Human Resource Management 1988
Strategic determinants of managerial labor markets: A career systems view
Abstract
This paper proposes a four‐cell typology of career systems, which describes the way different corporate strategies reflect the nature of executive labor markets. The two critical dimensions of the model, “supply flow” and “assignment flow,” reflect the external and internal movement of executives. We use recent examples from industry to demonstrate the way in which business and career system strategies align. We then examine individual background and personality variables, drawn from a ten‐year study tracking 125 MBA graduates, to show how executives sort themselves into the career system best suited to their needs. The broader purpose of this research is to begin to tie together a general theory of career systems that focuses on the level of the firm in its changing strategic and industry context.
- DOI
- 10.1002/hrm.3930270402
- Sources
- openalex