Browsing by Subject "ura-ankkuri"

It has been necessary to broaden the traditional definition of careers to better reflect the diversity of contemporary careers. Careers are no longer seen as a ladder, but they move in several directions. The conceptual change in careers have put pressure on organizations to react, which is reflected in the effort to support their employees’ career paths. Different career planning tools, such as an individual development plan, have thus become an important way for organizations to value their expertise and ensure keeping competence in the company. The aim of this research is to form understanding of the views the employees of Unilever have on career planning and how an individual development plan works as a tool for their career planning. The study also seeks to identify career anchors in the interviewees' speeches and to relate them to their perceptions of career planning. In addition, the goal is that the results will help Unilever to support better their employees' career development and to develop career planning processes and tools. The framework of the thesis is based on two types of theoretical background. The subject is examined through a conceptual change of careers and a career anchor theory based on Edgar Schein's research. Approaching career anchor theory based on Schein's studies and complementary conceptualization. The research material was collected by interviewing nine Unilever employees in spring 2019. The research method is qualitative and empirical data was analyzed by content analysis. The results of this study show that the participants' views on careers were in line with previous studies. Opportunities to develop oneself, learning new and challenging tasks were seen as vital elements of the work career. In addition, four different career anchors were identified from the interviewees so that each of them had two simultaneously dominant anchors.

This study examines the views on careers of white-collar employees and organization of Fiskars. The study answers two questions: what kind of views on careers the white-collar employees have, and what kind of views on careers the Fiskars organization has. The theoretical foundation of white-collar employees' views on careers is based on the concept of subjective career and Schein's career anchors theory. The theoretical foundation of the organization's view on careers consists of the concepts of psychological contract, career planning and career management. Previous research has shown that careers are increasingly variable and that they have become more versatile and flexible. This study generates knowledge on careers from both individual's and organization's perspective. The target is to create an overall picture of careers. The concept of view in this study is defined as the perception of the research subject of the interviewed persons formed through experience and thinking. The target organization of the study is Fiskars and ten white-collar employees of Fiskars and three persons from management and human resources department of Fiskars were interviewed for the study. The research methodology is qualitative and the research data was collected using theme interviews method. The research data was analyzed with content analysis method. The interviewed employees experienced the concept of career in a positive way and described a career mostly using the career path metaphor. Employees from different age groups also had different views of careers. For younger employees work is no longer the center point of life or a separate part from other aspects of life but rather a natural part of it. Employees' and organization's views were the same when asked who is responsible for career. All the interviewees had strong opinions that the party ultimately responsible for a career is the individual her/himself and that the role of the organization is to provide career opportunities and the role of the manager is to support the employee in career development. White-collar employees' and organization's thoughts of career direction and career moves were horizontal but both groups emphasized that the idea of vertical career moves continues to exist. Career planning and career management were weak in the target organization and both white-collar employees and the organization hoped that career planning and career management would be improved in the future. Challenges of future careers also affect the target organization. The target is that the results of this study will help Fiskars organization to better support employees' careers and career development and also create career management and career