Movement towards non-commitment

Dissimilarly, on the opposite side of the continuum, other organisations advocate that no commitment towards the organisation is prompted at all, but that the emphasis is rather placed on individual career. Due to the changing nature of these organisations, nothing is fixed or measureable, but they rather exhibit a continuous dynamic dance of energy that has a constant flow, continually morphing into one another. The concept of this organisation is moving further away from mechanistic creations that flourished in the age of bureaucracy towards an era where organisations are fluid, organic in structure, boundaryless and seamless organisations are construed as learning organisations where people may exhibit self-organizing capacity (Wheatley, 2006). In these organisations, skills-training is traded for commitment and, periodically performance is rewarded as a result.

Essentially these organisations sponsor enactment: the participation in the creation of our own organisational realities. Wheatley (2006) suggests that there is no objective reality and that the environment we experience is not “out there”: in fact, we create our own environments through our intentions and implementations. This type of environment/career is typified by many unique elements such as protean careers, boundaryless careers, composite careers, individual (psychological) success and

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progress, continuous learning, skills acquisition, employability, resilience, confidence, motivation, self-efficacy and competency.

Protean careers can be defined as the process which the person is managing, not the organisation. It consists of all the person’s varied experiences in education, training, different organisations, and so forth (Schreuder & Coetzee, 2006). The protean career is shaped more by the individual than by the organisation and may be redirected from time to time to meet the needs of the person (Hall & Mirvis, 1995). Akin to the protean career is the idea of a boundaryless career which can be expressed as the self-ownership of a one’s career (Peiperl & Arthur, 2000). Composite careers may also be depicted as having more than one role and/or holding more than one job where time management is of the essence. These career ideas largely advocate the management of own time and effort (Bridges, 1995). In addition, these careers are largely influenced by personal success and progress, and ideally, in order to survive in this environment, employees need to place their trust and security on process rather than on structure, on skills acquired and not on titles, and they should draw satisfaction for career-fulfilling experiences instead of climbing the corporate ladder, which is characterized by mastering a job and achieving personal goals. The career is more cyclical, ‘reskilling’ is required and lateral, rather than upward career moves, are becoming the order of the day (Baruch, 2004; Hall & Mirvis, 1995).

Continuous learning is vital in such an organisation because it is the process according to which one acquires knowledge, skills and abilities throughout one’s career in reaction to, and in anticipation of, changing performance criteria (London & Mone, 1999).

Employability is crucial in this type of organisation because in the post-modern era, security lies in the employability rather than in employment, as security has shifted from the organisation to the individuals. Employability security refers to the chance to accumulate human capital skills and reputation- that can be invested into new opportunities as they arise (Kanter, 1997). Furthermore, competency, self - efficacy, confidence and motivation all relate to the direct need to foster resilience in oneself.

Individuals need to equip themselves with these attributes so that they have the correct competencies and qualities in order to pursue a meaningful career and simultaneously

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be persistent and enthusiastic in the face of adversity, based on insight and the degree to which their beliefs will persist in that adversity, despite obstacles.

Lastly is resilience, arguably the most prominent and appealing aspect in this post-modern organisation. Career resilience refers to the pattern of psychological activity which consists of a motive to be strong in the face of inordinate demands, the goal-directed behaviour of coping and rebounding and of accompanying emotions and cognitions, as well as the ability to adapt to changing circumstances (Strumpfer, 2003;

Fourie & Van Vuuren, 1998). Resilience serves to make employees aware of the changing environment and to help them to take control of their own careers, given that the organisation is no longer governed by traditional methods of retention and loyalty.

Ultimately, because people are challenged to move in new directions and their futures are now dependent on their abilities and reputation rather than on an organisation, organisational ethics are now replacing the elusive loyalty in organisation. McCarthy and Hall (2000) dictate that organisations can no longer feel betrayed when talented people leave them and employees cannot feel betrayed if organisations no longer need their skills. Flexibility is now an asset and an employer’s needs are constantly changing;

all traditional concepts are being challenged and continuous integration of people, organisations and individual and collective needs are being promoted. Although changes in these organisations are external, the challenge to the individual remains internal, in that the challenge is to remain employable and flexible to self -develop continuously and recreate mastery in one’s own career. One may propose that organisations and individuals need to work towards creating a balance between the distinctive types of organisational cultures at hand in order to be more successful in the modern world of work.

In light of the above-mentioned volatility which organisations seek from individuals as employees, resilience is most certainly a term that comes to the foreground as a force that enables individuals to rebound in the face of adversity that the changing environments co-create. Resilience is one attribute that will adequately aid in accurately addressing hardships, challenges, anxiety and misfortune that may come about as a result of the post-modern era of work. Although resilience is useful in this endeavour,

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one must not lose sight of the fact that it is actually utilized as a coping mechanism for aspects such as retrenchment, retirement and demotion which, in fact, need to be managed whilst being resilient. Resilience is simply the psychological tool used to overcome adversity but action still needs to be taken to rectify the problem. Resilience is merely the driving force and the motivation to do so.