PROTEAN

Submitted To
Prof. Md. Ali Akkas
Department of Management
The University of Dhaka

Submitted By
Afroja Khanom
MPHRM-8th Batch
Roll: 24-08-19-013
The University of Dhaka

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 Career success is defined as “the positive
psychological or work-related outcomes or
achievements one accumulates as a result of
work experiences” which implies both
subjective success and objective success. Due
to dynamics on both external and internal
business environments, new forms of career
management and career progression are
increasingly being adopted at the individual
level to maximize career success. Employees
are now more inclined to setup their own
career agendas and establish benchmarks in
measuring career success in a new trend as
emphasized in protean career.

Introduction

Changes in economic, social and technological spheres are affecting organizational flexibility
and responsiveness in meeting competitive global market requirements. In an effort to trim
cost and improve efficiency, organizations are now downsizing, restructuring and delayering
their workforce. As such, employment insecurity and career discontinuity are increasingly being
felt by employees at all levels. These changes have led to the gradual transformation of the
employment contract from being long term relational understanding to short term transactional
relationships. Such changes in employment psychological contract and career landscape have
prompted individuals to be more proactively in taking charge of their individual career
development rather leaving it to their respective organizations.
Hall and Mirvis (1996) contended that protean career is a particularly well-suited adaptation to
current career landscapes. De Vos and Seons (2008) added that wide range of terms were
used to explain protean career such as career self-management, proactive career behavior,
and individual career management (Sturges,Conway, Guest, & Liefooghe, 2005; King, 2004).
The notion of proactivity is vital to develop protean careers.

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Protean Career Attitudes

Protean Career is defined as a career where the individual is experiencing greater responsibility
for their career choices and career opportunities. The core values of protean career are freedom
and growth, and subjective career success is recognized as the main success criteria.

The protean career concept was introduced by Hall (1976, 2002) as a reaction to changing
career pathways that contained more freedom and growth as well as self-determination for
individuals. The term protean stems from a metaphor of Proteus, a sea god in Greek mythology
who had the gift of prophecy and used metamorphosis to hide his knowledge from others.
Protean is a synonym for being flexible, adaptive, and changeable. The protean career is
defined “as a career in which the person is -

1) Values-driven in the sense that the person's internal values provide the guidance and
measure of success for individual's career; and

2) Self-directed in personal career management – having the ability to be adaptive in

terms of performance and learning demands”.

People with a protean career attitude are values-driven as they shape their career according
to their own internal values and beliefs in contrast to, for example, organizational values and
beliefs, and they are self-directed as they pursue their careers based on personally defined
career goals. People with a protean career attitude use their personal identity as a guide for
career decisions.

Job crafting is a kind of proactive behavior as it involves adjustments which would modify the
meaning of one’s work and his or her work identity. Different research studies found that
proactive personality were positively related with both seeking resources and seeking
challenges of the job crafting behavior. Given that self-directed individuals are expected to
engage in proactive behavior), they are more likely to seek job resources and challenges in
achieving their desired career outcomes. Therefore, we hypothesize:

H1: Self-directed career management is positively related to (a) seeking resources and (b)
seeking challenges of the job crafting behavior.

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Protean careerists are also values-driven. They are motivated to navigate their own careers
around personal values, motives, and needs. According to regulatory focus theory values-
driven individuals are more inclined to fulfill their own dreams and aspirations. As such, they
are promotion-focused and are looking for autonomous values. Such individuals are more likely
to craft aspects of their jobs (seeking resources and challenges) to be aligned with their ideal
self. It is predicted that:

H2: Values-driven career orientation is positively related to (a) seeking resources and (b)
seeking challenges of the job crafting behavior.

H3: Self-directed career management is positively associated with objective career success.

H4: Organizational mobility preference is positively associated with objective career success.

People that hold protean career attitudes will tend to have a more active role in managing their
career paths and are more prone to follow their own value to achieve their perceived and
desired career success (De Voss and Soens, 2008). Thus, these types of workers are more
likely to experience greater responsibility from their career choices, as they are the ones in
charge. Let continue with the Silicon Valley worker: this worker now might change jobs using
a more protean career approach if he decides to change because he doesn’t share the same
values with the company, therefore he changes job searching for an opportunity that might
fulfil him better.

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Individual Differences and the Protean Career

Because research constructs for measuring protean career attitudes and approaches have only
recently been developed, the empirical validation of protean career measures falls short of the
theoretical maturity of the concept at this juncture. Some research has indicated that protean
career attitudes are linked to a constellation of other career attitudes that might be considered
“agentic” in nature. For example, strong correlations have been found between the protean
career and a proactive personality, career self-efficacy, and a boundaryless mind-set.
Furthermore, the protean career has been correlated with a “mastery” or learning orientation
toward goals. This is in contrast with a performance orientation, which would entail a concern
with success as defined by others rather than by oneself.

To this point, research has not definitively shown whether protean career identity and attitudes
are associated with one’s age or gender. In terms of age, some have pointed out how acting
in a protean fashion may be more challenging as one ages, especially if one has become
accustomed to the traditional psychological contract wherein the organization assumes most
of the responsibility for career development. But some studies have actually found a moderate
positive relationship between aging and protean attitudes, whereas other research suggests
that a protean orientation to the career is consistent across age groups.
Career Development and the Protean Career

Rationale for Developing a Protean Career Approach

Addressing career development begs the question of “why?” Why develop people to be more
protean? It has been assumed in the literature that the organizational environment is less
predictable, much more fluid, and less forgiving than in the past. Within such an environment
it is further assumed that a more self-directed approach to the career is advantageous for
purposes of adaptability and for enhancing the likelihood of subjective career success. Other
presumed benefits of a protean approach to the career are that it will enable career actors to
adjust to change better, which will benefit organizations as well as employees. Limited research
has suggested that protean career actors do in fact adapt more quickly to organizational
change and unemployment.
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Jon P. Briscoe and Hall have argued that for a protean career approach to reap its ultimate
benefit for the career actor, both a values-driven career orientation and self-directed career
management are necessary. They argue that one who is high only in a values-driven orientation
will be rigid and one who is high only in self-directed career management will be able to drive
and react to career changes but not ultimately be grounded. Obviously, being low in both is
problematic, but individuals who are high in both protean dimensions are expected to be more
transformative in terms of their career and potentially able to offer more transformational skills
to their organizations as well.

As the “new” career has gained recognition in academic and practitioner circles alike, some
organizations have viewed protean and boundaryless career forms with suspicion. In such
organizations, the suspicion seems to be that protean or boundaryless employees may be less
loyal and committed. Interestingly, several emerging studies suggest that this is not necessarily
true. Some studies have suggested that protean employees become committed to their
organization affectively (“I want to remain in the organization”) and normatively (“I should
remain in the organization) for the same reasons as other employees. There is some evidence
that protean employees are less likely to remain in the organization simply for economic
advantages. Research suggests that employees prefer cultures that allow for innovation,
independence, and value expression.

Skills Related to the Protean Career

Hall has proposed two broad skills or “meta competencies” that relate to the protean career—
identity (self-awareness) and adaptability. He refers to these as meta competencies in that
they allow the career actor to “learn how to learn.” Identity awareness and understanding are
seen as key to the values-driven nature of the career and to having a secure personal base in
which to ground oneself and from which to experiment based upon changing external
conditions. Adaptability involves the ability to change career and work behaviors in a way that
allows one to succeed in a variety of potential contexts without the constant need for externally
driven career development.

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With both identity and adaptability skills, ongoing reflection is seen as a requisite “fuel” that
challenges and develops the individual’s identity, values, assumptions, and skills across the
course of his or her career. Thus, reflection itself might be considered a requisite skill in the
protean career.

Implications for Career Development

Broadly speaking, career development practices that help individuals increase their identity
awareness, adaptability, and reflection skills will enhance their protean attitudes and identity.
A large barrier to self-development with respect to the protean career is the inability to go
beyond adaptation to career challenges and step back to reflect upon identity, career
assumptions, and working definitions of success. Research has suggested that such “double-
loop” reflection on both identity and adaptability is relatively uncommon and thus represents
a prime target for the focus of career development. Because double-loop learning is apparently
not natural for many people, especially in areas that are taken for granted such as identity and
values, this is an area that might require outside intervention to stimulate many individuals to
address it.

The current dynamic organizational environment is rich in its ability to provide a variety of
experiences from which the individual could “learn to learn” and in the process enhance the
meta competencies of identity and adaptability. In this sense, development opportunities
abound. For individuals this implies trying to target and obtain experiences that enhance
identity, adaptability, and reflection skills. The implications for organizations wishing to assist
in career development is similar, except that it is expedient to ensure that the individual is a
strong, independent influence upon the process.

Philip H. Mirvis and Hall have conceived of the protean career as a series of learning cycles.
Through such a lens, the learning cycle becomes the key frame through which individuals and
those interested in their development can attempt to leverage advances in career insights and
skills.

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Beyond skills in reflection and developmental experiences themselves, relationships are a major
vehicle for the career development of the protean career actor. As outlined by Kathy Kram,
relationships can provide learning to the career actor as well as emotional and developmental
support. Such benefits allow for growth and reflection in both adaptability and identity. A
paradox in the new career environment, however, is that although some of one’s most
developmentally oriented relationships are at work, these relationships are vulnerable to the
volatile forces of business. Thus, it be hooves the career actor to develop a rich network of
relationships beyond his or her contemporary work environment.

Conclusion

As of this writing, the protean career concept is mature theoretically but in its adolescence
empirically. It has received wide acceptance as a template for understanding the “new” career.
Its limitation empirically may be in part due to the fact that suitable research constructs have
until recently lagged behind theory. In addition, the protean concept has been used at times
prescriptively in addition to descriptively. This may have slowed efforts to understand it through
a more rigorous perspective. Nevertheless, recent research findings indicate that the protean
career can be measured in a reliable way, and further that it seems to impact career
performance in the directions it has been postulated to. The next logical step is for practitioners
and academics to better understand how such an approach might be best developed and
whether it will be efficacious across cultures.