CAREER ORIENTATIONS OF SINGAPORE MANAGERS : IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGING CAREER DIVERSITY IN ORGANIZATIONS

Abstract

The career orientations of employees can have important implications for both individual careerists as well as organizations. It is vital for careerists and organizations to understand the dynamics of career orientations so that compatibility between individual needs and organizational goals can be attained in the current environment of increasing career diversity. However, there is little empirical research on the correlates of career orientations held by managers in the context of Singapore. This study sought to address this gap in the literature and assessed the career orientations of 100 Singapore managers from a variety of organizations. Based on Derrs (1988) model of career orientations, the present study was conducted to ascertain the emergence of any dominant career orientation(s) among Singapore managers. This study also examined the impact of demographic characteristics like age, sex, marital status and educational level, as well as work-related factors like years of working experience, tenure in a position and organization on career orientations. A force-choice instrument, the Career Success Map (CSM) questionnaire (Derr, 1988: 189-193) was used in the research to determine the career orientations of the respondents. Findings from the study revealed that getting-secure and getting-balanced were the two most prevalent career orientations among Singapore managers. It was also found that demographic factors like age and educational level have an influence on the getting-ahead orientation of the managers. Moreover, female managers appeared to have a greater inclination towards a getting-balanced orientation compared to their male counterparts, whereas male managers displayed a greater tendency than female managers to assume a getting-high orientation. Positional tenure, a work-related factor, was also found to exert an impact on the getting-balanced orientation of managers surveyed. In conclusion, it can be seen that the majority of Singapore managers are heading toward a getting-secure or getting-balanced orientations, and some demographic and work-related factors like age, sex, educational level and positional tenure do seem to exert an influence on some of the career orientations of Singapore managers. In addition to the research findings reported, implications of the findings to individual careerists and organizations, limitations of the study, as well as suggestions for future research were also discussed.