IOP3703
NOTES
,Study Unit 1: The Meaning of Work
The Meaning of Work and Work Values
Work is a major element of human activity: it sustains biological survival and it can sustain quality
of life. Different meanings can be derived from different values associated with work, e.g. work
seen as a means of making a living, of being occupied, of fulfilling a vocation, developing and
utilising skills or fulfilling a life purpose.
Meanings Associated with Work
• Pre-industrial era: Drudgery; instrumental to spiritual or religious ends; intrinsically
meaningful for its own sake
• Industrial era: Mechanical and repetitive work; decline in will to work; seek meaning
outside work
• Post-industrial era: Focus on information; producing ideas; multicultural viewpoints about
the meaning of work
• 21st century/ knowledge economy: Technology-driven workplaces; work meaning is
socially constructed; search for meaning and higher purpose due to change and uncertain
markets
• Work as a central life interest: Centrality of work is the degree of importance work has in
the life of an individual; refers not to the work itself but the value outcomes
Work Values
• Advancement power status: People who value advancement in their work attach much
importance to achievement; high in power motivation
• Autonomy: People who value autonomy want freedom to organise their life and work; seek
to be free of organisational constraints
• Self-actualisation: Process of inner-directedness through which individuals give expression
to their intrinsic nature
• Competency: Finding intrinsic meaning and a sense of identity in work is career
competency
• Leisure: Activities that fall outside the context of work; work may have a spill-over effect
on leasure which may be positive or negative
• Economic/material rewards: Associated with the need for job security, good salary and
good working conditions
• Social values: Centred around relations with people; affective rather than material; value of
benevolence
• Sense of belonging in society: Work can be a basis for integrating people into society by
providing connections; ties the individual to society
• Work-family enrichment: The extent to which experiences in one role improve the quality
of life in another role; bi-directional
• Workplace spirituality: Recognition that employees have an inner life that nourishes and is
nourished by meaningful work in the context of community
IOP3703 2014 Pg 1 of 79
,Study Unit 2: Changes in Organisations and
Implications for Careers
Differences Between Traditional and Modern Workplaces
Traditional Workplace:
• Stable environment with protected markets
• Production-driven
• Mechanistic, product, functional divisional structures
• Hierarchical, multiple management levels
• Seniority-based, time-based promotions
• Command and central management style
• Uni-dimensional career movements (linear)
• Organisation responsible for individual career planning and development
• Individual loyalty to organisation for lifelong and steady growing employment
• Job security, job-for-life
• One or two career choices at early career age
Modern Workplace:
• Dynamic, competitive environment, global unpredictable markets
• Service-driven, technology-intensive
• Flat, network, cellular structures
• Knowledge and information-technoloty-driven learning organisations
• Strategice, collaboration with competitors
• Multi-cultural organisations
• Small component of core employees, big component part-time, casual, contract staff
• Empowerment of people
• Competency-based outsourcing
• Self-directed teams
• Multi-directional career movements
• Diminishing loyalty for organisation
• Individual investment in employability
• Increasing emphasis on work-life integration
• Career self-management
• Life-long learning
• Knowledge workers
• Composite and customised careers
• Repeated career choices at diferent age stages
• Careers as learning cycles (several organisations)
• Spirituality at work
IOP3703 2014 Pg 2 of 79
, Protean Careers
This is a career shaped and managed by the individual. It consists of all the person's varied
experiences in education, training, work in several organisations and changes in occupational field
and is characterised by a high degree of mobility, self-reliance and internal career thinking. It is a
mindset about the career and is characterised by the following:
• Psychological success
• Self-direction
• Freedom and autonomy
• Choices are based on personal values
• Continuous learning
• High level of self-awareness
• Age is unimportant
• Personal responsibility
• Freedom and growth are valued
• High degree of mobility
The employee does not blindly trust the organisation with his or her career. The present contract is
with the self, instead of the organisation.
Boundaryless Careers
This is a career characterised by flexibility, mobility and movement between different global-
organisational contexts. It involves physical or psychological movement away from the current
employer. Individuals have self-ownership of their careers, managing them in a relatively
autonomous fashion and in the process, their employment value is increased. The mobility takes
place between jobs, companies, occupation and countries. Individuals can move between different
organisations if they have transferrable knowledge, skills and abilities. Individuals will inevitably
encounter external, unobvious or subjective boundaries within themselves that define career
context, choices and development.
Composite Careers
This consists of having more than one working role or holding more than one form of
employment. Individuals have to manage their time between different roles, companies, locations,
clients, teams and schedules. It is a way to express those parts of one's multiple possible selves that
are excluded from the narrow world of one-job-for-life. Workers in the 21st century are thinking less
of themselves as "having a job" and more of themsevles as "experimenting with work
opportunities", which allow them to discover more about themselves and live meaningful lives.
Entrepreneurial Careers
Choosing self-employment as a career option which could include establishing and managing one's
own business. The main aim is to achieve flexibility and autonomy. Successful entrepreneurs have
the following skills and aptitudes:
• Persuasive powers
• Problem solvers and decision makers
• Time management skills
• Willing to take calculated and intelligent risks
• Effective business management skills
IOP3703 2014 Pg 3 of 79
NOTES
,Study Unit 1: The Meaning of Work
The Meaning of Work and Work Values
Work is a major element of human activity: it sustains biological survival and it can sustain quality
of life. Different meanings can be derived from different values associated with work, e.g. work
seen as a means of making a living, of being occupied, of fulfilling a vocation, developing and
utilising skills or fulfilling a life purpose.
Meanings Associated with Work
• Pre-industrial era: Drudgery; instrumental to spiritual or religious ends; intrinsically
meaningful for its own sake
• Industrial era: Mechanical and repetitive work; decline in will to work; seek meaning
outside work
• Post-industrial era: Focus on information; producing ideas; multicultural viewpoints about
the meaning of work
• 21st century/ knowledge economy: Technology-driven workplaces; work meaning is
socially constructed; search for meaning and higher purpose due to change and uncertain
markets
• Work as a central life interest: Centrality of work is the degree of importance work has in
the life of an individual; refers not to the work itself but the value outcomes
Work Values
• Advancement power status: People who value advancement in their work attach much
importance to achievement; high in power motivation
• Autonomy: People who value autonomy want freedom to organise their life and work; seek
to be free of organisational constraints
• Self-actualisation: Process of inner-directedness through which individuals give expression
to their intrinsic nature
• Competency: Finding intrinsic meaning and a sense of identity in work is career
competency
• Leisure: Activities that fall outside the context of work; work may have a spill-over effect
on leasure which may be positive or negative
• Economic/material rewards: Associated with the need for job security, good salary and
good working conditions
• Social values: Centred around relations with people; affective rather than material; value of
benevolence
• Sense of belonging in society: Work can be a basis for integrating people into society by
providing connections; ties the individual to society
• Work-family enrichment: The extent to which experiences in one role improve the quality
of life in another role; bi-directional
• Workplace spirituality: Recognition that employees have an inner life that nourishes and is
nourished by meaningful work in the context of community
IOP3703 2014 Pg 1 of 79
,Study Unit 2: Changes in Organisations and
Implications for Careers
Differences Between Traditional and Modern Workplaces
Traditional Workplace:
• Stable environment with protected markets
• Production-driven
• Mechanistic, product, functional divisional structures
• Hierarchical, multiple management levels
• Seniority-based, time-based promotions
• Command and central management style
• Uni-dimensional career movements (linear)
• Organisation responsible for individual career planning and development
• Individual loyalty to organisation for lifelong and steady growing employment
• Job security, job-for-life
• One or two career choices at early career age
Modern Workplace:
• Dynamic, competitive environment, global unpredictable markets
• Service-driven, technology-intensive
• Flat, network, cellular structures
• Knowledge and information-technoloty-driven learning organisations
• Strategice, collaboration with competitors
• Multi-cultural organisations
• Small component of core employees, big component part-time, casual, contract staff
• Empowerment of people
• Competency-based outsourcing
• Self-directed teams
• Multi-directional career movements
• Diminishing loyalty for organisation
• Individual investment in employability
• Increasing emphasis on work-life integration
• Career self-management
• Life-long learning
• Knowledge workers
• Composite and customised careers
• Repeated career choices at diferent age stages
• Careers as learning cycles (several organisations)
• Spirituality at work
IOP3703 2014 Pg 2 of 79
, Protean Careers
This is a career shaped and managed by the individual. It consists of all the person's varied
experiences in education, training, work in several organisations and changes in occupational field
and is characterised by a high degree of mobility, self-reliance and internal career thinking. It is a
mindset about the career and is characterised by the following:
• Psychological success
• Self-direction
• Freedom and autonomy
• Choices are based on personal values
• Continuous learning
• High level of self-awareness
• Age is unimportant
• Personal responsibility
• Freedom and growth are valued
• High degree of mobility
The employee does not blindly trust the organisation with his or her career. The present contract is
with the self, instead of the organisation.
Boundaryless Careers
This is a career characterised by flexibility, mobility and movement between different global-
organisational contexts. It involves physical or psychological movement away from the current
employer. Individuals have self-ownership of their careers, managing them in a relatively
autonomous fashion and in the process, their employment value is increased. The mobility takes
place between jobs, companies, occupation and countries. Individuals can move between different
organisations if they have transferrable knowledge, skills and abilities. Individuals will inevitably
encounter external, unobvious or subjective boundaries within themselves that define career
context, choices and development.
Composite Careers
This consists of having more than one working role or holding more than one form of
employment. Individuals have to manage their time between different roles, companies, locations,
clients, teams and schedules. It is a way to express those parts of one's multiple possible selves that
are excluded from the narrow world of one-job-for-life. Workers in the 21st century are thinking less
of themselves as "having a job" and more of themsevles as "experimenting with work
opportunities", which allow them to discover more about themselves and live meaningful lives.
Entrepreneurial Careers
Choosing self-employment as a career option which could include establishing and managing one's
own business. The main aim is to achieve flexibility and autonomy. Successful entrepreneurs have
the following skills and aptitudes:
• Persuasive powers
• Problem solvers and decision makers
• Time management skills
• Willing to take calculated and intelligent risks
• Effective business management skills
IOP3703 2014 Pg 3 of 79
