Ways non-standard and traditional careers could be supported in organizations

Career theory as a dedicated area of research within organization and management science emerged in the late 1970s (Moore et al. 2007). Since then a rather fragmented stream of definitions, theories and concepts, dealing with careers in one or the other way has started to converge. This report will draw on theory and research within contemporary career theory in order to outline ways traditional and non-standard careers can be supported in organisations.

The theoretical foundation will be an introduction of traditional and non-standard career concepts and their interplay with organisations as work context (Mayrhofer et al. 2007). Drawing on a career pattern model from Savickas et al. (2009), this report will argument that a set of unique career support challenges exists. These challenges are not to be seen isolated from each other in a static manner. Instead, they are interwoven and dynamic reflecting the complexity of the postmodern society.

Finally, career support measures to tackle those challenges will be introduced and discussed. They range from work and career support activities, introduction of mentoring networks to ensuring the permeability of career patterns and measures to improve “Career-Life Preparedness” (Lent 2013, p.7) of employees. An outline of possible areas of future research will conclude the report.