The main aim of this thesis is to investigate whether theories of career self-management, developed in the USA and Western countries, apply in cultures which are different, such as ascription cultures, giving an example of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Career self-management, here, is conceptualized based on independence and having control in organising career management through setting a strategy and collecting information about career opportunities to achieve personal goals. Although there is increasing emphasis on the ‘new’ career, very few studies offer systematic information about whether careers are perceived in the new or traditional form and which is more appropriate for people in developing countries (for example, the Kingdom of Bahrain). On the other hand, scholars argue that although there is a need for career self-management the notion, yet, lacks critical evaluation where the promoting or limiting factors to its enactment lack research, particularly in developing countries (for example, the Kingdom of Bahrain). The country chosen for study is the Kingdom of Bahrain because its culture is characterised as 'ascription' and no career self-management research has been conducted in this context. The study adopts a qualitative approach to uncover the research questions. The semi-structured interviews are designed to collect and analyse data for two organisations (i.e. EWA and GARMCO) where each organisation’s findings are compared with the other. To cover a fair population and sampling in a country small in size and population, two organisations in two sectors have been selected that are the main sectors in the Kingdom of Bahrain which consist of large workforce populations. Each organisation encompasses 19 managers from different departments and one Human Resources manager (total of 20 managers in each case). The forty managers from the two sectors are randomly selected, taking into consideration the managers’ occupations and functions.

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Career development practitioners have different experiences on how career services are rendered in the country. Working with groups and individuals from all walks of life; career practitioner’s expertise becomes invaluable to the career decision-making of learners and adults in career construction. In South Africa, there are various institutions rendering career services though many do so in silos. There is no monitoring or cohesive system to manage career services. This can impact how they render career services in a well-organized and productive manner. This study explored the experiences of a career development practitioner on career services rendered. The study utilised the qualitative research method to gain more insight into the career practitioner’s experiences of career services; including career services, career information, advice, as well as career guidance. The study was conducted at the Department of Labour in Pretoria west. The sample comprised of one participant who has experience as a career development practitioner. The study used purposive sampling to select the participant. The data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using inductive thematic analysis; where themes, categories, and subcategories emerged. The findings of the study reflect both negative and positive experiences that the career development practitioner has encountered in rendering career services in the past. The findings furthermore highlight the need for adequate training for career practitioners and suggest a need for prescribed ethical conduct to regulate career development practitioners working at the entry-level. This study can contribute to the development of ethical conduct guidelines and influence the further development of training for career development practitioners. Lastly, the findings might assist in the development of a cohesive and coordinated system for monitoring and evaluation in the career development profession. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

The theses investigates the problematics of career plateau in a big organization. In theoretical part conceptions of career, its phases and types, possibilities for development, succes criteria, career plateuing, its types, causes and effects are described, also possible ways to handle the career plateau are discussed, on one side from individual point of view on the other side from organizational point of view. Empirical part consists of organisation's description and a research concerning the perception of individual career development and career plateauing among employees of the organization. The research includes qualitative and quantitative approach and focuses on organisational and structural plateauing. Possible practical solutions in the field of human ressources management are given.

Magister Artium - MA / The primary aim of the study was to examine factors that influence career choices such as the individual, situational and environmental variables. The study was conducted in the motor retail industry whereby 223 respondents participated in the study by completing the questionnaire. Participants indicated that parents’ or relatives’ advice, association with others in the field, talent, skills and abilities, business opportunities and personal interests as significant influences on their career choices. The participants also identified perceived benefits such as employment security, potential for personal growth and development and opportunity to use skills and abilities as influential factors on career choice. The study also found that in the motor retail industry participants indicated that their gender has influenced their career choice; however educational levels were not seen as an influential factor on career choice. Furthermore, the study also examined participants’ perception of organisational career support with regards to utilisation of career support activities and management’s support for career development purposes. Even though participants indicated that the organisation has exposed them to career support activities, the participants’ use of career support activities were limited to training and mentoring within the organisation or externally to assist them with career development. It is the hope of the researcher that the identified factors influencing career choice and the examination of the organisational career support systems would be helpful to human resources practitioners and career counsellors, in order to assist individuals with career decision making as well as career development within the organisation as well as externally.

This study explores what UK managers aged 50 and over perceive as career progression at a time in life when opportunities for further promotion may have ceased. It examines motivational drivers and subjectively significant personal and organizational influences on career progression. It also investigates whether motivation for career progression is perceived to have changed over the career and the extent to which it may differ between male and female older managers. The research adopted a qualitative, inductive approach using a phenomenological methodology. Fieldwork comprised semi-structured interviews with 27 male and 13 female managers aged 50 and over from two large, UK financial services organizations. The findings show how motivation for career progression in managers aged over 50 is driven by individually diverse patterns of career drivers, personal and work-related influences, and attitudes towards career opportunities. These can be classified into a number of career progression orientations. The study contributes to knowledge in the area of subjective psychological career mobility in late career and the balance which individuals maintain between the organizational and personal aspects of their career. It demonstrates that motivational drivers of career progression are perceived to change over the career and that career progression is linked, on an individual basis, to past, current and future career mobility which may extend past the traditional retirement transition. It also reveals that, in general, older female managers may exhibit a greater drive for self-realisation through later life career renewal than their male counterparts.

Recently, since music festivals and ¡§live house¡¨ performances have become popular in Taiwan, the number of independent bands have been increased gradually. Bands nowadays have more advantages than previously, but they also face more challenges, such as commercial factors, keen competitions among other bands, the impact of new music style, including electronic music and Hip Hop, and so on. Above all, the most challenging one is the source of incomes. Therefore, rock musicians always face the difficulty of career change. This study attempts to explore the career development of Taiwanese rock musicians. The questions are listed as follows. First, what are their motivations to be rock musicians? How can they earn their living as rock musicians? Second, what is their career planning and career development? Third, why do some of the rock musicians decide to look for other jobs? What are the processes they have to go through while transferring to other jobs? Can they adjust to new jobs well? The based theories of the study are career development and career planning. The methods of data collection include observation, documental analysis and interview. The study uses triangulation to increase credibility and reliability. The objects are six rock musicians who live in Taipei and Kaohsiung. The conclusions are as follows. (1) The most remarkable motivations to influence the rock musicians in Taiwan are the learning experiences, the career conditions, social environment, and musicians¡¦ personality. (2) According to the result, the career-decision process and career development task correspond to the theories of Ginzberg and Super. (3) Economic problem is the significant motivation that prompts the rock musicians to change to other jobs. Remarkably, they anticipate making the decisions on schedule, not accidentally. Besides, most of the interviewers transfer to other jobs during the five transferring periods which Levinson proposed in his theory. (4) Western rock music influences Taiwanese rock musicians both on music style and outer appearance. (5) Taiwanese rock music style is different in every place associated with the ¡§urban characteristic.¡¨ (6) Famous and mainstream rock bands and musicians can have more economic power to earn their living as rock musicians. (7) Taiwanese rock music workers have to make more improvement as western ones, especially on creative work. (8) Rock musicians of different ages have distinct expectations on their own career life and future. (9) Female rock musicians have more advantages than males on outer appearance, while they are more limited by marriage and family on the other hand. (10) Married or some rock musicians with heavy economic burden may be influenced on their career development. Finally, Few suggestions are generated from this study: First, when one decides to ento this career, he must cultivate his musical ability well. Second, he must take his own responsibility and understand his works¡¦ position in the music market.

abstract: ABSTRACT Perfectionism has been conceptualized as a relatively stable, independent, multidimensional personality construct in research during the last two decades. Despite general agreement that perfectionism is dimensional in nature, analyses using these instruments vacillate between a dimensional approach and a categorical approach (Broman-Fulks, Hill, & Green, 2008; Stoeber & Otto, 2006). The goal of the current study was two-fold. One aim was to examine the structural nature of two commonly used measures of perfectionism, the APS-R and the HFMPS. Latent class and factor analyses were conducted to determine the dimensions and categories that underlie the items of these two instruments. A second aim was to determine whether perfectionism classes or perfectionism factors better predicted 4 criterion variables of career indecision. Results lent evidence to the claim that both the APS-R and HFMPS are best used as dimensional, rather than categorical instruments. From a substantive perspective, results indicated that both positive and negative aspects of perfectionism successfully predicted career indecision factors. The study concludes with a discussion of limitations, and implications for future research and counseling individuals with career indecision concerns. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Counseling Psychology 2013

Specialists contribute to the success of organisations in the form of unique expertise and specific skill sets. Research into career success for specialists is limited and the career of the specialist is not well defined. This study aims to increase understanding of what constitutes career success for specialists, what strategies individuals can employ to achieve such success and what organisations can do to support specialist career success.In line with qualitative research methodological principles, this study followed a exploratory approach to understanding specialist career success. A total of seventeen in-depth interviews were held with senior specialists who have achieved career success, senior internal Human Resource practitioners, and external career development and Human Resource experts. The sample represented a broad range of industries, including Petrochemicals, Telecommunications, Banking, Financial Health Insurance, Academia, Healthcare, Aerospace, FMCG, Mining, Information Technology, Specialist Consulting and Specialist Search and Recruitment.Key findings reflect that career success is an individual construct which is achieved through a variety of strategies. The research allowed for the development of a framework for career success for specialists, which outlines the career path options and career success strategies available to specialists. Furthermore, a model titled ‘the 5 C’s of organisational support for specialists’ summarises what organisations can do to support specialist career success. The outcome of this study provides guidance for specialists in managing their own careers and for organisations who wish to understand specialists in order to attract and retain them as valuable contributors to organisational success. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

There is a global trend towards using part-time lecturers to reduce unit labour costs and raise institutional efficiency. At the same time there is pressure on academics to develop their skills in an academic career path. The use of part-time lecturers is a recognised phenomenon at the University of Pretoria. This study set out to determine how part-time academics in Humanities manage and sustain their careers. The conceptual framework for this study juxtaposes key aspects of the part-time academic career with features of the traditional career model on the one hand, and those of the boundaryless and protean career on the other. This study was undertaken as a quantitative survey designed for self-completion. The aim was to describe trends in the data provided about the sample. It was found that the boundaryless and protean career models have relevance in describing the careers of part-time academics in Humanities. These lecturers measure career success by accumulated knowledge, a developed skills portfolio as well as psychologically meaningful work leading to an inner feeling of achievement. They respond to the tenuous nature of their employment situation by working across organisational boundaries and developing networks of career contacts, so as to sustain a career. Aspects that are not conducive to a part-time academic career such as early career stage, experience of positional insecurity and lack of inclusion into the collegium were identified. Those aspects that support a part-time academic career are flexibility and work-family balance. Recommendations for improvements at individual and institutional level were drawn from current literature and relevant research findings. These include the need for institutional planning, inclusion of part-time lecturers into the collegium, investment in the part-time human resource and consideration of improved contractual arrangements. Part-time lecturers need to invest in their transferable skills and maintain a career network as part of a planned strategy for obtaining their career objectives. They may need to function in boundaryless fashion in multiple positions. The significant priority accorded by respondents to the accumulation of knowledge and the development of skills may hold a key to a mutually beneficial work relationship between the institution and these part-time lecturers. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted