As a result of structural changes in the global economy, many organisations are faced with changing workforce demographics. The global workforce is changing not only in terms of age and race, but also in terms of gender (International Labour Office, 2009). This change is referred to as the feminization of labour, and it poses many challenges to organisations as women are entering careers that have previously been predominated by men such as medicine, pharmacy, accounting, engineering and mining (Blau & Kahn, 2000). The retention of women in atypical careers has become a growing concern, as these women are often faced with challenges in the workplace, such as sexual discrimination, hostility and resentment from their co-workers, and physical violence in the workplace (Cognard-Black, 2004). These obstacles encountered by women in atypical positions result in their experiencing difficulty fitting into their groups at work and their organisations as a whole, which increases their turnover intentions (Young & Hurlic, 2007). For effective retention of women in atypical positions in an effort to secure a truly diverse workforce, organisations must be aware of the factors that affect their career decision making. Young and Hurlic (2007) have proposed a model of gender enactment and fit in relation to career decisions of women in atypical positions. They suggest that gender enactment of employees in atypical positions, in relation to the gender-based micro-culture of their work groups ultimately affects their person-group fit, person-organisation fit and career decision making. The main objective, therefore, of this research has been to explore the constructs outlined in the model of Young and Hurlic (2007) within the South African context and to establish their influence on the career decision making of a sample of South African employees in atypical positions. The research has been explorative in nature, and a qualitative design was used to achieve the research objectives. Participants were invited to participate in the research on a voluntary basis, and they were selected by means of a purposive sampling method. Criteria that were decided upon for the selection of participants were that participants needed to be female, permanently employed and occupying atypical occupations within the same organisation. Based on these criteria, a total population of ten employees was included in the research study (N=10). Qualitative data was collected by means of unstructured and semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that awareness, group acceptance, person-group fit, perceived stress, and person-organisation fit were the key determinants of the career decisions of participants. Awareness was found to be related to group acceptance, whereas group acceptance was identified as being related to person-group fit. Person-group and person-organisation fit were found to result in participants considering lateral career moves, choosing to stay in their current positions, or seeking promotions. Conversely, perceived stress was found to have a negative impact in the career decision making of participants, as all participants who reported perceived stress planned to leave their respective organisation. / MA, Industrial Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

Abstract Porsfelt, Dan (2001) Management trainee – Möten med förhinder. Written in Swedish with an English summary. ISSN: 1402 – 1544, ISRN: LTU - DT - - 01/24 - - SE, Institutionen för Arbetsveten-skap, Luleå Tekniska Universitet 2001:24. This doctoral thesis in Human Work Science is a study of the participants in a management trainee program, carried out in a large Swedish company in 1997-1998. The aim of the thesis is to formulate theory around the complexity of a secondary socialisation process where organ-isational culture is externalised and internalised and individual self-identities of leaders-to-be in organisations are developed. The thesis is based on an ethnographic description of the entry of six newly graduated economists into an organisation, called ‘Distro’, and their encounters with existing organisational cultures. The data material has mainly been gathered through par-ticipant observation in the everyday life in the organisation, but also in events outside the or-ganisational frame. An official pan-organisational culture with its related stories, cultures of the shop-floor and a managerial culture in the regional organisation are described, as well as the development of the self-identities of the management trainees in relation to these cultures. The partiality of the internalisation of the different organisational cultures and the conscious acting in contrast to aspects of the internalised managerial culture is emphasised and the great complexity of the transition- and socialisation processes in the specific case is pointed at. This complexity is most likely to exist also in similar cases. The complexity is understood as a room of differences or room of relations. A number of circumstances, demands, structures, possi-bilities, values and practices in relation to one another constructs a sort of zone for reflection and as a consequence also development, movement and action. This zone is labelled interspace. Interspace is thus, a theme that, in different forms, can be found in the previous descriptive chapters of the thesis. The interspace simultaneously makes learning and development of both individual and, in the end, the organisation, possible as it may hinder the individual objective career or that of a group. It is, as a consequence, important for individual or groups finding themselves in the interspace to try to manage the impression that the interspace does not exist. Management trainee programs as a social phenomenon is, finally, seen as an aspect of a pro-fessionalisation process on the work place level, and as a modern institution colliding with post-modern values in the elite groups normally recruited to such programs. Keywords: socialisation, internalisation, organisational culture, micro culture, subculture, leadership, management, trainee, management training, management learning, transition, self-identity, pro-fessionalisation Dan Porsfelt, School of Social Sciences, Växjö University, SE-351 95 VÄXJÖ, Sweden. E-mail: Dan.Porsfelt@svi.vxu.se

As a result of structural changes in the global economy, many organisations are faced with changing workforce demographics. The global workforce is changing not only in terms of age and race, but also in terms of gender (International Labour Office, 2009). This change is referred to as the feminization of labour, and it poses many challenges to organisations as women are entering careers that have previously been predominated by men such as medicine, pharmacy, accounting, engineering and mining (Blau & Kahn, 2000). The retention of women in atypical careers has become a growing concern, as these women are often faced with challenges in the workplace, such as sexual discrimination, hostility and resentment from their co-workers, and physical violence in the workplace (Cognard-Black, 2004). These obstacles encountered by women in atypical positions result in their experiencing difficulty fitting into their groups at work and their organisations as a whole, which increases their turnover intentions (Young & Hurlic, 2007). For effective retention of women in atypical positions in an effort to secure a truly diverse workforce, organisations must be aware of the factors that affect their career decision making. Young and Hurlic (2007) have proposed a model of gender enactment and fit in relation to career decisions of women in atypical positions. They suggest that gender enactment of employees in atypical positions, in relation to the gender-based micro-culture of their work groups ultimately affects their person-group fit, person-organisation fit and career decision making. The main objective, therefore, of this research has been to explore the constructs outlined in the model of Young and Hurlic (2007) within the South African context and to establish their influence on the career decision making of a sample of South African employees in atypical positions. The research has been explorative in nature, and a qualitative design was used to achieve the research objectives. Participants were invited to participate in the research on a voluntary basis, and they were selected by means of a purposive sampling method. Criteria that were decided upon for the selection of participants were that participants needed to be female, permanently employed and occupying atypical occupations within the same organisation. Based on these criteria, a total population of ten employees was included in the research study (N=10). Qualitative data was collected by means of unstructured and semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that awareness, group acceptance, person-group fit, perceived stress, and person-organisation fit were the key determinants of the career decisions of participants. Awareness was found to be related to group acceptance, whereas group acceptance was identified as being related to person-group fit. Person-group and person-organisation fit were found to result in participants considering lateral career moves, choosing to stay in their current positions, or seeking promotions. Conversely, perceived stress was found to have a negative impact in the career decision making of participants, as all participants who reported perceived stress planned to leave their respective organisation. / MA, Industrial Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012