Metaphors of Career Success: The Case of Middle Managers

Jacqueline Dahan

doi:10.82396/cjcd.v13i1.3073

Authors

Jacqueline Dahan Université de Sherbrooke

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.82396/cjcd.v13i1.3073

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.

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