Career development and participation at work: Time for mating?

Abstract

Both career development and participation at work activities have emphasized a “prospecting” approach to inquiry. Although jointly inspired by the humanistic ethic, the two ventures have grown as separate streams of inquiry through their distinct responses to economic, hierarchical, technological, reductionist, and systems imperatives about work. A contrasting “mating” approach to inquiry is proposed, with the various imperatives becoming redefined as shared objects for further study. The proposal is supported by a set of diagnostic questions, and illustrated by a comparison between separate “Knowledge for Pay” and “Pay for Knowledge” human resource management initiatives. The possibility of broader application of the mating principle to other human resource management efforts is briefly considered.