Contracting Careers

Abstract

In the light of the changing economic and organizational contexts for careers, it is argued that a model of organizational careers needs to be: contextualized; interactive between individual and organization; subjective, not normative; processual, not structural; tolerant of different interests; and cyclical in nature. A model of organizational career as a sequence of renegotiations of psychological contracts is proposed. These contracts are based both on a perceived match between one's own wants and what the other has to offer, and on the exchange of promised offers. The cost-benefit ratio of this exchange for themselves is optimized by each party, and is affected by the power each takes into the negotiation. Responses to the contract by each party are based on their perceptions of its equity and of whether it has been honored. Depending on whether the contract is transactional or relational in nature, a variety of outcomes will ensue, including exit from the contract or its renegotiation. Since the model proposes that each party's wants and offers are predicted by their business, personal, and social contexts, and since the process of negotiation and renegotiation is cyclical, this model allows for the present radical changes in careers.