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Article
Publication date: 1 February 2013

Burcu Akan Ellis

The purpose of this paper is to assess the role that transient interpretation jobs play in the career development of skilled migrants.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the role that transient interpretation jobs play in the career development of skilled migrants.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on interviews and correspondence with ethnic Albanian interpreters in the USA and Britain, this study analyzes the bonding and bridging effects of transient careers. Respondents include a diverse group of freelancers, as well as volunteer and professional interpreters and the interpretation experiences of the dozen Albanian skilled migrants are analyzed through a grounded theory approach.

Findings

Interpretation jobs enable highly‐skilled immigrants to initially sustain themselves abroad while adjusting to the host country. Interpretation is one area where skilled women can find a professional voice. Yet, the social capital value of interpretation exceeds its economic benefits. Migrant interpreters acquire human capital and social and cultural networks through their jobs and pass this “know‐how” to their communities through their volunteer work.

Research limitations/implications

Further research beyond the limited ethnic scope of the study is necessary to assess the links between migration and translation activism.

Practical implications

As an initial career choice for migrants, interpretation jobs remain typically transient, ad hoc and low‐wage, and the important functions they provide in economic, social and cultural capital, and their role in enabling migrants to get skilled through their migration remain unrecognized in studies of career development.

Social implications

Talented young immigrants in a transient career also get skilled through their migration process.

Originality/value

Young Albanian interpreters, invisible as immigrants and refugees, are indicative of the potential talent hidden in many such transient careers. The social, economic and cultural gains from interpretation indicate the need to view transient careers as more than short‐term strategies to make a living.

Article
Publication date: 28 June 2013

Brian Leavy

The purpose of this article is to provide an interview with innovation guru Rita Gunther McGrath. In this interview, McGrath offers her own perspective on the new competitive

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to provide an interview with innovation guru Rita Gunther McGrath. In this interview, McGrath offers her own perspective on the new competitive landscape, which she refers to as the “transient advantage economy,” and she sets out to help strategists more fully understand its implications and better navigate its major challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

In a world where strategy development itself needs to become more and more a process of innovation and discovery, few are better qualified to offer deep insight and practical help. McGrath is a Professor at Columbia Business School and a globally renowned expert on strategy in uncertain environments.

Findings

The “transient‐advantage economy,” that promises to leave few if any businesses unaffected, calls for an entirely new strategy playbook.

Practical implications

Deeply ingrained structures and systems designed to extract maximum value from a competitive advantage become a liability when the environment requires instead the capacity to surf through waves of short‐lived opportunities.

Originality/value

From the way we handle innovation, to resource allocation, to change, to the leadership mind‐set and even the management of individual careers, the transient advantage economy calls for a radical rethinking of how we create strategies and manage organizations.

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2013

Akram Al Ariss, Iris Koall, Mustafa Özbilgin and Vesa Suutari

The purpose of this editorial is to present an overview of the papers in this special issue.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this editorial is to present an overview of the papers in this special issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on papers in this special issue.

Findings

There is a multi‐disciplinarily approach of the papers in this issue in connecting fields of management, sociology, migration, and psychology, among others, in the area of international mobility.

Originality/value

The guest editors continue their commitment, in this special issue, to expanding the field of study of migration and the careers of migrants from theoretical and methodological perspectives.

Details

Journal of Management Development, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0262-1711

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Article
Publication date: 29 May 2023

Christopher S. Dutt and Chris Ryan

This paper examines why individuals start their hospitality careers by becoming temporary lifeguards while aspiring to later promotion. It reports data from young people working…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines why individuals start their hospitality careers by becoming temporary lifeguards while aspiring to later promotion. It reports data from young people working in one major upmarket hotel chain that operates in the Gulf but has a global reach. This study aims to address issues regarding this often-overlooked career path for young staff.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative questionnaire was distributed to lifeguards working in a luxury hotel chain in a Gulf country to explore their reasons for working as a lifeguard and their experiences in this role. Data were analysed using QDA Miner and WordStat to generate coherence and similarity indices.

Findings

It is found that the attractions include good training with a well-established company operating in an upmarket location, but other important factors include career prospects, skill enhancement, self-development, monetary savings and experience working in one of the world’s most exciting tourist locations.

Practical implications

The results offer implications for management looking to recruit expatriate labour without considering long-term employment or residence. Nonetheless, while this offers opportunities to assess many potential long-term employees, there are costs to the practice.

Originality/value

Little research has been conducted on lifeguards and how employment in such roles can develop careers in hospitality. The study contributes to understanding motives and career development and conceptually suggests that liminal status complements those drawn to protean career development. The results shed light on how new employees, including management trainees, undertake liminal, protean careers, to care for family, develop their careers and enter markets that may otherwise be difficult to enter.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 36 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

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Article
Publication date: 23 August 2022

Jérôme Sulbout and François Pichault

Recent studies on contingent workers highlight their boundaryless and protean nature, and depict them as free agents who reject organisational forms of career support. Going…

Abstract

Purpose

Recent studies on contingent workers highlight their boundaryless and protean nature, and depict them as free agents who reject organisational forms of career support. Going beyond such current view, this paper aims to shed light on the career support provided by labour market intermediaries (LMIs) to skilled contingent workers (SCWs), the latter known as freelancers and consulting firms' employees.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a qualitative stance and an inductive approach, the authors draw on 33 interviews to grasp SCWs' discourses on the career support offered by LMIs, and their account managers. The thematic analysis reveals two main themes: the career support delivered by LMIs to SCWs, and the expectations of SCWs regarding potential additional forms of career support from LMIs.

Findings

The authors show that SCWs are supported by LMIs in their career via a number of career management practices and operational support, and account managers a likely to play a key role in the careers of SCWs by providing transactional and relational career support. Moreover, the authors stress that SCWs are free agents, yet seeking for forms of support from LMIs.

Originality/value

The present paper addresses the roles of LMIs regarding non-standard population of workers through the lens of SCWs, what has barely been undertaken in recent research. This paper also enriches current debates on the organisational support SCWs are willing to accept and benefit from, despite the idiosyncratic nature of their careers.

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1997

Dave Buchanan, Simone Jordan, Diane Preston and Alison Smith

Aims to examine medical involvement in hospital management processes, and to consider the implications of current experience for the next generation of clinical directors. Doctors…

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Abstract

Aims to examine medical involvement in hospital management processes, and to consider the implications of current experience for the next generation of clinical directors. Doctors who move into a formal management role often find themselves unprepared for their new responsibilities. Research has thus concentrated on identifying the management competences which doctors lack, and with designing ways to remedy the deficit. Seeks to move beyond this deficit model by adopting a perspective which focuses on the engagement of doctors in the management process. Draws data from in‐depth interviews with six clinical directors and 19 other members of the hospital management team at Leicester General Hospital NHS Trust (LGH). Content analysis of interviews suggests that the engagement of clinical directors in the hospital management process at this site can be described as reluctant, transient, service‐driven, power‐pulled and pressured. This negative portrayal of the role, however, must be set in the context of the “management expectation” held of clinical directors by other hospital managers and staff ‐ an expectation that is not currently fulfilled.

Details

Journal of Management in Medicine, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-9235

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 July 2019

Maria Golubovskaya, David Solnet and Richard N.S. Robinson

This paper aims to challenge existing assumptions in talent management (TM) research, showcasing a misalignment between commonly held assumptions and the characteristics of the…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to challenge existing assumptions in talent management (TM) research, showcasing a misalignment between commonly held assumptions and the characteristics of the youth-intensive hospitality sector workforce.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a review of the TM literature, Piirto’s educational talent pyramid is adopted to conceptualize a recalibration. Drawing on multidisciplinary literatures (i.e. adolescent development, youth employment, positive psychology), and adopting a (talent) developmental approach, a reframing of prevalent TM discourses is enunciated based on the logic that the hospitality workforce is predominantly in a developmental state.

Findings

TM discourses are misaligned with the workforce composition of the hospitality industry, which is dominated by young, often unexperienced, workers. The need for dramatically recalibrated TM structures and underlying assumptions, centred around a greater attention to the “development” of talent and a more employee-focused and inclusive approach, can facilitate greater alignment between TM and hospitality.

Research limitations/implications

This paper extends a body of work advocating for more inclusive TM and developmental postures. The contribution, via a hospitality industry context, has been to create linkages between talent- and youth-development discourses.

Practical implications

This paper outlines a number of implications, among which are a pathway forward for hospitality industry to rebuild its poor HRM image and conversion of “transient” hospitality jobs to career jobs (for youth).

Originality/value

This paper identifies youth as a distinct workforce entity and suggests that hospitality jobs represent a critical developmental context for young people, resulting in a series of critical implications for TM practice and theorizing.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 31 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 May 2012

Sean P. Goffnett, Robert L. Cook, Zachary Williams and Brian J. Gibson

Career shifts and talent shortages in supply chain management (SCM) are evident at most occupation levels and need further attention and understanding. The purpose of this paper…

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Abstract

Purpose

Career shifts and talent shortages in supply chain management (SCM) are evident at most occupation levels and need further attention and understanding. The purpose of this paper is to present factors that shape SCM career expectations, choices, and satisfaction and to advance career theory and research that is currently absent in SCM literature.

Design/methodology/approach

This study administered open‐ended surveys to individuals educated and working in SCM to elicit the satisfaction and dissatisfaction that professionals derive from various aspects of their SCM careers. Resulting data were content analyzed and categorized into major themes representing career satisfiers (likes) and dissatisfiers (dislikes).

Findings

This exploratory study found evidence of traditional career components and the presences of objective and subjective components that transcend organizational boundaries. The results indicate an emergence of the boundaryless career concept in SCM, as the SCM career appears less dependent on a single employer. From the data emerged six major career satisfiers and seven major career dissatisfiers. Challenge is the most satisfying aspect of a SCM career. Challenge, however, may have limits, as the most dissatisfying aspect of a SCM career is the overload that can overwhelm a SCM professional in his or her career.

Practical implications

Career satisfaction can be readily measured and categorized to explain SCM career expectations and choices that may lead to positive or negative work outcomes. Supply chain managers could utilize the information to understand employee perceptions and behaviors that may influence performance and to contend with disruptive career shifts and looming talent shortages in SCM.

Originality/value

This paper introduces contemporary career theory concepts and is a first of its kind in the field that explores attitudes and perceptions toward careers in SCM, as it focuses on career satisfiers and dissatisfiers described by SCM professionals.

Details

The International Journal of Logistics Management, vol. 23 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-4093

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 August 2015

Sally Shaw and Sarah Leberman

The purpose of this research is to examine the experiences of female CEOs in New Zealand sport using a career account approach overlaid with the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM)…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to examine the experiences of female CEOs in New Zealand sport using a career account approach overlaid with the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM). This research focuses on their successful careers, rather than constraints and barriers, which is a feature of much previous research in the area.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews and analysis were informed by the principles of the KCM of career authenticity, balance and challenge. Seven chief executive officers in New Zealand sport organizations were interviewed. Data analysis was undertaken through a three-step coding process.

Findings

Respondents highlighted the importance of authenticity, balance and challenge in different ways. The KCM model is extended by identifying sub-themes within each principle. These were, under authenticity, passion and relationship-building; under balance, self-awareness and influencing the organization; and under challenge, taking opportunities and working in sport’s gendered environment. Findings indicate that a more nuanced development of KCM is required and that decision-makers in sport organizations need to be aware of the varied drivers of women’s positive experiences.

Research limitations/implications

This research contributes to an understanding of successful women’s careers, rather than focusing on barriers to success. It also extends the KCM. Future research is necessary to examine the viability of our suggested extensions to the KCM.

Practical implications

While not generalizable, this study’s findings suggest that sport organization decision-makers would be well advised to understand the unique ways in which authenticity, balance and challenge are understood by their female employees. This may encourage organizations to look more closely at their cultures to ensure that they are more welcoming and supportive to women in a male-dominated industry.

Originality/value

This research contributes to an understanding of successful women’s careers, rather than focusing on barriers to success. It also extends the KCM. Future research is necessary to examine the viability of our suggested extensions to the KCM.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal, vol. 30 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1993

Teresa Holmes and Sue Cartwright

There are many compelling social and economic reasons why managersand professionals may decide or be obliged to consider changing careersat mid life. While 30 years ago, only two…

Abstract

There are many compelling social and economic reasons why managers and professionals may decide or be obliged to consider changing careers at mid life. While 30 years ago, only two out of every 100 executives were likely to make a radical career change, during the last decade, this figure has risen to 35 per cent. In reviewing the literature, examines the needs and motives for career change and the individual, organizational and wider societal factors likely to facilitate or impede that change. Reports on a continuing study comparing the experiences and characteristics of successful and unsuccessful mid‐career changers and suggests that personality differences may play an important role in determining outcomes.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 15 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

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