Managerial Careers in a Post Industrial Context

Research project P 14307 Managerial Careers in a Post Industrial Context Wolfgang MAYRHOFER 08.05.2000 Careers as a central phenomenon of individual, organisational and societal reality are of practical as well as theoretical interest. Developments like globalisation or technological change do not only lead to new organisational forms, but also affect vocational careers. In addition to `traditional` careers new patterns of careers seem to emerge which are less homogenous and linked with an organisation. This raises interesting new questions at the practical and theoretical level, demanding theoretical concepts and empirical data that are able to cover these developments. The proposed research project concentrates on the careers of university and polytechnic graduates with a specialisation in business administration. It aims to achieve three objectives. Firstly, we want to describe the career development of these persons (descriptive goal). This includes the analysis of career movements along relevant dimensions. Secondly, we will analyse the influencing factors for the career development we can observe (explanatory goal). In doing this, we have to consider variables at different levels of analysis that contribute to career development. Thirdly, we aim at developing some preliminary tools that allow the influence of career development (technological goal). Such measures target the relevant facets of career patterns. All of these goals require a theoretical framework as well as empirical data. Based on the writings of Pierre Bourdieu and using the existing literature on career research, the proposed theoretical framework uses career habitus, fields of careers, and capitals as core variables that describe and explain the formation, stabilisation and modification of managerial careers. Thus, it tries to integrate the relevant influencing factors. Empirically, the proposed project analyses three cohorts of graduates through a written survey (in a large basic sample) as well as semi-structured in-depth interviews (in a small core sample). The first cohort - the graduate sample - includes business administration university and polytechnic graduates of the year 2000. The other two cohorts constitute the `manager` sample. The second cohort consists of former business administration university and polytechnic graduates currently in their early to mid- career phase who have graduated in 1990. The third cohort is made of former business administration university graduates in the late stage of their career who have graduated in 1970. In this way, the cohorts should differ with regard to the impact of the changing career context: the first cohort is fully affected by these developments; the second cohort is influenced by these changes `under way` and has a somehow transitory position; the third cohort has been affected by the new developments only in a later stage of their career. To get information from the participants of the study, people from the first cohort are questioned immediately after their graduation and again after two years time. The other two cohorts are surveyed once during the proposed project. Thus, a small longitudinal as well as a mainly cross-sectional analysis can be done. The proposed project has benefits for various stakeholders. For the scientific community, the lack of theoretically based empirical studies with a longitudinal element in this area, can be decreased. For organisations, knowledge about the shape and the causes for managerial career patterns as well as preliminary tools can contribute to more effective career development measures and greater organisational efficiency. For higher education institutions, information about the career paths of their graduates and the determining factors can lead to modifications in their curricula and the identification of crucial areas of education. For political decisions, knowledge about the consequences of different types of higher education is produced. Finally, for the persons in our sample the participation in the project provides them with valuable feedback and benchmarking information about their own development. In addition to its benefits as a `stand-alone` study the proposed project also provides a basis for a future longitudinal panel study. In the Vienna Career Panel Project (ViCAPP) it is planned to follow the developments in the cohorts over 20 years, doing a follow-up study with the same participants in the panel every five years.

Changes at the macroeconomic and organizational level have introduced new aspects to the discussion of careers, as they affect the context for careers as well as their shape and "typical" patterns. Therefore, a number of practical as well as theoretical issues emerge. The Vienna Career Panel Project (ViCaPP) brings a new and quite exceptional contribution to these issues by looking at the occupational careers of three cohorts of graduates of the Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (graduates of 1970, 1990, 2000, respectively). The main results relate to five topics: a) career aspirations (and how they relate to personality): First results suggest that almost one third of the "2000 cohort" aspire to what we call a "chronically flexible" career, defined by a high level of diversity and radical professional transitions. Personality traits that go with this aspiration are flexibility, networking, self-monitoring and self-promotion, independently of participants` gender, age or social background. b) complexity of career paths: Careers are becoming increasingly complex. This statement can be frequently found in recent career literature since the early 90s. Nevertheless there is a lack in methodically and empirically sound concepts that allow to operationalise and analyse career complexity on a quantitative basis. Two methods from "chaos research" have been used in ViCaPP. The obtained results clearly suggest that the first 13 career years of the 1990 cohort are significantly more complex than those of the 1970 sample, and that the recorded career dynamics are not a random process. c) personality and career success: For the 1990 and 1970 cohort, manifold data on psychological data as well as measures of career success have been collected. The obtained results largely follow the existing literature: leadership motivation, achievement motivation, flexibility and emotional stability promote career success. Differentiated analyses show quite marked interactions between variables. Gender plays a particularly important role, as men are basically favoured, and women have to display special traits to be able to compensate. d) performance during studies and career success The obtained results indicate that a good performance at the WU Wien pays off in terms of income and success - but mainly in later career stages. For the 2000 cohort, it was apparently more important to collect some professional experience during their studies. e) career tactics and career success The results suggest that some career tactics are quite conspicuously, albeit weakly, related with career success, especially self-focused tactics such as self-promotion. This result contrasts with most existing studies which suggest that it is mainly other-focused tactics such as ingratiation and networking that foster career success.