Career Development

In organizational development (or OD), the study of career development looks at:

  • how individuals manage their careers within and between organizations and,
  • how organizations structure the career progress of their members, it can also be tied into succession planning within some organizations.

In personal development, career development is:

  • " ... the total constellation of psychological, sociological, educational, physical, economic, and chance factors that combine to influence the nature and significance of work in the total lifespan of any given individual."
  • The evolution or development of a career - informed by (1) Experience within a specific field of interest (2) Success at each stage of development - and (3), educational attainment.
  • "... the lifelong psychological and behavioral processes as well as contextual influences shaping one’s career over the life span. As such, career development involves the person’s creation of a career pattern, decision-making style, integration of life roles, values expression, and life-role self concepts."

Figures in career development

  • Jesse B. Davis
  • John L. Holland
  • Frank Parsons
  • Edgar Schein
  • Rino Schreuder

Famous quotes containing the words career and/or development:

    I seemed intent on making it as difficult for myself as possible to pursue my “male” career goal. I not only procrastinated endlessly, submitting my medical school application at the very last minute, but continued to crave a conventional female role even as I moved ahead with my “male” pursuits.
    Margaret S. Mahler (1897–1985)

    Dissonance between family and school, therefore, is not only inevitable in a changing society; it also helps to make children more malleable and responsive to a changing world. By the same token, one could say that absolute homogeneity between family and school would reflect a static, authoritarian society and discourage creative, adaptive development in children.
    Sara Lawrence Lightfoot (20th century)