Metaphors of Career Success: The Case of Middle Managers

Jacqueline Dahan

Authors

Jacqueline Dahan Université de Sherbrooke

Keywords:

metaphors, career, success, managers, middle managers

Abstract

This article aims to help career practitioners and counsellors better understand the career success of their middle manager clients. The results presented emerge from an exploratory study of the success of middle managers working in the Québec aeronautics industry. Although admittedly not exhaustive, these results form a repertoire of four spatial metaphors that correspond to different views of career success held by middle managers interviewed. The metaphors rest on archetypal vehicles that illustrate the movement and speed of the career path, and the speed at which career success is built. The metaphors used by middle managers depict their chosen positioning relative to that endorsed by the organization. The repertoire can guide middle managers’ professional and personal development and help them reflect on their designed positioning relative to the metaphor promoted by the organization.

References

Amundson, N. E. (2010) Metaphor making: Your career, your life, your way. Richmond, B.C.: Ergon Communications.

Arthur, M.B., & Lawrence, B.S. (1984). Perspectives on environment and career. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 5, 1-8.

Barley, S.R. (1989). Careers, identities and institutions: The legacy of the Chicago School of Sociology. In B.S. Lawrence Arthur & D.T. Hall (Eds.). Handbook of career theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Briscoe, J. P., Henagan, S. C., Burton, J. P.; & Murphy, W. . (2012). Coping with an insecure employment environment: The differing roles of protean and boundaryless career orientations. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(2), 308-316.

Cohen-Scali, V., & Guichard, J. (2008). Introduction: Identités & orientations. L’Orientation Scolaire et Professionnelle. 37(3), 315-320.

Eddleston, K., Baldridge, D., & Veiga, J. F. (2004). Toward modeling the predictors of managerial career success: does gender matter? Journal of Managerial Psychology, 19(4), 360-385.

El-Sawad, A. (2005). Becoming a ‘lifer’? Unlocking career through metaphor. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 78,23-41.

Gowler, D., & Legge, K. (1989). Rhetoric in bureaucratic careers: Managing the meaning of management success In M. Arthur, B.S., Lawrence & D.T. Hall (Eds), Handbook of Career Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Gichard, J. (2008). Proposition d’un schéma d’entretien constructiviste de conseil en orientation (life designing counseling) pour des adolescents ou de jeunes

adultes. L’Orientation Scolaire et Professionnelle, 37(3), 413-440.

Gunz, H.P. (1989). Careers and Corporate Cultures: Managerial Mobility in Large Corporations. Oxford: Blackwell.

Hartung, P. J. (2009). Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development – 2009. The Career Development Quarterly, 59(2), 98-142.

Herriot, P. (1992). The Career Management Challenge – Balancing Individual and Organizational Needs, London Sage.

Inkson, K. (2004). Images of career: Nine key metaphors. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65, 96-111.

Inkson, K. (2006). Protean and boundaryless careers as metaphors. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69, 48-63.

Janowitz, M. (1968). Military tactics of promotion. In B.G. Glaser (Eds)., Organizational careers – A Sourcebook for Theory, Chicago, Aldine Publishing Company.

Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Limoges, J. (2007). Le maintien professionnel; une valse à trois tiers où temps et espace cherchent à mener le bal! Carriérologie, Revue francophone internationale,

(1), 243-250.

Mercure, D., Bourgeois, R.-P., & Wils, T. (1991). Analyse critique de la typologie des choix de e. Relations Industrielles, 46(1), 120-140.

Michaud, P. (2003). La Course: Comment les cadres talentueux font leur chemin dans la grande entreprise,Éditions Transcontinental.

Mignot, P. (2004). Metaphor and ‘career’. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64, 455-469.

Mortlock, S., & Parkin, F. (2004). A mirror? A rainbow? A check? A map? Metaphors and frameworks for counselling supervision. New Zealand Journal of Counselling, 25, 1-8.

Nicholson, N., & West, M. (1989). Transitions, work histories and careers. In M. Arthur, B.S. Lawrence & D.T. Hall (Eds.), Handbook of Career Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Oliveira, I. (2009). Nature et Fonctions de la Métaphore en Science, Paris: Harmattan.rser, B., & Leck, J. (2010). Gender influences on career success outcomes. Gender in Management, 25(5), 386-407.

Riverin-Simard, D. (1984). Étapes de Vie au Travail, Montréal, Éditions St-Martin.

Riverin-Simard, D. (1998), Travail et Personnalités, Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval.

Savickas, M.L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J., Duarte, M.E., & Guichard, J. (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75, 239-250.

Schein, E. H. (1978). Career Dynamics: Matching Individual and Organizational Needs. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Smith-Ruig, T. (2008). Making sense of careers through the lens of a path metaphor. Career Development International, 13(1), 20-32.

Tremblay, D.-G. (2003). Nouvelles carrières nomades et défis du marché du travail: une étude dans le secteur du multimédia. Carriérologie Revue francophone internationale, 9(2), 255-280.

Van Maanen, J. (1977). Organizational careers: Some new perspectives, New York,Wiley.