Changing Organisations and Workplaces and the need for a new paradigm #5

Welcome to my newest discussion on why a new paradigm is needed for the future handling of career development and career management challenges. In previous blogs the impact of changing lives, changing demographics, changing societies, and the need for new career definitions, were cited as some of the key reasons for the introduction of a new paradigm – today’s blog will consider the impact of changing organisations and workplaces as yet another reason.

The way in which organisational structures are changing, is offering clear signs of the fact that traditional person-environment fit models of career development and planning, have become obsolete. The significant manner, in which organisational structures are changing, is causing changes in the relationship between organisations and employees.

In the business world the incidence of restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, downsizing, right-sizing, business process optimisation, and take-overs have increased significantly. More often than not the large-scale impact of these changes on individual employees is not given the full attention it deserves.

The roles and contributions of career professionals should also change as to offer optimal assistance to individuals impacted by these changes in organisational structure.

In the context of these changing organisational structures, contract or part-time workers, also referred to as contingent or portfolio workers (Charles Handy; 1990), independent contractors, seasonal or leased workers, and the like, are increasingly being found. Further to this, the introduction of specialised work teams has also been associated with these changes in organisational structure.

The common denominator in this changing context is the individual employee. Regardless of what shape or form their work role may take, such individuals need to adopt special approaches to managing their personal career planning and development. In the absence of significantly diminished job security, the onus for looking after oneself is further underscored.

The implications of the above discussion is clear: old models of career management are truly obsolete, since can they can in no way assist individuals in handling the many issues and challenges associated with changing workplaces and organisational structures; contingent workers cannot rely on appropriate guidance or input from old models of career development and are therefore required to adopt a new approach – the Integrative Life Planning (ILP) approach has been conceptualised to assist individuals in attaining wholeness and integration and to be able to function in all contexts of change, including changing workplaces. The ILP model will be discussed in great detail on the blog – not only will the context of change be further explicated, but will the Integrative Life Planning model be applied to various contexts.

(Based on the work of Sunny Hansen: Integrative Life Planning: Critical Tasks for Career Development and Changing Life Patterns).