Global Journal of Management and Business Studies.

ISSN 2248-9878 Volume 3, Number 5 (2013), pp. 485-490

© Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com/gjmbs.htm

Traditional to Boundaryless Career :

Redefining Career in 21st Centaury

Anshu Lochab1 and Kiran Mor 2

1
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology,
Kurukshetra, India
2
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology,
Kurukshetra, India

Abstract

In the last two decades, increasing attention has been placed on self
managed careers along paths other than the linear progression of
responsibility and pay in the organisation. The ‘protean career’ and
‘the boundaryless career’ are the two most influential concepts relating
to such careers. The traditional definitions of career and career success
have been redefined in 21st century due to economic pressures and
consequent organizational restructuring. The aim of this research paper
is to understand the context in which the individual employee has
started responding to the changing nature of work from a social and
psychological perspective. Individuals are reacting to disappearing
career norms by shifting their focus away from organizational careers
and toward specific professional and work roles. Periods of relative
career stability are decreasing because “individuals are constantly in a
state of becoming, of moving between and through various roles and
their attached identities and relationships” .The paper has highlighted
this dominant issue through various sections, namely the background
and the emergence of boundaryless careers and protean careers. The
context in which individuals develop their careers and the meaning
they attach to the different activities in which they engage are regarded
as key elements in understanding self managed careers. The
boundaryless and protean career concepts have made valuable
contributions to explain such careers, but the sources of meaning
driving self managed international careers are still largely unexplored.
486 Anshu Lochab & Kiran Mor

Keywords: Protean career, the boundaryless career, organizational

restructuring, social and psychological perspective.

1. Introduction
The ‘protean career’ argues that being self driven and moving in consonance with
one’s own values is necessary for continuous personal transformation and to achieve
psychological success (Hall 1976, Hall & Chandler 2005, Sargent & Domberger
2007). In such terms, protean career actors constantly revaluate their relationship with
the organisation (Hall 2002). This stance versus the organisation is also reflected in the
‘boundaryless career’ which emphasises freedom and agency, and is in short, anything,
but the traditional career designed by the organisation (Arthur & Rousseau 1994,
Cadin, Bailly-Bender & de Saint-Giniez 2000, Sullivan & Arthur 1999). Boundaryless
careers can trespass physical boundaries (e.g., organisational or national boundaries)
and psychological boundaries (e.g., defying organisational norms for personal reasons)
(Sullivan & Arthur 2006, Peiperl & Jonsen 2007). Individuals combining the
characteristics of both protean and boundaryless careers are suggested to be in the best
position to adapt to changing contexts and achieve psychological success (Briscoe &
Hall 2006).Being the alternative to organisational careers, the boundaryless and
protean career concepts refer to a wide range of possible careers. For that reason, clean
categorisations between ‘new’ and ‘traditional’ careers (e.g., Dowd & Kaplan 2005)
have been criticised in favour of constructionist approaches (Cohen, et al. 2004, Young
& Collin 2004). Recently, dimensions for both concepts have been defined, leading to
a typology that has begun to be used in empirical research (Briscoe & Hall 2006,
Segers, Inceoglu, et al.)

The Organisation as a parent: an obsolete maraphor

Traditionally, careers were thought to evolve within the context of one or two firms
and were conceptualized to progress in linear career stages (Levinson, 1978; Super,
1957). Success was defined by the organization and measured by promotions and
increases in salary (Hall, 1996a). Now however, the tall, multi-layer, functionally
organized structures characteristic of many large companies have changed (Miles &
Snow, 1996). Firms have downsized to become more flexible in response to
environmental factors such as rapid technological advancements (Coovert, 1995;
Freeman, Soete, & Efendioglu, 1995; Howard, 1995) and increased global competition
(Rosenthal, 1995). Crocitto (1998) observed an over- riding impression that the
traditional, a ‘multifaceted phenomenon involving navigation across employers,
market confirmation, one’s knowledge and choices, and connections to networks of a
social and professional nature’.

The Paradigm Shift:

There has been three salient paradigm shifts which is a major challenge for the
management perspectives in the 21st century.
Traditional to Boundaryless Career : Redefining Career in 21st Centaury 487

Firstly, there is a growing focus towards occupational or professional commitment

rather than organizational loyalty for the sake of job stability. Today one can see that
there is an increased thrust on enriched learning, continuous proactive skill
enhancement and networking activities. Due to the increased professional relationships
among the individuals there is a rapid increase in job mobility. Herein lays the
challenge of retention of workers as well as the tacit information of the organization.
Added to this, there is a decreasing loyalty towards the organizations for which the
employees work for. Naturally the challenge now lies in their building up of general
competencies that can be utilized in various firms rather than concentrating upon
company-specific requirements.
Secondly workers are now aiming for satisfaction related to intrinsic rewards
whereby there is a deeper fulfilment of personal values and ideals. Managing a
boundaryless career requires an individual seek out and contract personally fulfilling
work. Thus, in today’s dynamic scenario the employee’s psychological contract is not
done with the company but with one’s own inner, spiritual self where the candidate
strives to reach the self- actualized level ultimately.
Finally, the dependence from the firm to one’s own abilities is a major stride that
today’s worker has taken. For career associated to a single organization, the employees
were trained and developed by the organizational initiatives in return for long-term
association with the firm. The organization offered firm specific training, usually at
specific points in the career. Ironically such programs started diminishing with the
worker’s increasing age. Thus, workers were further bound to the organization as they
lacked transferable skills and marketability. The organization is only keen to invest on
the core employees who they feel will stay for long term. So the mantle lies on the
workers who must accept responsibility and seek opportunities for training and
development by their own initiatives. Self career management is the key to sustaining
the contingent business environment today. Workers moving across occupational and
organizational boundaries need transferable skills today. Careerists need to focus on
skills that will increase their marketability.
Research on the boundaryless career suggests that organizations prefer generalist
over specialist skills because of increased team- based approaches and new
technologies. Also to change jobs, candidates require good contact base and
negotiation ability. More so because of the growing trend of de jobbing, the candidates
are today centring their activities on projects rather than specific jobs. Also,
Individuals are looking for works that are personally meaningful and this requires a
considerable amount of reflection and self- evaluation. Individuals need to balance the
work and non-work dimensions that are available to them. Individuals also need to
seek out organizational cultures that match their values and lifestyles. The needs to
prioritize crucial aspects of life and balance activities are paying vital roles today in the
individual’s career. There is a relationship between Subjective Career and Behavioral
Science Theories.
488 Anshu Lochab & Kiran Mor

Table 1: Four Properties of the Subjective Career as Reflected in

Behavioral Science Theories.

Behavioral Duality with Interdependence Perspective on Multiple

Science Objective with Objective Time Dimensions
Theories Career Career
Psychology
Super The subjective Mentally filtered Sequential Distinct
(1974, career involves objective work individual career identities in
1990) concepts of experiences stages - growth, daily life -
self, the interact with exploration, child, student,
objective career subjective career establishment, leisure seeker,
concepts of interpretations. maintenance and citizen, worker
roles in society. decline. and the
homemaker.
Hall (1976, The subjective Individual A series of Outcomes of
2002) career involves perception links learning mini- the
values, between attitudes stages through development of
attitudes, etc., and behaviors and which people career sub-
the objective work-related adjust to the identities about
career experiences. world and both “who I
observable develop their am” and “what
career choices. identities. I do.”
Social Psychology
Krumboltz The objective The interaction of Sequences of A variety of
(1979) career reflects everyday learning successive social roles
past experiences with learning through which
experiences, the people’s cognitive experiences that individual’s
subjective responses to those shape experiences
careergenetic experiences. subsequent
and cognitive career behavior.
factors.
Sociology
Hughes The objective The interplay A series of Social roles,
(1937, career reflects between a person’s status passages through which
1997) institutional social roles and or temporally- people exercise
roles, the conceptions of the staged shifts influence, take
subjective self, as work from one social responsibility
career people’s experience role to another, and receive
adjustment to unfolds. throughout life. recognition.
those roles.
Traditional to Boundaryless Career : Redefining Career in 21st Centaury 489

2. Conclusion
Organisations can benefit from the deeper understanding that career stories provide.
Accommodating employees’ goals and motivations (even non work related) can be an
effective way of retaining key employees. At the same time, stories can facilitate
mutual understanding and future collaboration with more mobile employees.
Furthermore, as self managed international careers increase, hiring foreigners already
expatriated will become a readily available and potentially beneficial option for global
staffing. The present study suggests that the practice is beneficial for the individuals as
well, as it provides them with freedom to manage their careers according to what is
meaningful for them. In the context of India, virtually there has been no research till
date, hence future implications directs substantial empirical research to develop a
feasible career framework and supportive models because models are highly
contextual. Finally, the meteoric rise of the agile career entrepreneurs who have been
setting new standards of success within their work sphere leads us to the inevitable
question: Are the organizations ready to incorporate them within their folds to nurture
them, develop them and reinforce them in customized patterns?

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490 Anshu Lochab & Kiran Mor