Career Development: The Significance of the Subjective Career

Our changing society and troubled economy are making many new demands of work organisations, so that human resource managers are having to deal with new issues and explore ways of dealing with old ones. One aspect of organisational life which is so affected is career development. A recent review of the latest thinking on it noted some of these new questions and proposed the inclusion of lateral as well as “onward and upward” moves within an accepted view of career development. This article offers an even wider view of career development through its recognition of the significance of the subjective career.