Careers CAR

Organization Studies

 Special Issue on

“Career as a social and political phenomenon in the globalized economy”

Guest editors:

<st1:personname w:st="on">Hugh Gunz</st1:personname>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">University of Toronto</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place>

<st1:personname w:st="on">Wolfgang Mayrhofer</st1:personname>, Wirtschaftsuniversität (WU) <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Wien</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Austria</st1:country-region></st1:place>

Pamela Tolbert, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Cornell University</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region></st1:place>

Deadline: <st1:date w:st="on" month="11" day="30" year="2008">30 November 2008</st1:date>

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Rationale

Career scholars regularly cite Hughes’ (1937) dictum: “...a study of careers – of the moving perspective in which persons orient themselves with reference to the social order, and of the typical sequences and concatenations of office – may be expected to reveal the nature and 'working constitution' of a society.” Yet the greater part of the careers literature typically ignores this by focussing, largely, on the careers of individuals and influencing factors mainly linked to the person and his or her immediate context, to the neglect of the broader context within which the careers are lived.  However, large-scale economic and organisational changes that have affected most industrial societies in recent decades - the increasing economic dominance of multinational organizations (Anderson and Cavanaugh, 2005), the emergence of distinctive forms of employment relations across countries (Whitley, 1999), and changes in individuals’ expectations of “standard” employment contracts (Barley and Kunda, 2004) – make neglect of the social and political contexts in which careers unfold very problematic.

Reflecting a growing recognition of this, a number of authors have begun to reintroduce context to the study of careers. Some have approached it from the direction of macro-organization theory, examining the interrelationships between, for example, organizational population dynamics and career patterns. Others have explored the contribution that ‘grand’ social theory, in particular the work of Bourdieu or Giddens, can make to the understanding of career processes. Yet such work remains limited. We invite scholars interested in a contextual interpretation and explanation of work careers to contribute to this development in the field by submitting conceptual, theoretical and empirical papers that enhance our understanding of the link between work careers and their broader context.

This Special Issue will focus exclusively on work careers. Work careers are lived in a multitude of settings: organizations, communities of organizations, occupational communities, professions, geographical communities and so on. By “context” we mean the broad social context that provides the canvas on which work careers are painted, rather than the immediate organizational context as discussed, for example, by <st1:personname w:st="on">John</st1:personname>s (2001). The immediate context may, of course, form a link between career and the broader context. However, it is the latter and not the former type of context that is the object of interest here. Thus, we are interested in exploring how examinations of the broad context within which work careers are lived help us understand better the nature of career in an Internet-based, globalised economy and how these careers, in turn, influence developments in the context.

Examples of relevant topics include:

• How do the concept of “career”, and career patterns of a given occupation, reflect national differences in social structures, economic and labour force policies, as well as across individuals with different social backgrounds?

Career research typically assumes that “career” is a universally-shared concept. But work and careers are embedded in national economic and institutional environments which are crucial for individual career paths as well as for career patterns of larger groups, especially within an occupation. We have only limited understanding of the interplay between context and career patterns, and of how social backgrounds affect the perception of work and of one’s movement through different social positions, so theoretical arguments as well as empirical findings shedding additional light on this interplay and on the career concept are very much needed.

• Is there any historical evidence that career patterns and processes have been substantially reshaped by globalized economies?

The change in careers as reflected in speaking about ‘new careers’ is largely taken for granted. However, a closer look reveals that many aspects of new careers such as moves beyond organizational boundaries, multiple careers or self-crafted career paths are not entirely new, have existed throughout history and sometimes even are the norm outside for-profit organizations. Studies empirically analyzing the extent to which change due to globalization has actually occurred will make a significant contribution to the career discussion.

• How have changes in family and family partnership forms and women’s labour force participation rates changed both men’s and women’s career patterns?

Compared with the situation a few decades ago, new forms of living together, as well as the role of women in society and in the working domain, have clearly changed. While there are a number of studies illustrating various facets of the consequences for careers, in-depths studies of the consequences of these changes for careers are still scarce.

• Which conceptual frameworks allow the integration of social and political phenomena in their description and explanations of individual careers or career patterns of a larger group?

Many existing conceptual frameworks of careers either have their focus on the individual or de-emphasize the relationship between contextual factors and career. Contributions that elaborate on contextual frameworks taking into account multi-level factors and demonstrating their descriptive and explanatory potential for career analysis are strongly needed.

• Are there new careers associated with the economic dominance of multinational organizations (including organizations that coordinate international relations, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the UN, health-services organizations and so forth)?

Different aspects of multinational corporations are well-researched. This partly includes international careers. However, as businesses at all levels become more global and specific forms of global co-operations such as networks, alliances or joint-ventures emerge, the issue of career relevant consequences becomes increasingly salient. In addition, for large groups of global organizations outside the world of business there is little career related research.

• Is there an emerging global elite? If so, what do their careers look like, and how do they relate to the global economy? What are the rules of the game here?

For some professional groups such as diplomats or politicians, global elites have a long history. However, related to world-wide business activities, the issue of a global business elite with specific rules governing their respective career arenas has gained new importance.

The above is a list of indicative, but not exhaustive, issues on which we invite papers within the general frame of this Call.

Submissions

To be considered for publication, papers must be electronically received by <st1:date w:st="on" month="11" day="30" year="2008">30 November 2008</st1:date>. Please submit papers as e-mail attachments (Microsoft Word files only) to the Editor-in-Chief (OSeditor@alba.edu.gr), indicating in the e-mail the title of the Special Issue. Please prepare manuscripts according to the guidelines shown at www.egosnet.org/os. All papers will receive a double-blind review following OS’ normal review process and criteria. Up to seven papers will be accepted for publication in the Special Issue. The Special Issue is scheduled for publication in the last quarter of 2010. Any papers accepted for publication but not included in the Special Issue due to space constrains will be published later in a regular issue. For further information please contact the Guest Editors for this Special Issue, <st1:personname w:st="on">Hugh Gunz</st1:personname> (hugh.gunz@utoronto.ca), <st1:personname w:st="on">Wolfgang Mayrhofer</st1:personname> (wolfgang.mayrhofer@wu-wien.ac.at ), or Pamela Tolbert (pst3@cornell.edu).

References

Anderson, Sarah and <st1:personname w:st="on">John</st1:personname> Cavanaugh.  (2005)  Field Guide to the Global Economy.  <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state></st1:place>:  W.W. Norton.

Barley, Stephen R. and Gideon Kunda.  (2004)  Gurus, Hired Guns and Warm Bodies:  Itinerant Experts in a Knowledge Economy.  <st1:city w:st="on">Princeton</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">NJ</st1:state>:  <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Princeton</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press.

Hughes, E. C. (1937). Institutional Office and the Person. American Journal of Sociology 43 404-413.

Johns, G. (2001). In praise of context. Journal of Organizational Behavior 22(1), 31-42.

Whitley, Richard.  (1999)  Divergent Capitalisms:  The Social Structuring and Change of Business.  <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>:  <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Oxford</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press.