Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

What are the individual and organizational influences on career choices and adult development?

Careers In and Out of Organizations provides an overview of the changing context of careers and describes the role of interpersonal relationships as influences on development of a person′s identity and learning. The author examines the nature of the new career contract and the different approaches that have been taken to studying career decision making. He explores how career choices are made, the developmental stages people pass through during the course of their working lives in organizations, and the factors related to career effectiveness including integrating career and personal life. The latter third of the book turns from research to the practical issues involved in applying theory including a look at how an understanding of career dynamics can be employed to make careers work better for individuals and for the work communities where they are employed.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction to the Series
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part I Contemporary Careers
• 1 The Study of Careers
• The Changing Context of Careers
• Why Study Careers?
• What Is a Career?
• A Working Definition of Career
• Why Are Careers Important?
• Conclusion
• 2 The Protean Career Contract
• The Nature of a Psychological Contract
• The Nature of the New Contract
• Stages of Adaptation: Three Types of Companies
• Continuous Learning via Psychological Success
• Implications for Organizational Career Management
• Questions for Further Research
• Conclusion
• Part II Elements Of The Career
• 3 Career Choice and Decision Making
• Eras of Career Research
• Matching People and Occupations
• Process Models: How Are Career Choices Made?
• How People Choose Organizations
• Conclusion
• 4 Life, Career, and Learning Stages
• Are Career and Life Stages Still Relevant Today?
• Life Stages
• Schein's Model of the Organizational Career
• The Early Career Years: Becoming Established
• Midlife and Midcareer: Maintenance and Reexamination
• A New Stage Model for the Middle and Later Career Years and Beyond: Learning Cycles
• Later Career and Adjustment Into Retirement
• Summary of Developmental Needs in Early, Middle, and Late Career
• Research Issues
• Conclusion
• 5 Predicting Career Effectiveness: Performance
• What Is Career Effectiveness?
• Understanding How the Process of the Career Affects Performance
• Research Issues
• Conclusion
• 6 The Protean Career Identity and Attitudes
• Career Identity
• Career Attitudes
• Conclusion
• 7 Career Adaptability
• Why Adaptability Is Critical to Contemporary Career Development
• Observing the Experience of Adaptability
• A General Model of Adaptability
• An Integrated Model of Adaptability
• Questions for Future Research
• Conclusion
• 8 Managing Protean Career and Life Roles
• Early Work: Interrole Analysis and Dual-Career Couples
• Protean Careers and Dual-Career Relationships
• Conclusion
• Appendix
• Part III Implementing Career Concepts
• 9 Reflection: Self-Development for the Growth of Identity and Adaptability
• What is Reflection?
• Reflection: Stereotype Versus Reality
• How a CEO Reflects
• Relfection in the Heat of Battle
• Identity Growth Through Self-Reflection
• Steps for Leveraging Learning Through Reflection and Questions for Research
• Appendix
• 10 Toward More Strategic and Self-Directed Careers
• The Business Need for a Career Development Plan
• A Strategic Framework for Career Development
• Priorities and Recommendations: Seven Steps to Growth for Career Practice and Research
• Steps for Guiding the Protean Careerist: Questions for Career Self-Reflection or a Career Discussion
• 11 Looking Back at Careers in Organizations and Looking Ahead: Toward More Spiritual Careers
• Looking Back at Careers in Organizations: Then and Now and Beyond
• Conclusion
• References
• Index
• About the Author