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courses on Career Paths WBT - Career Paths for Managers - Balance
The definition of career grounded in the research process,
implies a form of balance being struck between
-
Work-related events,
- An
individual's relationship to work, and
- Lifestyle.
Clearly, the relationship between the individual and work is
perceived as satisfying, if it provides for the maintenance and development by
that individual of an appropriate lifestyle. If these elements are in balance,
the individual will experience a form of psychological equilibrium leading to
satisfaction, and maintenance of the status quo. This status quo may be dynamic
in that it can include the situation in which the individual seeks regular
advancement in terms of:
- Skills,
- Status or
- Reward.
However, if they are not in balance, for example, if the
individual is made redundant then he/she will experience an imbalance as the
possibilities for lifestyle maintenance become threatened. Commonly, this
imbalance led to the high levels of anxiety, reported by some of our managers as
being disabling, in that the experience reduced their capacity to respond
rationally to the situation.
Managers also reported that changes in the circumstances in
one area of their lives could create imbalances in other areas, and it was
difficult to predict how a specific event would influence their decisions. They
had to choose between various actions that they could take to adjust one or more
of their individual, domestic and employment circumstances. How individuals
framed their career decisions in response to an imbalance lead to different
kinds of career action being used to try and restore an acceptable balance. A
manager having decided that he or she was deficient in some skill area might
commit time usually devoted to the family for personal development. If this
action successfully addressed the issue, the short-term imbalance in the
domestic situation was seen to have been worth it. They felt that after the
initial turmoil and anxiety experienced when imbalance was identified, they
became more satisfied as a result of taking the appropriate action. This
response occurred with collaborators who were consistent in managing their
careers.
With those who had an ad hoc response to career
management, efforts to restore balance were also unpredictable and ad hoc.
It was reported by some who had experienced difficulties in domestic
arrangements that these difficulties had led to a reduction in the level of
commitment to organizational careers and hence to decisions and actions taken
with regard to adopting different forms of lifestyle. What was reported by
collaborators shows that if one aspect of an individual's life is affected and
creates a perceived imbalance relative to other aspects, then the anxiety
experienced acts to motivate actions to restore a balance between the personal,
the domestic and the employment relationship to maintain lifestyle commitments.