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Career Dynamics: Matching Individual and Organizational Needs
Business, Business Management
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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109 people want to read
About the author
Edgar H. Schein
112 books201 followersEdgar Henry Schein is the Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus and a Professor Emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Schein investigates organizational culture, process consultation, research process, career dynamics, and organization learning and change. In Career Anchors, third edition (Wiley, 2006), he shows how individuals can diagnose their own career needs and how managers can diagnose the future of jobs. His research on culture shows how national, organizational, and occupational cultures influence organizational performance (Organizational Culture and Leadership, fourth edition, 2010). In Process Consultation Revisited (1999) and Helping (2009), he analyzes how consultants work on problems in human systems and the dynamics of the helping process. Schein has written two cultural case studies—“Strategic Pragmatism: The Culture of Singapore’s Economic Development Board” (MIT Press, 1996) and “DEC is Dead; Long Live DEC” (Berett-Kohler, 2003). His Corporate Culture Survival Guide, second edition (Jossey-Bass, 2009) tells managers how to deal with culture issues in their organizations.
Schein holds a BPhil from the University of Chicago, a BA and an MA in social psychology from Stanford University, and a PhD in social psychology from Harvard University.
From:http://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/detai...
Schein investigates organizational culture, process consultation, research process, career dynamics, and organization learning and change. In Career Anchors, third edition (Wiley, 2006), he shows how individuals can diagnose their own career needs and how managers can diagnose the future of jobs. His research on culture shows how national, organizational, and occupational cultures influence organizational performance (Organizational Culture and Leadership, fourth edition, 2010). In Process Consultation Revisited (1999) and Helping (2009), he analyzes how consultants work on problems in human systems and the dynamics of the helping process. Schein has written two cultural case studies—“Strategic Pragmatism: The Culture of Singapore’s Economic Development Board” (MIT Press, 1996) and “DEC is Dead; Long Live DEC” (Berett-Kohler, 2003). His Corporate Culture Survival Guide, second edition (Jossey-Bass, 2009) tells managers how to deal with culture issues in their organizations.
Schein holds a BPhil from the University of Chicago, a BA and an MA in social psychology from Stanford University, and a PhD in social psychology from Harvard University.
From:http://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/detai...
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 9, 2010
Surprisingly relevant for a Addison-Wesley series from the 70s!!
July 2, 2021
Career Progression Classic with Charts and Graphs - Recently, I came upon this classic book on Career Dynamics (i.e. originally published in 1978) and looking at it again, remembered and rediscovered why I like it so much.
From the beginning, Schein states that "organizations are dependent on performance of their people and people are dependent on organizations for jobs and careers." He goes on to indicate that "the purpose of the book is to explore how people and organizations can match their needs so that both benefit." Throughout the book, Schein explores the various stages of adult life, career and family cycles. He also describes useful concepts such as "career anchors"(i.e. particular talents, motives and values that tend to guide a person's career) as well as examines the different elements of human resource planning and development that can be brought to bear to assist with these matching tasks.
What particularly impresses me is the way Schein lays everything out in graphs, tables and diagrams. For instance, there is one graph on page 24 that shows the individual life, career and family cycle interactions with higher and lower points plotted over time based on the difficulty of tasks to be accomplished. Among the higher points are the 30's Crisis, Career/Organization Entry, and Marriage/Children. On the other end of the spectrum are the Older Age Crisis, Retirement, and Children Growing Up with their Own Families. The comment with the graph express a major hypothesis that "individual effectiveness is lowest when total difficulty of tasks is highest, but greater difficulty produces greater opportunity for radical growth." Oh, how true, as those of us going through these crises can attest. (see also The Life Cycle Completed by Eric Erickson with J.M. Erikson, 1987).
Within tables such as on pages 29-33, 40-46 and 50-52, Schein lists the main issues and tasks for different age groupings and career stages. Diagrams like those on page 191 depict organizational activities, matching processes, and individual activities that are components of a human resource planning and development system. Schein's narrative connects and explains the different dimensions and also includes a listing of then emerging issues and trends. For instance, he states, "people are placing less value on work or career as a total life concern . . . " and "managers of tomorrow will have to manage in . . . a society . . . where people have . . . and exercise more choices . . . "
Within a bibliography, there are many references including those to the early works of Daniel Levinson (author of "Seasons of a Man's Life") and Gail Sheehy (author of "Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life") that also deal with similar topics. However, I continue to favor Schein's presentation with its graphs, tables and diagrams as more to the point and accessible.
Unfortunately this book is not available in electronic format. It also needs an update to reflect current career conditions, e.g. in recent years due to a "buyers market" it seems companies have had the "upper hand" constraining personal career choices (Sheehy's 2006 intro to the reissue of her "Passages" book offers some helpful updates to more recent conditions).
In any case, take look a Schein as his work remains a classic in examining Career Dynamics.
From the beginning, Schein states that "organizations are dependent on performance of their people and people are dependent on organizations for jobs and careers." He goes on to indicate that "the purpose of the book is to explore how people and organizations can match their needs so that both benefit." Throughout the book, Schein explores the various stages of adult life, career and family cycles. He also describes useful concepts such as "career anchors"(i.e. particular talents, motives and values that tend to guide a person's career) as well as examines the different elements of human resource planning and development that can be brought to bear to assist with these matching tasks.
What particularly impresses me is the way Schein lays everything out in graphs, tables and diagrams. For instance, there is one graph on page 24 that shows the individual life, career and family cycle interactions with higher and lower points plotted over time based on the difficulty of tasks to be accomplished. Among the higher points are the 30's Crisis, Career/Organization Entry, and Marriage/Children. On the other end of the spectrum are the Older Age Crisis, Retirement, and Children Growing Up with their Own Families. The comment with the graph express a major hypothesis that "individual effectiveness is lowest when total difficulty of tasks is highest, but greater difficulty produces greater opportunity for radical growth." Oh, how true, as those of us going through these crises can attest. (see also The Life Cycle Completed by Eric Erickson with J.M. Erikson, 1987).
Within tables such as on pages 29-33, 40-46 and 50-52, Schein lists the main issues and tasks for different age groupings and career stages. Diagrams like those on page 191 depict organizational activities, matching processes, and individual activities that are components of a human resource planning and development system. Schein's narrative connects and explains the different dimensions and also includes a listing of then emerging issues and trends. For instance, he states, "people are placing less value on work or career as a total life concern . . . " and "managers of tomorrow will have to manage in . . . a society . . . where people have . . . and exercise more choices . . . "
Within a bibliography, there are many references including those to the early works of Daniel Levinson (author of "Seasons of a Man's Life") and Gail Sheehy (author of "Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life") that also deal with similar topics. However, I continue to favor Schein's presentation with its graphs, tables and diagrams as more to the point and accessible.
Unfortunately this book is not available in electronic format. It also needs an update to reflect current career conditions, e.g. in recent years due to a "buyers market" it seems companies have had the "upper hand" constraining personal career choices (Sheehy's 2006 intro to the reissue of her "Passages" book offers some helpful updates to more recent conditions).
In any case, take look a Schein as his work remains a classic in examining Career Dynamics.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews