tof-
fler as the “Third Wave organizations” (Miś, 2007), accompanied by the end
of careers within just one company. Such organizations are the sum of com-
petences available in a single company, the synergic effect of the company’s
potential and its current partners, and the sum of the availability of certain
resources within the entire network.
The basis for planning a career in a network organization is the category
of competence – especially competence in teamwork. As cited by A.  Miś
(2007), these skills are understood in three ways: as the skills and knowled-
ge used inside and outside the network, as the skills necessary to build this
network, and skills associated with managing relationships. Professional de-
velopment and career depend mostly on the individual, with only a partial
role of the organization, and depend on initiative, a response to the condi-
tions and career opportunities within the organization.
Among the available forms of career development in this type of or-
ganization, there exists only limited position-related paths of development
(resulting from the minimized hierarchical structure within the company),
and the choice of career path can be a bit risky, but attractive to people with
high motivation for achievement. “It is an employee that selects opportuni-
ties and prepares himself to use them […]. The organization develops and
carries out tasks aimed at rewarding individual creativity, acts as a consul-
tant and opens career opportunities associated with the accumulation of
knowledge. Knowledge becomes a strategic resource” (Miś, 2007, p. 118).
However, changes in the global labor market seem to foster yet another
 Career and professional development – challenges for employees … 51

new type of organization – that perhaps we could term a “fourth wave or-
ganization”. This organization would cease to function as an employer, and
would become solely a  place where employees can use their professional
skills. The formal structure of an organization, traditionally understood, ce-
ases to exist and is being replaced by the specific interaction system that is
modified depending on the task. Development of careers in such organi-
zations no longer depends on specialized skills that are developed in one
direction, but those developed comprehensively, often internationally or
interculturally.
According to R.E. Milles, “the organization of the future will not use its
employees, but instead the employees will use the organization to realize
their own projects” (Miś, 2007, p. 119). In this perspective, the organization
of the future will become a tool in the hands of an individual who can use
their widely understood skills within the organization. Yet these skills will
not consist in building expertise and forming a well educated specialist, but
in accumulating knowledge in a comprehensive way – including things such
as technical knowledge, ability to cooperate and development of interperso-
nal relationships. Position-related career will cease to exist, and making the
most of one’s skills will become the basic attribute of the career.
Thus, the individual career and processes within the organization will be-
come one. This vision of a new form of organization confirms the concept by
A. Bańka (2006), i.e. a concept of career capital, understood as accumulated
competences acquired in the course of education, work, and social and cultu-
ral experience. As befits the capital – it can grow, but also lose its value. Career
capital is relevant in the careers of a new type, i.e. careers without limits, asso-
ciated with crossing various boundaries of occupations and positions.
Individuals constantly move from one job to another, organizations
and projects change, requiring constant mechanisms of adaptation to new
situations and updating or expanding one’s own career capital (Bańka,
2005). A characteristic feature of careers without limits is the continual,
cyclic breaking of contracts in order to seek new opportunites for renewal.
This process is seen as a specific, individual investment with profits expec-
ted in the future.
52 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

Career and atypical forms of employment

“Fourth wave organizations” are still a matter for the future. Unfortunate-
ly, modern companies remain focused only on economic results, often at
the expense of their employees and their personnel policy. Their planning
perspective then becomes increasingly short-term, which may bring tan-
gible results at that time, but in the future may impede the development of
the organization. Currently, the dominant employment policy suggests the
maximum reduction in personnel costs and the emergence of atypical forms
of work. According to A. Bańka (2007) these changes are associated with the
major phenomena of delayering and downsizing.
And so, employment contracts of indefinite duration are being replaced
by fixed-term contracts or atypical forms of employment, such as staff leas-
ing or outsourcing. This often leads to a situation in which an employee is
dismissed, and then “recruited” again as an external self-employed consul-
tant. The benefit that comes with this approach is a better match between the
tasks and the potential of staff. Unfortunately, this type of policy also leads
to some paradoxes. On one hand, the organization does not provide workers
with the elementary sense of security and stability in life; it is guided by its
own particular economic benefits and gives employees a strong impression
that they are less important – they are the only tool to achieve important
goals that are set by the company.
On the other hand, employees are expected to exhibit innovation, cre-
ativity, seeking new solutions, without investing in their skills. It is expected
that they will be loyal to the organization and fully prepared to effectively
implement all the designated tasks, to be flexible and amenable. This dis-
crepancy may lead to adverse long-term consequences – a massive outflow
of skilled workers and inflow of the less competent but more desperate. This
can contribute to a  personnel crisis in the organization, lack of adequate
workforce, while on the other hand it may affect the quality of work and
hence the quality of goods or services. In today’s crowded market, it is qual-
ity that determines the organization’s value and survival (Miś, 2007).
The introduction of new forms of employment in organizations may
indeed contribute to positive, beneficial changes in the shapes of individual
career plans. However, this needs to be accompanied by a reasonable rela-
tion with workers, aimed at not only minimizing effort and costs, but also
compensating for the lower sense of security by providing opportunites to
learn, promote development and individual investment in the career. This
 Career and professional development – challenges for employees … 53

kind of thoughtful, rational action on the part of organizations could foster

the adaptability of workers and increase their mobility (Miś, 2007).

Careers in the face of international mobility

The changes associated with globalization and transnationalization inevi-

tably lead to increased mobility of the workforce, occupational mobility,
blurring boundaries associated with geography, nationality, culture, time
and space. These changes are clearly reflected in modern careers. Increased
movement of people (migration) and the strengthening of international co-
operation between organizations and a number of other institutions, poses
new challenges for both the employees and the organization. The impor-
tance of gaining language skills, and the ability to establish interpersonal
relationships, cultural and moral tolerance, flexibility and mobility.
All this requires modification of the education system and career coun-
seling, so that individuals can acquire knowledge in European or global labor
markets. Similar challenges concern modern organizations, expanding their
range of activities and networks abroad. Unfortunately, careers in the in-
ternational dimension are associated with the enormous opportunities and
challenges, but also with threats that we must be aware of and which should
be addressed accordingly. Such problems include the deteriorating demo-
graphic situation – the outflow of young people, which accelerates aging of
the society, and the outflow of highly educated, skilled professionals which
disrupts the formation of the national elite (Balcerzak-Paradowska, 2006).
These factors also include gradually emerging difficulties with the pen-
sion system, threats to the state budget – the lack of revenue from the work
of nationals abroad, lower probability of marriage accompanied by a drastic
decline in fertility rates (Wosińska, 2008). The feasibility of a career abroad,
the high level of contemporary aspirations of young people and striving for
a higher standard of living (Noworol, 2006) often make it difficult to start
a family early or postpone the decision in time. Widespread consumerism
and the pursuit of a higher quality of life is often conducive to decisions to
limit the number of children, for example to only one.
Unfortunately, this results in a falling birth rate. In terms of individual
costs of pursuing a career in the international dimension, i.e. psychological
costs, one could indicate the very trauma of departure (Wasilewski,
Kosewski, 2006) which may even worsen with the absence of social support,
54 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

such as from the closest circle of family and friends; difficulty in adapting
to the new environment – cultural barriers, language, different customs, for
example in work organization and technology (Wosińska, 2008), a sense of
alienation, loneliness (Wasilewski, Kosewski, 2006); sense discrimination
– lower wages than ‘local’ workers, being assigned to heavier and ‘worse’
tasks in more dangerous conditions, lack of adequate social protection and
limited access to medical care (Wosińska, 2008).
The strongest adverse effects include a  dominant sense of alienation,
which from the standpoint of psychology can lead to major transformations
in the sense of identity, both national and personal, distortions in the image
of self, which consequently may lead to withdrawal from contacts, social iso-
lation and the tendency to re-intensify the sense of alienation, non-adaptive
behaviors such as aggression, the use of alcohol or drugs (Topp, 2006). The
experience of discrimination may be a reflection of a number of negative
stereotypes about the representatives of a given country, which in turn may
lead to an attitude of aversion, non-acceptance, and increasing conflicts.
The occurring obstacles and risks associated with the international
dimension of career do not diminish the possibility of benefits, not only
in terms of an individual worker. There exists an advantage of the unique
professional experience and its transfer, the development of language com-
petence, acquiring flexibility and adaptability, developing skills and raising
the quality and standard of living. In the face of the transformation of the
modern world into a “global village”, career in the international dimension is
becoming not so much highly desirable than rather inevitable.

5WOOCT[
The perception of and approach to career have very clearly and dynamically
evolved, both at individual and organizational levels. These changes were
accompanied by changes in terminology but also also in attitudes towards
careers, tools used in career design and planning. Traditionally understood
career was mostly carried out within one selected organization or profes-
sion, and the burden of responsibility for its shape and path depended on
the organization and to a lesser extent on the employee. Such a career con-
sisted of the accumulation of specialized skills and competencies to enable
the individual to move through the successive stages of careers, and the
 Career and professional development – challenges for employees … 55

eventual success dimensions were external, such as salary, social status, po-
sition, power and respect.
Careers of new type, i.e. boundaryless careers, are not connected to only
one organization or dynamically changing environment, where the burden
of responsibility for their shape rests on an individual building their own
unique career capital. This new vision of multi-faceted career is associated
with gaining more and more competencies in many directions at once, in
a  ’solar career’, radially propagating in many different directions (Cook-
ie, 2003). The essence of this career is independence, autonomy and also
growth; the success of its possible dimensions are psychological – internal,
i.e. satisfaction, sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.
A question arises about what types of challenges this kind of transfor-
mation poses for individual workers. First of all, it means the end of the
traditional vision of a career, understood as moving up successive levels of
the organization (often the same organization over the entire life) and the
preeminence of individual responsibility for one’s career in the organization.
A 21st century worker is a person that consciously and independently con-
trols their career, building unique career capital and taking into account the
requirements of today’s labor market – mobility, flexibility and adaptability.
Given all the aforementioned changes, we should also mention di-
rections of changes in new organizations with a  flattened organizational
structure, decentralized, less formalized, flexible, mobile, where success and
survival in the market depends on human capital management. The primary
objective of this management is winning and keeping the best employees
most adequate to the needs of the organization, work and career. Keeping
the best employees is closely related to appropriate management of their
careers (Bear, 2007). Therefore the awareness of labor market changes and
challenges of the modern world should determine the personnel policy of
any modern organization, e.g. eschewing the competitive approach within
the company or over-exploitation of workers, while maintaining minimal
involvement of the organization.
Finally, employees and organizations alike face an important challenge
of combining individual visions of career opportunities and objectives of
the organization. It seems that only this kind of systemic approach to career
development will enable the mutual satisfaction of needs, implementation of
goals and higher quality of life and work.
56 Aleksandra Peplińska, Mariusz Lipowski, Zdzisław Nieckarz

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